'Politically motivated': Robinson likens review of wife’s nonprofit to Trump prosecutions

North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson said a compliance review conducted by the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) of his wife’s nonprofit is “politically motivated” and claimed the agency is being “weaponized” to target him and his family for political purposes.

Robinson made the comments during a Wednesday appearance on the conservative ‘KC O’Dea Radio Program,’ comparing the state reviews of his wife’s nonprofit to the criminal prosecutions of former President Donald Trump.

“It’s just like what we’re seeing at the federal level with the former president and with conservatives all over this country,” Robinson said. “This is a state agency being weaponized against somebody for political purposes.”

Yolanda Hill, Robinson’s wife, until this year operated Balanced Nutrition, Inc., a “sponsoring organization” that contracted with the state to help childcare centers apply for and receive federal funding for children’s meals.

Last week, DHHS directed the nonprofit to repay more than $132,000 after the agency’s recent review found improper claims for payment from the federal food program. The review cited inflated administrative costs and improperly documented food purchases.

The report came a few days after officials declared the nonprofit “seriously deficient” after finding program violations in the most recent compliance review.

Robinson denied all the allegations leveled by the state agency and said he has evidence that the recent reviews by DHHS officials are politically motivated.

“When folks ask us if we’re going to stand up and fight this, you best believe we’re going to stand up and fight it because it’s politically driven, we have the evidence to prove it, and we’re going to fight them up to the hilt.”

It is unclear to what evidence Robinson is referring. (Scroll to the end of this report to see a complete list of the agency’s findings.)

But in April, Hill claimed that her organization has been subjected to undue scrutiny by DHHS due to its connection to her husband. According to Hill in an interview with WRAL, a DHHS employee in February 2023 had circulated Facebook photos of Hill with her husband to other agency employees to make them aware of the connection.

“She used her state cell phone to send that picture to her colleagues on their state cell phones, telling them: ‘Look who this is. Look who her husband is. Her husband is Mark Robinson,” Hill alleged in the interview. DHHS said the case was assigned to a different specialist in March 2023.

That same month, Hill told clients she was shutting down her nonprofit because the demands of her husband’s campaign for governor made it impossible for her to continue operating the organization.

Robinson said in the O’Dea radio interview that his wife closed the nonprofit because of what he claimed was political harassment by DHHS, which he said has taken a toll on his family. He implied that he had hoped the decision would end the scrutiny.

“It has been a drain on my wife, it has been a drain on my family. My wife was willing to simply just walk away from it and say if they’re going to continue to harass us politically because of this, I’ll just give this up,” said Robinson. “But they simply will not let it go and they continue to pile on these erroneous charges.”

Robinson defended his wife’s management of the nonprofit, saying it’s common for state audits and inspections to uncover errors in the work of organizations that contract with government agencies. He accused state officials of making false allegations but did not specify which findings were inaccurate.

“When you’re running a nonprofit that works closely with the government, there’s always room for errors and every year that my wife has done this, there’s been audits, there’s been the inspections that we have by the state, and we have small findings and then we have a plan of correction. That is a normal business process when you’re working with any state or any government agency,” he said. “But what the state is doing here is they are alleging things that just simply are not true.”

Since 2017, when it contracted with the state to become a sponsoring organization, Balanced Nutrition has undergone at least four audits: in 2018, 2021, 2023 and 2024. State auditors found compliance issues in audits since 2017, but none warranted a notice of serious deficiency, the most severe finding, except for 2024.

Though Hill officially shut down Balanced Nutrition on April 30, she is still obliged to respond to state officials because the agency had already scheduled a compliance review to begin two weeks prior to that date. She has thus far declined repeated requests to attend such a review.

“We’re going to stand up and we’re going to push back and we’re going to fight. We’re going to do it in a legal way,” said Robinson. “We’re going to get all our ducks in a row, and when it’s time to go, and when our advisors and our attorneys tell us it’s time to go, we’re going to march forward and do the right thing because we want to fix this problem.”

DHHS gave Balanced Nutrition until Aug. 7 to provide documentation showing it has taken the required corrective action for each of the serious deficiencies.

Last week, Robinson campaign spokesman Mike Lonergan said the nonprofit plans to appeal and criticized the state agency’s action as “politically motivated.”

Balanced Nutrition, Inc. performance deficiencies identified in the NC DHHS audit:

“Recordkeeping

Balanced Nutrition, Inc. did not make all requested records available during the compliance review.Requests were made on 3/1/2024, 3/18/2024, 4/1/2024 for documents. An additional request for documents was made on 5/6/2024, however Balanced Nutrition, Inc. did not provide all the documents requested. Balanced Nutrition, Inc.’s management plan indicates the address where the institution records are maintained as 122 N. Elm Street, Suite 504, Greensboro, NC 27401-2818. When the compliance team was on site, Ms. Hill left the N. Elm Street location to collect records for the compliance review.

Income eligibility applications (Repeat Finding)

Balanced Nutrition, Inc. did not maintain accurate income eligibility applications for its sponsored facilities.

Enrollment documentation (Repeat Finding)

Balanced Nutrition, Inc. did not maintain enrollment documentation for its sponsored facilities.

Civil Rights

Balanced Nutrition, Inc. failed to participate in Civil Rights training conducted by the State agency.

Programmatic training

Balanced Nutrition, Inc. failed to participate in programmatic training conducted by the State agency.

Monitoring (Repeat Finding)

Balanced Nutrition Inc. failed to implement the monitoring scheduled as described in the institution’s management plan.Balanced Nutrition, Inc. failed to accurately monitor facilities under its sponsorship.Balanced Nutrition, Inc. failed to maintain all monitoring records for its sponsored facilities.Not all meal types were included in meal observations.The State agency reviewer identified other program violations from the sampled facilities not identified by Balanced Nutrition Inc.

Meal counts (Repeat Finding)

Balanced Nutrition, Inc. did not accurately claim meal counts on the claim for reimbursement.

Menu review (Repeat Finding)

Balanced Nutrition, Inc. filed claims for meals that did not meet the CACFP meal pattern.

Fiscal integrity (Repeat Finding)

Balanced Nutrition, Inc. did not disclose to the State agency less-than-arm length transactions relatives related to Yolanda Hill.Labor expenses were claimed for Kimberly Cephas, daughter of Yolanda Hill. Balanced Nutrition, Inc. did not disclose or receive approval from the State agency regarding the less-than-arm length transaction.

Verification of a valid claim

Balanced Nutrition, Inc. failed to file valid claims.”

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