All posts tagged "mark robinson"

The North Carolina Republican candidate linked to pro-Nazi and slavery comments made on a porn site is married to a woman successfully sued by an organization that helps little girls sell cookies, a new report shows.

Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson's wife Yolanda, 56, has faced court battles over questionable bookkeeping practices — one of which officials say cost the state of North Carolina more than $130,000 — and a bounced check sent to a local Girl Scouts group, the New York Times reported Wednesday.

“The Girl Scouts," said Western Carolina University political science professor Chris Cooper. "How do you get in trouble with the Girl Scouts?”

Neither Robinson’s campaign nor his wife opted to provide the Times with a comment.

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Financial scandals detailed by the Times include a summons to small claims court by the Girl Scouts Tarheel Triad Council in 2003, a career of running nonprofits that have earned Yolanda Robinson unprecedented notoriety in the state, and an eviction.

Cooper called Yolanda Robinson's reputation among North Carolina voters "unusual" and added, “It tells us that she has been ensnared in almost as much controversy as her husband.”

One of those controversies includes the shuttering this year of Yolanda Robinson's nonprofit Balanced Nutrition, which helps child care centers obtain federal funding for low-cost meals, according to the report.

An investigation found Balanced Nutrition had improperly billed the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services $132,000 for a child-care center that had not requested funding, let alone received it, according to the Times.

The agency also reported “serious deficiencies” that included paying Yolanda Robinson's daughter without state approval or disclosure of the relationship, the Times reported.

"Robinson abruptly closed the nonprofit in the spring," the report states, "citing the time commitment of her husband’s campaign."

Yolanda Robinson earlier in her career sold a day care center, which she owned and her husband helped operate, when a state investigation found it had presented falsified documents to inspectors, the Times reported.

These efforts have earned Yolanda Robinson a particular reputation, Brant Clifton, the editor of The Daily Haymaker, told the New York Times.

“He’s the brawn,” Clifton said. "She’s the brains.”

A former landlord of the couple also told the Times the Robinsons, early in their marriage, had been evicted for not paying rent.

“His attitude was not a matter of ‘I can’t pay,’" Kermit Robinson told the Times. "It was a matter of ‘I don’t have to pay.'"

Embattled gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson reportedly suffered another blow on Sunday after a "mass resignation" of his staff.

Robinson has been under fire since a recent CNN report exposed purported comments the North Carolina GOP candidate allegedly made on a porn site many years ago. The report claimed that Robinson had identified himself as a "Black Nazi," as well as a "perv." Earlier Sunday, the North Carolina Republican Party incurred the wrath of conservative columnist Kathleen Parker for surprisingly continuing to back Robinson despite the avalanche of revelations.

Later in the day, Emmy-winning reporter Michael Hyland reported that Robinson's senior adviser, campaign manager, finance director, and deputy campaign manager "have all resigned."

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The campaign itself spun the resignation as "staff changes" that it was announcing.

“I appreciate the efforts of these team members who have made the difficult choice to step away from the campaign, and I wish them well in their future endeavors. I look forward to announcing new staff roles in the coming days,” the Robinson campaign news release said.

Aaron Fritschner, Virginia communications for Vice President Kamala Harris and a former Democratic House aide, said, "'Announces staff changes' to break a mass resignation is an all-timer press release header."

Democratic strategist Simon Rosenberg said in response, "North Carolina GOP is melting down."

Former Michigan Republican operative Jeff Timmer replied, "What a shame."

Former President Donald Trump in the past had repeatedly praised North Carolina gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson as a "star" in the Republican Party.

However, after CNN exposed Robinson's past writings on a pornography website in which he described himself as a "Black NAZI," said he would prefer to have Adolf Hitler leading America than former President Barack Obama, listed the benefits of bringing back slavery, and boasted of engaging in a wide range of sexual degeneracies, Trump is apparently getting cold feet about being associated with him.

Axios reports that Trump's campaign is "alarmed by the idea that North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson's political baggage and incendiary rhetoric will be a drag on Trump's prospects in the crucial swing state on Election Day."

Although Trump won North Carolina in both 2016 and 2020, polling has shown a close race between him and Vice President Kamala Harris, which means that the Tar Heel State could be pivotal to his chances of retaking the White House.

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"This is an issue that has to do with Robinson's campaign and not President Trump's campaign," a Trump campaign official told Axios in seeking to distance Trump from Robinson.

Axios goes on to report that the Trump campaign has had concerns with Robinson for several weeks despite the fact that Trump has heaped praise on him publicly.

"Team Trump's concerns began earlier than this week and were more deeply rooted: The latest revelations were just the last straw," the publication writes. "Michael Whatley, chairman of the Republican National Committee, has previously acknowledged that polls showed Robinson running behind Trump in North Carolina — a sign that Robinson might undermine votes for Trump."

The entire panel on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" was left almost speechless on Friday morning as they took on the flood of allegations aimed at Republican Mark Robinson, who is the GOP's North Carolina gubernatorial nominee.

Late Thursday CNN reported on Robinson's activities on an adult website where he admitted to being a "Black Nazi," added he would like to buy slaves and described sex acts with his wife and his sister-in-law that were so obscene that CNN refused to include even vague descriptions.

With co-host Willie Geist reporting that the report has put the North Carolina Republican Party in a horrific spot because it is stuck with Robinson on the ballot with no way of dropping him, co-host Joe Scarborough contributed, "This is a situation, even before this latest CNN report, this was a state that actually was more in play for the [Kamala] Harris campaign than ever before. Not only because of him but because of other extremists that were running in the Republican Party across North Carolina. This, though, to paraphrase Donald Trump, this puts it all on steroids."

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According to MSNBC host Jonathan Lemire, once the news broke he was flooded with panicked texts from Democrats who were "fearful that Robinson was going to drop out."

He continued, "Now, Robinson is staying put, and Democrats are giddy. They feel like, first of all, Robinson already polling poorly in the race for the governorship there, so they like their chances. Now, with him on the ticket, this can only help Vice President Harris in this new battleground state."

"I mean, we are used to the [Donald] Trump era of Republicans refusing to apologize, refusing to acknowledge wrongdoing, just no shame, full steam ahead," Lemire added. "The tone set by their standard bearer, Donald Trump. This is still pretty breathtaking, some of the stuff unveiled in this reporting. Yet, they're sticking to the same playbook. You have to think this is going to cost them at the ballot box."

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North Carolina Republican gubernatorial Mark Robinson, journalist Billy Ball writes in a Monday MSNBC op-ed "has built his brand on judging, more than any politician I’ve seen in my two decades covering politics in" the state.

"Women, liberals, public school teachers, atheists, LGBTQ+ people, Jewish people, poor people — few have been spared Robinson’s righteous wrath," the columnist writes.

Because of Donald Trump-backed candidate's attacks, "Republicans assumed the worst of their own base, of people of faith, of North Carolinians — that they are cruel and stupid people who will reward the same in their political candidates," and Ball asserts that's "an offensive miscalculation."

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Pointing to a report published by a state online news outlet called The Assembly last week, Ball notes "that in the 1990s and early 2000s, before Robinson was running for any offices, he would visit adult video stores in his hometown as often as five times a week."

He writes:

According to the report — which Robinson’s campaign denied, calling the reporters 'degenerates' — he would bring in pizza from the Papa John’s restaurant he worked at and 'preview' pornography in a booth inside the store. Multiple employees said he was a memorable customer. He was gregarious and funny, they said, albeit homophobic, occasionally cracking jokes at the expense of the store’s gay clientele.

"Voters will forgive bad policies, dumb statements, even crimes, but they rarely forgive humiliation," Ball emphasizes. "They won’t see the big, strong MAGA superhero Robinson says he is. They’ll see a gay-hating man taking a pizza into a private booth in a windowless adult video store to watch lesbian porn."

Ball notes, "In politics, there’s the person politicians say they are, the person people perceive them to be, and the person they really are. You hope there’s not much of a gap between them, but with Robinson — this 'born again' Christian who, according to his memoir, found religion in the 1980s — it’s a Grand Canyon-sized chasm."

Ball's full op-ed is available at this link.