North Carolina Open Thread: Lt. Governor Mark Robinson edition

Go outside or go to jail: Top NC Republican targets trans restroom rights

Christian nationalist North Carolina Republican Lt. Governor Mark Robinson, currently the leading candidate for the GOP nomination for governor, launched an attack on transgender women years after the Tar Heel State's last GOP governor cost the state millions – and possibly billions– of dollars, and cost him his political career over the very same issue.

“We're going to defend women in this state,” vowed Robinson, according to WUNC, at a campaign stop earlier this month. “That means if you're a man on Friday night, and all the sudden on Saturday, you feel like a woman, and you want to go in the women's bathroom in the mall, you will be arrested — or whatever we got to do to you.”

"In campaign speeches in recent weeks," WUNC added, "Robinson suggested that people who previously identified as male should be 'arrested' if they go in a women’s bathroom. Instead, he suggests they should 'find a corner outside somewhere' to relieve themselves."

Watch: Bigoted NC Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson Berates Democratic Lawmaker for Denouncing His Anti-LGBTQ Hate Speech

North Carolina’s Republican Lt. Governor Mark Robinson lashed out at a Democratic state lawmaker after she delivered a speech urging elected leaders to try to understand and equally represent all their constituents, including people of color and LGBTQ people.

“Next time before you get ready to say something on that floor come see me,” Robinson barked at state Sen. Julie Mayfield after her speech, suggesting he had power over her and she needed his permission to speak about him, as video shot by Democratic state Senator Natasha Marcus shows:

Mayfield did not mention Robinson by name during her speech.

Robinson has been criticized for months over his repeated remarks attacking LGBTQ people, including calling them “filthy,” calling transgender people “pure lunacy” and “demonic,” and claiming they want to molest children, describing straight relationships as “superior” to gay ones – and saying even cow manure has more purpose than same-sex marriage. Robinson, who uses the church as a shield for his bigotry, last month appeared to “jokingly” threaten any IRS agents who might come to his home.

The Facebook post in early August condemning antisemitic flyers left around Raleigh might not have been surprising, coming from North Carolina’s lieutenant governor.

But for Lieutenant Gov. Mark Robinson, the statement marked something of a change in tone. After the Republican was elected to the state’s second-highest office in 2020, revelations emerged that he was the prolific author of Facebook posts downplaying the threat of Nazism, invoking antisemitic stereotypes and targeting other minority groups.

At the time, Robinson’s track record earned him criticism from local Jewish leaders and national commentators; the Republican Jewish Coalition called his comments “clearly antisemitic.” In response, Robinson did not publicly apologize for the posts but he said he would no longer make them. He met with a group of local Jewish leaders in 2021 and says he privately apologized to them.

In declaring “Solidarity for Israel week,” Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson tries to erase his history of anti-Semitic vitriol

Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, who on social media has peddled antisemitic conspiracy theories, denied the Holocaust (“Hitler disarming MILLIONS OF Jews and then marching them off to concentration camps is a bunch of hogwash”), claimed a character in the “Black Panther” movie was “created by an agnostic Jew,” and then in the same Facebook post used a Yiddish pejorative for Black people “Schvartze,” and an antisemitic term for Israeli currency “shekels” — attempted to atone Thursday.

In what seemed almost to amount to a form of cosplay, Robinson, a leading Republican candidate for governor, performed his first deed today as “Acting Governor,” while the real governor, Roy Cooper, is on an economic trip to Japan.

“This is Solidarity with Israel Week. We are here to condemn the extremist actions” Robinson said at the press conference, referring to Hamas and its allies.

Last weekend the militant group breached the Gaza-Israel border and savaged several cities, kidnaping more than a hundred civilians and indiscriminately killing 1,200 people. In a counteroffensive, Israel has bombed the Gaza Strip, killing 1,417 Palestinians and wounding 6,268, according to The New York Times, and essentially declared war on Hamas.

Did Mark Robinson break the law during his 2020 campaign?

In an open letter, a campaign watchdog asks the Lt. Governor to address 10 unexplained matters that remain under investigation

While Donald Trump’s legal troubles receive almost daily news coverage, one of his biggest supporters in North Carolina – Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson – has yet to be held to account during a long-running government investigation into alleged crimes committed during his 2020 campaign. State law makes the investigation (which was in response to a complaint I filed in 2021) secret, but in the following open letter, I (Bob Hall) argue that it’s time for Robinson to tell voters what happened in 2019-2020, and what’s happening with the investigation.

Dear Lt. Gov. Robinson,

A year from now, you could be sworn in as the new Governor of North Carolina. A week later, you could be charged with criminal violations from an ongoing investigation into more than $500,000 of apparent illegal activity related to your 2020 campaign. Illegal cash donations; contributions in illegal amounts and from illegal donors; illegal cash withdrawals; illegal credit card charges and illegal expenses; illegal disclosure of financial transactions.

The investigation of your campaign has continued for three years, beginning with my complaint to the State Board of Elections in February 2021. Back then, your campaign consultant dismissed the problems as “clerical errors” and said “new staff” would work with the State Board of Elections to “fix any and all mistakes” and submit amended reports. You told a reporter any problems would be handled “quick, fast and in a hurry.”

But there are no amended reports and the investigation continues. If your case wasn’t about such substantial wrongdoing or if you were fully cooperating with authorities, the investigation likely would have ended by now. What’s going on? What are you telling investigators? Is the Wake County District Attorney or FBI involved? The public shouldn’t be kept in the dark.

A 2021 complaint about Mark Robinson sparked a NC Board of Elections investigation. Confidentiality makes how the probe is going unclear.

North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, a Republican candidate in the 2024 primary for governor, remains under a N.C. State Board of Elections investigation into allegations of more than $500,000 of campaign financeviolations in 2020, according to Bob Hall, the former executive director of Democracy NC and a campaign finance watchdog.

Hall asked Robinson in person on Tuesday to address the issue after a Council of State meeting, but Robinson did not respond to his questions. Hall also sent an open letter to the lieutenant governor on Monday urging him to give an explanation to voters “before the primary, not after the November election.”

Carolina Public Press reached out to the State Board of Elections, but staff could not confirm whether the elections investigation was ongoing or close to reaching its conclusion, because “all campaign finance complaints and investigations in North Carolina are confidential” by law. CPP also called and emailed Robinson’s office for comment, but did not receive a response.

“I’m surprised that the investigation has gone on this long and hasn’t got much attention from the public,” Hall said. “This is campaign finance reporting the use of money that will illustrate his integrity and accountability to the law and to the public.”

'I'm not very good at math.' Lt. Gov. Robinson pays off tax bills dating back to 2006 after WRAL inquiry

Republican Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson on Thursday finished paying off hundreds of dollars in delinquent vehicle tax bills dating back to 2006.

Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson was confident his past financial woes were a thing of the past.

“I don’t have any unpaid taxes,” Robinson, North Carolina’s top Republican executive officeholder, told WRAL News on Wednesday afternoon.

He was surprised to learn in the interview that he still had hundreds of dollars in delinquent Guilford County vehicle tax bills, with records showing five unpaid bills from 2006 to 2018. When presented with documents, Robinson took out his reading glasses and glanced through the invoices he was handed.

“Oh no, oh no,” Robinson said. “That is not the case.” But the Guilford County records showed four bills in Robinson’s name. Robinson was confident he had paid off all his tax liabilities before buying a home in Colfax. At a minimum, he thought someone had made a mistake.

Thank you for stopping by NC Open Thread, wishing all a good week.