RALEIGH, N.C. _ A local campaign finance watchdog filed a complaint with the State Board of Elections on Wednesday asking for an investigation of the North Carolina Sons of Confederate Veterans and its North Carolina Heritage political action committee.
Bob Hall asked for the probe and appropriate penalties for the NC Heritage PAC's "apparent illegal activities," the SCV, its leaders and the SCV's affiliated organizations involved with the PAC.
The SCV, which negotiated the controversial $2.5 million Silent Sam deal with the University of North Carolina System, has been accused of violating tax and campaign finance laws by operating the PAC in "violation of its tax-exempt status and facilitating political donations."
"There's some urgency for the board to investigate these issues," Hall said, "particularly because they get to the heart of the legitimacy of not only the PAC, but the Sons of Confederate Veterans and their leadership."
Hall, former executive director of Democracy North Carolina, cited The Daily Tar Heel's reporting and his own additional research and interviews with members of the SCV in his letter.
Hall argues that North Carolina SCV leaders "mistakenly believed the nonprofit organization could create and financially support a political action committee because of a provision in NC law." He said that makes the whole enterprise illegal, so the State Board of Elections should terminate the PAC.
The SCV could not be immediately reached for comment Wednesday.
Hall alleges that multiple SCV leaders solicited cash and other contributions during state and local meetings, asked NC SCV members to put their names on phony PAC donations, as though the money was their own, and moved cash into the PAC, listing contributions without correct identifying information, according to the complaint. A leader of the "NC Mechanized Calvary," a motorcycle affiliate, allegedly funneled money intended for the affiliate into the PAC, the letter says.
The SCV illegally contributed to the PAC, including paying bills for the PAC's incorporation, website and donor portal and an SCV camp donating directly to the PAC, according to Hall.
And the SCV's annual reports to the Internal Revenue Service show that the Confederate group consistently responds "No" to the question, "Did the organization engage, directly or indirectly, in political campaign activities on behalf of or in opposition to candidates for public office?" according to Hall.
"The organization cannot escape culpability for its illegal political donations," his letter says.
The complaint lists five consequences Hall thinks are appropriate, given the SCV's actions:
_ Terminate the NC Heritage PAC as a political action committee illegally created by the SCV in violation of state and federal laws.
_ Serve penalties against SCV leaders for soliciting contributions to the NC Heritage PAC during state and local meetings, depositing money intended for an SCV affiliate in the PAC's account, attributing PAC donations to individuals who were not the true donors and filing false campaign finance disclosure reports with the State Board.
_ Serve penalties against the SCV and its Camp #1695 for using organizational resources to support the operations of a PAC.
_ Force the NC Heritage PAC to repay or forfeit any money to the North Carolina Civil Penalty and Forfeiture Fund.
_ Direct the appropriate campaign committees to repay the $28,500 that the NC Heritage PAC contributed to state legislators, Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler and other candidates and give the money to the State Board.
Hall suggests that the group's nearly $5,600 balance would be wiped out based on the fines and forfeitures that would result from these actions. And he argues that the $28,500 given to candidates should also be forfeited
"The State Board routinely orders campaign committees to disgorge or forfeit illegal contributions they receive, even though the committee may be innocent of any wrongdoing," the letter says.
The NC Heritage PAC has donated thousands of dollars to Republican candidates for office since 2016, according to the State Board of Elections.
The PAC has also donated $2,500 to North Carolina House Speaker Tim Moore and Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger since 2016. Berger and Moore lead the state legislature that appoints members of the UNC Board of Governors, which approved the Silent Sam deal.
The SCV is also involved in two court cases that question the finances and legitimacy of the group and its settlement with the UNC System. A national civil rights group and The Daily Tar Heel, UNC-Chapel Hill's student newspaper, both took legal action to stop the $2.5 million payment from UNC to a trust for the SCV to preserve and display the Silent Sam Confederate monument that the group now owns.
The statue that stood on UNC's campus was illegally torn down by protesters in August 2018, and the university and UNC System had been working to figure out what to do with it since.
The deal between the SCV and the UNC System was negotiated behind closed doors and finalized in November 2019. Students, faculty and community members were outraged by the news of the settlement, which prompted protests and drew public criticism across the state and nation.
Some UNC students and faculty are concerned about how the SCV will spend the $2.5 million, which is nearly 31 times greater than the organization's expenses in the 2018 fiscal year. They fear the payment has made the SCV "a very wealthy white supremacist organization" and will boost the Confederate group's cause.
