JUDGE GRIFFIN CHANGES
STRATEGY IN EFFORT TO
WIN NC SUPREME SEAT
By Cash Michaels
Contributing writer
Perhaps stung by blistering criticism that he and the Republican Party are trying to “steal” a judicial election after it was lost and over, NC Appellate Court Judge Jefferson Griffin last week changed his strategy in his effort to ultimately secure a seat on the NC Supreme Court.
Judge Griffin has now modified his bid to have 60,000 votes disallowed from the final total in his race against incumbent Democratic state Supreme Court Justice Allison Riggs. Justice Riggs defeated Griffin in the Nov. 5th 2024 election for her seat by over 700 votes, as well as in two recounts.
That’s when Griffin filed a motion to have 60,000 votes removed from the final election total, claiming that the voter registration applications did not contain either the Social Security or partial driver license numbers once required. Amid growing protests, the Republican controlled state Supreme Court has agreed to take up the matter.
But before they do, Judge Griffin has now decided, in a court filing to the very state Supreme Court he hopes to join, that 5,509 ballots from overseas should first be examined. That 5,509 would be from the initial 60,000 at issue, and should be disallowed, Griffin contends, because none of those voters showed photo identification as required by law.
If extracting only those 5,509 votes from the total are enough to change the results of the election between Griffin and Riggs, then, Griffin’s legal brief says, it may not be necessary to remove the balance of the 60,000.
Drastically lowering the number of votes he seeks to remove makes it easier for the Republican-controlled state Supreme Court to rule in his favor, observers say. However, if removing the 5,509 doesn’t win the race for him, Griffin then wants all 60,000 removed.
The NC Board of Elections was expected to respond to Griffin’s latest legal gambit by last Tuesday. Griffin has until January 24th to respond to their response.
National Democratic Party Chairman Jamie Harrison, an African-American, has joined NC Democrats in decrying Griffin and the Republican Party’s efforts to essentially overturn an election.
“They can’t stand the fact that they were rejected by North Carolina voters fair and square,” Harrison said during a recent press briefing. "They have become more and more desperate as the weeks have dragged on.”
Former NC Gov. Roy Cooper agreed, saying if Judge Griffin and the Republicans are allowed to get away with this attempt, they won’t stop anywhere they decide they should have won.
“The eyes of the entire country are on this race because the implications of having free and fair elections that are being questioned and potentially overturned are devastating, not just for Justice Riggs and the millions of North Carolinians who voted for her but for any election in the future.”
“If Republicans are successful in invalidating fair and legal votes past the election date like this, this will have broad implications across the country,” Cooper said.
And North Carolina Central University School of Law Prof. Irving Joyner warned that African Americans should pay very close attention to the Griffin-Riggs vote controversy, because, if successful, it could endanger their voting rights.
“Even though there isn’t a legal basis to throw out the votes of 60,000 legitimate voters, the right-wing oriented Supreme Court is now in a position to further subvert the North Carolina Constitution by endorsing this latest effort,” Joyner said.
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ST. AUG ASKS NC ATTORNEY
GENERAL TO EXPEDITE
APPROVAL OF $70 MIL DEAL
By Cash Michaels
Contributing writer
Officials at St. Augustine’s University (SAU) in Raleigh are asking new
NC State Attorney General Jeff Jackson to approve a $70 million land
lease deal the school reached with a Florida sports stadium and development firm by January 25th.
If the small historically Black university can get that approval by this Saturday, that strengthens its appeal next month to have permanent reinstatement of its accreditation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCC).
For the beleaguered school, the land lease deal with the company 50 plus 1, is a lifesaver. Not only does the deal provide SAU with enough revenue to pay off longstanding debts - one of which is a controversial $7 million loan, the 24% interest on which troubled many of the school’s alumni and supporters - but also the various debts owed to vendors, and millions in back taxes owed to the federal government.
In addition, SAU has several lawsuits pending from former employees that school officials would like to settle.
But clearly, getting its accreditation permanently reinstated is a top priority. Moving from its current temporary status to permanent means the federal government will look more favorably on SAU when it comes to granting student aid. Having SACSCC approval goes a long way to showing that SAU is back on solid financial footing, officials say.
Thus, having the state Attorney General’s Office review and sign off on the $70 million 50 Plus 1 land lease deal is an important step towards that end.
The NC AG’s Office became interested in the financial affairs of SAU after a now dismissed lawsuit filed against the Board of Trustees alleged fiscal malfeasance on the part of Chairman Brian Boulware and others. At the time, now Gov. Josh Stein was still state attorney general. But in November, Stein was elected governor, forcing him to leave office without making a determination about the veracity of the lawsuit.
Now that AG Jeff Jackson has taken over, SAU officials want him to finish whatever probe Stein had started by this weekend.
The 50 Plus 1 land lease deal with SAU is for 99 years, and involves some of the over 100 acres of property SAU currently owns.
“Saint Augustine’s University has shown its willingness to cooperate with the Attorney General’s Office by providing them with all the information they have requested to facilitate a timely decision,” SAU Trustees Chairman Boulware said in a news release. “Approving this deal is not just a financial necessity; it’s a critical opportunity to showcase our commitment to academic excellence and long-term sustainability.”
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