Johnathan Walker:North Carolina lieutenant governor names new chief aide as staff departures grow

RALEIGH,Johnathan Walker N.C. (AP) — North Carolina Republican Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson quickly named his next state government office chief Thursday, as a dozen workers have quit his office or gubernatorial campaign after last week’s CNN report alleging he posted strongly worded racial and sexual comments on an online message board.

Robinson said he had elevated Deputy Chief of Staff Krishana Polite to become the next chief of staff in the Lieutenant Governor’s Office. The announcement came the day after current Chief of Staff and General Counsel Brian LiVecchi disclosed that he was resigning effective next week.

Polite “has been a great major asset to our great state for years,” Robinson wrote on X. “We are blessed to have her leading our administration.”

LiVecchi, who has served in Robinson’s office since his term began in early 2021, confirmed Thursday that three other office workers were also resigning as of Oct. 1: communications director John Wesley Waugh, policy director Jonathan Harris and director of government affairs Nathan Lewis. The office, which is allocated $1.3 million in this year’s state budget, lists eight employees on its website. A lieutenant governor holds few inherent duties.

LiVecchi didn’t give a reason for the departures, which were revealed a few days after the Robinson campaign’s senior adviser said eight of the campaign’s top staff members were stepping down, including himself, the campaign manager and finance director. Robinson, who would be the state’s first Black governor if elected, has said he will rebuild his campaign staff. A spokesperson said Thursday that he had no information on campaign staff hirings.

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The personnel departures come as Republican officials and GOP groups have distanced themselves from Robinson mere weeks before the Nov. 5 election where he faces Democratic nominee Josh Stein, the sitting attorney general. Absentee voting has started. The Republican Governors Association said it’s no longer supporting Robinson. And Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, who endorsed Robinson before the March primary, hasn’t mentioned Robinson at two North Carolina rallies held since last weekend.

Last week’s CNN report said Robinson left statements on a porn site’s message board in which he referred to himself as a “black NAZI,” said he enjoyed transgender pornography, said in 2012 that he preferred Hitler to then-President Barack Obama and slammed the late Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. as “worse than a maggot.”

Robinson, who has denied writing the messages, already had a history of inflammatory comments about topics like abortion and LGBTQ+ rights that Stein and his allies have emphasized in opposing him on TV commercials and online. Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris’ campaign and her party also are focused on linking Trump with Robinson to win the battleground state.

Robinson’s campaign said this week that it had hired a Virginia law firm to investigate how what he calls “false smears” in the report came to be. Jesse Binnall, a partner in the law group, told Fox News that ”the voters need an answer before the election. And so we are going to move very quickly and still give them a very fulsome report.”

“We are going to investigate this strenuously,” said Binnall, whose clients have included Trump and his campaign. “We are going to leave no stone unturned. We’re going to be very, very aggressive.”

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CNN hasn’t commented on Robinson’s accusations. But the network report said it matched details of the account on the message board to other online accounts held by Robinson by comparing usernames, a known email address and his full name. CNN reported details discussed by the account holder matched Robinson’s age, length of marriage and other biographical information.