Damaged goods, and a do-over from scratch?
Of all the responses from a Republican official to the media in regard to the unfolding scandal in North Carolina’s 9th congressional district election, Thanks for asking us who knew what and when was not on my list of predictions. Earlier today, executive director Dallas Woodhouse sent out a letter to all media covering the story thanking them for their work on exposing the potential fraud that might have allowed a Republican to win the seat. And Woodhouse meant it sincerely, too:
At times I have disagreed with you, or asked for a correction. Our disagreements have always been respectful. You have asked me some tough questions, never more than last week — every one of them fair, questions that should be asked and deserve to be answered.
On behalf of the North Carolina Republican Party, our activists in the 9th Congressional District and the voting electorate, I want to thank you and encourage you to continue these efforts for years to come.
Only you can help end systematic failure to fix this problem going back more than a decade, involving three different North Carolina governors of both parties, several different boards of elections, countless local, state and federal prosecutors and both major political parties.
We all share blame. We can all be part of the solution, but only if you hold us all to account for years to come.
Woodhouse not only gives fulsome praise, but also specifics. Much of that praise falls on stories that North Carolina Republicans want to emphasize in this scandal, such as the lack of transparency from the state board of elections and the “ systematic criminal behavior in Bladen County ” well before this election cycle. The problems that arose in the aftermath of the midterms is a “scourge… not limited to one candidate, one political party and one election,” Woodhouse takes care to point out in his links. But he also praises the media for asking “tough questions of who knew what and when, including of me and the NC GOP.”
Of course, there isn’t much else to do at the moment, given the nature of the “ solid shoe-leather reporting ” coming from local reporters, as Woodhouse also notes in his missive. What can one say when Leslie McCrae Dowless’ ballot harvesters are appearing on camera to detail illegal activities? The best bet is to get behind the investigation and the reporting, and hope that the combination provides enough context to show that this really does go beyond one party and one election cycle — especially since Dowless himself worked for Democrats in the 2016 election.
