Earlier in June, I wrote about a petition filed by various members of the NC Democrat African-American Caucus  to remove the Party Chair, Patsy Keever.

The very lengthy list of charges against Keever include holding unconstitutional conventions, violating the Voting Rights Act and disenfranchising North Carolina African-American Voters.

No media covered the story then and no media is covering it now, except this one as noted in a press release from the Director of BlacVotesCount. This media blackout continues despite members of the NCDP African-American Caucus contacting multiple media outlets in the state.

Sources tell me that the News and Observer was contacted recently and that reporter Colin Campbell was assigned to look into the matter. Campbell apparently told his editor there was “no story there”.

In a new press release, the  original charges are repeated but highlighted is the ‘destruction’ of the Judicial Committee known as the Council of Review (COR).  This ‘destruction’  of their has resulted in internal grievances being stifled.

A number of the listed complaints in the press release accuses Keever of disenfranchising African-American Democrat voters and using a “divide and conquer” strategy against the  African-American Caucus:

NCDP Chairperson Patsy Keever-Aycock’s deceit, manipulation with deliberate fraudulent intent to interfered with implementing the State AAC-Auxiliary Voter Education program, to include disenfranchising 53 NC Counties (with 49% to 84% Democratic African American voters) to operate without equal protection and opportunity to exercise their right to elect, vote and control their local county, precinct and Auxiliary administration.

[…]

The NCDP Chairperson Patsy Keever (Aycock) unauthorized intrusion into the AAC-NCDP Auxiliary Caucus Administration and Operation to encourage and install a divisive “divide and conquer” tactic causing discord and damages to the State African-American Auxiliary Caucus communities. Such deceitful, intrusion and manipulation in the NC Counties denies African Americans the opportunity to be a candidate or be elected as a delegate and in public office positions fairly.

The final section (number 6) of the press release charges Keever with “knowingly and deliberately ignoring” 13 newly redrawn Congressional Districts. The section goes on to say that Keever “held illegitimate delegate and Council of Review member elections in the 13 unconstitutional Congressional District Conventions.”.

Keever’s reaction to the petition was to send a letter to one of the petitioners, Jannet Barnes, President of the AAC-NCDP Auxillary. Keever’s letter was dated June 20, 2016.   Keever’s letter to Barnes included demanding Barnes cease using the title of President of the AAC and stop using official letter head.

Barnes fired back a response letter and addressed Keever’s claims point by point.  In one section, Barnes slams Keever, stating that “during my 20 plus years of service I gave to and worked for the NCDP, I have not ever witnessed and experience first hand, such cavalier attitude and disrespect for the African American Caucus Auxiliary, and minority community voters.”

Prior to Keever’s letter to Barnes, Keever’s husband, James Ayock fired off an email to some of the petitioners. In the letter, Aycock states that the claims contained in the petition are ‘libelous’ and demands the petition be recalled.  This letter was sent June 11th.

On June 19th, a joint response  penned by Norm Smith was sent back to Aycock refusing to recall the petition. The letter refutes Aycock’s libel claim in ten points that include noting Aycock is not mentioned once in the petition. The rebuttal letter also  included a  challenge to James Aycock to ‘prove false’ that “Charles B. Adcock participating in the Wilmington, NC massacre”; see points 7 and 8 of the letter.   Read the Aycock -Plaintiffs email exchange.

On June 28th, the some of the original petitioners filed suit in Wake county court.  The suit’s purpose seems to be to “determine the rightful composition of the Council of Review (the judicial hearing body) of the North Carolina Democratic Party.”

Will the NC media continue to contend that the disenfranchisement of Democrat African-American voters by their own party Chair and the filing of a legal challenge is not newsworthy?