A North Carolina General Assembly member has used their official state email account to send a voter newsletter which contained a donation solicitation on behalf of non-profit, Democracy NC.

Representative Susi Hamilton (D-NC 18), of New Hanover, Brunswick Co., and Wilmington, sent out the email blast styled as a press release using her official state account on Monday, October 24th.

The content was exclusively from Democracy NC, a staunchly Left-leaning 501(c)3 non-profit.

View the Email.

The text, “You can support our work by making a donation today” is found near the bottom of the email. When one clicks that “making a donation” link, one is sent to Democracy NC donation page in support of the “Souls to the Polls” campaign. “Souls to the Polls” is also the name of the Moral Monday voter drive campaign.

When examining the other links in the email, the “unsubscribe here” text sends you to Democracy’s NC’s website, however, the form was bizarrely pre-filled in with a personal email address (image right).

That personal email address has been confirmed as belonging to state Senator Angela Bryant (D-NC4).

This same mindspring.com address is also displayed on Sen. Bryant’s personal campaign site and is also published in the Women’s Forum NC Directory.

It is unclear why Senator Bryant’s personal email is associated with the Democracy NC email template that was used by Representative Hamilton.

Official state email accounts are for conducting state business only and are not to be used for the promotion of donations to organizations or for electioneering purposes.

By using her official state supplied email account to send an email containing a donation solicitation by an outside entity, Rep. Hamilton is possibly in violation of Ethical and Principle Guideline 7.

Democracy NC’s 2014 IRS 990 filing showed the group’s total revenue standing at over $1.8 million dollars. The previous year, total revenue was over $1.1 million.

This article first appeared at American Lens News on October 27, 2016.