by Sarah Michels, Carolina Public Press May 5, 2025
RALEIGH — Dave Boliek made history last week as the first North Carolina auditor to appoint members of an election board. He used his newfound power, granted by the N.C. Court of Appeals a day before, to transform the State Board of Elections into a more Republican body. The implications of those actions are still to come, but hold the potential to have far-reaching consequences not only for state politics, but in the lives of everyday North Carolinians.
It’s a long-fought victory for North Carolina Republican legislators, who have tried to shift election appointment power away from Democratic governors since 2016. Their most recent attempt gave that power to the state auditor after a Republican —Boliek — won the office for the first time in 16 years. It’s a Council of State job that normally goes unnoticed by most and the names of those who’ve held the position are typically unknown to the general public.
Even though Democratic Gov. Josh Stein quickly issued an appeal to the N.C. Supreme Court, it is unlikely to succeed with Republicans holding a 5-2 majority.
In contrast, newly-appointed State Board members clocked in for their first days of work last week. Three previous board members were reappointed: Democrats Siobhan Millen and Jeff Carmon as well as Republican Stacy Eggers.
Former Democratic chairman Alan Hirsch and Republican Kevin Lewis are out.
Replacing them are Republicans Bob Rucho and Francis De Luca.
Rucho is a former state senator who oversaw a redistricting process that ended up at the U.S. Supreme Court.
De Luca is a U.S. Marine Corps veteran who helmed the Civitas Institute, a conservative advocacy and policy-making group, for 17 years. He ran unsuccessfully for a North Carolina congressional seat in 2019.
Later this month, the new state board will choose its executive director — who will most certainly be a Republican.
The result should be a more conservative state elections board, which will in turn create county boards across North Carolina in that same mold.
Should things remain unchanged, Republicans will have the final say on key election issues that emerge in the years to come.
A foregone conclusion for Boliek?
Last month, the Wake County Superior Court ruled that taking election appointment power from the governor would violate the state constitution by hindering that person’s ability to ensure the law is faithfully executed.
The court ruled in a 2-1 decision that the governor, and the governor only, is responsible for that executive power.
While the N.C. Court of Appeals did not include an explanation in its reversal of the Wake County court’s ruling, its panel of judges obviously disagreed.
Lawyers representing Republican legislative leaders and Boliek have argued that since the auditor is also a member of the executive branch, they can share in that duty if the General Assembly wishes. The legislature gets to assign duties to Council of State members, and elections appointment power is up for grabs, they testified.
Lawmakers haven’t explained why the auditor is better suited to the job than the secretary of state, who oversees elections in many states. In fact, a previous attempt to shift power from the governor did hand it over to the secretary of state.
But legislators shifted their approach after a Democrat won that office in the last election.
Last Wednesday’s order effectively allowed the challenged law to go into effect before May 1 — the date the law sets for the auditor, Boliek, to appoint new election board members.
That’s two years before their terms were originally scheduled to expire.
Andy Jackson, director of the Civitas Center for Public Integrity at the John Locke Foundation, saw the change coming.
“There is nothing sacrosanct about the governor being the one to appoint the board,” he said. “I know it’s happened for a long time, but for at least as long a time before that, the governor had nothing to do with the process.”
Katelin Kaiser, the policy director for Democracy North Carolina, was disappointed in the lack of explanation regarding the unsigned order. And she’s certainly not holding out hope that the N.C. Supreme Court reverses the appellate court’s order.
“This version of the court has shown us time and time again that it is not following the law for the people,” she said, “but for the political party and other special interests in North Carolina.”
The state Supreme Court could have stepped in immediately to stop the law from going into effect while it considered the case. That didn’t happen, and the silence seems to signal approval for Boliek, Kaiser said.
Furthermore, the fact that the appellate court allowed the law to go into effect in the first place may be a sign of its confidence that the state Supreme Court will back up their decision, Jackson said.
“If they didn’t have that confidence, maybe they would go ahead and let this get through the process, rather than issuing a stay right before that deadline,” he said.
It’s unclear, though, whether the newly-appointed board members would lose their positions if the state Supreme Court did rule in the governor’s favor.
What does a Republican elections board mean?
For the most part, North Carolina’s election boards unanimously agree on many issues. But there are some decisions where which party holds the deciding vote matters.
One is Sunday voting. Boards, particularly rural ones, have quibbled over whether early-voting days should include Sundays for years.
Democrats tend to approve of Sunday voting, partly because they see it as a way to boost Black voter turnout after church. Some Republicans, including current Republican State Board member Kevin Lewis, would prefer to not hold voting on Sundays.
“I would assume that (early voting) is going to be more repressive to voters, and take back the expansiveness of that opportunity for voters to use same-day registration and to have their ballot cast before Election Day,” Kaiser said.
In the coming months and years, election boards will determine where North Carolina stands in the balance between voter access and election security, what they spend money on and how cooperative they’ll be with the Trump administration’s election agenda.
But perhaps most timely is the ongoing contested state Supreme Court race between Democratic Justice Allison Riggs and Republican Judge Jefferson Griffin.
Griffin has challenged certain categories of voters with the goal of removing them from the count in his race and bridge the 734-vote gap currently between him and Riggs. The case is now in federal court.
The State Board of Elections could come into play. While the board likely can’t take back the lawsuit now, they can edit their planned “cure process” for impacted voters. Specifically, Kaiser could see the new board removing the opportunity for so-called “Never Residents” to prove that they actually have resided in North Carolina before being removed from the count.
Or, they could change their tune on which voters in particular they’re considering a part of Griffin’s protest, which has become a key issue in recent weeks.
“I don’t want to cast a dark cloud over the State Board, but I am concerned,” Kaiser said.
Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.
Political Bias Rating: Center-Right
The content presents a clear political leaning toward the Republican Party, as it details the actions of a Republican auditor, Dave Boliek, and the broader shift of election appointment power away from the Democratic governor in North Carolina. The article discusses the Republican legislative efforts to gain control of the election board and describes the newly appointed members of the board, most of whom are Republicans. While the piece highlights concerns from Democratic figures like Katelin Kaiser, the framing and focus on the Republican perspective, along with the mention of their long-standing attempts to shift election control, suggest a Center-Right bias in its coverage of the issue.
When will Helene-damaged Broadmoor Golf Course be ready for play? FernLeaf Charter School back in business in previously flooded location? • Asheville Watchdog
The Broadmoor Golf Course near Asheville Regional Airport, owned by the airport and leased to DreamCatcher Hotels, suffered over $10 million in flood damage from Tropical Storm Helene. DreamCatcher is rebuilding the course, clubhouse, and maintenance buildings using insurance and company funds, aiming to reopen in spring 2026. Meanwhile, FernLeaf Community Charter School in Fletcher, flooded by Helene, reopened its elementary Creek Campus after nearly a year with new modular buildings. Despite challenges, including ongoing construction and flooding risks, the school rebuilt on its original site with community support and flood insurance, celebrating resilience and continued education.
Today’s round of questions, my smart-aleck replies and the real answers:
Question: The Broadmoor Golf Course near the airport suffered catastrophic damage during the floods of Helene. Only the driving range has been able to operate. But now there is great activity that looks like the course is being rebuilt. I think the property belongs to the airport, and it is contracted out for management. Who is paying for this work, and when might the course be ready again for play?
My answer: I do miss playing this course, mainly because it’s not often I get a chance to hit a wayward shot onto an interstate, in this case I-26. Usually my drives are confined to the woods or a simple two-lane road.
Real answer: In short, a lot is going on at Broadmoor, which is located off Airport Road about a mile from Asheville Regional. The airport does own the property, but it leases the golf course to a company, DreamCatcher Hotels, which operates the golf course and plans to build a hotel on the property.
Zeke Cooper, president and CEO of DreamCatcher, told me his company has a 50-year lease, and it is committed to site improvements.
“As always planned, we are developing a hotel on the property, which we plan to start site work on later this year,” Cooper said via email.
Tropical Storm Helene inundated the Broadmoor Golf Links course, causing over $10 million in damage. // Photo provided by DreamCatcher Hotels
Helene, which struck our area Sept. 27, inundated the golf course and clubhouse. The French Broad River is close by, and the property is, as the name implies, relatively flat.
“The golf course lost over 1,000 trees and had 12-18 inches of silt covering 60-70 percent of the course,” Cooper said. “The first step was to remove all of the tree debris and remove the silt.”
The company finished that in April, and golf course reconstruction started shortly thereafter.
“The clubhouse had two feet of water on the first floor, with the basement completely submerged,” Cooper said. “The maintenance and irrigation buildings were submerged, resulting in total losses of the buildings and all equipment within them. It was a mess!”
Fortunately, they did have flood insurance. Cooper said total damage exceeded $10 million.
“So a lot of the work is being paid for with insurance funds, as well as our own money,” Cooper said. “We do not have an opening date yet, but expect to reopen in spring of 2026.”
For the golfers out there, Cooper gave a detailed breakdown of all the work they’re doing:
On the golf course: Stripping all greens surfaces, adding in new greens mix and reseeding with bent grass. All greens are completed and currently growing in. The 11th green was completely destroyed, as well as some tee boxes. Those have been rebuilt and are growing in.
All of the fairways and tees have been stripped of silt, regraded and tilled. All of these areas are currently growing in with Bermuda grass.
All of the bunkers were stripped, regraded and rebuilt with new drainage and sand. Sod was used around every greens complex and all bunkers, with the work completed about a month ago.
Tropical Storm Helene left behind 12 to 18 inches of silt on the Broadmoor Golf Links course in the Fletcher area. Workers had it removed by April, and the company that operates the course is rebuilding. // Photo provided by DreamCatcher Hotels
The irrigation electrical system was destroyed, and has now been replaced. New irrigation pumps have been operational the last couple of months. Workers also had to clean out and replace drainage systems, along with lots of bank restabilization.
Driving range: “We were able to open the driving range in a temporary capacity while work was being undertaken on the course,” Cooper said. “We closed the range on Aug. 11, in order to fix damage from the flood. It is currently under construction and we hope to reopen it in the next three to four months. No timetable, yet, as it’s weather dependent this late in the season.”
Clubhouse, maintenance buildings: The company gutted, cleaned and rebuilt the clubhouse. “We are close to hopefully reopening the clubhouse and restaurant in the next two months,” Cooper said. “We are working on finalizing some construction items for a full Certificate of Occupancy, as well as waiting on furniture, fixtures and equipment.”
The maintenance and irrigation buildings are completed and in use, Cooper added.
Question: What is going on with the FernLeaf Community Charter School in Fletcher? I’ve seen they’re putting back in mobile classrooms in the area that flooded, and it looks like it’s close to reopening. I thought they moved all the students to their location further south that sits on top of a hill?
My answer: I suspect all of the new mobile classrooms are actually barges. Pretty ingenious, really.
Real answer: Back in April I wrote about FernLleaf, the flooding at its location off Howard Gap Road in Fletcher, and the school’s plans to rebuild. Helene’s floodwaters filled the buildings with up to six feet of water and swept some of them off their foundations, Nicole Rule, communications, marketing and events coordinator for the school, said then.
On Monday she had some happy news about FernLeaf’s “second act.”
FernLeaf Community Charter School, which sustained major damage at its “Creek Campus” elementary school location in Fletcher, has reopened with new modular buildings. // Photo by Nicole Rule of FernLeaf Charter School.
“On Aug. 13, FernLeaf Community Charter School in Fletcher reopened its Creek Campus — 321 days after Hurricane Helene’s catastrophic flooding swept our main buildings off their foundations and left the campus under several feet of water,” Rule said via email. “In that time, over 430 elementary students and their teachers relocated to our Wilderness Campus (previously home to middle and high schoolers), where they continued learning without missing a beat.”
Rule said, “Community partners, including general contractor Beverly Grant and even the Carolina Panthers Charities (with a $20,000 grant), rallied to help us rebuild.
“While one building is still under construction due to this summer’s unrelenting rain, the reopening marks a milestone for our students, families, and the broader Fletcher/Asheville community,” Rule said. That building should be ready by the end of September.
Michael Luplow, FernLeaf’s executive director, said the school’s “journey has been a powerful demonstration of what we can achieve when we come together.”
“We are immensely grateful for the unwavering support of our students, families, staff, and the broader community,” Luplow said in the press release. “The re-opening of the Creek Campus is not just about a new set of buildings; it is a celebration of our collective spirit and our enduring mission to provide an innovative, inspiring education to our students.”
By the way, FernLeaf did rebuild on the same footprint, which is close to Cane Creek. But this is all approved.
“Since Fern Leaf had previously been constructed in a manner that met our current elevation requirements, they are permitted to go back in at the same elevation,” Town of Fletcher Planning Director Eric Rufa told me in April. “I have encouraged them to go higher, but current circumstances with regard to grade and ADA requirements may hinder that.”
The school did have flood insurance.
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Asheville Watchdog is a nonprofit news team producing stories that matter to Asheville and Buncombe County. Got a question? Send it to John Boyle at jboyle@avlwatchdog.org or 828-337-0941. His Answer Man columns appear each Tuesday and Friday. The Watchdog’s reporting is made possible by donations from the community. To show your support for this vital public service go to avlwatchdog.org/support-our-publication/
Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.
Political Bias Rating: Centrist
The content presents factual information about local community issues, such as flood damage and rebuilding efforts at a golf course and a charter school, without expressing partisan opinions or advocating for a particular political ideology. The tone is neutral and focused on reporting details relevant to the community, reflecting a balanced and nonpartisan approach.
SUMMARY: Brooke Johnson, 29, became the first woman to skateboard across the U.S., completing a nearly four-month, 3,000-mile journey from Santa Monica, California, to Virginia Beach. Motivated by a promise to her late stepfather, Roger, who suffered a spinal cord injury and encouraged her to skate across the country, Brooke fulfilled her goal while raising over $54,000 for spinal cord research. Despite emotional and physical challenges, she felt Roger’s support throughout. At the finish line, she wore a necklace containing his ashes, symbolizing their shared journey. Brooke plans to rest before deciding her next adventure. Donations continue via “Brooke Does Everything.”
Brooke Johnson traveled by skateboard from California to Virginia Beach over 118 days to raise over $50000 for spinal cord injury …
www.thecentersquare.com – By Alan Wooten | The Center Square – (The Center Square – ) 2025-08-18 08:01:00
Hurricane Erin, which rapidly intensified from Category 1 to Category 5 over the weekend with winds near 160 mph, weakened slightly to Category 4 on Monday while remaining offshore. At 8 a.m., it was about 115 miles north-northeast of Grand Turk and 890 miles south-southeast of Cape Hatteras, moving northwest at 13 mph. Dare County declared an emergency, ordering evacuations for Hatteras Island and the Outer Banks, where NC 12 is at risk of flooding and damage. While Erin is expected to miss U.S. landfall, North Carolina’s coast remains within its wind field amid ongoing recovery from Hurricane Helene.
(The Center Square) – Erin, once a Category 5 hurricane over the weekend that more than doubled wind speed to nearly 160 mph, on Monday morning remained on a path to miss landfall of the United States though not without forcing evacuations in North Carolina.
At 8 a.m., the Category 4 hurricane was just east of the southeastern Bahamas, the National Weather Center said, about 115 miles north-northeast of the Grand Turk Islands, and about 890 miles south-southeast of Cape Hatteras. Erin was moving northwest at 13 mph, forecast to be going north by Wednesday morning while parallel to the Florida panhandle.
Erin had 75 mph maximum winds Friday at 11 a.m., a Category 1, and 24 hours later was near 160 mph and Category 5. It has since gone to a Category 3 before gaining more intensity.
On the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale, Category 1 is 74-95 mph, Category 2 is 96-110, Category 3 is major and 111-129 mph, Category 4 is 130-156 mph, and Category 5 is greater than 157 mph. While the most-often characterization of Atlantic basin cyclones, the scale is without context on storm surge – a key factor in damage at landfall.
Dare County on Sunday declared an emergency with evacuations ordered for Hatteras Island and the Outer Banks. N.C. 12, the famed 148-mile roadway linking peninsulas and islands of the Outer Banks, is likely to go under water and parts could wash away – as often happens with hurricanes.
NC12 begins at U.S. 70 at the community of Sea Level and runs to a point just north of Corolla and south of the Currituck Banks North Carolina National Estuarine Research Reserve. Two ferries, Hatteras Island to Ocracoke Island and Cedar Island to Ocracoke Island, are part of the route.
Nearly all of North Carolina’s 301-mile coastline is within the outer wind field projection from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Hurricane Center. The greatest speed, however, is 20 mph.
Erin’s rapid intensity is among the greatest on record, and particularly so for prior to Sept. 1. Hurricane force winds (74 mph) extend 60 miles from its center.
By midnight Thursday into Friday, the storm is expected to be past a point parallel to the Virginia-North Carolina border and gaining speed away from the coast.
The storm’s miss of the state is particularly welcome in light of Hurricane Helene. Recovery from that storm is in its 47th week. Helene killed 107 in the state, 236 across seven states in the South, and caused an estimated $60 billion in damage to North Carolina.
Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.
Political Bias Rating: Centrist
The content provided is a straightforward news report on Hurricane Erin, focusing on meteorological facts, evacuation orders, and recent hurricane impacts in North Carolina. It presents detailed information about the storm’s strength, projected path, and historical context without expressing any opinion or advocating for a particular political viewpoint. The language is neutral and factual, offering updates from official sources and avoiding ideological framing. Thus, it reports on the situation without contributing any discernible political bias or ideological stance.
