Gary Brinn Files Election Complaint Against Derik Davis | Eastern North Carolina Now

News Release:

    Please find enclosed below copy of Commissioner Gary Brinn's Election Complaint against Derik Davis for Commissioner Campaign filed with the Beaufort County Board of Elections today.

    I am Gary Brinn, candidate for re-election to the Beaufort County Commission and I am filing this election complaint against the Derik Davis campaign.

    1. The Derik Davis campaign used high school students in his campaign to go door to door in Beaufort County prior to February 29. This was reported in the March 24 print edition of the Greenville Daily Reflector and that they were paid by the Davis campaign. This was also subsequently reported the next week in the Washington Daily News. In addition I have heard several anecdotal reports in the community of these kids handing out his campaign literature.

    2. Campaign filings by the Derik Davis campaign showed payments to Ken Robol who led these groups while distributing literature. Reports from Pitt Community College staff investigating Robol and his political activities make it clear he did not pay the students but that they were paid by the Davis campaign.

    3. The Derik Davis campaign has not filed any report of the cash disbursements made to these students for this work. The law requires such payments to be reported in the campaign disclosure reports and identification of those receiving these payments.

    4. The Derik Davis campaign second quarter disclosure report lists no disbursements to these students. The report lists only one payment to Ken Robol and contradicts reports from Pitt Community College and the two major papers here that the Davis campaign paid these students.

    5. The Thursday March 24, 2016 print edition of The Greenville Daily Reflector (page A5) states "The students attend a Beaufort County high school and were paid by the Davis campaign, Nobles said." (Susan Nobles, PCC vice president of institutional advancement)

    6. The Monday March 28, 2016 online edition of The Washington Daily News states "A source familiar with the campaign said they were high school students paid for by the Davis campaign." (Vail Rumley, News Editor The Washington Daily News)

    7. I request a formal investigation by the State Board to determine the facts in this case and reconcile the discrepancies in the reporting of the two major papers here and the reports on file with the county Board of Elections.

    Gary Brinn     July 22, 2016