Greensboro's African American Community Newspaper since 1967
In the midst of the Democratic Party’s euphoria over supporting a Black woman nominee for president of the United States, longtime Democrat Beth Wood, the disgraced former N.C. state auditor who left office in December 2023 after pleading guilty to using a state-owned vehicle for personal errands and allegedly crashing a state-owned car while intoxicated, has now attacked her appointed successor, Jessica Holmes, and endorsed Holmes’ Republican opponent, Dave Boliek. Boliek is a member of the UNC-Chapel Hill Board of Trustees who led the effort to defund and dismantle the school’s DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) policies.
In an interview with Raleigh television station WRAL last weekend, Wood is quoted as saying about Republican Dave Boliek, “He’s got the thinking and the philosophy to run that agency.”
But when asked about the woman Gov. Cooper appointed to replace her nine months ago, Wood said, “She doesn’t have a clue.”
Gov. Cooper, however, still supports his choice.
“Auditor Holmes has been a diligent watchdog for taxpayer dollars and she has worked quickly to ensure the auditor’s office is more effective and transparent in helping government better serve North Carolinians,” says Jonathan Monaghan, Deputy Communications Director in the Governor’s Press Office. “The Governor is grateful for her leadership and service.”
Holmes, who is running in the Nov. 5th General Election to keep her office another four years, has said, “I’m unbossed, unbought and most importantly for this role, I understand the value of a dollar and impact of government services on our everyday lives. We are already seeing tangible results under my leadership.”
In office not even a year, the agency Holmes leads is tasked with being state government’s nonpartisan fiscal watchdog to root out taxpayer dollar waste, has turned in some impressive reports of fiscal abuse in that time, despite experiencing a significant staff turnover after her predecessor left office.
Since being appointed by Gov. Cooper last November, Holmes has led the auditor’s office in uncovering that the communications staff of Fayetteville State University misused university-issued credit cards, racking up nearly $692,000 in questionable charges on personal expenses; that people and pets were permitted to live in the Town Hall of Fremont, as well as “…hundreds of thousands of dollars in local funds were misused or misreported,” according to the News and Observer, and pay records were falsified; along with other pending investigations.
However, that didn’t stop Wood from telling WRAL about Holmes, “You can’t lead what you yourself don’t understand.” Holmes, like Boliek, is not a trained certified public accountant.
But unlike 19 other states, the N.C. state auditor is not required to be a trained CPA, only have experience in running a government office.
Holmes, a Pender County native, UNC-Chapel Hill alumna, and labor attorney, made history in November 2014 becoming the youngest person ever elected as a Wake County commissioner at-large, where she served over one million residents, making sure that their tax dollars appropriately funded much needed services like public education and public safety. She served two four year-terms, making history again, being elected by her fellow commissioners as chairman of the Wake County Commission Board, where she oversaw a $1.5 billion budget.
In November 2020, Holmes lost her bid in a close race to become state commissioner of labor, one of a plethora of Black women that year to lose statewide races. But in August 2021, Holmes was appointed a deputy commissioner on the North Carolina Industrial Commission.
It was after Beth Wood was caught allegedly driving a state-owned vehicle while under the influence, crashing the car, then being indicted, and decided not to run for her fifth term in office, that Gov. Cooper, in December 2023, tapped Holmes to finish out Wood’s unexpired term, making Holmes the first Black woman ever to serve on the N.C. Council of State.
“The gravity of being the first Black woman on the North Carolina Council of State, in a state where my ancestors were slaves, is a humbling honor, Holmes said. “I stand on the shoulders of leaders who have come before me, such as former State Auditor Ralph Campbell Jr., who made history in 1992 as the first African American elected to a statewide constitutional office in North Carolina.”
Holmes has been endorsed by many of the state’s top Democrats like Congresswoman Alma Adams, state Senate Democratic Leader Dan Blue, and of course, Governor Roy Cooper.
Organizations that have endorsed her include Equality North Carolina Action Fund PAC, Pro-Choice North Carolina, the N.C. State AFL-CIO, Lillian’s List and the NCAE.
The Republican who Democrat Beth Wood has chosen to throw her support behind, Dave Boliek, is endorsed by conservatives like the Crystal Coast Tea Party, State Senate Republican Leader Phil Berger, and N.C. House Speaker Tim Moore, among others.
As head of the Budget, Finance and Infrastructure Committee for the UNC - Chapel Hill Board of Trustees, Boliek successfully pushed for the removal of all DEI funding from the institution’s budget earlier this year, transferring $2.3 million to public safety “…to protect the campus from groups that disrupt the university’s operations.”
The move resulted in the loss of the university’s diversity office.
“I think this entire DEI effort has been one of, if not the most divisive things in higher education in modern history,” Boliek said last April. “It cuts against non-discrimination and I don’t see a return on the money being spent, in my experience.”
If elected, Boliek says he wants to create an ‘office of election integrity” to sheriff the state’s voter rolls, voting equipment and operations, similar to what MAGA Republican officials are trying to do in other states.
Wood, is a registered Democrat, but according to sources inside state government, has recently leaned Republican, particularly during the years that she worked with former Republican Gov. Pat McCrory. Wood was first elected to office in 2008, subsequently winning three successive elections.
Last Monday on “X” (formerly known as Twitter), State Democratic Anderson Clayton wasted no time standing strong behind State Auditor Jessica Holmes.
“The N.C. Democratic Party unequivocally, enthusiastically stands behind Auditor Jessica Holmes. As someone who grew up in rural eastern N.C., Auditor Holmes knows the struggles of small communities across our state and will continue to fight for them. Because that what public servants do.”
