hihlliiiMihuiHiliMiilili'tililullHHhhl WILS 08/20/55 **l,HILL UNC-CH NO 27515-3390 WILSON LIBRARY N C COLLECTION p 0 BOX 3390 CHAPEL HILL VOLUME 95 - NUMBER 18 DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA -SATURDAY, MAY 7, 2016 TELEPHONE (919) 682-2913 PRICE: 50 CENTS N.C. Republican Party chairman Harnett dumped By Gary D. Robertson RALEIGH (AP) - The North Carolina Republican Party’s first black state chairman was removed from his post April 30, the climax of months of conflict with other party leaders who recently censured him for exceeding his authority and trying to crash a GOP website. ‘More than two-thirds of roughly 280 members attending the par ty’s Executive Committee required to throw out Hasan Harnett voted to do so at the private, trial-like meeting in Raleigh that lasted sev eral hours, according to meeting participants. Committee members earlier April 30 found Harnett responsible for violating the OOP’s organizational rules and committing acts of “gross inefficiency.” Federal ruling on N. Carolina voting laws bolsters voter ID HASAN HARNETT The committee later April 30 was considering a replacement for Harnett, who was elected last June with the backing of activists aligned with the tea party. The state’s top elected leaders, including Gov. Pat McCrory, Senate leader Phil Berger and House Speaker Tim Moore, wanted Harnett’s rival to win. Harnett was out of the country April 30 on a previously-an nounced business trip, according to ally Daniel Rufty, chairman of the party’s 12th Congressional District. Jim Womack, a Lee County party official made Harnett’s case before the committee. Womaek confirmed Harnett’s removal but said he wasn’t authorized to com ment more. Before the meeting, about 15 Harnett supporters demon strated outside the building where it was meeting. “NC GOP Elites GO HOME!” read one placard. Executive Committee members petitioned successfully for the emergency meeting after the party’s smaller board of directors cen sured Harnett on March 20, limiting his powers and denying access to the party email. Specifically, the Central Committee accused Harnett of unilater ally trying to lower registration fees to attend next weekend’s state GOP convention without permission, criticizing other party leaders publicly and trying to interfere with the party’s computer system. Harnett’s critics have affidavits suggesting he tried to get a computer professional to crash the convention website and create an alternative site to collect convention proceeds. Harnett said allegations against him are untrue or simply the result of differing views of party rules. A written rebuttal of the charges against him handed out to meeting participants by his “defense team” call the computer-related accusations “innocent activities performed by the chairman with absolutely no malice or impropriety toward the NC GOP or our convention delegates.” An angry and frustrated Harnett emphasized his race and place in state party history when he was locked out of his party email account in early March - before the Central Committee’s censure of him - as part of what was called a server security sweep. “I mean seriously, is this some form of ritual or hazing you would put the first black chairman of the NCGOP state party through?” he wrote in early March to the party’s executive director and treasurer. “Or is it because I am not white enough for you?” Harnett in recent weeks called for a truce with the 50-member Central Committee and proposed terms of reconciliation, including By Gary D. Robertson RALEIGH (AP) - Civil rights and elections attorneys said April 26 they will appeal a fed eral court ruling upholding North Carolina’s 2013 major rewrite of its voting laws, a decision that marks at least a temporary victo ry for another state that requires photo identification to vote. This week’s ruling came after two trials since July and 20,000 pages of court-filed documents. It rejected arguments by the state NAACP, the U.S. Justice Depart ment, churches and individuals that the election changes ap proved by the GOP-led General Assembly disproportionately harmed minority voters. Critics had sued, alleging that North Carolina’s revised voting law was passed to discriminate against poor and minority vot ers in violation of the Constitu tion and U.S. Voting Rights Act. While North Carolina has “sig nificant, shameful past discrimi nation” that extended to voting, the plaintiffs didn’t show the law made it harder for minority vot ers to cast ballots compared to other groups, the judge ruled. “North Carolina has pro vided legitimate state interests for its voter ID requirement and electoral system,” U.S. District Judge Thomas Schroeder wrote in Monday’s decision, siding with the state’s Republican-led legislature. It marked a legal win for one of the 30 states that currently have some kind of voter ID rule now in force. Nineteen have a photo ID mandate, according to the ruling. “We’ve advocated all along that the commonsense voter ID and election integrity reforms that we passed in the General As sembly were constitutional,” said Rep. David Lewis, R-Harnett. He helped guide the 2013 law through the legislature and said it bolsters the integrity of the vot ing system. Lawyers for the state NAACP, the League of Women Voters of North Carolina and others filed notices April 26 of plans to ap peal the 485-page ruling to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Ap peals. Some of the attorneys said Schroeder wrongly determined the provisions didn’t worsen the state’s historical bias against black voters. “We believe the judge’s de ¬ Starting with this year’s March 15 primary, North Carolina re quired those voting in person to show one of six qualifying IDs such as a driver’s license, a pass- port or military identification. North Carolina’s Division of Motor Vehicles provides free identification cards for those who need them to vote, although past trial testimony described obstacles in obtaining that ID. Legislators subsequently passed changes last summer so that those with a “reasonable impedi ment” to obtaining an ID - like disabilities, transportation prob lems or work schedules - could still vote if they signed a form and provide other identifying in formation. Schroeder wrote the state’s voter ID requirement now serves “legitimate state interests ... without imposing a material bur den on any group of voters.” Schroeder also upheld parts of the 2013 law that reduced the number of early-voting days from 17 to 10, eliminated same- day registration during the ear ly-voting period and barred the counting of Election Day ballots cast in the wrong precinct. He fo cused on numbers showing black voters had higher registration and turnout rates in 2014, when many of the changes were being implemented, compared to the last midterm election in 2010. “The 2014 data merely con firm what the remaining data sug gest: that minorities enjoy equal and constitutionally-compliant opportunity to participate in the electoral process,” he wrote. The plaintiffs’ attorneys said focusing on the 2014 election to determine the effect of the law doesn’t take into account other factors. They said an expensive U.S. Senate campaign and voter mobilization efforts by oppo nents of the 2013 law helped boost minority turnout. Federal courts previously al lowed same-day registration and out-of-precinct voting for the 2014 general election while the trial court heard the case. Schro eder allowed such options to continue only through the June 7 congressional primary. Appeals court orders expedited review in voter President Barack Obama talks with Jahana Hayes, 2016 Na tional Teacher of the Year, and Lynadia Whiting, a student of Hayes, in the Blue Room of the White House prior to an event to honor Hayes and Teacher of the Year finalists, May 3. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza) White House: Obama not offended by comedian’s language cision is wrong,” said the Rev. William Barber, state NAACP apologies. But several of Harnett’s predecessors last week publicly president. He called the ruling expressed support for Harnett’s removal, writing that he had “demon strated time and time again that he is not capable ofbeing chairman.” Saturday’s meeting brings negative publicity and vibes for divid ed state Republicans seeking to retain their hold upon North Carolina government in November. Redistricting lawsuits, a tough gubernato rial re-election bid for Pat McCrory and national negative fallout on a new law restricting bathroom use by transgender people and state and local anti-discrimination rules protecting gays and lesbians already are adding to the OOP’s troubles. Harnett’s defense team wrote “the harm done to our party and our candidates this election cycle will be catastrophic” if Harnett was removed unjustly. “almost 500 pages of rational ization for the intentional race- based voter suppression law that everybody knows was written to suppress African American votes.” Voter ID laws in states such as Indiana, Wisconsin and Geor gia have been upheld in court. But pending litigation in North Carolina and Texas could decide whether similar requirements could be struck down based on CIAA will stay in North Carolina despite HB2 claims they violate the U.S. Vot ing Rights Act, a voting law ex- CHARLOTTE (AP) - The Central Intercollegiate Athletic Asso ciation says it won’t move its headquarters, its basketball tournament or other conference championships from North Carolina, despite the state’s controversial new LGBT law. pert said. The 2011 Texas photo ID requirement is expected to be heard by the full Sth Circuit next month. The CIAA said in a statement April 28 that it will instead partner with the NCAA to educate its members on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues as it does on other issues, like graduation rates and concussion management. The Charlotte Observer reports (http://bit.ly/lNZnZ9s) that the CIAA, the oldest African-American sports conference in the U.S., has hosted its annual basketball tournament in Charlotte since 2006 and announced it was moving its headquarters to Charlotte from Vir ginia in 2015. “This is really the second gen eration of voter ID challenges,” said Rick Hasen, a professor at the University of California- Irvine School of Law. “If North Carolina ultimately succeeds ... I expect to see other Republican leaning jurisdictions to pass sim ilar laws.” ID case RALEIGH (AP) - A federal appeals court wants to exam ine swiftly a trial judge’s rul ing this week upholding North Carolina’s voting law changes, which include a photo identifi cation mandate to cast a ballot in person. The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Vir ginia, ordered April 28 ah ex pedited review of April 25th decision by U.S. District Judge Thomas Schroeder. He deter mined voter ID, scaled-back early voting and other changes didn’t discriminate against mi nority voters. The state NAACP, League of Women Voters of North Carolina and others challeng ing the law in 2013 filed appeal notices April 25. The order sets deadlines for May and June for appeal briefs. Any 4th Circuit ruling also could be appealed. The plain tiffs want a resolution in the case so any required changes are made before the November election. BY Kevin Freking WASHINGTON (AP) - The White House said May 2 that President Barack Obama wasn’t offended by comedian Larry Wilmore’s use of a racial slur at Saturday night’s White House Correspondents’ Association dinner. Wilmore concluded his re marks noting progress on race and how much it meant to him that a black man was president. He concluded: “Yo Barry, you did it, my n-—. You did it.” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said he talked with Obama, and Obama appreci ated the spirit of racial progress Wilmore was trying to convey. Earnest said the White House didn’t see Wilmore’s speech beforehand. Earnest also said he’s confident Wilmore used the word by design and was seeking to be provocative. But Earnest said any fair read ing makes clear that Wilmore’s sentiments of racial progress “came from a genuine place.” Wilmore, on his Comedy Central show May 2, noted: “Like the president himself, the reaction was mixed,” a joking reference to Obama’s black fa ther and white mother. “I completely understand why people would be upset about that,” Wilmore said on “The Nightly Show.” “It’s a very charged word -1 get it.” He said one critic, former CNN host Piers Morgan, had misquoted him by saying Wilm ore used the word ending in “er.” Instead, Wilmore pointed out he used it ending in “a,” which he said was a term of endearment some black people use between each other to take back the pow er of the word to denigrate. AP Television Writer David Bauder in New York contributed to this report. 107-year-old woman who danced with Obama gets new ID card WASHINGTON (AP) - A 107-year-old woman who gained Inter net fame for her impromptu dance with President Barack Obama has received a temporary photo identification card after her lack of a birth certificate stymied her earlier efforts to get one. Virginia McLaurin could not obtain a replacement for a photo ID that was stolen years ago because she lacks a birth certificate, The Washington Post reported on April 23. McLaurin, who is black and was born in segregated South Carolina in 1909, told the Post she was birthed by a midwife and her birth date was written in a Bible. On April 26, District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser present ed McLaurin with a new temporary card and announced regulations giving city residents 70 and older more options to obtain identifica tion. New federal regulations have made it harder to get the ID re quired to board airplanes. Without the new ID, McLaurin couldn’t fly to New York or Los Angeles for interviews about her videotaped meeting with Obama that went viral online.

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