Central Carolina Community College Board of Trustees Chairman Julian Philpott was reappointed to a seat on the board Monday night with unanimous support from Democrats on the Lee County Board of Commissioners.
Philpott’s reappointment to the board was in question in June after his term expired and the Board of Commissioners voted to appoint Lee County GOP Chairman Jim Womack to the seat he had formerly occupied. At the same time, Republican Commissioner Bill Carver resigned his seat on the college’s trustee board, creating a second vacancy.
On Monday night, Philpott received three votes from Democratic members Mark Lovick, Robert Reives Sr. and Cameron Sharpe. Republicans Kirk Smith, Andre Knecht, and Arianna Lavallee split their votes between Central Carolina Hospital employee Oscar Moreno (Smith) and local hairdresser Lisa Ragan (Knecht, Lavallee).
Carver was absent from Monday’s meeting, allowing Philpott to be appointed with a three vote majority.
Ragan, whose hairdressing business is located in the same building as the GOP headquarters, has posted at least one blatantly anti-semitic comment on Facebook, writing “the majority of Jews” are children of “Lucifer.”
“There is a division among Jews … Jesuits & Messianic Jews,” she wrote in a comment in June of 2020. “The majority of Jews are Jesuits … who’s (sic) father is Lucifer.”
Ragan’s conflation of Jews and Jesuits – an all male Catholic religious order – is confusing, but the reference to being children of Lucifer is a longstanding anti-Semitic trope.
Ragan’s application to serve on the CCCC board, submitted to the county the day of the meeting, indicating that she had “the ability to communicate an innerstanding (sic) for positive growth for both the school & it’s (sic) enrolled students thereby elevating our local community & families to live our best lives.” She listed Womack as one of her references.
The trustee seat Womack was appointed to in June is a four year term. Philpott will serve the remainder of Carver’s unexpired trustee term, which is three years.
Wow
What happened to the days when people in the local chamber of commerce put their heads together and passed along names of Republicans to the various elected boards. People who would be good for business and not divisive? How many more years can the community or the nation stand this?
Julian Philpott has led the CCCC board of trustees for a decade in which it has improved itself and the community immeasurably. Shame on the petty and vindictive politics of the Lee County GOP commissioners.
Amazing that folks not know what they opine. Julian has served CCCC admirably and from personal experience I’m happy to have aboard
I hope I was not misunderstood to be non-supportive of Mr. Phillpott. He is the type of person that thinking business people would want.
How anyone could vote for Ragan is beyond me. I can respect a stripper but not a religious/conspiracy nut who doesn’t even know history and can’t spell.
The business community needs to get rid of those who voted for her.
looks like republicans are committing suicide with some of their choices for public office; no standards!
Lisa Ragan, someone who may or may not have finished high school, who used to dance naked for the soldier boys down at Ft Bragg, who can’t rub two nickles together was the republican option for the community college’s board of trustees? Am I reading this right? Did they want to lose? Why even bother?
It is my understanding than making a pledge to do what is in the best interest of the citizens of Lee County the republican county commissioners made a pledge to the local republican party, aka Jim Womack, to only nominate and vote for registered republicans to serve on boards.