By Gordon Anderson and Richard Sullins | gordon@rantnc.com | richard@rantnc.com
Republican Charles Taylor has filed a complaint to the North Carolina Republican Party claiming that Jim Womack – who temporarily stepped aside as Lee County GOP chairman in January – is still at the helm of the organization, and used party resources to benefit his wife’s campaign for the North Carolina House of Representatives.
Taylor, a Sanford City Councilman, is running against Lee County Board of Education Chair Sherry Womack to replace outgoing Rep. John Sauls as the Republican nominee for the N.C. House’s 51st District. The winner will face Democrat Tashera Nichols McDuffie and unaffiliated candidate April Montgomery. District 51 covers all of Lee County and part of Moore and is rated by the Civitas Partisan Index as R+11, or “safe Republican.”
On Thursday, Taylor posted a letter to social media that he sent to North Carolina GOP Chairman Jason Simmons asking him to “help begin proceedings to remove Mr. Jim Womack from the office of Chairman of the Lee County Republican Party.”
The letter raises a number of concerns about Womack – who The Rant reported in January had temporarily stepped aside as Lee GOP chairman to help his wife’s campaign – allegedly using “party resources to endorse his own handpicked slate of candidates for his Conservative Coalition NC voter guide.”
The letter indicates that the “Jim Womack Conservative Coalition NC” Facebook page lists the address of the Lee County GOP – 101 S. Steele St. in Sanford – as evidence that the organizations are intermingled. Taylor further argues that Womack used the local GOP’s email list to “solicit volunteers to hand out the Conservative Coalition NC voter guide, which includes an endorsement of his own wife.”
“On January 15, over one month after Womack’s wife Sherry Lynn filed for the NC House District 51 race, Mr. Womack announced that he had ‘stepped aside’ as Lee County Republican Party Chair,” Taylor wrote. “In reality, that never happened, as evidenced by the letter sent by Mr. Womack to the Lee County GOP volunteer list. Jim Womack’s unethical and unsavory actions should disqualify him from further service as Lee County GOP Chairman.”
On Friday, Taylor posted an “interpretive opinion” from the NCGOP Plan of Organization Committee which indicates there is “no provision within the NCGOP Plan that states that an officer or member can take a temporary leave from their duties.”
“The NCGOP Plan of Organization expressly prohibits using ‘the powers and dignity’ of one’s party office or position in a Republican primary at any level,” the opinion reads. “There is no exception in this provision for an individual who has declared his or herself to be taking ‘a leave of absence.'”
The opinion is dated February 3, two days before Taylor’s letter to the state GOP. The opinion is unsigned, but appears on NCGOP letterhead and is in response to a question from NCGOP 3rd Congressional District Chair Michelle Nix.
Reached for comment, Jim Womack said he is “100 percent in compliance with the NCGOP State Plan of Organization.”
“If Charles Taylor had been active in the Republican Party, he would have known this,” Womack told The Rant in an email. “He is desperate to help his campaign in any way he can. His attempt to disparage the Lee GOP and me will not work on voters. They know his reputation as a bull and a shill for certain special interests. He should stick to the issues and not be playing political games right now. He will lose his race for House 51 because he is failing to connect with voters on issues that matter.”
Noth Taylor and Sherry Womack have rolled out a number of endorsements from prominent Republicans, locally and across North Carolina. Taylor has support from Sauls, as well as North Carolina Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler, and former North Carolina Labor Commissioner Cherie Berry. Womack is backed by former Rep. Mike Stone, former Sheriff Tracy Carter, Donald Trump attorney Cleta Mitchell, and others.
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