N.C. elections board chairman also praised the work of Bob Hall and Democracy North Carolina, which filed the initial report that led to an investigation of the Black campaign:
The realities are that the Black campaign has been subjected to a scrutiny unlike any other political campaign in the history of North Carolina. Yes, we have found it faulty in certain respects. So this board — and I believe the state of North Carolina — owes to Bob Hall and Democracy North Carolina a debt of gratitude.
I also say to the state of North Carolina and the General Assembly that if it is serious about this board enforcing the campaign finance laws, that it needs to make a financial commitment to this board by increasing the number of staff that we’re able to provide to Ms. Strach [the board’s chief campaign finance investigator], who’s gone without sleep on lots of nights, so that this board can do at least a very sporadic random audit of campaigns at least on the state level. Until and unless that day comes, this board is never going to be put into action either without some concerned citizen having spent a whole lot of time at their expense or the campaign being just plum stupid. We’ll never know it, and that’s the reality.
