It hasn’t been a great week for Roy Cooper. Protestors dressed as criminals he released from prison crashed his early voting press conference as he defended his record on early releases. And now there’s three more must read stories about Radical Roy Cooper. Check out the headlines and excerpts below:
- Washington Free Beacon: “Meet the Convicted Murderers and Child Rapists Walking Free After Making Roy Cooper’s ‘Early Release’ List”
- Just the News: “Former North Carolina governor deletes post showing him using ID to vote in NC primary”
- North State Journal: Education lottery funding for schools dropped under Roy Cooper and donors Cooper appointed to commission
Washington Free Beacon: “Meet the Convicted Murderers and Child Rapists Walking Free After Making Roy Cooper’s ‘Early Release’ List”
In total, 51 North Carolina convicts serving life sentences for first-degree murder, second-degree murder, or first-degree rape are named in the Cooper ‘early-release’ list[.]
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Tony D. Hartsell strangled and beat the 84-year-old North Carolina woman who lived across the street from him before stabbing her 44 times, mutilating her body beyond recognition. A jury found Hartsell guilty of first-degree murder in 1995 and sentenced him to life in prison.
[…]Lorenza D. Norwood, who was found guilty of first-degree murder in 1994 after he doused a man with gasoline, set him on fire, and watched him burn to death… And in April 2021, he walked out of prison a free man.Jervon K. Wilks was sentenced to life in prison in 1993 for sexually abusing a seven-year-old handicapped child. He, too, was included on the Cooper “early-release” list. Wilks walked free in 2021. Wilks wasn’t the only child rapist on the list.
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Zarutska’s killer, career criminal Decarlos Brown, was among the 3,500 inmates on the Cooper “early release” list, Fox News reported.
Just the News: “Former North Carolina governor deletes post showing him using ID to vote in NC primary”
Former North Carolina Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper deleted a social media post Thursday that appeared to show him presenting an ID in order to vote in the state’s primaries as early voting kicks off statewide.
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Cooper vetoed legislation as governor that would have required identification to vote in state elections, and that he refused to express support for the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act on Thursday, which requires individuals to present proof of citizenship to register to vote and requires Americans to show ID when voting.
North State Journal: Education lottery funding for schools dropped under Roy Cooper and donors Cooper appointed to commission
Campaign finance records show that all the members appointed by Cooper made donations to his campaigns over the years, with Tony and Ripley Rand contributing the most with more than $35,700 across two decades.
A recent audit by the North Carolina Office of the State Auditor revealed that contributions to public education from the state lottery have decreased over the past three years, even as total lottery revenues have increased significantly.
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When the North Carolina Education Lottery was signed into law in 2005… legislation specified that “at least” 35% of revenue should be transferred to the Education Lottery Fund, which supports school construction, transportation and staffing needs
[…]However, the 2007 state budget bill modified the 35% requirement, changing it from a mandatory minimum to a guideline. One of former Gov. Roy Cooper’s Education Lottery Commission appointees was behind that change.
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During his time as governor, Cooper appointed five of the nine current members of the North Carolina Lottery Commission, including the current chairman, Ripley Rand, who was appointed to the commission in 2021 and elevated to chair in 2022.