CHAPEL HILL — Political party officials are deploring a last-minute, dirty trick in the race for Chapel Hill mayor and are calling for local and state investigations into the attack mailing that has been distributed throughout the community in the past week.
In a joint statement released Sunday, Jim White, chairman of the Orange County Democratic Party, and Bill Knight, chairman of the Orange County Republican Party, said the origin of the mailing remains unknown, but its purpose was clear.
Sent to residents of Chapel Hill, the mailing was supposedly from an organization calling itself “CHC PAC.”
In their joint statement, White and Knight said:
“There is apparently no such political action committee registered with the Orange County Board of Elections and no contact information or mailing address on the postcard. The postcard is designed to look like a mailer supporting mayoral candidate Mark Kleinschmidt, and contains attacks on mayoral candidate Matt Czajkowski.
“Frankly, this does not read like a mailing that was intended to benefit either candidate, neither candidate has time to respond to it, and we are greatly disturbed that this was sent in Orange County in the few days before an election. This appears to be an unfortunate and illegal attempt by an unknown individual or group to influence the election for Chapel Hill mayor.
“We do not care whether the responsible parties are Democrats, Republicans, or unaffiliated; this is not the way campaigns are conducted in Orange County, and we strongly condemn the person or persons behind this mailing. This improper electioneering communication may violate both the North Carolina General Statutes and federal mail fraud statutes, and we call on the Orange County District Attorney, the Orange County Board of Elections, and the North Carolina Board of Elections to investigate this matter vigorously and punish those behind this mailing to the full extent of the law.
“We both implore the voters of Chapel Hill to ignore this spurious attempt to influence the election and ask that it not influence their choice either way. Judge the candidates on their positions, not some unwelcome attempt by a third party to sway the outcome.”
