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Andrew Feinberg
White House correspondent
North Carolina Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson did not vote to pass an emergency relief declaration as Hurricane Helen headed toward the state, public records show.
Robinson, who has been rocked by public scandal in recent weeks, missed the vote on Sept. 25, shortly before the storm arrived, devastating communities and killing at least 160 people in multiple states.
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said Tuesday that his office is working with the state Information and Referral Service to determine the number of missing people, but that “more deaths” are expected.
Records from the governor’s office show that a consent request for an executive order was sent on Sept. 24. Cooper needed approval from other elected officials to exercise certain powers under the state’s emergency management law.
The approval enables the governor to more easily mobilize rescue vehicles, order evacuations and initiate other emergency procedures by waiving some state transportation regulations for heavy vehicles.
Mark Robinson has been involved in a series of scandals, but he insists that he did nothing wrong (AFP)
The final record shows that the order was approved by all other state officials, including the Secretary of State, Treasurer, and Attorney General, most of them within an hour. Robinson did not respond.
However, he has spent recent days calling on Cooper to do more, including deploying more resources and National Guard personnel to lead additional search and rescue teams. “Stop waiting for federal resources and allow private industry to assist in rescue, recovery and infrastructure repair efforts immediately,” he added in a social media post on Tuesday.
After news that he had not commented on the emergency order was revealed in the media on Wednesday, Robinson again took aim at Cooper and other Democrats, accusing them of not paying attention to preparing for the storm ahead of time.
“When Hurricane Helen was making its way to North Carolina, Governor Cooper was too busy reaching out to wealthy New Yorkers to care about preparing for the storm,” he wrote.
“Now Democrats like Cooper, Josh Stein, and Joe Biden want to hide behind bureaucratic decisions that get passed automatically — instead of getting out and working to help the people who need it most. I will not stand for this.
“While they play politics, my team and I remain committed to doing everything we can to help our neighbors in the wake of this devastating storm.”
Robinson, who recently found himself at the center of a public scandal, is currently running against Democratic gubernatorial candidate Josh Stein to replace North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper. Robinson’s campaign has had somewhat of a hiccup since the scandal.
Earlier this month, a CNN investigation accused Robinson of posting racist and sexist comments on a porn website called Nude Africa. The investigation claimed he linked Robinson through an email address and screen name to find the comments.
The shocking comments showed the user calling himself a “Black Nazi” and confirming his desire to own slaves. Additionally, the commenter described vulgar and graphic comments about their sexual habits, according to CNN.
Robinson denied making the comments and said he had hired a law firm to investigate the matter.
However, Republicans are seeking to distance themselves from Robinson in the wake of the report, with Donald Trump refusing to mention Robinson’s campaign despite repeatedly supporting him over recent years, at one point calling him “Martin Luther King on steroids.” Dozens of Robinson’s staff have resigned, both on the campaign trail and within his office.
