Rocky Mount, N.C. Mayor Sandy Roberson is running for U.S. Congress, and he has hired an anti-Trumper to be his top consultant as he attempts to obscure his history of corruption while serving in his position.
Roberson’s most recent scandal shows his failure to be fiscally responsible. He spent tens of thousands of dollars on a city retreat at the lavish Omni Grove Park Inn in Asheville in 2021 as families were struggling to make ends meet due to pandemic-related concerns. He has also been pilloried by watchdogs for his lack of transparency and rank dishonesty on the cost of the retreat.
“Obviously, it went over $51,500, or 270-something percent,” retired banker Tom Harris said during public comment last year. “And that is just not a good way of how our city manages the taxpayers’ money.”
Additionally, the North Carolina Office of the State Auditor conducted an investigation into the city government of Rocky Mount after hundreds of complaints. They found a tremendous amount of corruption and incompetence in the city government, including one city councilman who reportedly was allowed to write off $47,000 in utility bills by the city due to their political connections.
Roberson denied accountability after the findings of the audit were released. He even had the audacity to cry racism in an attempt to evade culpability.
“The majority of the City Council have responded that they question the validity of these numbers and do not believe this audit was performed to the highest standards by the N.C. State Auditor,” said Roberson. “Furthermore, they believe that this was a targeted audit aimed at black leadership of our community.”
Considering his history as Mayor, it should come as no surprise that Roberson hired an anti-Trump consultant to run his Congressional campaign. Roberson hired Brad Crone, who serves as founder and president of Campaign Connections, to help him dupe Republican voters in his gambit to seize the nomination.
While appearing on 103.7 WTIB-FM in January, Crone told Talk of the Town host Henry Hinton that he believes President Donald Trump’s leadership has caused the Republican Party to develop “a truth problem and a fact problem.”
While talking about the “Republican Party’s radical fringe issues,” Hinton said that “the Republican Party has a Trump problem.” Crone wholeheartedly agreed with the sentiments.
“And it has a truth problem and a fact problem, and you got to admit there was a riot at the Capitol,” Crone said.
Crone and Hinton then continued on to talk about how awful the Jan. 6 election fraud protest was, echoing Democrat talking points about the demonstration being a possible “insurrection.” Hinton also talked up former NC Governor and establishment favorite Pat McCrory while denigrating Trump-endorsed U.S. Senate candidate Ted Budd of North Carolina, who is a sitting Congressman and member of the House Freedom Caucus.
“Pat McCrory is a long-time personal friend of mine for 14 years,” Crone said, refraining from trashing Budd even though he said he felt McCrory would beat him in the primary.
That clip of Crone can be seen here:
Roberson is being challenged for the Republican nomination in North Carolina’s 2nd U.S. Congressional District by Sandy Smith, who has been endorsed by Rep. Madison Cawthorn, long-time Trump confidant Roger Stone, and Arizona state senator Wendy Rogers.