RALEIGH — North Carolina Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper has rescinded a Republican’s appointment to the State Board of Elections, and will now pick another person offered by the GOP for the recent vacancy.
Wednesday’s letter by Cooper’s general counsel to James Carlton “Carr” McLamb Jr. didn’t describe the reason for withdrawing the nomination. Neither did a statement from a spokesperson for the governor.
The withdrawal came after Cooper announced he had chosen McLamb and former state Sen. Tommy Tucker to fill the two seats set aside for Republicans. Previous Republican members David Black and Ken Raymond resigned last month after they said they weren’t given full information about a court agreement the board supported to loosen absentee ballot laws.
In keeping with the law, the state Republican Party offered to Cooper three candidates for each vacancy, and Cooper chose Tucker and McLamb. The letter from Cooper’s attorney William McKinney said the governor would now choose Black’s successor from the other two candidates the state GOP offered for that seat, Jeanette Doran and Stacey “Four” Eggers IV.
Cooper spokesperson Ford Porter said in a release: “The work of the board does not need any more distractions and our office has canceled this appointment and will review the (party’s) other nominees.”
McLamb, a former state government agency attorney, said in his statement that while “I value public service,” he agreed that the board “does not need additional distractions at this critical time.”
