RALEIGH The North Carolina Republican Party announced Tuesday that it plans to file a complaint with the State Ethics Commission against Rep. Susi Hamilton (D- Wilmington) over her illegal use of state resources to solicit money for an outside group.Using her official state account, Hamilton sent an email October 24 styled as a press release that contained content from Democracy North Carolina, as well as a solicitation for donations to the non-profit group.Democracy NC is a left-leaning advocacy group that brought suit against the State of North Carolina over voter I.D. legislation.Kami Mueller, of the North Carolina Republican Party, will be filing an official State Ethics Commission Complaint Form for Ethics Violations.”This is the ultimate insult to the great majority of North Carolinians who value free and fair elections and who play by the rules,” said Mueller in a statement. “How very ‘Clintonian’ of Rep. Susi Hamilton to operate as if the rules apply to everyone except for her and her radical pet groups of choice, like Democracy NC. All of Democracy NC’s government-solicited corrupted funds should be forfeited immediately.”According to state ethics rules, official state email accounts are for conducting state business only and are banned from use for the promotion of donations to organizations or for electioneering purposes. By using her official state supplied email account to to send an email containing a donation solicitation by an outside group, Hamilton is possibly in violation of Ethical and Principle Guideline 7, which bars the practice.Hamilton is currently serving her third term as a member of the N.C. House of Representatives, representing District 18 which encompasses New Hanover and Brunswick counties, including parts of Wilmington. Her challenger in the 2016 election is Republican Jerry Benton, an disabled Army veteran that was injured during Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan.
