RALEIGH — Attorneys for the North Carolina Supreme Court Justice Republican candidate Jefferson Griffin have filed a motion for a state board of elections member to remove himself from participating in election protest proceedings filed by Griffin in his race.
The motion requests the removal of N.C. State Board of Elections (NCSBE) member Siobhan Millen, who is married to Pressly Millen, the lawyer representing Griffin’s opponent, Associate Justice Allison Riggs.
“Womble Bond Dickinson (“Womble”) represents Justice Riggs — and it has done so both before and after Election Day. Pressley Millen is a partner at Womble, and, leading up to Election Day, he held himself out as Justice Riggs’ lead attorney,” the removal request filing states. “For Judge Griffin’s election protests, however, Mr. Millen has declined to make an appearance and, instead, he has let his two partners — Samuel Hartzell and Ray Bennett — be the face of Justice Riggs’s legal team to this Board.”
The filing says Pressley Millen’s absence from “Womble’s public-facing legal team” is not enough for his wife to avoid a conflict of interest, especially since there is a financial interest involved.
“The Millen family stands to benefit financially from the election-protest proceedings currently before the Board,” the filing says. “Mr. Millen owns a partnership share at Womble, which Ms. Millen disclosed and reaffirmed on her 2023 and 2024 Statements of Economic Interest (“SEI”).”
The North Carolina Republican Party issued a statement supporting Griffin’s motion.
“This motion is about ensuring integrity and impartiality in the election process,” NCGOP Communications Director Matt Mercer said in a press release. “The facts demonstrate a clear conflict of interest that undermines public confidence in the impartiality of the State Board.
“The people of North Carolina deserve to have confidence in the fairness of their elections. Recusing Ms. Millen is a necessary step to safeguard this trust.”
During an NCSBE Board Meeting held Tuesday morning, Millen did not recuse herself or announce any conflict of interest when the Supreme Court case items came up. It was the NCSBE’s legal counsel Paul Cox who brought up the filing to disqualify Millen. Cox’s recommendation was to table the issue and take it up at a later date. The meeting closed without action being taken on outstanding subpoena issues filed by the Griffin campaign, and no future date was announced to handle them.
North State Journal was the first to report on Pressley Millen acting as Riggs’ attorney following the filing of an ethics complaint against Riggs over campaign ads she was running. In the ads, Riggs appears to take a position on abortion rights. The complaint, filed by three statehouse senators, says Riggs taking a position on a topic that may come before the court likely violates the Code of Judicial Conduct.
Third-quarter campaign finance reports for the Riggs campaign do not list prior payments to Womble for legal services. However, legal fees incurred by the campaign in the past few weeks would likely show up on fourth-quarter filings.
A recent 48-hour filing for Riggs’ campaign shows big money from the North Carolina Democratic Party (NCDP). That filing lists an in-kind contribution of $46,853 from the NCDP to Riggs on Oct. 30 and another in-kind donation for $21,940 on Nov. 4. Those two contributions bring the NCDP’s total to the Riggs campaign to more than $2.063 million during the 2024 election.
