Guilford school board members file campaign finance complaint against Take Back Our Schools-GCS

The complaint, filed Monday, alleges that Take Back Our Schools had not taken the steps necessary to spend money in the recent election and has broken state campaign finance laws. That includes requirements that it file reports disclosing its contributions to candidates and its independent expenditures on their behalf.

The group’s treasurer said Take Back Our Schools has recently refiled to correct an error made when it first filed paperwork with the state. And he said that his lawyer said the group does not have to file disclosure forms for its independent expenditures in support of candidates.

“We at Take Back Our Schools stand tall in saying we legally did all we could to help the children and staff of GCS,” the group said in a post-election Facebook post on Wednesday after two of the four Republican school board candidates the group supported won their races.

Democrats Deena Hayes-Greene, the board’s chairwoman, and Winston McGregor, the board’s vice chairwoman, filed the complaint with the help of attorney John Wallace. Hayes-Greene said that no school district money was used to hire Wallace or to file the complaint.

Wallace said lawyers with the State Board of Elections will look at the complaint and may choose to conduct an investigation, which would be confidential.

The state Board of Elections could take various actions. Those could include requiring additional disclosures, imposing a penalty, having candidates give back money wrongfully received, or even referring for prosecution in consultation with the state ethics committee, he said. However, given that investigations are confidential and generally take a while, it is not clear when or if he and his clients will ever learn whether their complaint resulted in anything, Wallace said.

In an interview with the News & Record, Wallace outlined the allegations in the complaint.

First, he said, Take Back incorporated with the state as the kind of nonprofit that’s specifically barred from endorsing candidates. Second, the group made direct or coordinated campaign donations to candidates, without forming a political committee for that purpose, he said. Similarly, Take Back solicited and spent funds to oppose the school bond referendum on the ballot this spring without registering as a referendum committee, he said.

Lastly, he said, the group made independent expenditures in support of candidates without filing disclosures of those expenses to the Guilford County Board of Elections.

He said that under state law, anyone making an independent expenditure of more than $100 to support a candidate must report those expenditures, and that any organization that is allowed to make campaign contributions must also report any donations over $100.

Eugene Parker, the treasurer of Take Back Our Schools-GCS, said he made a mistake in how he filed the group’s articles of incorporation as a nonprofit with the state of North Carolina in 2021. He said the group has recently refiled its paperwork to correct the error. That took place after McGregor and Hayes-Greene publicized last month that the group’s articles of incorporation filed with the state indicated that it was a 501c(3).

Parker said the state responded to the group’s refiling by asking it to file another report, the “articles of restatement for non-profit corporation,” and pay $40.

He stressed that Take Back has maintained on its website and its communications to donors and others that it is a 501c(4), otherwise known as a Social Welfare Organization. That is a type of nonprofit that is allowed to endorse candidates and participate in political activities, so long as that is not its primary activity. They are in no way trying to be a 501c(3), he said.

Parker also shared a document showing that in 2021 the group filed a notice of intent with the Internal Revenue Service to operate as a 501c(4).

He said that Take Back has made independent expenditures in support of candidates, such as having cards made touting the school board candidates the group endorsed. However, he said he believes Take Back does not need to file disclosures with the Guilford County Board of Elections for these expenditures.

“The advice I’m getting from my attorney is we don’t have to do this,” Parker said.

In an interview Wednesday, Parker initially said that the group had not made contributions to political campaigns.

However, as Wallace pointed out, Republican Crissy Pratt, who won the District 2 school board race Tuesday, had included contributions from Take Back Our Schools-GCS in her campaign finance disclosures.

Informed of this, Parker then reached out to Pratt, and shared the following response from her:

“Hey gene, I checked with Deanna, who is my treasurer. There are 2 things on my campaign report which are in-kind donations from Takeback, which means y’all paid for stuff to be done on my behalf but it has to be reported. That should all be totally legal (and should be how the other 3 candidates did it as well).”

Pratt’s disclosure form covering the period of July 1 through October 22 notes an in-kind contribution from Take Back Our Schools worth $249 for advertising in the SE Gazette.

Reached by phone Wednesday evening, Hayes-Greene said that the campaign finance complaint against Take Back Our Schools was motivated in part by the group repeatedly sharing what she termed, “untruths and misinformation,” about the school district. She said the group should face accountability for any campaign finance laws violated, whether intentional or not.

The group has repeatedly criticized the district’s administration and board leadership, including accusations of dishonesty and financial mismanagement.

“… it is still up to us all to keep fighting this evil machine,” the group said in Wednesday’s Facebook post.

Hayes-Greene was unopposed on the ballot in Tuesday’s election and during the primary. However, Take Back had voiced support for a candidate who tried to gather signatures to run as an unaffiliated candidate against Hayes-Greene in District 8.

McGregor chose not to run for reelection. Democrat Alan Sherouse will fill her at-large school board seat in December.