CHARLOTTE — Over the past several months, advertisements have hit Michael Whatley for his connections to a man named Harvey West.
West is the former chair of North Carolina’s First Congressional District for the Republican Party. He also served on the party’s Plan of Organizational Committee, which helps come up with party rules.
Both happened under Whatley’s tenure as NCGOP chair, but West was involved with the party before that.
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West is a convicted sex offender who served six years in prison after pleading guilty to taking indecent liberties with a child.
“Harvey West was a volunteer with the Republican Party. He was a volunteer party long before I ran for chair. He actually opposed me when I ran for party chair very strongly,” Whatley said.
Whatley has distanced himself from West. He accuses Roy Cooper of making West a campaign issue to distract from the COVID-19 settlement Cooper signed as governor that led to the release of thousands of prisoners.
“He does not want to have a conversation about the fact that of the thousands of criminals that he let out of prison, 232 of them had been arrested for, you know, child endangerment, child pornography, for rape, for sexual assault. Ninety-nine of them went on to recommit those same offenses once they got out there,” Michael Whatley said.
The arrest totals referenced by Whatley have not been independently verified by Channel 9.
Cooper says Whatley is trying to rewrite history.
“He should have backed off from Harvey Lee West a long time ago. He appointed Harvey Lee West twice to senior leadership positions in the party, to the point where the Republican Party had to pass a resolution that we’re not going to have child predators in these important positions. We need leaders who understand that you’re not going to put those kinds of people into positions of power,” Cooper said.
Neither NCGOP nor West responded to Channel 9’s request for comment.
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Former NCGOP 11th District Chair Michele Woodhouse says West’s presence was polarizing in the state party.
“Those of us that brought it up were targeted and met with some resistance,” Woodhouse said.
She says Whatley didn’t have control over West being elected as the first district chair, but she says Whatley could have chosen to not appoint West to the Plan of Organization.
“Goodness, he has all the discretion. The state party chair has complete latitude in picking,” Woodhouse said.
She says other chairs, like Robin Hayes, also appointed West to roles but this should never have happened. NCGOP has since passed a rule that bans sex offenders from holding party office. She says she warned people this would be detrimental to the party.
“It frustrates me because you know I am a conservative and a Christian conservative first, who votes Republican, a mother, a grandmother, a woman who fought to get boys out of women’s locker rooms,” Woodhouse said.
Whatley isn’t focused on the line of attack.
“Like I said, that guy was a volunteer. He was elected on his own right in the first district, and, you know, opposed me when I was running for chair,” Whatley said.
Whatley has criticized Cooper for his ties to people accused of sex crimes, including attending a birthday party in 2018 for former state Rep. Cecil Brockman, who is accused of raping a minor. Those charges were filed eight years after the party, and Brockman wasn’t accused at the time of the party. Cooper also called for Brockman to resign when the charges surfaced. Whatley has also criticized Cooper for attending a gala in Charlotte because one of the group’s leaders, Chad Turner, is a registered sex offender.