NAACP again asks
for Meads’ dismissal

Group alleges Meads
acted unethically

By Reggie Ponder
The Daily Advance

Monday, October 20, 2008

For the second time this year, the Pasquotank County branch of the NAACP has filed a complaint with the State Board of Elections asking that a local elections board member be removed from office.

The complaint, signed by Keith Rivers, president of the Pasquotank chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, alleges Betsy Meads acted in an unethical and biased manner by drafting written position statements in advance of both the March and September hearings on a residency challenge against 4th Ward Councilman Kirk Rivers.

Keith Rivers is Kirk Rivers’ brother.

The NAACP complaint charges Meads “was not acting in good faith and has abused her discretion and limited powers by rendering a predetermined judgment.”

The county Board of Elections ruled 2-1 in Rivers’ favor at the conclusion of the Sept. 25 hearing. Meads cast the dissenting vote and acknowledged having written her position before the board met that day.

Meads told The Daily Advance immediately after the September hearing that while she had written in advance a statement outlining her views based on the evidence presented in March, she had maintained an open mind as she listened to testimony during the second hearing. She said she wanted to be prepared to present her position if no evidence was presented to change her mind.

In an e-mail Monday, Meads explained she limited herself to evidence presented at the initial hearing. Superior Court Judge Alma Hinton indicated testimony at the subsequent hearing was to clarify evidence presented previously, she said.

Meads’ e-mail also states that charges against an elections official can only be filed by an elector.

“Should any elector decide to do so, I look forward to defending myself in a public hearing,” she wrote.

Gary Bartlett, executive director of the State Board of Elections, said the Pasquotank NAACP complaint had been forwarded to the chairman of State Board of Elections Larry Leake.

Bartlett said he didn’t know when the board might act on the complaint but added he didn’t expect a response from Leake this week.

The state board dismissed the Pasquotank NAACP’s previous complaint that Meads had improperly shared information with local Republican official Holly Koerber before a hearing regarding a residency challenge against former Councilman Darryl Stallings Sr.

Stallings resigned from City Council in the face of a challenge to his residency in the city’s 3rd Ward.

In the NAACP’s previous complaint against Meads in March, Keith Rivers claimed the Pasquotank elections board member had failed to show neutrality and therefore should be removed from office.

“You have an obligation to be impartial and not biased,” Rivers said, referring to Meads, in his complaint. “She needs to be removed. It’s unethical. It’s clearly a breach of official duty.”

The State Board of Elections, however, disagreed. In a letter to Rivers in May, Bartlett said Meads hadn’t done anything improper.

“... Meads did not act outside the scope of her duties as an election board member in her actions in gaining information concerning the residency of ... Stallings or in hearing that information when it was brought before the Pasquotank County Board of Elections,” Bartlett’s letter stated.