Privette insists he won't resign

Cabarrus commissioner resists mounting GOP pressure

Cabarrus County Commissioner Coy Privette said Friday afternoon he will remain in office, despite a state Republican Party letter urging him to resign.

After receiving the letter Friday, he sent state GOP Chairman Linda Daves the same response he had released to the news media earlier this week.

The statement Privette gave to reporters earlier said he would continue to serve Cabarrus residents. It also said he realized the mistake he made in his private life had affected his reputation.

"This mistake has been dealt with, and I am ready to move forward," the statement said.

The retired preacher and longtime Republican politician pleaded guilty Aug. 22 to prostitution-related charges.

Prosecutors said Privette paid a Salisbury woman for sex on six occasions this year. The 74-year-old former state legislator pleaded guilty to six misdemeanor counts of aiding and abetting prostitution. He was sentenced to probation.

The GOP released Daves' letter to the news media Friday.

"Despite your many years of service to the people of Cabarrus County and the Republican Party, your behavior has severed a public trust, and you have sacrificed the privilege to represent the people of North Carolina," Daves wrote.

"Your confessed conduct is dishonorable to yourself, your family, the people you represent, and our Party. We entrust the leaders in our Party to uphold high ethical standards, and your failure to do so has brought disgrace and dishonor to the entire community."

At their meeting Tuesday, the Cabarrus commissioners will discuss Privette's situation. County Republican officials and the four other commissioners, all Republican, have demanded that Privette resign.

Privette said he plans to attend that meeting and added, "I'm willing to listen to whatever they've got to say."