GOP leaders call for Privette to resign

Move comes after guilty plea in prostitution case

Republican critics are turning against Cabarrus County Commissioner Coy Privette.

County Republican leaders voted to call for Privette's resignation at a Monday night meeting, according to commissioners chairman Bob Carruth, a fellow Republican who was told about the decision.

The move comes less than a week after Privette, 72, pleaded guilty to six counts of aiding and abetting prostitution. Prosecutors said the retired pastor and former state House member paid a 32-year-old woman for sex at two Salisbury hotel rooms on six occasions in May and June.

In a brief interview Monday night, Privette said he was waiting for the committee to inform him of their decision before determining how he will respond.

Despite the political pressure, Privette gets to make the decision about whether he remains in office. The county and his fellow commissioners do not have the legal authority to oust him. The party also does not have any legal say.

Carruth said he asked Privette to resign Sunday.

In an e-mail to Privette, Carruth wrote: "I am asking you to do the honorable thing for your wife, your family, your fellow board members, The Republican party, and the voters and citizens of Cabarrus County and step down."

Privette wrote back that he's received more than 500 cards, letters and e-mails asking him not to resign, according to an e-mail exchange provided by Carruth. Privette wrote he's received only four requests to resign, including Carruth's.

"No final decision has been made," Privette wrote Sunday.

But he acknowledged the county's Republican Party Executive Committee would probably ask him to step down.

"I can understand their position," he wrote. "There is no way that they can give the appearance of justifying my actions."

Commissioner Jay White and County Republican Party Chairman Chris McCartan met Privette at a Kannapolis restaurant Sunday to ask whether he planned to stay on the board, White said Monday.

"We asked him to think about what he should do," White said. "We were rebuffed."

All five Cabarrus commissioners are Republicans, but Carruth and White aren't Privette's political allies. Carruth backed White and Commissioner Grace Mynatt in last year's elections. Privette supported a different slate of Republicans.