'They thought they bought us.' Democratic donors split from incumbents in divisive primary.

Four years ago, Democrats seized control of Wake County's governing body on a promise of supporting public education. Now, the same issue is driving an increasingly polarizing primary — and putting those same Democrats in jeopardy.

The five Wake County commissioners who voted in favor of a budget that didn't include everything the Wake County Public School System said it needed are the same five commissioners now facing a Democratic challenger in the May 8 primary.

Only commissioners Jessica Holmes and Greg Ford, both of whom advocated for more school funding from the county, are moving on unscathed to the general election in November.

And several Democratic donors who supported commissioners John Burns, Matt Calabria, Sig Hutchinson and Erv Portman are now putting their political power and checkbooks behind the opponents of those four. But the incumbents say this is an effort by just a few individuals who are trying to make the primary appear more divisive than it really is.

"They thought they bought us," Hutchinson said. "And because they thought they bought us, they thought they could tell us what to do. And I’m sorry, but it doesn't work that way. We are proud of our record on public education. And so what happened is they decided, in my view, to try to buy someone else."

Former school board member Susan Evans is challenging Portman while political newcomers Vickie Adamson and Jeremiah Pierce are challenging Burns and Hutchinson, respectively. Former commissioner Lindy Brown is challenging Calabria.

Commissioner James West is also facing a primary challenger — Robert Finch Sr. — but West hasn't faced the same organized opposition as the other four.

Those four challengers are being supporting by two prominent donors: Ann Campbell, a former pharmaceutical executive and education advocate, and Dean Debnam, a liberal activist and owner of Public Policy Polling. Campbell also helped create and chairs the Women Awake Political Action Committee, which has endorsed Adamson, Brown, Evans and Holmes. According to campaign finance reports, both she and her husband, John, have already donated $5,200 to Evans' campaign.

Debnam said both he and his wife have also made the maximum contributions allowed to Evans, Adamson and Brown and $2,600 each to Pierce. They've both also donated the maximum to the Women Awake PAC and to his own PAC, Wake Citizens for Good Government to support the challengers.

"If I donate to you, I donate to you because I expect you to keep your word and do your job," Debnam said. "Right? And if you don't do that job, I replace you. So I think it is fair to say I did help put them in their seats, and if I can help get them out of their seats, I will."

Disagreements over funding

At the crux of the debate is the incumbents' record on public education.

"Multiple men on the Wake County (Board of) Commissioners – men who ran for office on a progressive platform including a pledge to strongly support public education and undo years of inadequate funding – have failed to fully fund the well-documented needs of WCPSS," said information provided by Campbell on behalf of Women's Awake.

Local school boards don't have taxing authority and rely on state and local money to cover the cost of public education. The last time the school board's request was fully funded by the county was in fiscal year 2013-14, when commissioners voted to give $9.1 million in additional funding to the school system for a total of $327.7 million. Since then, the county commissioners have allocated more than $100 million in additional money, but they haven't fully met the school board's request.

Last year the commissioners voted to increase the school funding by $21 million over the previous year, but it feel short of the $45.2 million in additional money the school board was asking for. This year, the school request could be just shy of $60 million over the current year.

"Our children have been left behind by the Republican General Assembly and Republican commissioners before (the incumbents)," Debnam said. "It's their job to catch them up. We live in a rich county, and we have one of the lowest tax rates of any county in the state."

Local Democrats care about meeting the school board's full request, Debnam said, adding that the incumbents are "out of step with the people."

To prove his point, he commissioned a poll last fall that asked likely Democratic voters in the primary who'd they pick between one of the incumbents and an unnamed female candidate who fully supported schools. The unnamed candidate won every time.

The four incumbents — Burns, Calabria, Hutchinson and Portman — all said the county had made tremendous progress toward improving funding for public education and that those same donors would have been happy four years ago with a promise of allocating more than $100 million in additional funding to the school system.

"There is no county commission that has ever done more for public schools, no matter how you slice and dice the numbers," Calabria said.

'I will never go away'

Those years of additional funding to schools have coincided with property tax rate increases. Incumbents say they have to be mindful of increasing the rate too fast.

The back and forth between candidates, donors and others have spilled over into social media. In a progressive-leaning Facebook group, Burns and Debnam traded comments in which Debnam called Burns a "liar pure and simple."

"But what really makes me laugh my ass off is that you are running against me and nobody can vote for me and I will never go away," Debnam said on Facebook.

Debnam says he stands by the comment and would tell any politician the same thing.

"I am happy to have a primary," Burns said. "I don't mind having a primary. What I mind is multiple contributions by the same people being made to the same candidates through PACs and other organizations in an attempt to skew the debate and make it appear there is more dissent then there actually is. I think there are some folks who are upset with me and doing what they can and that's Democracy and politics, but I am confident that folks will see the good things we have done as a county."

It's not the first time Debnam has thrown his political weight behind a local issue. He bankrolled a campaign against several Raleigh City Council candidates in 2015 for their support of outdoor dining in downtown Raleigh, coining the infamous "drunktown" advertisements. Debnam and Campbell also played major roles in in helping Democrats regain control of the school board in 2011.

"I think it comes down to a classic Democratic fight where we all agree to where we want to get," Portman said. "What we don't agree on is how to get there."

The disputed park vote

Another sticking point for education advocates, has been the four candidates' support of a proposed park in southern Wake County.

Earlier this month, Holmes, Ford and West called on their fellow board members to distance themselves from what they call a "pay-to-play" campaign event related to the controversial plan to build the park.

Burns, Calabria, Hutchinson and Portman voted in favor of a plan to turn the former Crooked Creek Golf Course near Fuquay-Varina into a county park last fall, but a second vote is still needed to allocate money for the project.

Supporters of the project say it is badly needed in a growing part of the county, while opponents said money would be better spent on public education, affordable housing or mental health care.

"The appearance of such (a campaign) event borders on unethical conduct and undermines the impartiality and fiduciary responsibility of the board, and we have notified the county manager and the county attorney of our concerns," the statement from the three commissioners said. "The board of commissioners should make every attempt to avoid the perception of a conflict of interest and should strive to serve all residents with integrity and fairness."

All four of the commissioners who were targeted in the statement said it was no different from other neighborhood groups or organizations and a part of the political process.

"I don’t think there is any ethical question there unless I were to pledge to vote a certain way for a certain amount of money," Burns said. "That would be illegal. That would be unethical. And I would never do that. And being accused of that as an attorney whom ethics is the most important thing for my professional reputation — I want to make it clear that there is nothing to that accusation. I value my ethical reputation very highly, and never had it questioned."

Anna Johnson; 919-829-4807; @anna_m_johnson

Early voting has started

Early voting started Thursday and will continue through the May 8 primary. The deadline for the first quarter campaign finance reports is April 30.

This story was originally published April 19, 2018 at 12:13 PM with the headline "'They thought they bought us.' Democratic donors split from incumbents in divisive primary.."