(The Center Square) – North Carolinians have voted a certified public accountant into the state auditor’s position every four years since the 2004 election.
Change happened with an unexpected December vacancy. Thee governor appointed Democrat Jessica Holmes, the first Black woman to serve on the Council of State.
Now the lawyer, a failed labor commissioner candidate four years ago, tries to keep her job against Republican Dave Boliek, a lawyer who also has an MBA and is past chairman on the Board of Trustees at UNC Chapel Hill.
Libertarian Bob Drach is also a candidate.
Election Day is 27 days away, early in-person voting starts next week on Thursday, and absentee by mail voting has already begun.
In her campaign, Holmes touts election as commissioner in Wake County, and an appointment as deputy commissioner in the North Carolina Industrial Commission. The latter involved litigation related to Workers’ Compensation Act and Tort Claims Act.
She writes on her campaign website, “As a county commissioner, I championed job creation, workforce development, increased education funding, affordable housing and child care, food security initiatives, living wages and family-oriented policies such as paid parental leave and paid family leave.”
Boliek stumps on “looking after taxpayer dollars” and “stopping wasteful spending.” His campaign website says of his time as UNC trustees chairman, he created the first Audit Committee, balanced the budget and helped eliminate a university operating deficit “for the first time in years.”
It also reads, “While board chairman, Dave led the fight at UNC to eliminate woke diversity and equity policies and create a new School of Civic Life and Leadership to help bring ideological balance to the notoriously liberal campus.”
Holmes earned her law degree and her undergrad at Carolina. In the same year, Boliek earned his law degree and his master’s in business administration from Campbell; his undergrad is also from Carolina.
According to Article V, Chapter 147 of the state’s General Statutes, the auditor has subpoena power for records in order to examine books, records, files, papers, documents and financial affairs of every state agency. It was a 1955 move by the Democratic-majority General Assembly that put the auditor “in a position of independence to review and comment on the operational and financial affairs” of state government, the website for state auditor says.
