Lawsuit threatens to reveal secret maneuvering to bring casinos to North Carolina

Editor's note: This editorial first appeared in The News and Observer, August 21, 2024.

Former Rockingham County Commissioner T. Craig Travis has sued Commissioner Kevin Berger, two other commissioners and the head of the county’s Republican Party alleging that they told campaign lies about him.

But Travis’ defamation and libel lawsuit filed in Wake County Superior Court could end up telling uncomfortable truths. It seeks to bring to light the money and the maneuvering behind the effort to bring commercial casinos to North Carolina. (Indian tribes already operate three casinos in the state.)

This case began when Travis entered this year’s GOP primary in a bid to return to the board. He alleges that the Rockingham defendants lied about his record as a commissioner in social media posts and mailings because he opposed a rezoning plan that would have cleared the way for a casino. He lost to Berger by three votes.

Subpoenas from Travis seeking information from key players in the casino effort have moved the defendants to seek a protective order to limit the requests.

Craig Schauer, an attorney for the defendants, said in a motion for the order, “Rather than conduct discovery on the parties named in the lawsuit, Mr. Travis appears to be using this lawsuit as a pretextual boat to go fishing about casinos.”

Berger is the son of state Senate leader Phil Berger (R-Rockingham). Sen. Berger spearheaded the recent legislative push to bring casinos to Rockingham and two other counties – Anson and Nash – as a rural economic development program. The effort was backed by extensive lobbying and campaign contributions to key lawmakers, but it has been stalled by Republican opposition in the House.

Normally, Travis’ lawsuit would be a local complaint with a slim chance of succeeding given the broad protections for political speech. But Travis is using the lawsuit to cast a wide net that could ensnare political actors well beyond Rockingham County.

The lawsuit names as defendants not only Kevin Berger, commissioners Donald Powelland Mark Richardson and GOP chairwoman Diane Parnell, but also advocacy groups with ties to Sen. Berger and former state Rep. Jason Saine, who recently resigned after serving as the top House budget writer. Saine successfully pushed to legalize sports betting in North Carolina.

The attorney for Travis is Alicia Jurney. She was also the attorney in an alienation of affection lawsuit that named House Speaker Tim Moore for having a relationship with the estranged wife of Scott Lassiter, now a candidate for state Senate. That case was resolved out of court.

Jurney and Schaurer could not be reached for comment.

Given the sensitivity of what the lawsuit is poking into, the defendants may eventually have an incentive to settle it. In the meantime, they have moved to have the lawsuit dismissed.

Failing that, they’ve gone judge shopping, making a request that special Superior Court Judge Clayton Somers – a former chief of staff of Speaker Tim Moore – be named to the case by state Supreme Court Justice Paul Newby.

But it’s a tangled web. Newby’s daughter, Sarah Newby, finance director for the state GOP, played a role in the advocacy group Greater Carolina’s hosting Republican lawmakers on a Louisville, Ky., distillery tour as part of the casino lobbying effort.

Now the defendants want the court to protect “defendants and third parties from unreasonable annoyance and undue burden and expense from Mr. Travis’s abuse of the subpoena power.”

Travis is taking an usually broad approach, but it’s a welcome one. His complaint contains revealing information about a meeting in Maryland between a casino operator and the Rockingham County commissioners. It details campaign contributions related to the casino push and sheds light on the connections between lawmakers and lobbyists.

Government investigators should read Travis’ complaint, his attorney’s requests for documents and communications – and the defendants’ reluctance to disclose them – with interest.

Associate opinion editor Ned Barnett can be reached at 919-404-7583, or nbarnett@ newsobserver.com