Stein ad revives rape-kit backlog issue

In his bid to become North Carolina’s next governor, Josh Stein is highlighting a piece of his record as the state’s elected attorney general. An ad titled “Cold Case,” unveiled in August, cites Stein’s work to clear a backlog of untested rape kits.

It’s an interesting choice of topics for Stein. Some might question the wisdom of returning the rape kit backlog to the electoral spotlight.

In the ad, Robeson County District Attorney Matt Scott recounts the story of a “young teacher … violently assaulted in her home” in 1996. Scott tells viewers “the rape kit was never tested, and the case went cold.”

Stein “cleared the nation’s largest backlog of untested rape kits, including that teacher’s,” the ad explains. Authorities solved the case and put the attacker behind bars.

The story seems simple. It places Stein’s actions in a favorable light.

Yet the ad’s timeline raises questions.

The assault took place in 1996. Stein “cleared the backlog” of untested rape kits in April 2024, according to the Port City Daily news report cited in Stein’s ad. That’s a 28-year gap.

If the state attorney general deserves credit for an arrest tied to testing of rape kits, the same official might need to accept some accountability for allowing kits to go untested for decades.

No one can fault Stein for actions North Carolina’s attorney general took in 1996. Democrat Mike Easley was wrapping up his first four-year term in the office that year. He ran successfully for re-election, then jumped from the AG’s office to the governor’s mansion in 2001.

Easley’s successor, Democrat Roy Cooper, spent 16 years as attorney general before winning his first election to the governor’s office in 2016. Stein, also a Democrat, succeeded Cooper. Stein spent more than seven years as attorney general before declaring that the rape kit backlog had been addressed.

At least one of those men, if not all three, played a role in allowing North Carolina to accumulate the “nation’s largest backlog.”

The Port City Daily article cited in Stein’s ad indicates that a 2017 review found 16,000 untested rape kits, “with almost 11,858 needing review.”

2017 marked Stein’s first year in office. He appears to have inherited a significant backlog from his predecessor, Cooper. Now Stein hopes to follow Cooper into the governor’s mansion. They share political advisers and mirror each other on most public policy issues.

The “Cold Case” ad said nothing about Cooper’s action or inaction in addressing rape kits.

Nor did the ad cite another interesting element of the Port City Daily report. The 2019 Survivor Act, approved by a Republican-led General Assembly three years into Stein’s tenure as AG, provided $6 million to test rape kits. One bill sponsor, the article reminded readers, was Rep. Carson Smith, a former Pender County sheriff and a Republican.

If Stein deserves credit for clearing the rape-kit backlog, so do leading GOP lawmakers. They voted to spend taxpayers’ money to address the issue. Many of those legislators will likely cast ballots this fall for a candidate for governor not named Josh Stein.

There’s another reason why the rape-kit backlog marks an interesting topic for a Stein television ad in 2024. An ad addressing the same topic in 2020 almost led to criminal charges against the AG.

During his re-election bid four years ago, Stein faced criticism about untested rape kits from Republican challenger Jim O’Neill. As Forsyth County district attorney, O’Neill blamed Stein for the ongoing backlog.

Taking the offensive, Stein responded with a 30-second television ad called “Survivor.” It featured one of Stein’s employees, a sexual assault survivor, accusing O’Neill of leaving rape kits “on a shelf” and “leaving rapists on the streets.”

O’Neill filed a complaint with state elections officials, citing a 1931 law against making false statements about election candidates. Wake County’s district attorney prepared to pursue a criminal case against Stein and his top campaign advisers.

Stein filed a federal lawsuit to block the criminal charges. An August 2022 ruling from a split federal Appeals Court panel helped Stein avoid the prospect of prosecution under the rarely used 90-year-old law.

Though Stein won that legal dispute, it’s hard to imagine that he’s interested in dredging up that piece of his recent political past. That’s especially true now as he seeks state government’s highest elected office.

It’s unclear what role, if any, “Cold Case” will play in determining the outcome of North Carolina’s race for governor. But it seems certain that Josh Stein and his supporters are counting on voters to avoid digging into the history behind the ad’s claims.

Mitch Kokai is senior political analyst for the John Locke Foundation.