Bob Hunter: "I will not tolerate untruths about my opponent"
Published July 20, 2014
by Doug Clark, Greensboro News-Record, July 19, 2014.
I want to highlight one of the videos I mentioned in myprevious post. It features Court of Appeals candidates Sam J. (Jimmy) Ervin IV and Robert N. Hunter Jr., who are running against each other for an open seat on the N.C. Supreme Court.
The two have been colleagues for nearly six years, hearing many cases together. Hunter refers in the remarks, made to the North Carolina Bar Association, to Ervin as "my good friend."
When he ran for the high court in 2012, Ervin was hit by negative ads financed by an independent political organization. Similar attack ads were run by the same group against Justice Robin Hudson in her primary campaign this spring. Ervin said he expects more of the same this fall. I fear he's right.
In his turn at the podium, Hunter -- a Greensboro native who practiced law for many years here -- made a remarkable statement. While defending our system of electing judges and the freedom of speech that comes with campaigns, he said this:
"I will not tolerate any untruths about Jimmy Ervin in this campaign."
I take that to mean he will denounce independent organizations running smear campaigns of the type run against Hudson or Ervin himself two years ago.
That's important. Too often, candidates who are the beneficiaries of such ad attacks wash their hands of them, proclaiming they have no association with or control over those behind the attacks. Yes, but they can speak out against them and help set the record straight. Doing so would be the best way to discourage those campaigns in the first place.
Ervin and Hunter are not only colleagues and friends. They're both good judges, and the state would be well-served by either man's election to the Supreme Court. Voters should beware of efforts to malign either one.
As voters, we should not tolerate untruths spewed against any candidate.
