Send this page to a friend -- Email the Editor

BY FLORENCE GILKESON: Senior Writer

The campaign manager for a Republican congressional candidate calls criticisms leveled by an opponent regarding Matt McWilliams “a cheap shot by Richard Morgan and his campaign.”

In a telephone interview Wednesday, Cameron De Jong, the campaign manager for Robert E. (Whit) Whitfield, defended McWilliams and praised his work as Web developer for Whitfield, a personal finance attorney based in Durham.

“We are very proud of Matt and the hard work he puts into our campaign,” De Jong said.

De Jong said the allegations by opponent Todd Batchelor reflect ignorance of the constitutional right that an accused person is innocent until proven guilty.

Whitfield and Batchelor are among four Republicans seeking the party nomination for the 4th congressional district, encompassing counties in the Research Triangle Park area. The winner in the Republican primary will face incumbent Congressman David Price, who is unopposed in the Democratic primary.

Moore County is part of the 6th District.

A news release from the Batchelor campaign early this week mentions McWilliams, a former Moore County resident who has been indicted on seven felony charges for allegedly violating state election campaign laws. A Grand Jury indicted McWilliams on four charges of perjury and two charges of obtaining money by false pretenses.

On Wednesday, the Whitfield campaign injected attacks on state House Co-Speaker Richard Morgan into the controversy. Morgan, the Republican representing most of Moore County in the state House of Represen-tatives, has been under fire from fellow Republicans in recent months because of his power-sharing deal with Democrats last year that resulted in his being elected co-speaker.

De Jong described McWilliams as a young, naive person who did not fully understand all campaign election laws when he filed the required paper work with the Moore County Board of Elections two years ago. McWilliams was a candidate in 2002 for a seat on the nonpartisan Moore County Board of Education.

In 2003, he announced that he would run for the Republican nomination for House of Representatives against Morgan, but he later withdrew from the race and moved from the county. The violations date to the 2002 school board election, not the campaign for state House.

Whitfield’s Wednesday news release is sharply critical of Morgan as well as of Batchelor and his comments about McWilliams.

“Todd Batchelor’s unwarranted attack on one of my staff members, Matt McWilliams, was unfortunate,” Whitfield said. “His comments were disappointing to me and my team, especially considering he promised a clean campaign focusing on the issues.”

De Jong added that Batchelor’s comments reveal that “he clearly has no understanding of very simple legal knowledge, that, in America, we are innocent until proven guilty.”

He said this is an effort by Batchelor to distract voters from serious issues that must be dealt with in the legislature.

“Furthermore, it is shameful to see Mr. Batchelor seemingly align himself with Richard Morgan, a man with no principles who has attempted to hijack the conservative values of the Republican Party with his insane hunger for power and outrageous spending urges. Richard Morgan is a modern day Boss Hogg,” De Jong said.

Boss Hogg was a character in the television series “The Dukes of Hazzard.”

Emily Kent, a co-chairwoman of Morgan’s re-election campaign, defended Morgan.

“Richard is a very principled man,” Kent said. “I know Richard. He’s looking out for Moore County, and he’s looking out for North Carolina.”

Kent called herself a conservative Republican but said it is necessary to face political reality when both parties have about the same representation in a legislative chamber. She said the state has been in serious financial condition in recent years and it was essential that the two parties cooperate in getting North Carolina back into fiscal shape.

She said that Morgan took a wise action last year when the House was split evenly between Republicans and Democrats. Kent added that she is baffled about the reasons Republicans in other parts of the state are working so vigorously for Morgan’s downfall.

“Richard realized that the Republicans don’t have enough of a majority to run the legislature,” she said. “I just don’t understand why these Republicans are sabotaging the Republican Party. Richard is really trying to do the best he can for North Carolina.”

When the division is so close, Kent said, cooperation is essential.

“If you can’t work together, you can’t do anything,” she said. “This was a case of Democrats and Republicans working together and trying to put the state back together. We have two leaders who are working together and trying to get our state back to working again.”

Kent is well acquainted with politics and legislative operations. Before moving to Seven Lakes from Albany, N.Y., she spent more than 20 years in graphic design work for New York state senators.

Morgan was involved in legislative work this week and was unable to comment from his office in the State Legislative Office Building in Raleigh. The N.C. General Assembly convened Monday for its budget session. The other co-chairman of his re-election committee, retired Lt. Gen. William Thurman, could not be reached for additional comment.

In the Whitfield news release, De Jong called McWilliams “a tireless worker for this campaign” and said that he “has been instrumental in our efforts.”

De Jong called McWilliams “one of the best political web designers in the business.” He added that the Whitfield campaign stands “by him with confidence that our legal system will work in his favor.”

As for the legal system, De Jong added this comment: “I can only hope that Mr. Batchelor will reread the Constitution and realize that America’s legal system of innocence until guilt is proven is a far cry from his apparent Soviet-style thinking.”

In his news release dated May 10, Batchelor called on Whitfield to disassociate himself from McWilliams. The candidate said he was shocked that his opponent “apparently does not appreciate the seriousness of the charges and the impact on the integrity of his campaign.”

McWilliams is a former webmaster and vice chairman of the Moore County Republican Party. He resigned both positions when he announced his candidacy was state House last year.