Half of the staff working in North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson’s Raleigh office will be out the door on Tuesday, the latest secondary explosion from news last week that he posted racist, sexually explicit and antisemitic comments on a porn site more than a decade ago.
First reported by WRAL, Chief of Staff and general counsel Brian LiVecchi, Director of Communications John Wesley Waugh, Policy Director Jonathan Harris, and Director of Government Affairs Nathan Lewis all intend to resign effective Oct. 1.
Waugh, who serves as the office’s spokesman, did not answer a call to his office Thursday morning. Robinson has made no public statement regarding the looming resignations. The Raleigh News & Observer confirmed the report on Wednesday.
Robinson on Thursday morning announced he has hired Krishana Polite as his new chief of staff. She becomes the first ever Black Female Chief of Staff for the North Carolina’s Lt. Governor’s Office. Polite has served as Robinson’s Deputy Chief of Staff since January 2021.
“What a historic moment!” Robinson posted on X. “Kirshana has been a major asset to our great state for many years. We are blessed to have her leading our administration.”
I am proud to announce Krishana Polite as the first ever Black Female Chief of Staff in the history of North Carolina’s Lt. Governor’s Office.
What a historic moment!
Kirshana has been a major asset to our great state for many years. We are blessed to have her leading our… pic.twitter.com/RGLTcs6KL0
— Mark Robinson (@markrobinsonNC) September 26, 2024
The resignations, which represent half of the Lieutenant Governor’s staff, follow a separate flight by staff of Robinson’s campaign, also following CNN’s report on Robinson’s past online comments, which included praise for slavery, Adolf Hitler and Robinson labeling himself a “Black Nazi.”
Several senior campaign staff members quit over the weekend as fallout from the report settled. The campaign said in a news release Sunday that senior adviser Conrad Pogorzelski III, campaign manager Chris Rodriguez, the campaign’s finance director and the deputy campaign manager “have stepped down from their roles with the campaign.”
Robinson denies any involvement with the comments, made on a pornograhic website between 2008 and 2011, long before he entered politics in 2020. He has hired a lawyer, who previously defended former President Donald Trump through some of his federal legal entanglements, to investigate the claims made in CNN’s report.
On Monday, Robinson said attorney Jesse Binnall and his Alexandria, Virginia-based firm, “have launched a full-scale investigation into the allegations leveled against me by CNN.
“I have offered them complete cooperation and full transparency as they do so,” Robinson wrote in a post on X. “I fully expect the facts are going to come to light quickly, and I intend to utilize every available means to hold CNN accountable for what they have done. The media is working hand-in-hand with Josh Stein to distract the public from the real issues facing the great people of North Carolina. Anything other than a vote for the FULL REPUBLICAN TICKET is a vote for Josh Stein and his record of bloodshed, lawlessness and failure. The choice is obvious, folks.”
Robinson also said he spoke to senior Republicans from across North Carolina on Wednesday morning, before the resignation of state employees from the Lieutenant Governor’s Office was made public.
State GOP leaders have largely stuck by their candidate for Governor or declined to comment, though some have begun to demand answers on behalf of voters.
“This morning I spoke with Republican leaders across the state and made it clear: This is an election about policies, not personalities,” Robinson wrote on Wednesday on X. “Now is not the time for intra-party squabbling and nonsense. We have 41 days to make our case – we can’t do it without all hands on deck. From President Trump to our local community officials, we must vote Republican.”
