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Legislator denies speculation he will resign after election
Barnhart calls report ‘completely false’
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Published: October 1, 2008
CABARRUS — Before he passed away last week, Concord attorney and N.C. House of Representatives Democratic candidate Jim Johnson was in the midst of a personal investigation of Republican State Rep. Jeff Barnhart, Democratic Party officials said at a public forum Monday night.
While not his political rival in the upcoming election, Johnson had heard reports that Barnhart, if elected in November, had plans to resign from his elected position for a full-time job as CEO of the nonprofit Cabarrus Community Health Centers, Inc.
And just days before his death, Johnson met with Cabarrus Democratic Party officials to hand over his findings.
In the wake of Johnson's death, the Cabarrus County Democratic Party has submitted his report to the North Carolina Board of Elections.
Johnson's report, obtained Wednesday by the Independent Tribune, states "Barnhart...at his first board meeting as CEO in February 2008, he again reassured the board he would run for re-election, but if elected he would set aside and the Republican Executive Committee would appoint his replacement and that everyone understood this."
"What they do with it, I have no idea," said Harry Turner, Democratic Executive Committee member and president of Cabarrus Senior Democrats.
Four-term legislator Barnhart, who will face Democratic challenger Wayne Troutman on Election Day, said the reports of a plan to resign once elected are completely false.
"That is absolutely not true," said Barnhart. "The truth is — if I was going to stop, why would I go through this (election process)?"
Turner, who sat in for the late Johnson at a political forum this week where he publicly talked about Barnhart's reported plan, said the late Johnson has recordings of board members, to whom Barnhart has revealed his intentions to resign, talking about Barnhart's plan.
"If I decided to step down, I would do it before an election," Barnhart said.
Turner said, if true, the move would "disenfranchise voters," so that only "eight people decide who goes to Raleigh."
In May, Barnhart said, if elected for a fifth term, it may be his last, as he's spent 18 years in politics — as a Cabarrus County commissioner and a state legislator.
"At some point, I may," Barnhart said Wednesday.
Barnhart was selected as CEO of Cabarrus Community Health Centers Board of Directors in January.
Barnhart said that if stepping down from the House of Representatives was a prerequisite for the health care position, he may have considered resigning from his elected seat.
"But they didn't ask that," said Barnhart, who said he does much of the business for his job while on the road serving his elected position. "It's a true electronic office."
Cabarrus Community Health Centers Inc., which provides affordable health care regardless of patient's ability to pay and has clinics on McGill Street and in Concord's Logan Community, was started in 2004 by State Sen. Fletcher Hartsell, who sits on the Board of Directors for the organization.
• Contact reporter Eric C. Deines: 704-789-9141
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