Quick Hit: Associated Press runs story about 20+ year old photo
NC Supreme Court candidate and fraternity brothers wore Civil War garb
Late on Friday afternoon, the Associated Press ran a story about a 20+ year old photo of NC Supreme Court candidate Jefferson Griffin dressed in a Civil War costume... alongside every other member of the Kappa Alpha fraternity.
The fraternity members were dressed up in those costumes for its annual formal, call the “Old South” ball.
Here's the full photo, which I received as a tip in my proton mail account, but it's also out on social media sites:
Here's the cropped image the Associated Press (AP) was running with the story:
2014 called, it wants its Confederate monument outrage back.
This political pressure piece even went so far as to cherry-pick a 37-year-old item from a News and Observer feature in which Griffin, a high school senior at the time, said Robert E. Lee would be on an "ideal guest list." Here's the excerpt:
"In high school Griffin also expressed an affinity for Robert E. Lee, the Confederate general who led southern forces during the Civil War. In a 1998 feature on high school “scholars of the week” in The News & Observer of Raleigh newspaper, Griffin said Lee was his No. 1 choice to include on an “ideal guest list” for a party."
Hang on, a second… "expressed an affinity for Robert E. Lee?"
Editorializing like that would get me chewed out by my editors in record time and is a big reason why the public's opinion of the media is at an all time low.
Yeah, Griffin included Lee but the AP left out that he also listed Napoleon and Thomas Jefferson.
Another piece the AP story left out: The Griffin campaign's statement.
“It is clear that the Riggs campaign knows the facts of the pending litigation are not on their side and that they continue their personal smear campaign,” said Paul Shumaker on behalf of the Griffin campaign committee. “Judge Griffin has served the people of this state and our country with great honor and duty; sadly, the radical left fails to share that same sense of duty.”
The timing of this article is no coincidence with Griffin’s election protest case now in the hands of the state court of appeals and a mounting pressure campaign in full swing to get him to drop it.
Yet another piece the AP failed to tie in: A likely impact of what they wrote.
Like many Republican elected officials and candidates in recent months, Griffin and his family have been receiving threats, according to a family spokesperson and personal attorney Blannie Miller.
Earlier this month, Miller asked for the threats to end, making an unusually personal disclosure that the Griffins had suffered the loss of their infant daughter, who born 23 weeks prematurely.
“We respectfully ask the perpetrators of this relentless harassment campaign to end it,” said Miller, adding that the family asks for “request peace and privacy at their home while they mourn the death of their daughter” and while Griffin’s wife recuperates.
North Carolina Judicial Branch Communications Director Graham Wilson confirmed an investigation is underway into the threats to Griffin as well as his opponent, Democrat Allison Riggs.
Yet, the AP story will not help the situation. In fact, they make it worse with making it seem like Griffin is a staunch Confederate backer, along with citing an “anonymous source” who fears “reprisal.”
“The photographs featuring Griffin were taken at a time when many other Kappa Alpha chapters were reevaluating their celebration of the Confederacy.
During Griffin’s time in the fraternity, some in his chapter questioned the appropriateness of dressing up in Confederate uniforms for the ball. Griffin opposed abandoning the tradition, according to a person familiar with the situation, who spoke on the condition of anonymity out of fear of reprisal. The uniforms stayed.”
Griffin’s response on the anonymous source was spot on, that he would “not respond to unsubstantiated comments based on memories of 20-plus years past.”
By the time one gets to the end of the AP story, the Kappa Alpha Order (KAO) has been nearly fully trashed. I said nearly, because yet again, the AP left something out. Or rather a someone.
Alongside the list of Democrats and Republicans with affiliations to KAO, there is another North Carolina judicial connection, albeit not quite like the article’s previous mentions like Ralph Northam.
In 2014, Bob Orr, a former N.C. Court of Appeals judge and NC Supreme Court Associate Justice, received Kappa Alpha Order’s “Distinguished Public Service Award.”
North State Journal was considering running a story, so I reached out to Orr, who confirmed that he received the award and said it was given to him for "distinguished judicial service."
With the AP story now out, local outlets will pile on doing reaction stories.
Republicans should get ready to be asked questions like, “Do you think this (20+ year old) picture means Griffin should drop out?” or “Do you think Griffin’s decisions on the Court of Appeals are in jeopardy now?”
No matter how one answers or if one answers at all, one should recall the Treacher rule.
