There’s a vacancy in the Harnett County’ Board of Elections office. According to the Harnett County Board of Elections; Sherre Toler is now the former Director of the county board. Toler submitted her resignation in a December Board meeting and her last official day was January 3, 2012.
It appears that Ms. Toler’s resignation did not make the mainstream news, so 7 days after her last day as Harnett County Director of Elections, she sent an email to a couple of very liberal/progressive websites explaining her reason for resigning.
In letter form she wrote, “Unfortunately, recent actions of the North Carolina General Assembly made it impossible for me to continue as Director of Elections as speaking publicly about candidates or issues appearing on the ballot is prohibited. In September, the legislature passed a bill requiring a referendum be placed on the May, 2012 primary ballot defining marriage as a “union between a man and a woman.” I cannot and will not be a party to such actions.”
In her letter Toler took the opportunity to announce the opening of her new consulting business – Lighthouse Strategies and Consulting, LLC. As a political consultant, she said that she “will also be working to help elect progressive candidates to local, county, state and federal offices so that these types of actions by legislatures around the country will not be repeated.”
In case you may have thought Ms. Toler’s actions were a result of moral outrage – the timing of her actions appear to be of the more calculated rather than the outraged type.
The General Assembly passed the measure that will put before voters a constitutional amendment defining marriage on September 12, 2011. Toler submitted an application to reserve a business name (Lighthouse Strategies and Consulting, LLC) on November 11, 2011 and then waited until December 2011 to resign her position effective January 3, 2012.
The amendment will go on the primary ballot in May of 2012. Claire Jones, Senior Administrative Support Specialist has been named Interim Director.
Be thankful she is gone…………..
The people of Harnett County can be glad she is gone, especially considering that the county will almost certainly approve the amendment by a wide margin.