Credit INDY Week
INDYWeek reminds us in their Daily Mail that Lt Governor Mark Robinson is still a bigot.
But they fail to make the connection to Raleigh City Council.
So, it’s time to update our previous report noting that developer John Kane is a BIG donor to Lt. Governor Mark Robinson and he is also a BIG donor to Raleigh Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin, Councilor Jonathan Melton and several City Council candidates.
Here is our previous report updated with campaign contributions from the current election cycle.
INDY Week tells us that “Bigotry Sells” in their report from February, 2022. According to Robinson’s campaign finance reports, his donors include Raleigh developer John Kane, who gave Robinson the maximum allowed contribution—$5,600.
Read the full story here: Lt. Gov. Robinson raked in the cash.
Livable Raleigh dug further and we are prepared to show that John Kane donated to Robinson because of the anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and not in spite of it.
Two stories about John Kane appeared in the N&O. One in March 2015 about a new church being built in downtown Raleigh. The other in December 2016 declaring Kane Tarheel of the Year.
Quotes from these two articles connect the dots to Kane’s campaign donations to Robinson.
From the Tarheel of the Year piece:
“The Kane’s are founding members of Holy Trinity Anglican Church in Raleigh, created in 2004 by about 200 people who split from the national Episcopal church because they thought it was too liberal.”
From the piece about the new church being built:
“Holy Trinity left the Episcopal church in 2004 largely because of the national church’s acceptance of a gay bishop in New Hampshire.”
Now let’s connect the dots one step further and expose the other local politicians who have gladly accepted campaign cash from John Kane.
These sitting members of Raleigh’s City Council accepted campaign contributions from Kane in the 2019 election cycle.
2019 ELECTION CYCLE |
|
| Mayor Baldwin | $5,400 |
| At-Large Councilor Melton | $5,400 |
| Councilor Branch | $5,000 |
| Councilor Buffkin | $5,400 |
| Councilor Knight | $2,500 |
So far, in the current election cycle, some of these same sitting members of City Council and some candidates for City Council are raking in the cash from Kane again.
2022 ELECTION CYCLE |
|
| Mayor Baldwin | $5,600 |
| At-Large Councilor Melton | $5,600 |
| District A candidate Catherine “Cat” Lawson | $5,300 |
| District B candidate Minu Lee | $5,600 |
| District D candidate Jennifer Truman | $2,800 |
Remember, before you decide to give these councilors and candidates the benefit of the doubt that maybe they weren’t aware of Kane’s anti-LGBTQ attitude, the information was published twice in Raleigh’s hometown newspaper, The News & Observer, before the 2019 election cycle. And, we have reported it here multiple times.
One final note. Jonathan Melton is the first openly gay member of City Council. Why on earth, after having been told about Kane’s bigotry, is he happily accepting campaign cash from him?
Livable Raleigh Editorial Team