Republicans wonder, if Melissa Mason is willing to compromise her conservative values for power, does she have your children’s best interests at heart?

Last week a petition was created to censure NHC School Board Member Melissa Mason after Mason made some questionable committee chair assignments.  

The petition states that despite campaign promises to advance conservative values, protect parental rights, and remove CRT, SEL, and EDI policies from the school curriculum, Mason has failed in these promises, in part, by appointing board members with extreme liberal views to “positions of influence.” 

This petition refers to Mason’s appointment of Judy Justice as chair of the Curriculum Committee and Tim Merrick as chair of the Title IX Committee, two very influential committees on the Board of Education. Both Justice and Merrick take radically liberal views on educational issues, including support for CRT, SEL, EDI, and other woke policies. 

After the petition gathers signatures, it will be presented to the New Hanover County GOP where it’s recommended that the Executive Committee formally censure Mason for actions contrary to the party values and her inability to deliver on her commitments. 

It’s no secret that candidates don’t live up to their campaign promises once they are in office. If this alone was grounds for censure then most of our politicians would be censured by their party. Also, any governing body or board must work together to pass meaningful legislation, although Republicans enjoy a 5-2 majority on the Board of Education. 

What strikes me most about this is the sheer hypocrisy of Mason and her closest supporters. They have readily attacked other candidates and fellow Republican board members for “not being conservative enough,” yet Mason did a 180 and selected radically liberal and vitriolic members to chair key committees. I also find it odd that Mason selected newly elected School Board Member David Perry to chair the Policy Committee when Pete Wildeboer has two years of experience being board chair, two years on the policy committee, and 34 years in education. It makes me ask the question why? 

One reason I have heard is that Mason agreed to appoint Justice and Merrick as committee chairs in exchange for their vote to make Mason chair of the Board. This quid-pro-quo certainty makes sense considering Mason is the only Republican member that both Justice and Merrick voted for. If true, this isn’t illegal but it should make Republicans wonder, if Melissa Mason is willing to compromise her conservative values for power, does she have your children’s best interests at heart? 

On the other hand, this could all be a coincidence. However, after ten years of being involved in campaigns, I’ve learned that there are rarely coincidences in politics. 

Ultimately, I think conservatives in New Hanover are owed an explanation as to why Mason made these radical chair appointments. If any candidate and elected official is going to be the standard bearer of being the “most conservative” then they better live up to the standard. 

Originally published in The Wilmington Conservative.