North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson isn’t actively courting controversy anymore. Since winning the Republican primary for governor, he has toned down his rhetoric in an effort to convince North Carolina voters he’s a normal MAGA Republican. But after all the stories that came out this summer, Robinson should know he’s chasing a pipe dream: As much as Robinson may try to appear like an unblemished candidate, he seems to have an unlimited number of absurd stories from his past just waiting to be dug up.Gay porno Take, for example, the big headline news this week. On Tuesday, the North Carolina publication the Assembly reported that in the 1990s and early 2000s, Robinson was a regular customer at two pornography stores in Greensboro, where he purchased “hundreds” of bootleg porn videos and “came in as often as five nights a week to watch porn videos in a private booth.” Robinson denies the story. (In a comment to the Assembly, he also called one of the porn-shop owners a “freak show grifter” and the reporters on the story “degenerates.”) There would be nothing particularly newsworthy about this if it weren’t for Robinson’s tendency to condemn the sexuality of others—women and LGBTQ+ people specifically—and describe material and behavior he does not like as “pornographic.” In 2023, for example, while speaking at a Baptist church, he appeared to use the term to describe LGBTQ-affirming literature in schools. “You ought to be nervous about the fact that we live in a society where some folks say it’s all right to give pornography to children,” he said to the congregation. “As far as I’m concerned, that’s the decline of Western civilization.” This wasn’t the only time he has accused public schools of providing children with pornography. And it was just the latest in a line of bizarre stories about Robinson this summer—which followed a flood of bizarre and hateful opinions of his that surfaced, often through his own Facebook commentary, after he won the primary in March. At a June rally, Robinson said, vaguely, “Some folks need killing.” (“It’s time for somebody to say it.”) On Aug. 19, a North Carolina public-education blog published public records showing that Robinson’s wife, Yolanda Hill, had, in 2003, been sued by the Girl Scouts. (The Tarheel Triad Girl Scouts were successful in small-claims court over $3,000 Hill had failed to pay the group; the documents give no further details.) And in late July, a nonprofit run by Hill and her family was ordered to repay $132,000 in federal funding for, essentially, fraud. The nonprofit, Balanced Nutrition, was intended to help child care centers obtain federal funding for meals. But according to the Associated Press, it had drawn funding for nonallowed expenses while paying generous salaries to Hill, Robinson, and other family members. A Department of Health and Human Services investigation found claims made on behalf of child care centers that had apparently neither requested nor received the funds. (Robinson has said that the investigation, which Hill closed in April, was politically motivated.) Finally, reporting published in July also found that Robinson and his wife ran a child care center from 2000 to 2007 that was cited for dozens of sanitation, safety, and nutrition violations. Worse, according to DHHS records, the couple had presented falsified documents for training requirements and criminal background checks for the staff. (Robinson and Hill gave up the business in 2007.) These kinds of financial shenanigans fit a pattern for Robinson: For many years, he failed to pay his taxes and repeatedly relied on bankruptcy court to avoid paying debts. This is all notable because his campaign persona is that of a man who emphasizes personal responsibility and criticizes government aid. (“The problem is, we have people that have been abusing the system for far too long. And too many of these social programs have degraded our work ethic,” he said in a 2019 podcast.) Guess he knows what he’s talking about! But not all of Robinson’s scandals this summer were dug up from his past by reporters; in one case, he unearthed the scandal himself. “Thirty years ago, my wife and I made a very difficult decision,” Robinson says in an ad that aired last month. “We had an abortion.” Choking up, he adds, “It was like a silent pain between us that we never spoke of.” #NCPol: “30 years ago, my wife and I made a very difficult decision. We had an abortion. It was like this solid pain between us that we never spoke of. It’s something that stays with you forever.”Mark Robinson is up with a new ad in #NCGov. He’s spent or reserved $4.9M so far. pic.twitter.com/o3aXpKhbSC The admission was shocking, given how the politician has talked about abortion before. In a Facebook Live video from 2019, Robinson spoke harshly of women who have abortions. “It’s about killing the child because you weren’t responsible enough to keep your skirt down or your pants up, and not get pregnant by your own choice, because you felt like getting your groove thing on,” Robinson said in the video. “And now, instead of taking care of that child, you want to kill that child so your life can go on being on easy street and you can keep running to the club every Friday night.” The August ad tries to reframe his family’s abortion decision as a reason Robinson is supportive of North Carolina’s current law—an abortion restriction after 12 weeks—and “common-sense exceptions.” The ad ends with Robinson saying, “When I’m governor, mothers in need will be supported.” But these attempts to moderate himself don’t seem to be making a difference. (It doesn’t help that Robinson is on the record as saying that society is “called to be led by men” and that he has blamed women for sexual harassment and assault.) According to polling back in May, Robinson and his opponent, North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein, had been in a virtual tie. But recent polling shows Stein leading, sometimes by as much as 10 points. Cook Political Report found a significant shift among non-college-educated women, who have swung dramatically toward Stein over the course of the summer. There are still two months until the election, and Robinson is clearly hoping that voters have goldfishlike memories when it comes to his past. It’s a strategy that would have held some promise—if there wasn’t a strong possibility that there are even more scandals waiting to emerge. Slate is published by The Slate
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