BY MILES LAYTON

EDENTON — North Carolina State Auditor Dave Boliek told Chowan County Republicans Thursday night that sweeping reforms are underway to strengthen public trust, improve government accountability, and ensure integrity in the state’s election system.

Speaking at the Chowan County Republican Party’s annual Lincoln-Reagan Dinner at the Edward G. Bond American Legion Post 40, Boliek drew laughter and applause as he recounted his first 10 months in office, detailing investigations in Elizabeth City and Charlotte, his push to reform the Division of Motor Vehicles, and the historic transfer of election oversight authority to his office.

“In this part of the state, again, I am blessed as part of my job,” Boliek began. “They kind of have to make me travel around the state, which is a great thing, right? Because this is a great state. North Carolina’s awesome.”

People in attendance at the dinner included several officeholders, to name a few, including State Senators Bobby Hanig and Norm Sanderson, State Representative Ed Goodwin, Washington County Commissioner John Spruill, Chowan County Commissioners Bob Kirby and Larry McLaughlin, along with 1st Congressional District GOP Chair Harvey West, Chowan GOP Chair Jennifer Rice, former state GOP Executive Director Dallas Woodhouse, and many other local notables such as Michael Dean, Alex Kehayes, Florian Deltgen, Ron Topping and Jonathan Sawyer. Former Judge Jerry Tillett, now a candidate for State Senate District 1, served as the master of ceremonies – he has a booming voice and a solid command of Bible verses that he can recite from memory.  

‘Nobody knows the State Auditor’

Smiling, Boliek talked about a big job that maybe not a lot folks know existed, but he’s changing that.

“Look, I’m the North Carolina State Auditor, and I never in a million years would have thought that I would be saying those words because, you know, I kind of knew we had an elected state auditor, but it’s not really the sexiest job in the world, right? And there’s not a lot of people that really know what the state auditor is or what the state auditor does.”Boliek, who was sworn in on January 1, told a story about a recent dinner with county officials that, he said, perfectly illustrates how obscure the role of State Auditor can be.

“I sat down beside a woman who said she’d worked for her county commissioners for 25 years,” he said. “So I’m sitting there having this conversation, finding out about her day, and I thought to myself, ‘She knows who I am, right?’”

But at the end of the meal, she looked at him and asked, “‘Now, you said you worked at the State Auditor’s Office — is that a family business?’”

Boliek laughed along with the crowd. “I’ll tell you that story for a couple of reasons,” he said. “One is nobody knows the State Auditor, right? We’re working to change that. But two, as soon as you start thinking you are somebody, people in North Carolina turn you around real quick and tell you exactly where you stand. And I appreciate that.”

Boliek noted that as State Auditor, he took three separate oaths of office, including one pledging nonpartisanship in the performance of his duties.

“I leave my party affiliation, even though I am a proud Republican, at the door when we walk in to do the work on behalf of the State Auditor’s Office,” Boliek said. “That doesn’t mean I leave the fact that I have conservative beliefs or an ideological view of the world at the door — but I leave the party affiliation at the door.”

He said that approach has been “really important” and “helpful to our work,” as the office seeks to “be effective and impactful to everyday North Carolinians, not just deliver book reports.”

Boliek has been making the rounds in recent days in Northeast NC. Having covered politics for more years than I care to count, I can say that Boliek’s speech was inspiring, informative and he has a sharp mind that’s focused on facts and figures, less on fluff — so if he ever decides to make a run for governor, I think he’d be a strong candidate.   

Elizabeth City: ‘Lack of institutional control’

When Boliek turned to the audit of Elizabeth City, he said he uncovered “fairly rampant spending on just everyday meals with public money and no procedure, process, or controls.”

“It’s not really a credit card — it’s called a P-card,” he explained, “but it’s like their debit card. And there were just not any procedures or controls around how and when to use it.”

Boliek said the audit revealed a deeper issue: a lack of local policy itself.

“The first question I get is, ‘Why isn’t somebody going to jail for this?’” he said. “Well, if there’s not a procedure or a policy in place, then there’s no procedure or policy to break. Therefore, there’s no violation of the law. That’s a lack of institutional control in the City of Elizabeth City.”

He said the case reflected a broader pattern across North Carolina municipalities: “That’s what I think this initial report out of Elizabeth City shows. Stay tuned on more.”

DMV overhaul: ‘A dog with a bone’

Boliek highlighted his administration’s 600-page audit of the Division of Motor Vehicles, which he called “the most extensive performance audit ever performed” by the State Auditor’s Office.

“I promised each and every one of you that I would audit the DMV,” he said. “And we began with an extensive audit of their IT services as well as the process of getting an actual driver’s license.”

The findings, Boliek said, showed systemic inefficiencies — but also prompted the agency to adopt his recommendations.

“Every single bullet point on their slide was taken directly from the audit our office completed,” he said. “The reports from the DMV are that it’s getting better, but I want to promise you this — I’m a dog with a bone on the DMV and I’m not going to let it go.”

Boliek said he gave Gov. Roy Cooper and the DMV commissioner until the end of the year to implement the recommended reforms. “We would take another look under the hood after the first of the year,” he said.

He argued that government owes citizens the same standard of service they expect from the private sector: “I don’t think it’s too much to ask for government to deliver efficient customer service with the DMV. I mean, really? Can I get an amen on that?”

The audience responded with a resounding “Amen.”

Charlotte audits: ‘That’s not her money’

Turning west, Boliek said one of his most revealing investigations involved the City of Charlotte, which he described as “the 14th largest metropolitan area in the United States” — and a city with “a real problem with the big city mayor.”

Boliek said his office learned Charlotte officials had secretly settled a proposed lawsuit by their chief of police for $305,000 — before the lawsuit was ever filed.

“I said, listen, we’re going to investigate you,” Boliek recounted. “Because I’ve gotten reports that you’ve settled with your chief of police on a proposed lawsuit, not even a filed lawsuit, and you’ve not told the public about the money that you have spent.”

He said he reminded the Mayor Vi Lyles “that that was not her money — that’s the people’s money.”

When the mayor responded that she would “think about” whether to comply with transparency laws, Boliek said dryly, “So that bought her a second audit.”

That follow-up investigation examined Charlotte’s transit system, where the city had replaced armed guards with unarmed “customer service” personnel under a $18.4 million DEI-based contract.

“They went from 88 armed guards to 30 armed guards and 180 unarmed security personnel,” Boliek said. “Clearly that’s a policy change. And no one had ever seen those numbers until we released that initial report.”

Boliek’s remarks are particularly timely given what happened to Iryna Zarutska, who was stabbed from behind three times while seated on the train in August. Footage of the killing sparked outrage on social media, leading to policy discussions about transit security. 

‘The elections adventure’

Boliek’s most significant remarks of the evening centered on elections, which he called “an adventure” since the General Assembly transferred oversight authority from the governor to the State Auditor’s Office earlier this year.

“Our General Assembly graciously moved the authority of elections from the governor to the State Auditor’s Office,” Boliek said. “I’m very proud to take the reins of that.”

He said the change ensures “a 3-2 Republican majority” on both the State Board of Elections and all 100 county boards.

While acknowledging that progress “might not seem as fast as you want it to,” Boliek said his office had only received control of the Board of Elections budget “four months and five days ago.”

Even so, he said, major reforms are already underway — beginning with replacing former Executive Director Karen Brinson Bell.

“Hired Sam Hayes, former general counsel of the North Carolina House of Representatives,” Boliek said. “He just announced today the hiring of some additional folks that I think you’ll be very interested in — one is a gentleman who actually ran for State Auditor eight years ago, Tim Hoegemeyer, now general counsel; and Henry Tyson, Judge Tyson’s son (Jason,), is now the spokesman for the Board of Elections.”

Boliek said those personnel changes are part of “making some moves on integrity.”

Dismantling ‘numbered memos’

Under Brinson Bell, Boliek said, the Board of Elections relied on “numbered memos” instead of using the proper state rulemaking process.

“There were approximately 178 of these,” Boliek said. “As of the 31st of October, more than 100 — our board just canceled them. Just voided them.”

The goal, he said, is to “move them into what we call a rulemaking posture, which is really the appropriate way for government to operate.”

Boliek also announced that the new board had reversed the previous administration’s interpretation of the law regarding poll observers.

“The former administration read the law incorrectly,” he said. “They said nonpartisan municipal candidates could not have poll observers. I don’t read the law that way. I don’t believe the legislature intended it to be that way — in fact, I know they didn’t, because my chief of staff wrote the law.”

He said the board ruled correctly that municipal candidates can have poll observers, calling it “a move toward integrity in our election system.”

Cleaning the voter rolls, checking citizenship

Boliek said his office had launched a comprehensive effort to clean up North Carolina’s voter rolls after identifying tens of thousands of problematic entries.

“The former administration knew there were at least 60, but north of 100,000 voter entries that were not in compliance with federal law,” Boliek said. “Why would you not just go ahead and start working on cleaning that up? This is just management 101. Let’s follow the law.”

He also revealed ongoing discussions in Washington about using the federal SAVE database to confirm citizenship status of registered voters.

“It’s time to make sure that we are a citizen-only body,” Boliek said. “Voting is sacred in this country — it’s sacred to us in this room, and it’s sacred to the Democrats across town. It’s sacred to the unaffiliated and to the Libertarians and to the Green Party. It is what makes us North Carolinians and Americans, so we’ve got to make sure that our system has integrity.”

Building a ‘gold standard’ voting system

Boliek said his office had just released a Request for Information (RFI) seeking input on replacing North Carolina’s 1998-era voting system.

“We want everyone — everybody over here, everybody over there — to tell us what they think a voting system should have,” Boliek said. “We want to make sure that it is the gold standard for the entire country moving forward.”

As custodian of the elections budget, Boliek said he wouldn’t ask legislators for “a single dollar” unless it went toward a “system that is going to be the best gold standard for the entire country.”

“We’ve already gotten 800 submissions with information,” he said proudly. “We want to be transparent. We want to give people what they expect — a system that has real integrity.”

Trust and stewardship

Boliek closed his speech by reflecting on North Carolina’s conservative fiscal record, crediting the General Assembly for maintaining a robust rainy-day fund, a low tax rate, and a pay-as-you-go bond policy.

“We are blessed in this state to have had that leadership for the last 15 years,” he said, recognizing Sen. Norman Sanderson, Sen. Bobby Hanig, and Rep. Ed Goodwin, who were in attendance. “They deserve a standing ovation for the work that they do.”

He said the foundation of good government comes down to one word: trust.

“Trust actually is the number one asset that government can deliver to people,” Boliek said. “If we don’t trust our government, our way of life ends. It’s just as simple as that.”

That trust, he warned, has been “frayed by some executive actions in the Governor’s Office” and by “big city mayors like I just described.”

“And that’s where the job of the State Auditor comes in,” Boliek said. “It’s my job to hold folks accountable and to make sure somebody’s keeping watch of what’s going on so you can have trust in the way your tax dollars are spent.”

‘Every single day, I’m going to be there on your behalf’

Boliek said his team is committed to professionalism and results — and that he sets the pace himself.

“They said, ‘Is that guy ever going to stop coming into the office first thing every single day?’” Boliek recalled with a grin. “And the answer is no. Every single day, I am going to be there on your behalf.”

“I’m going to be professional, I’m going to be effective, I’m going to be efficient, I’m going to get impactful results for every single North Carolinian,” he said. “Because from my perspective, my job on your behalf — not only as citizens of North Carolina but as Republicans — is to show all voters, regardless of how they’re registered, that it is in fact the Republican Party, and only the Republican Party, that’s qualified to manage and lead the state of North Carolina into the future.”

Boliek ended to loud applause. “I’m proud to be the 21st elected State Auditor. Proud to be a Republican. And yes, I’m just getting started,” he said. “God bless you, and thank you for having me.”

A few photos from the event, courtesy of Michael Dean

To see a video of Gettysburg Address being recited at the Reagan-Lincoln Dinner — see this link: