NC lawmaker files removal petition accusing sheriff of extortion and threats (01-05-2026--Hour2)

What's going on. Thank you so much for listening to this podcast. It is heard live every day from noon to three on WBT Radio in Charlotte. And if you want exclusive content like invitations to events, the weekly live stream, my daily show prep with all of the links, become a patron, go to dpetecleanershow dot com. Make sure you hit the subscribe button. Get every episode for free, write to your smartphone or tablet, and again, thank you so much for your support. First, Maduro gets picked up brought back to America to face Narco terrorist charges. Governor Tim Walls drops out of his re election campaign, citing all of the Somali fraud stories and stuff. And now the thing that I thought would not happen has happened, and I am so happy that this has happened. I don't know how it's gonna I do not make predictions on the outcome of court cases or elections. Okay, so I don't know how this is going to go down. But the fact that five people have stepped forward with credible accusations against Mecklemburg County Sheriff Gary not my fault McFadden. They have sworn out affidavits and are now seeking a court to intervene and oust McFadden from office, which is the law. I do not have my file on McFadden with me. I did not anticipate talking about him at all today. But here we are because we got a press release. The press release came from I think a law firm, yes, yeah, from a law firm representing the plaintiffs in this matter of this petition. It is initiated under North Carolina statute, and the district attorney now must take this matter up before a judge, and a judge then has to make a ruling. And so we'll see how this goes. But the petition is to remove McFadden from office. And I'm going back to the press release here and bouncing back and forth between the two, between the press release and the complaint or the petition. Okay, seeks to remove McFadden for attempted extortion and corruption, willful misconduct and maladministration in office, and willful and habitual refusal to perform the duties of his office. It looks like four of the five people here were former employees of his. And then there is the I think maybe the most serious allegation here is from State Representative Carla Cunningham. So, okay, this is from page fourteen of the petition. Okay, all right, here we go. This is Carla Cunningham is a resident Meckliberg County, qualified to vote as an elector in that county. And this is what I've been saying, Like, all it takes is five voters. That's what an elector is. In the law, it says any five electors in a county can bring this petition, and she is one. She is qualified to vote as an elector, and so she's also a state representative serves the Charlotte area the one hundred and sixth district. McFadden and Cunningham had previously taken opposite sides of a public controversy because at times over the past few years, Cunningham has publicly supported increased oversight of and inspections at the Mecklinberg County Detention Center. In the fall of twenty twenty four, she publicly supported a bill that, among other things, appropriated money to fund new full time jail inspectors. Cunningham viewed inspections as necessary and helpful because as of that time, eighteen inmates had died in Mecklinberg County Detention Center on McFadden's watch. Okay, that's not his fault. It's right there in his nickname. Okay, nothing is ever Gary's fault. He's the first to tell you that McFadden viewed jail inspections which inevitably resulted in critique of the operations. He viewed these inspections as unfair and retaliatory, and he personally criticized the jail inspectors at the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services who performed these inspections. That's true. I've covered this over the last two years. He would make all sorts of remarks ascribing nefarious motives and oh, we know why they're really doing this, and we know what's really going on, and we know, Oh, he was up in a he was out hunting, he was up in a deer stand and he got a call to come down and inspect my jail. And what do you think that's about? Like, that's what McFadden does. He throws out this all these innuendo at people. You know, these events first brought McFadden and Cunningham into conflict, albeit indirectly, on an issue affecting McFadden. Moreover, on a handful of occasions, Cunningham has crossed the aisle to vote for Republican sponsored bills that require greater cooperation between local law enforcement, including sheriffs, and federal immigration authorities. In particular, in the twenty twenty three twenty twenty four legislative session, House Bill ten required sheriffs to notify ICE if they could not determine a pre trial detainees immigration status, and the bill also required sheriffs to cooperate with ICE detainers. Cunningham voted against the original version of HB ten, but voted for the final version of the bill after certain amendments were made that satisfied her concerns. She also voted to override Governor Roy Cooper's veto of the final version of the bill. House Bill ten also funded the new jail inspectors that she wanted to see put in place. Okay, so seems like that's how the Republicans got her on board in the twenty twenty five session. So a year later, Cunningham votes in favor of House Bill three eighteen, which the Republicans had to come back and do another bill because McFadden was still not cooperating with the letter, if not the spirit of the law. So they come back with HB three eighteen, which requires sheriffs and other officials to work with ICE to determine the immigration status of those detained for felonies Class A one, misdemeanors, or DUI related offenses. It also expands how long local officials must hold detainees on ICE detainers. All of this is true, I've covered all of these aspects of this fight. Okay. Next, Cunningham votes to pass House Bill three eighteen, and then she votes to override Governor Stein's veto of the bill in July. And that's this past summer, This past July, that's when this situation came to a head. In the spring and summer, House Bill three eighteen was making its way through the General Assembly, numerous other elected Democrats reached out to Cunningham privately to attempt to persuade her to vote against the bill. Such jaw boning or lobbying by other elected officials is a normal and expected part of the political pros. All citizens, even government officials, have a constitutional right to express their views to the people's elected representatives. Once she made the decision to vote for House Bill three eighteen. Cunningham publicly announced her intention, she expected to and did take political blowback for her votes. The bills were politically contentious, and Cunningham supplied a vote necessary to override a gubernatorial veto, the only Democrat in the House to do so. Now. During his time in office, McFadden has spoken publicly about his opposition too, both of these bills and other legislative measures that did not pass, all of which required greater cooperation between local law enforcement and federal immigration authorities. The final version of House Bill three eighteen passed June tenth, stein vetoted on the twentieth, and then June twenty third. The House set a vote to override the veto the next day, but then rescheduled the vote several times. It eventually made it onto the calendar on July twenty ninth, between the veto and the override vote. Okay, so during this like month month and a half period, Cunningham was subject to more intense petitioning by constituents, lobbyists, and other elected officials about House Built three eighteen from both sides of the issue. Again, that's normal and expected. What's not normal or lawful? Is for such efforts to cross the line into threats and extortion, as happened here with McFadden. We're getting to the good part. You know. Stories are powerful. They help us make sense of things, to understand experiences. Stories connect us to the people of our past while transcending generations. They help us process the meaning of life and our stories are told through images and videos. Preserve your stories with Creative Video started in nineteen ninety seven and Minhill, North Carolina. 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So what I have been hammering away at for the better part of now, probably three years, is that there is a mechanism in North Carolina state law that allows for a process to be initiated to remove a sitting sheriff. It has to come from five voters of the county. We now have that petition filed. It has happened. I hang on, excuse me, still little remnants of the crud from Christmas, the Christmas crud as it were. I was unaware this was happening. All. I've just been saying, like, this is the mechanism that has to be employed. It would only work, I think if you get Democrats to do this. It cannot come from Republicans because it'll then be perceived as a partisan attack. This looks like it's coming from four of his former employees and a state representive Democrat, Carla Cunningham. And again, this is like a thirty page petition. I've not read through it all. This is the portion now that I think might just given the headline might pose the biggest problem for Mecklenberg County Sheriff Gary Not my fault, McFadden. The headline on the sub section is McFadden's threats to Representative Cunningham, which that sounds bad. That sounds pretty bad. In between Governor Stein's veto of House Built three eighteen and the House vote to override the veto, McFadden reached out to Cunningham to schedule a phone call to discuss the reasons for his opposition to the bill. That was normal, and Cunningham was willing to speak to him, as she had with other elected officials and constituents and lobbyists all attempting to persuade her on the issue. And by the way, kudos to Representative Cunningham who, in the face of this massive campaign to get her to fall in line with all of her party members, she held the line and she said, no, we need more jail inspectors, more inspections, and we need to have local authorities working with ice. And she held firm and she voted to override the veto. But she was the target of a massive pressure campaign, and we knew this at the time. We did not know this. After exchanging some preliminary text messages about scheduling. Cunningham and McFadden set up a half hour call on or about Thursday, July twenty sixth McFadden began the call by contending, this is so tell like everything that you know about McFadden, like this sentence, This is him in a nutshell, Okay. He begins the call by contending that he had heard from media that Cunningham didn't like him. What Cunningham replied she did not have any personal animosity towards McFadden, but simply had a different view than him that sheriffs ought to be cooperating with ICE as a general matter to help ensure that illegal immigrants with criminal records or serious criminal charges were deported. McFadden stated that if Cunningham continued down the path she was on, the people of Mecklenburg County would quote come after her. Based on McFadden's tone and manner of delivery, Cunningham understood McFadden to be making a prediction that Cunningham would become physically unsafe, not that she would, for example, lose the support of her constituents or face highly motivated political opposition. She took it as a threat that they're going to come after you. McFadden then pointed out that House Bill three eighteen would cost money to house immigration detainees in the Central Jail, and the taxpayers would bear the cost for that, which anytime a Democrat starts talking to you about, oh what about the taxpayer costs, like, I'm not believing that you're arguing about cost. Okay, you have some other reason you don't want to do something, and you're just citing taxpayer cost as some excuse that you think I will care about, you know. Cunningham replied that none of these concerns swayed her. She had heard them before, but believe the cost of House Bill three eighteen the cost were outweighed by its benefits to the citizens via facilitating the removal of illegal immigrants with a criminal record from the community. Finally, McFadden tells Cunningham that quote, I don't want to see you get hurt. You live in my county. We had him he just did some interview, right, We had audio of him saying something very much along those lines, not about Cunningham, but you know, live in my county. I don't want anybody to get hurt. Whatever. So that sounds like him. Cunningham hung up on McFadden immediately after that statement. Well, yeah, when the sheriff of the county says I don't want to see you get hurt, what do you think that means? That means you know, you should really do what I'm asking you to do because you could come to physical harm. Cunningham reasonably understood those comments to be a threat by McFadden to either physically harm her or to withdraw or refuse her any protection from members of the public who would physically harm her. Although on their face, McFadden's statements nominally expressed concern for Cunningham's welfare, McFadden's tone and delivery indicated the opposite, meaning. It's akin to a mafia boss demanding money by saying, nice little story you've got there. It'd be a shame if anything happened to it. Here's a great idea. How about making an escape to a really special and secluded getaway in western North Carolina? Just a quick drive up the mountain and cabins of Asheville is your connection. Whether you're celebrating an anniversary a honeymoon, maybe you want to plan a memorable proposal or get family and friends together for a big old reunion. Cabins of Asheville has the ideal spot for you where you can reconnect with your loved ones and the things that truly matter. 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It has been duly filed five voters of Mecklenburg County for apparently previous employees, and one is a state representative. They have filed a petition with the court to have Sheriff McFadden ousted from his position for extortion, bribery, corruption, and maladministration. The extortion and bribery is associated with the state Representative Carla Cunningham, who was going to vote and did vote with Republicans on a bill that passed and then was vetoed, but then the Republicans, along with Cunningham, overrode the veto that would force sheriffs to cooperate fully with ICE. McFadden ran on this platform of not cooperating with Ice. You know, was always doing what he could to release people from his custody without telling Ice. He was not honoring their detainer requests and stuff. We've been following this well since he first won election almost eight years ago. After this the governor's veto and before the vote to override the veto, cunning Him gets on a call with McFadden. He had asked for a call, asked to talk with her, tries to persuade her to fall in line with all of the other Democrats and vote not to override the veto, and she's like, not going to happen. I believe in this bill. This is what has to happen. And in that conversation is when he says that that Meckleberg County people are going to come after her and I don't want to see you get hurt. You live in my county. She took that as a threat and she hung up on him. Now some context here. Cunningham understood McFadden's statements as a threat because he was implicitly admitting that he could not do his job of protecting a citizen of his county who had faced and was facing threats of violence. Remember what happened in the summer. McFadden never urged Cunningham to say leave Mecklenburg County until the political passions of the moment blew over, nor did he suggest any steps that she could take to keep herself safe. Cunningham also understood McFadden's statement as a threat because she was aware of his carefully cultivated reputation for retaliation against his perceived enemies. Within the sheriff's office. Cunningham's understanding of McFadden's statements was also informed by the events of the summer of twenty twenty five, which was a time of heightened political tensions and high profile political violence. Cunningham held town halls in her district at which some activists were physically intimidating, confrontations that McFadden was likely aware of. She also received threats of violence against her as a result of her publicly announced stance on House Bill three eighteen. As a result, Cunningham received temporary security protection from the North Carolina State Capitol Police while she was in Raleigh, but such security did not accompany her to Charlotte. Cunningham also hired private security for selected events using her campaign funds nationally just a few weeks. But again, so like, where is this coming from? Where is the threat coming from the left? Right, This is coming from the left. This is the base inside the Democrat Party. I've been talking about this also for years that Democrat lawmakers have been feeding this alligator in the hopes that it eats them last. And that's the thing is, eventually you do get eaten. You may be last, but you do get eaten nationally. Just a few weeks before McFadden's extortive threat, Minnesota Speaker of the House Melissa Hortman and her husband were murdered in their home June fourteenth, twenty twenty five by a politically motivated assassin. Cunningham had followed the Hortman case and was deeply affected by it. Goes on to say, now it's the petition here is going to lay out how these threats constitute extortion. His threat to refuse to protect Cunningham from physical intimidation and or violence that he himself predicted if she did not change her vote constitutes extortion under state law. And then it lists the law here and it says that his statements that the citizens of Meckelberg County would come after her, I don't want to see you get hurt. You live in my county. These were intended by McFadden and were understood by cunning him as wrongful threats that McFadden would withdraw the protection of the Sheriff's office from her, making no effort to protect Cunningham from predictable risk of physical harm if she did not change her vote. McFadden's threats were made with the intent to wrongfully influence her vote, and Cunningham's vote was then by statute, they argue a thing of value to McFadden. First, he said it's going to cost him money to implement House Bill three eighteen. McFadden would reasonably anticipate that new obligations imposed on his office would reduce the funds otherwise available to his office for other purposes, you know, like making a recording studio for the inmates. I'm sorry, the residents, as he calls them, the residents of the Second, it would remove housepil three eighteen removed discretion that McFadden, like other sheriffs, had previously enjoyed, to decide whether to cooperate with ICE on a selective case by case basis in certain scenarios. Thus all else equal, Housepill three eighteen's passage effectively reduced the budget and discretion that McFadden enjoyed as a result of holding his office. In addition, McFadden had publicly opposed local law enforcement cooperation with ICE. It was publicly viewed as part of his political platform, having spoken out against House Bill three eighteen. The law's enactment was a political defeat for McFadden, Yeah, absolutely, it has been so that's why they say that constituted a extortion, also constituted attempted bribery and corruption. It lists the General Statute bribery economic threats made to influence legislation. McFadden violated this provision by offering anything of monetary value that is law enforcement protection with the intent to influence Cunningham's vote. McFadden's threats to Cunningham were made with the intent to influence her vote, as well as her other official actions and the discharge of her official duties, specifically her publicly announced support of House Built three eighteen. His implied threat that the Sheriff's office would not protect or would not attempt to protect Cunningham unless she changed her vote was a threat to provide or withhold a thing of monetary value. Such physical security has monetary value. For example, she had to hire private security guards until the controversy over House Built three eighteen had passed, and finally McFadden and members of the public could reasonably infer that a sheriff who threatened a lawmaker with withdrawal of law enforcement protection unless that lawmaker voted as the sheriff wished could influence that legislator in the discharge of her official duties. Right if the public found out that he said those comments to her and then she flipped her vote, Right, if the public found out about that, then people would believe that he had threatened her to get her to change your vote. Indeed, the entire purpose of McFadden's call was to influence her vote. But McFadden's threat was an unlawful means of doing so. So that is from the petition. That's just one of the five people that have filed the petition. All the other four have all sorts of serious allegations against him as well. All right, if you're listening to this show, you know I try to keep up with all sorts of current events, and I know you do too, And you've probably heard me say get your news from multiple sources. Why, Well, because it's how you detect media bias, which is why I've been so impressed with ground News. It's an app and it's a website and it combines news from around the world in one place, so you can compare coverage and verify information. You can check it out at check dot ground dot news slash pete I put the link in the podcast description too. I started using ground News a few months ago and more recently chose to work with them as an affiliate because it lets me see clearly how stories get covered and by whom. The blind spot feature shows you which stories get ignored by the left and the right. See for yourself. Check dot Ground dot news slash pete. Subscribe through that link and you'll get fifteen percent off any subscription. I use the Vantage plan to get unlimited access to every feature. Your subscription then not only helps my podcast, but it also supports ground News as they make the media landscape more transparent. Petition has been filed by five Meckelberg County electors aka voters, seeking the removal of Mecklenburg County Sheriff Gary Not my fault, McFadden, I ran through I think what is probably some of the most serious allegations by state Representative Carla Cunningham, accusing McFadden of extortion and bribery, trying to get her to switch her vote on the House built three eighteen that forces sheriffs to cooperate with ICE. Made some veiled threats, Oh, I'd hate to see any harm come to you. You know so in their claims, though again this is a thirty some pages and there are four other people in the petition, they appear to be former employees, and so they just kind of restate in the petition here all of the accusations for why the petition has merit and now needs to be try and it would either be tried by the district attorney, which is where I would prefer it go, or the Mecklenburg County Attorney. And I believe that is Tyrone Wade. Got a bit of a history with mister Wade, which I will not go into here, but it had to do with DSS litigation twenty years ago when I was a reporter, So I'm not terribly confident in that, but maybe, like either way, like this is going to be a real test for the local Democrat party because they're going to have to decide on whether or not these accusations are have merit and that he is guilty of maladministration and needs to be removed. Now they're also asking in this petition for him to be suspended pending the disposition of the petition, so as this thing works its way through the court, they don't want him in office. He needs to be suspended. By the way, and I mentioned this, I think earlier he had already been requested or summoned to appear before the North Carolina House Oversight Committee. I believe that that's set for January twenty second. And when I saw that this morning, I was like, well, that's odd. Why are they asking him to come before the House Oversight Committee. Well, now it makes sense. Now it makes sense. Obviously the lawmakers and Raleigh knew what was coming, and so they've put in the request. We'll see what he does. We'll also see if he still holds that meeting that he had set for tomorrow. I believe where he was going to talk about, you know, reopening Jail North and why we just can't do that, you know, and all the pressures from Arena's law, and I'm gonna have to hold more people, and woe is me. It's not my fault. I don't have enough people and all this It is your fault. You don't have enough people. Nobody wants to work for you. So McFadden's so, here's some of the summation or the summary of the various accusations. McFadden's direction that line deputies working at the detention center not report assaults or other misconduct by inmates constitutes wilful and habitual neglect to perform the duties of his office. I'd say, oh, yeah, so he's telling people don't report assaults, so he's juice in the stats. McFadden's direction that line deputies not report assaults or other misconduct constitutes wilful misconduct and maladministration. McFadden's retaliation and threats of retaliation against line deputies working at the detention center who reported assaults or other misconduct also maladministration. His persistent non enforcement of jail policies intended to promote the safety of officers and inmates, his creation of ad hoc exceptions so one off, case by case exceptions to jail policies, and his retaliation against deputies and supervisors who enforced jail policies as written, McFadden's persistent non enforcement of policies intended to promote safety. Okay, so they're just restating each of these things and saying that they are maladministration and habitual neglect to perform duties. His misuse of official resources for work on his re election campaign. Misuse of official resources in connection with dignitary duty. I have not read this part of the petition yet, misuse of official resources in connection with the deployment of reserve deputies, his interference with the Sheriff's office ordinary hiring and promotion practices, to show favoritism to employees who agreed to report to him outside the chain of command, and to show him unquestioning personal loyalty. Oh that explains that Facebook post celebrating his birthday and showing videos of how snappily he dresses McFadden's threat to withdraw or refuse law enforcement protection of state Representative Carla Cunningham. Okay, these are the Cunningham Okay, all right, So that's it. And then he is subject to removal from office. So they're asking they're asking the court to suspend him from office pending the adjudication of this petition and then enter judgment in favor of the petitioners and order McFadden removed from the office of Sheriff of Mecklenberg County. Oh boy, Okay, let's get to the text line messages here only imagine hmm let me see here. Seven oh four number suggests it is McFadden's fault well this time it might be Pete, you're the joyous person in radio. Well, thank you, Robert, I appreciate that the helly and says I have not heard Pete this giddy. What a great couple of days for America. Mm hmmmmmm. This is from the grumpy major. I am only surprised that this did not happen sooner. Anyone who has worked with or around Sheriff. Not my fault. McFadden knew that his ego and narcissism would come back to bite him in the butt. Hopefully the dwindling number of his supporters will finally see him for who he is, or perhaps they'll just be the last rats leaving the sinking ship. John says, too funny, you sounded like a kid on Christmas Day. I do feel like I mean, well, it's right, Epiphany is tomorrow, so we are still in the Christmas season. Rodney says, well, you know that not my fault McFadden is going to say, oh, this is racism. It's all based on racism. Yeah, I expect that, Rodney. It's a good point. I love all the great breaking news today, Pete. It's the best late Christmas ever I can barely contain myself, says Mike from Maryland. Debra says, ha ha, I love it when Sheriff Gary writes his own posts. I was just about to break this news about Gary to you, Pete. I want to be the reason you were happy today. That's Tyler. Oh my goodness. A lot of the text messages do they just keep pouring in here? People, I'm trying to keep up, Dana. Okay, this is about the earlier topic in the first hour about Venezuela, which we moved on from. Let me jump up here, Shannon, Pete. It's your New Year's gift. Welcome back, Jennifer says, best day ever. Yes, McFadden is in apparently the finding out phase seven four number. I'm so glad they didn't break this while you were gone. You're a giver. Thank you, Sarah. They yes, you know what. Let me thank the law offices of where did it come from? Chalmers and Adams, I think for yeah, Chalmers, Adams, Backer and Kaufman. They're out of Raleigh. So thank you very much to the law firm for not breaking this over the weekend and instead breaking it during my show. For sending it out during my show I do appreciate that so very much, and Monica says when Pat Cannon was arrested, I was literally walking on air. I had a big, stupid smile on my face. I was so happy. I also worked at a very leftist place, so I was trying and failing to hide it. I was effusive. All right, that'll do it for this episode. Thank you so much for listening. I could not do the show without your support and the support of the businesses that advertise on the podcast, so if you'd like, please support them too and tell them you heard it here. You can also become a patron at my Patreon page or go to thepetecallanershow dot com. Again, thank you so much for listening, and don't break anything while I'm gone.