Judicial candidate pays opponent's filing fee: sleazy or strategy?

A Wake County judicial candidate paid for an acquaintance to run against him in an upcoming District Court race, changing the ballot at the last minute so it has two Democrats and two Republicans.

The local GOP chairman called it "disgusting political chicanery" and an obvious effort to split the Republican vote.

The "sleaziest, most underhanded, and outrageous thing I can imagine a candidate for judge doing," Wake County Republican Party Chairman Charles Hellwig said in a statement. He accused Walter Rand, a local attorney making his third bid to get on the bench, of a "simply inconceivable" and "simply disgusting" effort to bring in "a fake opponent."

Alleged fake opponent Evan Charles Schreier took some offense to that Tuesday.

"They haven't spoken to me at all," he said of the local party. "They just called me fake."

Schreier and Rand are office neighbors. Rand said he covered Schreier's $1,167 filing fee right at the filing deadline last week in part due to rumors that Republicans were recruiting candidates to run as Democrats and split the vote on that side of the ballot.

Rebecca Anne Edwards joined this particular race two days before Rand filed. She's a registered Democrat, but her voting history shows she pulled a Republican ballot in every North Carolina primary she participated in since 2002, most recently 2016.

"So it looked like that rumor was coming true," Rand said.

Then he added: "I feel a little bit bad. ... For all I know, she's a straight-up independent who had Republican leanings until Trump got elected."

Edwards said she changed her party affiliation in May and that, though she was a registered Republican before, she supported Gov. Roy Cooper and Attorney General Josh Stein in the 2016 elections.

Edwards said she's certainly not in the race as some sort of conspiracy. She was the first to file.

"It's surprising and disappointing to me to learn that that sort of gamesmanship has started," she said.

Rand said he knew Schreier wanted to run for judge. Schreier described himself Tuesday as a Republican, and records show he voted in the 2016 GOP primary.

The way Rand describes it, they were evening up the ballot for District Court Judge District 10D Seat 2: It now has two Democrats, Rand and Edwards, two Republicans, Schreier and John Ratledge, and an independent, Nicolette Fulton.

"I wanted to run," Schreier said Tuesday. "I didn't have all my ducks in a row at the filing deadline. ... Walter obviously made a tactical decision in his strategic interest, but I think the overall strategy was poor. I intend to beat Walter, so I think this is going to be his mistake."

Schreier also characterized the filing fee Rand covered as a loan.

Said Rand: "I hope, if I don't win, that my friend Evan Schreier wins."

Said Hellwig in his release: "Just when you thought politics couldn't get any dirtier, a candidate for judge sinks to a new low."