Posted on 01/19/2009 4:56:59 PM PST by Libloather
Candidate Wins With Fake Name
by Scott D. Yost
County Editor
January 15, 2009
The man who ran in and won the Guilford County Soil and Water Conservation District supervisor race in the November 2008 election did so under a fake name: "Kirk Perkins," the winning candidate, is actually a transient whose real name is Kirk Newell.
Newell, who is 51 years old, may have spent time in a mental institution before running for the office under the assumed name. A background check by The Rhinoceros Times found that Kirk Perkins and Kirk Newell share more than a first name – they also share a Social Security number.
Newell has been lying low since his campaign victory, perhaps because he could now face felony election fraud charges – in addition to being sought after by debt collectors, not to mention soil and water officials.
It's important to make clear that this Kirk Perkins is different from, and no relation to, Guilford County Commissioner Kirk Perkins.
The Guilford County Sheriff's Department confirmed this week that there was at least one judgment against Newell. That judgment was under yet another name – Kurt R. Perkins. That's the name used for Newell on court documents when he was evicted by David Crawford, who, in addition to being Newell's landlord and roommate was also his campaign manager – until the relationship between the two soured.
Crawford, who said he always knew Newell as Perkins, said he didn't know a lot about his former roommate's past, but he said that, based on conversations, he thought the man might have spent some time in Maryland, Arizona, Florida and Washington State before coming to North Carolina.
Crawford also said that once, in a conversation, the man he knew as Perkins referenced being at the state's mental institution in Butner, North Carolina.
Newell registered to vote in Guilford County in January 2008 and filed to run on June 24. He gave Crawford's Greensboro address to the Guilford County Board of Elections when he filed as a candidate.
During the eviction, Newell left behind some documents, including a document pertaining to a request in February 2008 to get a new copy of his Social Security card – this time with yet another first name. He filed for that replacement card under the name of "Kirt R. Perkins."
Newell frequently altered the spelling of his first name. At various times, on various documents, he has used Kirk Perkins, Kurk Perkins, Kurt R. Perkins and Kirt R. Perkins.
Crawford said that, despite living together for a short time, he didn't see a lot of the mystery man.
"He didn't have a car," he said, adding that Newell did not have a job either. Perkins seemed to subsist on government checks of some sort.
Crawford said Perkins would be gone for long periods of time.
"He would get on the bus and I wouldn't see him for a day or two," he said.
Crawford said that, at first, Newell's behavior was stable, but then he began to have episodes of bizarre behavior and destructive tantrums. He also did not pay rent as promised, he said.
Crawford said that, after Perkins was evicted, mail from bill collectors came to his house attempting to collect from Kirk Newell (though there may have been at least one variation in the spelling of that last name as well). Crawford said that, when that happened, he began to suspect Perkins might have been using a false name.
According to Crawford, the two men met at Forsyth County's central library in downtown Winston-Salem when Perkins was a resident of a halfway house across the street from the library.
Crawford said he has no idea where the man is now, though he said Newell's friends and bill collectors still attempt to reach Perkins/Newell at his home.
"He moved to High Point and broke off all communication," Crawford said.
He also said Perkins owes him $350 in rent and added that, when Perkins didn't show up in court to settle the dispute, the judge awarded Crawford a judgment in that amount.
Crawford said he'd heard that Perkins/Newell did not take the seat on the soil and water board after he won because he was worried it might jeopardize his Medicaid benefits.
The seat does not offer a salary, does not provide an office and, aside from a small travel allowance, offers no benefits other than the right to serve the public.
Crawford said it was his understanding that Perkins made a bet with his friends that he could win in a Guilford County political race without putting up one sign and without campaigning in any way.
According to Crawford, Perkins did set up a MySpace page for the campaign, but MySpace shut the site down because Newell was using it to make inappropriate comments to female MySpace users.
The big winner in this bizarre situation could be Herb Hendrickson, the incumbent soil and water commissioner, who's held the seat for eight years and is still occupying it. Hendrickson came in third in the five-candidate race, but, after Perkins was certified the winner and couldn't be found, the decision of how to fill the seat went back to the five-member Guilford County Soil and Water District Conservation Board.
The seat does not go, at least not automatically, to the candidate who came in second – in this case Andrew Courts.
On Monday, Jan. 12, the soil and water conservation board voted unanimously (Henderson abstained from the vote) to put Hendrickson into that seat – though that decision must now be approved by the NC Soil and Water Conservation Commission, and Courts is expected to make his case to that body.
The Guilford County soil and water conservation board controls a budget of about $100,000 a year and does things like help show county farmers ways to avoid soil runoff and to avoid polluting the streams and rivers that pass through their land.
Depending on the stories floating around or other evidence that one chooses to believe, Newell either moved to High Point, to Winston-Salem, to "somewhere in Davidson County" or to Washington State. Another theory is that Newell is still in Greensboro but has spread the word that he left town in order to throw off bill collectors, law enforcement officials and election officials.
Newell apparently has no knowledge or interest in soil and water issues and, when The Rhino Times attempted, before the election, to interview him for an article on the race, he didn't return calls. Recently, the cell number previously used to reach his voice mail was no longer in use.
Newell reportedly told some people, including Crawford, that Commissioner Perkins was his uncle, but the commissioner said there was no truth to that and now that appears to be the case.
Guilford County Board of Elections Director George Gilbert said NC General Statute163-275, which deals with election fraud, makes this type of act a felony.
For instance, one section of that statute says it's a felony for "any person knowingly to swear falsely with respect to any matter pertaining to any primary or election."
Gilbert said there are a lot of people who would like to locate the man formally known as Perkins.
"If you can find this guy, both we and the Soil and Water Conservation District would like to talk to him," Gilbert said.
Gilbert said Perkins did not vote in the November election.
Normally, there's no need to show identification to vote, but Gilbert said the state computer system red flagged Perkins registration request when he filed – therefore Perkins would have been required to show identification if he had voted. Gilbert said he can't be sure why the registration was kicked out, but he said one way that can happen is when a Social Security number given does not match the name in a state database.
Gilbert said that, when registering, the identification requirements are very light.
"It does not have to be a picture ID," Gilbert said.
He said it could, for instance, be a utility bill.
He added that the red flag does not come up when one files to run for office as long as the person has previously turned in a registration form.
"The system is not set up for that," Gilbert said, adding that this is the first time he's heard of something like this happening.
The system is primarily set up to keep voters from committing fraud, Gilbert said, not candidates.
Crawford said he voted for Courts for the seat. It's highly unusual when a political candidate doesn't vote for himself and can't get his campaign manager to vote for him – and even more rare when that candidate wins. Perkins clearly won the election based solely on the strength of having – or rather giving himself – the same name as Commissioner Kirk Perkins.
It's somewhat difficult to believe that a man assumed an alias identical to the then chairman of the Board of Commissioners and risked felony prosecution in order to win a job that offered no pay, is one of the lowest profile positions on the ballot, and that he had no plans on taking, but apparently that's what happened.
Several soil and water officials said they have never seen anything like this and one said it was safe to say that the Guilford County soil and water race is currently more eventful than any other soil and water race in the country.
Still would vote for him over Obi.
Given the absence of mentioning party label in the article, I presume he’s a Democrat ?
please what party?
I wonder if Mr. Soetoro is listening?
“Newell, who is 51 years old, may have spent time in a mental institution.....”
That alone qualifies him.
This kind of local election is usually non-partisan, isn’t it?
Sounds like the man for the job, and whats a few unpaid tax bills are a different name. The man is pulling himself up with his own boot straps.
This is one of the funniest things I’ve read re local elections. Of course, I live in Guilford County.
I mean, this guy is the perfect politican. He lives off the public dole, he has no job, he’s obviously a con man. He ran under false pretenses. He is simply upfront about what other politicians, namely our long elected congresspersons, try to conceal.
Too funny. I’m send this link to my sister in Memphis. FOR ONCE, I can compete with her Ford family stories :-)
I wonder who has standing to challenge him?
It’s a non partisan race.
http://www.co.guilford.nc.us/elections_cms/docs/Misc%20Documents/CompositeBallot08.pdf
A rat county commissioner has the same name, so this guy chose it to confuse voters obviously.
How funny. What has that Eddie Murphy movie.
I’m sure this has happened before.
It goes to show how stupid voters are. This country has no respect for those who died to give them the right to vote, they just pick names, any name, it doesn’t matter.
This shows us once again that Democrats don’t have the vaguest idea about the value of quailifcations. They have just elected a mental patient using a fake name. Need I say more?
There is only one party.
Then, there’s the rest of us.
Do you like kittens?
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