GUILFORD COUNTY, N.C. (WGHP) — A shakeup has come to the ongoing war for the District 3 Guilford County Board of Education seat.
On Tuesday, Bill Goebel announced that he would resign from the seat after a protracted back-and-forth over the course of months stemming from a disagreement about what candidate would fill Republican Pat Tillman’s seat.
Goebel wrote in part that his “lawful appointment to the Guilford County School Board has been the subject of litigation, dubious legislation, and unprecedented invective directed at me, the Board, and its staff and attorneys. I am certain that the legislature has overstepped its legal authority in shortening my term in office, and I am able and willing to litigate the matter.”
Then he went on to say that continuing litigation would “further distract the Board, the staff and the public from the important job of educating our children,” and that he’d rather voters pick the occupant of the District 3 seat, not a judge in Wake County.
“Therefore, I am hereby tendering my resignation of the District 3 seat, effective immediately. I wish my successor and the Board the best of luck in the important work that lies ahead.”
Teacher Michael Logan was sworn in on the same day that Goebel tendered his resignation.
Background
After Tillman resigned from his seat representing District 3 following his election to the Guilford County Board of Commissioners, the Guilford County Republican Party nominated Logan to replace him. The board took advantage of its power to vote against appointing the nominee, leading to four votes rejecting Logan before the General Assembly intervened.
Rep. Jon Hardister (R-Guilford) and Rep. John Faircloth (R-Guilford) filed House Bill 88 to clean up language in the statute covering this process, seeking to force the board to seat the party’s nominee. However, using a loophole in the new law, the board instead seated Goebel, another Republican from the district.
The General Assembly passed Senate Bill 9 in June. The new law aims to unseat Goebel by shortening his term and allowing the Guilford County GOP to nominate his replacement. The party again selected Logan on Aug. 30.
Goebel’s attorney Charles Winfree, in a letter submitted to the Guilford County School Board and copied to the chairman of the Guilford County GOP, argued that SB 9 does not in itself unseat Goebel and, if it it did, it would be unconstitutional.
Logan and two Republican school board members have filed a lawsuit claiming the board violated state open meetings law when it seated Goebel. That trial is currently in the discovery phase.
