Republican officials told Cardinal & Pine that they warned party leadership, including current US Senate candidate Michael Whatley, that Harvey West Jr., a convicted sex offender, should not hold leadership roles or host fundraisers. Despite this, West remained in those roles for years, and party rules barring sex offenders from leadership were not adopted until West left.
In 2021, Michele Woodhouse, then the Republican district chair in NC-11, vocally opposed West holding key roles within the North Carolina Republican Party (NCGOP).
When Woodhouse first encountered West, he was serving as the chair of the 1st District and as a member of the party’s Plan of Organization Committee.
In 2020, West began hosting an annual fundraiser for judicial candidates.
He served in both roles until earlier this year, and the latest annual judicial fundraiser took place on Sept. 20, 2025.
At a 2021 meeting held among the district chairs, Woodhouse attended, hoping to make a statement about hosting fundraisers at West’s home.
“I wore a #MeToo t-shirt to that committee meeting, called for a closed session, brought up my concerns around it, and was attacked verbally by Harvey [West]. Michael [Whatley] quickly gaveled down the meeting, ended that closed session,” Woodhouse recalled to Cardinal & Pine.
Earlier this year, Asheville Watchdog reported that in 2000, West pleaded guilty to five counts of taking indecent liberties with a child against three girls under the age of 16. West was a 28-year-old police officer in Dare County at the time.
As part of his plea, he served six years in prison and was a registered sex offender for ten years.
She said she went to Whatley, then the Chairman of the NCGOP, multiple times with concerns about hosting the fundraisers at West’s home and about his role in the party.
“I have grave concerns that we are, as a party, condoning a judicial fundraiser at the home of a man who plead guilty to sexual crimes against three minor girls,” she recalled telling him.
West was appointed to the Plan of Organization Committee by former NCGOP Chair Robin Hayes from 2013 to 2017 and by Whatley from 2021 to 2024. In other years of service, he was nominated at the district-level.
Michael Magnatti served as the Chair of the Granville County Republican Party and is a current member of the Plan of Organization Committee. He says he voiced concerns within the party about West’s presence.
“This man has been convicted. He pled guilty. He served [prison time.] He was on the sexual offender registry for ten years. This is going to come out and it is going to bite you in the ass,” he recalled telling people.
Hosting an annual fundraiser for judicial candidates
The Down East Judicial Picnic, hosted at the Wests’ home, was an annual event for several years. According to Kim Cotten-West, Harvey West’s wife, the idea was supported by prominent leaders on the State Supreme Court, including now-Chief Justice Paul Newby.
“So the first event was so successful, Justices Newby and Berger suggested we make it a yearly event,” Cotten-West said in a 2023 video.
During the 2020 election cycle, Justice Newby received $5,400 from the Al-Pam Republican Club.
According to Woodhouse, some judicial candidates were not aware of West’s past, including Appellate Court Judges April Wood and Jeffery Carpenter, as well as current NC Supreme Court Associate Justice Tamara Barringer. She says she warned these candidates to stay away.
“At the end of the day, it was about protecting candidates,” she says.
Woodhouse believes the ripple effects of the fundraisers continue to haunt the party heading into the midterms.
“If Michael Whatley would have addressed this back in 2021, removed Harvey from that committee, and denounced that picnic, Republicans wouldn’t be in the situation they’re in right now,” she said. “It’s probably going to cost Sarah Stevens her Supreme Court race because she chose to go to that picnic.”
Stevens, the Republican nominee for the Supreme Court, has denied knowing who West was. However, she appeared on Cotten-West’s podcast prior to the 2025 fundraiser. She also attended the event itself and received a campaign contribution from the fundraiser. As of Aug. 5, 2026, she is also still friends with West on Facebook.
Woodhouse also claimed to both Cardinal & Pine and in the comments of a post to the Daily Haymaker that Newby recruited current Supreme Court Justice Trey Allen to run against Wood in the 2022 Republican primary after she didn’t attend the fundraiser.
“April Wood stood up and refused to go and her reward – Paul Newby had Trey Allen primary her,” Woodhouse wrote.
Allen defeated Wood in the primary that year and was listed as the master of ceremonies for the 2025 fundraiser.
Cardinal & Pine reached out to both Judge April Wood and Chief Justice Paul Newby for comment, but neither had responded by publication.
Fighting to keep someone like West out of leadership roles
Magnatti was one of the key figures who, for years, pushed for a ‘felon clause’ that would keep people like West out of leadership positions.
In 2021, he drafted what he called a “minimum qualifications clause”.
“What mine originally said was ‘if you’ve been convicted of a crime of moral turpitude, you’ve been convicted of any crimes against children, violent crimes, sexual offenses’, stuff like that, then you can’t serve in leadership ever,’” he said.
Magnatti sent out an initial draft to the other Members of the Plan of Organization Committee and party leadership, including West.
He was shocked at the lack of initial support for the clause from other committee members.
“I was amazed at the level of pushback I got. I couldn’t understand it,” Magnatti said. “I said, ‘so basically what you’re telling me is you’re okay with pedophiles serving in leadership.’”
It was then that he learned about West’s past as a convicted sex offender.
He said prominent leaders within the party echoed support for the felon/morality clause, including former Lieutenant Gov. Mark Robinson, former Rep. Mark Walker, and former State Treasurer Dale Folwell. He also said when his initial efforts to pass the clause failed, Whatley encouraged him to fight for what he believed in.
“When it failed, he came and encouraged me, afterwards, he encouraged me to not quit, to not give up,” he said.
As it pertains to the clause itself, he said Whatley did not signal his opinion one way or another.
“He was very noncommittal. He didn’t say ‘you should stop doing this,’ not once. […] Looking back, knowing what I know now, I don’t think he was a supporter, he did not come right out and tell me he was not a supporter,” Magnatti said.
West resigned as the first district chair for the Republican Party in March and from the Committee in May.
In June, the NCGOP passed a new rule barring sex offenders from serving in leadership roles.
Margaret Ackiss, a longtime conservative activist within the party from Cherokee County, noted that the rule passed once West left the Committee.
“It’s interesting the one year when [West’s] not on it, it does pass,” she said.
While Magnatti believes that his initial proposal in 2021 was stronger than what ultimately passed, he praised the addition of the clause and believes it would have passed with or without West on the committee.
“I believe that the North Carolina Republican Party is better today because we have in our governing documents that you can’t be a criminal, you can’t be a felon who has any violent crimes towards children… and I am proud of the fact that I fought for six years to get it in those governing documents,” he said.
Ackiss said the West saga speaks to a longtime frustration she has had with the party as a whole.
“My issue has always been, is that the Republican Party does a very poor job of vetting candidates, and they do a very poor job of weeding out people that you wouldn’t want them at your dinner party with your kids,” she said.
Cardinal & Pine reached out to Michael Whatley, Chief Justice Paul Newby, and Judge April Wood for comment on this story, but has not received a response as of publication.
