Someone in Mark Robinson’s family must have a huge appetite for Girl Scout cookies. Robinson is Republican currently running for governor in North Carolina, but he’s hit a bit of a stumbling block in the form of public records obtained from the Guilford County Court. Those records show that in September of 2003, the Tarheel Triad Girl Scouts filed a suit against his wife, Yolanda Hill, over a $2,956.03 bad check.
The good news here is that the Girl Scouts won. The complaint was heard a month later and court documents show that no one attended on behalf of the defendant, Notes on The Chalkboard reports. The magistrate who found in favor of the Girl Scouts tacked on additional fees and damages as permitted by state law regarding returned checks and the grand total came to $3,486.03.
I’m sure I don’t have to tell you that’s not a good look for a gubernatorial candidate.
What’s even more fun is that Robinson and Hill also had to pay the Girl Scouts’ attorney fees.
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The records don’t reveal what the check was for, nor do they offer any context about what happened between Hill and the Girl Scouts. The couple was definitely going through a rough patch in 2003, forcing them to declare bankruptcy on their daycare center Precious Beginnings.
And Hill’s going through another fun patch now, since his most recent business, Balanced Nutrition, where he worked before being elected Lieutenant Governor, closed thanks to an investigation by the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), which audited a few months of the company’s nearly ten-years of activity.
What the DHHS found was shocking. The nonprofit, charged with serving as a conduit for obtaining federal funding for childcare facilities meals was requesting the federal funding on behalf of childcare centers and then not bothering to give them the money.
As a result, Robinson and Hill will have to pay back a whopping $132,118.86 in federal funds, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture is considering launching an investigation into whether additional violations occurred.
This is also not a good look for a gubernatorial candidate. He and his wife certainly have less than stellar business practices, and if Robinson is elected governor, there could be more fun to be had.
And to think we’re all finding out about this thanks to Girl Scout Cookies.
Featured image via screengrab.
