The attorney for Bill Goebel, who either is or was the District 3 Guilford County Board of Education member, says the North Carolina General Assembly doesn’t have the authority to remove Goebel from the school board, but other attorneys disagree.
Chuck Winfree of Adams & Winfree, who represents Goebel in this matter, sent a letter to the eight other members of the Guilford County Board of Education stating that Senate Bill 9, which removed Goebel from the board, was unconstitutional.
However, Robert Joyce, the Charles Edwin Hinsdale Professor of Public Law and Government at the UNC School of Government, on the Coates’ Canons NC Local Government Law blog titled “Removing Elected Board Members From Office” stated the opposite. That post published Feb. 2, 2015 states, “Could the General Assembly pass a local act providing this: ‘Fred Jones is removed as a member of the board of education of Taxfree County?’ That is, could the legislature, by local act, remove a member of local government governing board?
“The answer to the question appears to be Yes, though such an action by the General Assembly would seem to be unlikely.
“In 1925 the North Carolina Supreme Court upheld the authority of the General Assembly to abolish the Hyde County board of commissioners, terminate the terms of the sitting commissioners, and replace them with a new board. It noted that counties ‘are subject practically to the unlimited control of the Legislature’ and that elected officials have ‘no’ vested property or contract right to the office to which they [have] been elected of which they could not be deprived by the Legislature.’ State ex rel. O’Neal v. Jennette, 190 N.C. 96.
“So legislative removal seems theoretically available, but unlikely.”
Winfree agrees with Joyce that the legislature has the ability to abolish a board, as in the case of Hyde County, and remove all the elected members from the board. Winfree also stated, “The legislature is pretty much free to do what they want.”
But Winfree stated that one thing the legislature couldn’t do is remove one individual from a governing board.
When asked about Joyce’s opinion on the issue, Winfree said, “That’s why we have judges to resolve issues like this.”
So they are once again going to thumb their noses at law. Shame on them.
That’s why you hire your barrister, so they can offer an “opinion” to argue your case. The State pays, the CBE pays, and the barristers collect.
Just make me King of Guilford County.
Since Goebel is on the board because the Democrates refused to seat Michael Logan by way of shenanigans, and since the NC legislature has now made the seat available to Logan via Guilford Republicans, who should have been seated in the first place, it seems reasonable to expect Goebel to step down. So, Goebel, do the honorable thing and step aside. Should you choose to act like you belong there, you are as much of a miserable person as Deena Hayes, her fellow Democrates, and Jill Wilson with Brooks Pierce law firm.
Follow the money. How much does Goebel and his family stand to make from selling whatever services to the system? What a shame and a debacle. Why is the board terrified of a retired career educator that is the proper legal choice to fill this position?
AMEN!!!
That’s what lawyers do. Argue the law.
Otherwise known as complicating the world the rest of us live in.
It’s almost as silly as practicing medicine has become.