Former Rockingham County commissioner files defamation lawsuit after losing primary by 3 votes

ROCKINGHAM COUNTY, N.C. (WGHP) — “This case arises from conduct that has become all too common in modern American politics,” said a Rockingham County politician in a lawsuit filed against fellow politicians and political organizations in Rockingham County.

Craig Travis , who served on the Rockingham County Board of Commissioners from 2011-2022 and lost his seat in the 2024 Republican primary, filed the lawsuit on Monday against two commissioners — Commissioner Kevin Berger, son of North Carolina State Senator Phil Berger (R-Rockingham), and Commissioner Mark Richardson — as well as the North Carolina Conservatives Fund, Atlas Political Consulting LLC and GOPAC Inc. Travis claims that the defendants have defamed him, stemming from the protracted battle over a potential casino in Rockingham County.

“When the plaintiff [Travis] campaigned on his opposition to the pro-casino measures supported by the incumbent Commissioners and opposed by the majority of residents of Rockingham County, the defendant Commissioners sought to discredit him by publishing defamatory statements to voters in the 2024 Republican primary election,” the lawsuit states.

In the lawsuit, Travis says he did not run in 2022 due to his belief in term limits, but, in 2023 leading up to the 2024 primary, he decided to run again after citizens who also opposed the proposed casino reached out to him.

The lawsuit lays out in detail Travis’s belief that Commissioner Kevin Berger and other members of the board acted inappropriately in their attempts to bring a casino to Rockingham County, including closed-door meetings that would violate North Carolina statute and multiple donations from lobbyists and officials associated with Cordish Companies, whom it was believed had been courted to build the proposed casinos.

The alleged smear campaign against Travis

Travis claims that, due to his opposition to the casino proposition, the campaign messages and social media posts about his candidacy rose above typical political mudslinging.

“The false statements made about Mr. Travis in the False Attack Ads, Facebook posts, email, and other communications described herein constitute more than the mere vituperation and name calling that is characteristic of political campaigns and protected by the First Amendment,” the lawsuit said. “These false statements were made with actual malice and intended to harm Mr. Travis’s reputation in Rockingham County by lowering Mr. Travis in the estimation of potential voters in the 2024 Board of Commissioners election through deliberate deception and deterring them from supporting his campaign.”

According to the suit, a clip of Travis speaking was deceptively edited to remove context so that it would falsely appear that Travis intended to raise taxes in Rockingham County.

Mailers allegedly accuse Travis of opposing budget increases for the Rockingham County Sheriff’s Office, which the former commissioner said was not true. The lawsuit adds that Sheriff Sam Page also opposed the casino and supported Travis’s candidacy for the board “because of Mr. Travis’s history of consistently supporting law enforcement and public safety in Rockingham County.”

Beginning on Feb. 8, 2022, and continuing through March 5, 2024, the lawsuit says “Defendant [Donald] Powell falsely stated to many people that Mr. Travis had vandalized his vehicle. Specifically, Defendant Powell falsely stated that, on February 8, 2022, Mr. Travis had engaged in criminal conduct by ripping the valve stems out of the tires on his vehicle.”

Diane Parnell, the chairwoman of the Rockingham County Republican Party and another defendant, appeared to accuse Travis of stealing campaign signs for the other candidates running for the Board of Commissioners, according to the lawsuit.

Parnell allegedly said, “When you do not see signs for [Defendant Powell], [Defendant Berger], Ben Curtis and [Defendant Richardson], they have been stolen. Signs put out at 5 and gone by 8… signs replaced… and the ‘dark side’ is out there again… stealing campaign signs…”

The suit claims that Parnell’s Facebook friends and followers would recognize that she was using “the dark side” to refer to Travis based on Parnell’s previous statements on her Facebook page, in private messages and in personal conversations.

Removing campaign signs that are legally placed is a crime under North Carolina State Statute .

Damages

Ultimately, Travis came in fourth in the Republican primary and will not advance to the general election with the top three vote-getters. He garnered 5,506 votes, three votes short of Kevin Berger’s 5,509.

Travis states in the lawsuit that these false statements and accusations, which he believes stem from his opposition to the casino project, contributed to not only the loss of the primary but also a loss of his good reputation within Rockingham County.

“Mr. Travis has suffered substantial embarrassment, mental anguish, and distress due to the damage to his reputation proximately caused by Defendants’ defamatory statements,” the lawsuit states, claiming that the damages are in excess of $25,000.

In the lawsuit, Travis’s legal team says that the court should:

1. award Mr. Travis compensatory damages in excess of $25,000.00 against Defendants, jointly and severally, on his claim for libel per se;
2. award Mr. Travis compensatory damages in excess of $25,000.00 against Defendants, jointly and severally, on his claim for libel per quod;
3. award Mr. Travis compensatory damages in excess of $25,000.00 against Defendant Berger, Defendant GOP Chair Parnell, Defendant Powell, and Defendant Richardson, jointly and severally, on his claim for slander;
4. award Mr. Travis punitive damages in excess of $25,000.00 to punish each Defendant;
5. allow jury trial on all issues so triable;
6. tax the costs of this action against Defendants; and
7. grant Mr. Travis such other and further relief as the Court deems just and proper.

The full text of the lawsuit can be viewed below:

Another lawsuit tied to the potential Rockingham County casino was recently dismissed. The owners of the nearby Camp Carefree , which serves disabled and ill children and is adjacent to the proposed casino property, were named as plaintiffs in that suit.

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