GOP Chair calls Rachel Nuts! Demo Chair Endorses
Republican Candiate. Rachel Campaign Says Any
Place, Any Time, Anywhere, By The Best

N.C. Court Candidate Draws Ire Of Both Republicans And Democrats

POSTED: 9:14 pm EDT June 13, 2006

RALEIGH, N.C. -- The leaders of the state's Democratic and Republican parties have asked voters not to cast ballots for state Supreme Court candidate Rachel Lea Hunter, whose fiery rhetoric in recent weeks has included comparing the actions of a black congressional candidate to that of a slave.

"She's unstable and unqualified, and the thought of her serving on the highest court in North Carolina is scary," state Republican party chairman Ferrell Blount said Tuesday.

Blount's comments came after Hunter, a former Republican running as a Democrat, used the title "Dur Fuhrer" _ commonly associated with Nazi leader Adolf Hitler _ when referring to state Democratic party chief Jerry Meek. Such rhetoric led Meek to endorse Republican-backed incumbent Mark Martin in his race with Hunter for a seat on the state's high court.

"From my own personal perspective, I think she lacks the judgment and temperament to be a judge at any level," said Meek, who called Martin an "able and competent member of the court."

Hunter did not return a phone call Tuesday seeking comment. Her husband and campaign adviser, Connie Mack Berry Jr., took offense at Blount's description of Hunter as "unstable."

"Rachel Hunter will be glad to submit herself to any psychiatric evaluation, any place, any time, anywhere, by the best psychiatric personnel in the country," he said.

Last week, in a post on her Web site, Hunter criticized congressional candidate Vernon Robinson for running for office as a Republican, even though the staunch and outspoken conservative lost his bid for state GOP chair at the party's convention in 2005.

"Like a good slave, he has returned to the plantation," Hunter wrote about Robinson, who is black.

On Tuesday, Hunter revised that statement on her Web site, calling Robinson's behavior like that of an "Uncle Tom" _ considered to be a contemptuous term for a black whose behavior toward whites is regarded as fawning or servile.

"While I don't have a high regard for Vernon Robinson, I would never characterize him the way she did," Meek said.

Hunter also ran for a seat on the Supreme Court in 2004, finishing third to winner Paul Newby.

"She's not stable," Blount said. "I would applaud Jerry Meek, calling it the way he sees it. If she was still a Republican, I would have done the same thing."

Hunter has about 20 years of legal experience, mostly as a law clerk. She has worked as an attorney in Durham for the past five years.

Last month, she implied on her Web site she had won the endorsement of former North Carolina basketball coach Dean Smith. But while Smith said he met Hunter and had his picture taken with her, he said he had not endorsed her candidacy and didn't remember saying what Hunter attributed to him.

Berry said then he didn't want to "argue with the greatest legend in college basketball."

The state Board of Elections in February ruled against Hunter's request to appear on the ballot with the nickname "Madame Justice," a moniker Hunter has said she adopted in 1998.