Robinson Continues to Shirk Responsibilities As LG

New reporting from WUNC reveals that over the course of his nearly four years as Lieutenant Governor, Mark Robinson “has sent only about 30 substantive emails.” 

Robinson’s seeming unwillingness to do his job follows a history of being “routinely absent from some of the lieutenant governor’s primary job responsibilities, including presiding over sessions of the state Senate and serving on the State Board of Education and other boards.” Most recently, Robinson “failed to respond to two concurrence requests from Gov. Roy Cooper’s office to sign off on state of emergency declarations for Helene,” which only required responding “yes” or “no” to an email. 

Given that Robinson “missed nearly half” of the sessions of the State Board of Education and never “attended the quarterly meetings of the Military Affairs Commission,” the report notes that “the lack of email correspondence from Robinson makes it difficult to tell what the Office of Lieutenant Governor has focused on during his tenure.” 

“While Mark Robinson continues to neglect the bare minimum responsibilities of his current role, Josh Stein has been doing his job as Attorney General fighting and delivering for the the people of North Carolina,” said Morgan Hopkins, a spokesperson for the campaign. “On November 5, North Carolinians will choose competence over chaos and elect Josh Stein as our next Governor.” 

Read WUNC’s reporting below: 

WUNC: Mark Robinson sent few emails as North Carolina Lt. Gov., records show

• Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson has sent only about 30 substantive emails in more than three years in office, newly released public records show.

• The lieutenant governor’s office has released a public records file showing all the emails he sent from three accounts, two official and one personal Gmail account, since he took office in January 2021. The records show Robinson was an infrequent user of email, and most of the released emails are messages forwarded to staff with no text, or are calendar invites to meetings.

• Only 31 emails include original text written by Robinson. His chief of staff and his campaign spokesman did not respond to an inquiry from WUNC about why he uses email so infrequently.

• The email records come following news reports that he failed to respond to two concurrence requests from Gov. Roy Cooper’s office to sign off on state of emergency declarations for Helene. The concurrence votes simply required Council of State members to reply “yes” or “no” to Cooper’s emailed request to pass an emergency executive order. Robinson’s spokesperson downplayed the missed concurrence votes, noting the declaration was passed anyway without his participation.

• WUNC reported in September that Robinson has been routinely absent from some of the lieutenant governor’s primary job responsibilities, including presiding over sessions of the state Senate and serving on the State Board of Education and other boards.
  
• He’s presided over state Senate sessions just three times this year, and none were during the “short session” that ran from April through June. State Board of Education meeting minutes show he’s missed nearly half of the board’s sessions. And neither Robinson nor anyone from his office has ever attended the quarterly meetings of the Military Affairs Commission.
  
• The lack of email correspondence from Robinson makes it difficult to tell what the Office of Lieutenant Governor has focused on during his tenure.