Notable Members of Guilford County Black Caucus Amid Rumors of Candidate Forum Boycott
GREENSBORO, N.C. – The Guilford County Black Caucus finds itself at the center of growing scrutiny and rumors of a potential candidate forum boycott as its upcoming October forums approach, with critics pointing to the deeply intertwined relationships between the caucus’s leadership, its members and the very candidates the events are designed to feature.
The caucus, which presents itself as a non-partisan community organization, is scheduled to host two public forums this month at the International Civil Rights Center & Museum, a venue closely linked to Caucus Chairman and County Commissioner Skip Alston. The first forum on October 9 will feature mayoral and at-large candidates, while the second on October 15 will focus on district races.
However, what on the surface appears to be a standard civic exercise has been clouded by revelations that multiple candidates on the stage are, in fact, notable members and allies of the organization hosting the event. This has led to whispers among political observers and potential challengers about the fairness of the forums and whether a boycott may be imminent.
A Web of Interconnections
An examination of the caucus’s membership and recent political appointments reveals a dense network of interconnected figures;
The Incumbent Candidates; City Council members Hugh Holston and Jamilla Pinder, both up for re-election, are listed members of the Black Caucus. Both were initially appointed to their seats, granting them the advantages of incumbency before ever facing voters. They are now set to participate in a forum administered by their own political organization.
Holston’s campaign gave $500 to the ICRCM Charity Golf Tournament on 3/10/2025.
A closer look at Councilman Hugh Holston’s campaign finance reports reveals the blueprint of this political machine in action. His contributors are not a broad base of grassroots supporters but a concentrated roster of the network’s inner circle: the treasurer of the Black Caucus, Frankie T. Jones, Jr.; key figures from the Greensboro Sports Foundation board; executives from the Koury corporation; and even a mayoral candidate, Marikay Abuzuaiter. This isn’t merely a list of donors; it is a map of institutional alliances, drawing direct lines between a candidate, his host organization, powerful business interests and his political allies on the ballot, fundamentally challenging the notion of a neutral playing field.
Notable Pinder contributions;
VANESSA CARROLL (R), CHARLES HAGAN, MICHAEL HALEY (R), MARTY KOTIS (R), JOYCE GORHAM-WARSLEY, GREENSBORO CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
The County Power Broker; Skip Alston, the caucus chairman, appointed to Guilford County Commissioners after retiring. His campaign finance reports show contributions from a who’s who of the local political establishment, including the Simpkins PAC, NC Realtor PAC and fellow caucus members.
Greensboro’s City Attorney Lora Cubbage; appointed as Greensboro City Attorney by the council in July 2025, is also a caucus member. This places the city’s top legal advisor, who is meant to serve the entire council impartially, inside the same political organization as the incumbents she advises.
The City Attorney is supposed to be a non-political, impartial advisor to City Council. When the City Attorney is a member of a political caucus that is hosting forums for an election where her clients Holston, Pinder, Abuzuaiter, Thurm, Matheny and Hightower are candidates, her ability to be perceived as neutral is compromised. It creates an appearance that the city’s legal office is aligned with a specific political faction.
The City Council (including Holston and Pinder) appointed Cubbage. Now, Cubbage, as a member of the same caucus, is involved in an event that supports their re-election campaigns. This has the appearance of a self-reinforcing cycle; the council appoints a caucus member to a powerful position, and that official’s affiliation then indirectly benefits the incumbents.
The list of Cubbage’s past judicial campaign contributors reads like a roster of the very network in question;
Skip Alston: The caucus and county commissioner chair, Frankie Jones & Lisa Johnson-Tonkins: Listed as officers/members of the Black Caucus, Nancy Vaughan: The Mayor of Greensboro, Thomas Carruthers: The former City Attorney and present City of Greensboro Attorneys which shows a pattern of internal support.
This contributor list demonstrates that the current City Attorney is politically and financially connected to the same circle that now dominates city appointments and is hosting the candidate forums.
The candidate forums, instead of being a neutral platform for democratic engagement, now risk being perceived as an event orchestrated by and for a consolidated political network.
The County Commissioner: Frankie T. Jones, Jr., the caucus treasurer, was himself appointed to the Guilford County Board of Commissioners and subsequently won an election as an incumbent. His campaign expenditures include a $1,000 payment to the Simpkins PAC and a payment to the International Civil Rights Center & Museum, further tying the financial and institutional dots together.
The political network’s influence extends deeply into the civic arena, as illustrated by Commissioner Frankie T. Jones, Jr.’s role on the Greensboro Sports Foundation board. Jones, who followed the now-familiar path of appointment and incumbent election, serves alongside City Council candidate and Sports Foundation President Richard Beard. This intersection is further cemented by Jones’s campaign contributors, which include multiple fellow Sports Foundation board members, This pattern reveals a coordinated support system where political, business and non-profit leaders form a consolidated front, funding and elevating candidates across different levels of government.
The Financial Engine: Simkins PAC
The network extends beyond mere membership into a shared financial structure. The Simkins PAC, a influential political fund, has served as a financial hub for this group. Its notable contributors include former U.S. Rep. Kathy Manning, while its expenditure list reads like a roster of the caucus’s influence:
$1,000 from Frankie Jones’s campaign
Contributions to Skip Alston’s campaign
Financial support for a slate of candidates who are either caucus members (Larry Archie, Amos Quick, Avery Crump and Sheriff Danny Rogers) or close allies (Councilmember and candidate Tammi Thurm and mayoral candidate Robbie Perkins).
2013 Simkins PAC Endorsements and a Few Payments from Candidates
https://hartzman.blogspot.com/2014/02/2013-simkins-pac-endorsements-and-few.html
Before voting to give then Simkins PAC Treasurer Alston a $150,000 commission to be paid for with everyone else’s money for a strip mall without a legitimate bidding process, Robbie Perkins, who’s campaign paid $3,000 for a Simkins PAC endorsement in 2011, was an honorary Chair of the ICRC/Simkins golf tournament, which raised money to bail out the Civil Rights museum, while at the same time asked Greensboro Taxpayers for $1,500,000.
Notice the after party was held at Roy Carroll’s 17th floor Center Pointe Ballroom.
This reciprocal financial relationship underscores that the forums are not merely community events, but functions of a sophisticated political machine that pre-selects, funds and promotes its chosen candidates.
A Crisis of Credibility and Rumors of Boycott
Can an organization run by powerful incumbents legitimately host a neutral forum for the very elections incumbents and the connected are contesting?
For voters and challengers, this presents a significant barrier. They are not merely running against individual candidates, but against a deeply entrenched system that controls the levers of government, major institutions and the very platforms meant to ensure fair political debate.
The Guilford County Black Caucus forums must be recognized not as a neutral civic exercise, but as an internal mechanism of an established political network. With the hosting organization led and populated by key figures in that network and the event staged at a venue synonymous with its chairman, the forum operates as a platform for insider incumbents and connected challengers like Perkins, Beard and Matheny to campaign under the guise of community engagement. This transforms a supposed public service into a strategic function of the machine itself, designed to consolidate power rather than foster open debate.
This question is fueling rumors that some challenger candidates and their supporters may boycott the forums, believing the events are structured to favor the insider slate rather than to facilitate fair, open debate. The perception of an “inside track” threatens to undermine the credibility of the forums entirely.
“When the referees, the scorekeepers, and half the players are on the same team, the game itself loses all meaning,” said a local political strategist, who asked for anonymity to speak freely. “Why would a challenger willingly participate in a process that is inherently stacked against them?”
Calls for transparency, such as demands for independent moderation and publicly vetted questions, have grown louder. Until the Caucus addresses these concerns directly, its forums will be seen not as a public service, but as an extension of a campaign strategy designed to maintain power.
The Guilford County Black Caucus faces a choice; will it act to ensure a genuinely impartial platform for all candidates, or will its forums become the latest evidence of a consolidated political structure that has blurred the lines between public service and self-perpetuation? The answer may determine whether the public shows up to listen and whether some candidates they came to hear decide to show up at all.