Mark Robinson, Teflon Man

Like 11.5 million other employers facing pandemic shutdowns, Yolanda Hill asked the federal government for help keeping her Greensboro nonprofit afloat. In April 2020 and February 2021, she obtained two Paycheck Protection Program loans for over $28,000 each. The government eventually forgave Hill’s $57,000 debt. 

Hill told the Small Business Administration that “current economic uncertainty makes this loan request necessary.” Balanced Nutrition Inc. secures federal funds for daycare centers to provide healthy meals to low-income children. While North Carolina didn’t force daycares to close, about a third of the state’s childcare centers did at least temporarily. 

But if it suffered during the pandemic, Balanced Nutrition rebounded quickly. Its revenue grew from about $950,000 in 2019 to more than $1.3 million in 2021, according to federal tax filings. And records show that Hill increased her salary from about $92,000 in 2019 to $120,000 a year later—almost the exact amount of the first PPP loan.

The federal government typically forgave these loans if employers maintained their payrolls, and nothing precluded beneficiaries from awarding raises. If Hill were anyone else, Balanced Nutrition would merely be one of 258,000 North Carolina employers that benefited from the bailout. 

But by the time Hill received her second PPP loan in February 2021, her husband had become the state’s lieutenant governor. Three years later, Mark Robinson is the Republican frontrunner for governor. Robinson, who worked at Balanced Nutrition in 2018, is a fiery populist who frequently leans into his working-class roots while denouncing “government charity.” 

As the March 5 primary nears, some critics hope scrutiny of Robinson’s family business will slow his seemingly inexorable march to the nomination. 

Little else has. Despite years of articles about Robinson’s conspiratorial statements, financial failings, and hostile comments toward women, gays, and Jewish people, a recent poll put him 40 points ahead of his two closest primary competitors. 

“How do you go around claiming to be Mr. Conservative, or the King of Conservatism, when your family business is solely based on keeping the trains running on the welfare state?” said Brant Clifton, editor of the North Carolina-focused conservative website The Daily Haymaker. “Most conservatives would be horrified to know that.”

The Haymaker, which first reported on the PPP loans, has spent the last year criticizing Balanced Nutrition. The site has accused the nonprofit of “shady accounting” and filing inaccurate tax forms, all while Robinson positioned himself to run for governor. 

But like former President Donald Trump—who is lapping the GOP’s presidential field despite fomenting an insurrection, facing 91 felony charges, and a civil jury determining that he’s a rapist—Robinson’s support among the base will not be easily shaken. 

“He’s so Trump-like in that way, it almost doesn’t matter what he does,” said Christopher A. Cooper, a political science professor at Western Carolina University. “The train was already down the track at full speed. And it’s just too much, I think, for anybody to slow it down.”

Robinson’s Rise

Robinson’s meteoric ascent began with a 2018 speech before the Greensboro City Council, which wanted to cancel a gun show after a school shooting in Florida. 

Delivered without notes, the stemwinder went viral and catapulted him onto the conservative speaking circuit, which he leveraged into a campaign for lieutenant governor in 2020. He won a crowded Republican primary with 32.5 percent of the vote, then defeated his Democratic opponent by three points. 

Robinson immediately began eyeing a promotion: “Though I was very disappointed that [Republican] Dan Forest didn’t take the governorship, it did create a clear path for what I might do next,” he wrote in the 2022 memoir, We Are The Majority! 

Robinson’s inflammatory social media posts are fodder for opponents in both parties. He’s mocked Michelle Obama’s appearance, denounced “soft-headed Negroes” who protested police shootings, claimed the COVID-19 pandemic was a “globalist” conspiracy, called transgender people “degenerates,” and complained the film Black Panther was created by “an agnostic Jew” and “a satanic Marxist” to “pull shekels out of your pocket.”

Less discussed is Robinson’s life. By his own account, he grew up in Greensboro, the son of an abusive alcoholic father. He dropped out of college after one semester, then quit the active reserves just before he was scheduled to join the Army, which “didn’t fit my personality type,” he wrote in his memoir. (Robinson obtained a bachelor’s degree in history from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in December 2022.) 

Instead, Robinson worked as an upholsterer, but he couldn’t get enough hours and eventually lost his house to foreclosure. Between 1998 and 2001, he filed for personal bankruptcy three times, court records show. 

Hill later opened a daycare in Greensboro, where Robinson worked for several years. Robinson described it as “extremely successful” in his book, but that appears generous. Unable to make money—Robinson blamed “unremitting” paperwork and regulations—they sold it in 2007, “paying off what we could.”  

Before Hill opened Balanced Nutrition in 2015, the family was plagued by financial hardships. They were evicted from a rental home in 2012 after failing to pay $2,000 in rent to Robinson’s elderly landlord, whose wife was stricken with cancer. Robinson also failed to pay county vehicle taxes for more than a decade and federal income taxes for seven years. 

“When you start talking about taxes, if I’m the guy doing them, somebody’s going to jail,” Robinson told WRAL, explaining that his wife handled the family’s finances. “I’m not very good at math.”

Robinson now characterizes his past as a learning experience—and a testament to his resilience. 

“I have had my ups and downs with finances a time or two,” Robinson wrote in his book, “but they are the ups and downs of a man who is determined to make a go of it in the world without a steady stream of government ‘charity.’”

Robinson was back in the furniture business when politics came calling. He quit his job to politick and make speeches. He wrote that the family mostly lived off of Hill’s salary at Balanced Nutrition, though a document Hill submitted to the state Department of Health and Human Services in 2018 showed him on the payroll, earning $3,500 a month as a full-time employee. (Robinson’s job at Balanced Nutrition was first reported by The Daily Haymaker.)

In his book, Robinson wrote that his paycheck as lieutenant governor (currently $157,403) covers “most of the bills. I’m not really sure what [Hill] does with the money she earns—probably something smart.”    

The Family Business

When Robinson’s memoir was published in 2022, Don Carrington was curious and had time on his hands. Carrington had left Carolina Journal, the journalism arm of the conservative John Locke Foundation, as the paper’s executive editor two years earlier. 

He says he knew little about Robinson’s background, so he read the book immediately. Then, interest piqued, the investigative reporter kept digging. 

“I was looking at his economic interest statements, and I thought, ‘What the hell is this Balanced Nutrition?’” Carrington said. 

He got more documents from the state Department of Health and Human Services, which distributes the federal daycare money. Then he found the PPP loans. “And I said, ‘Shit, this is it,’” he said. 

Carrington took his documents to Clifton. “I knew the Haymaker’s conservative, and he caused a lot of trouble,” Carrington said.  

Clifton, a former reporter and staffer for the late Sen. Jesse Helms, believes Republicans have given Robinson an undeserved pass. “State Republicans got so excited about a Black registered Republican spouting conservative things that they slacked way off on the whole due diligence thing,” he wrote in May 2023. 

“If you look at this guy in terms of what he brings to the table, there’s not much positive there,” Clifton told The Assembly. “He can give a great speech. But beyond that, there’s nothing there.” 

Over the last eight months, Clifton has published about 30 columns on Balanced Nutrition. His biggest issue is with the nature of the nonprofit itself. 

Balanced Nutrition operates under a federal program established in 1968 to help low-income children access healthy meals. The U.S. Department of Agriculture reimburses daycare facilities for the cost of meals that meet federal standards.

But the Child and Adult Care Food Program isn’t widely utilized. Less than 40 percent of the 5,400 licensed childcare facilities in North Carolina participate, according to the state DHHS, in part because some daycare centers don’t understand eligibility rules or how to process paperwork, according to a study from the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior. 

Program sponsors—Balanced Nutrition is one of 192 in North Carolina—help participants secure reimbursements; their revenue is based on the amount their clients receive from the government. 

“One could infer the Robinsons’ business specializes in recruiting customers for the social welfare state,” Clifton wrote last May, asking how that squared with Robinson’s “claims to be a small-government warrior.”

Clifton first highlighted the nonprofit’s PPP loans. Subsequent columns noted that Balanced Nutrition reported on federal tax filings that no family members were “key employees,” though Hill’s mother and adult son were listed as key employees beginning in 2019, and state records indicate that Robinson worked there for an unspecified amount of time in 2018. (The Internal Revenue Service asks that question on tax forms to increase transparency about nonprofits’ potential conflicts of interest.) 

Hill then stated on her 2022 federal tax filings that she, her mother, and her son took no income from Balanced Nutrition, despite reporting that the nonprofit paid $173,000 in salaries and benefits that year.  

The Haymaker also reported that Hill failed to get approval from the DHHS to hire a family member until April 2023, which the Child and Adult Care Food Program requires. 

The DHHS must also approve the salaries of top employees. In 2023, the department allowed Hill to pay herself $150,000 as chief financial officer. But in March, Hill submitted a compensation document indicating that she would also be paid as a full-time claims processor, making up to $41,500 a year, and as a part-time trainer, earning up to $8,000 a year—bringing the total to as much as $199,500. It’s unclear how much Hill actually paid herself. 

Robinson’s chief of staff, Brian LiVecchi, and Hill did not respond to requests for comment. Robinson campaign spokesman Michael Lonergan dismissed the Haymaker as “just a fringe blog that continues to present false and misleading claims.” 

“The nonprofit routinely gets audited to stay in good standing with the state, and it is,” Lonergan said. “This is just pure desperation. Opponents are running out of attacks on the lieutenant governor, and since nothing is working, they’re trying to go after his wife and family.”

Lonergan did not specify any inaccuracies in the Haymaker’s reporting. The Assembly’s review of public records and tax filings confirmed the basic facts reported by the Haymaker.

Carrington said he told Robinson’s office that some of these issues have easy solutions. Mistakes in nonprofits’ federal tax filings can easily be corrected, for example. He also suggested that Balanced Nutrition return the PPP loans.

Clifton believes that Balanced Nutrition offers Robinson’s opponents a ripe target. 

“People get mad when they hear about the context of this business—which is the distribution of welfare benefits,” Clifton said. “I mean, these are conservative-minded people who are seriously considering [Robinson]. And here we have their champion making speeches about the evils of the welfare state while pulling down nearly $350,000 per year—the lieutenant governor’s salary plus the Balanced Nutrition income—courtesy of the taxpayers. 

“Factor in the serious problems accounting for all those tax dollars at Balanced Nutrition with his long history of personal financial problems, many of which are still being uncovered, and we have one huge dilemma staring us in the face.”

‘The Primary Is Over’

Earlier this month, Salisbury attorney Bill Graham, who is running against Robinson, unleashed the primary’s sharpest attacks to date, with ads criticizing comments Robinson made that Graham said “downplayed the Nazis and promoted Hitler propaganda.” 

In response, Robinson’s campaign told radio station WFAE that Graham was “regurgitating the same dishonest lies the Democrats use because the Republican primary is over.”

Robinson has reason to be confident. Since taking office, he’s used his bully pulpit to raise his national profile. He’s launched a task force to investigate indoctrination in public schools, appeared on right-wing news shows, and preached in conservative churches. That has translated into widespread name recognition and huge fundraising hauls, and catapulted him into a massive lead a month before early voting begins.

A January poll showed Graham trailing Robinson 55 percent to 15 percent, with state Treasurer Dale Folwell even further behind at 7 percent. A December poll had Robinson up by 26 points. The more inevitable Robinson appeared, the more he was embraced by the party’s establishment, landing key endorsements from GOP leaders, including Sen. Phil Berger, the state’s most powerful Republican. 

U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis and former Gov. Jim Martin, members of the party’s more traditionally conservative faction, have endorsed Graham and Folwell, respectively. Most other prominent Republicans, however, have either backed Robinson or remained silent.

Graham and Folwell argue that the gap will close as Republican voters pay closer attention. They’re also making the case, in increasingly blunt terms, that Democrats want Robinson to be the nominee.  

“If this guy is nominated by the Republican Party, I will guarantee a loss, and [likely Democratic nominee] Josh Stein will be the governor for the next four years,” Graham told WFAE. (Graham’s campaign did not make him available for an interview for this article.) 

In June 2023, longtime Republican political consultant Paul Shumaker, who now works for Graham, released a polling memo arguing that once voters learned more about Robinson, “the statewide ballot moved to 51 percent Stein to 31 percent Robinson,” and unaffiliated voters broke for Stein by a 20-point margin. 

“For Robinson to be competitive in the general,” Shumaker wrote, “he must win the unaffiliated vote. It is simply a function of math, which as Robinson has acknowledged, is sometimes a problem for him.” 

Democrats have plenty of material to use—and not just the well-trod Facebook posts, incendiary speeches, or even Robinson’s financial difficulties.  

“Their problem is, they have so much ammunition,” said Doug Heye, a longtime Republican political operative. “What do you use in what order? That becomes a challenge.”

Among other things, Robinson has admitted that Hill terminated a pregnancy in 1989—a year before they married—a decision he said was mutual. But he wrote in his memoir that banning abortion, which he opposes even in cases of rape or incest, is his top priority, accusing women who have abortions of “murdering a human being,” though he allowed that “a lawyer might be able to argue for calling it manslaughter.”

Robinson wants to eliminate social studies and science classes in elementary schools, and abolish the State Board of Education, on which he holds a seat as lieutenant governor but rarely attends meetings. In his book, Robinson admitted that he had trouble following along, which he blamed on “educrats” who “don’t speak English instead of ‘edu-ese.’” Shumaker’s memo suggested that swing voters might reject Robinson’s education policies.  

Robinson has also embraced Trump’s election denial, falsely claiming that President Joe Biden “stole the election” and downplaying the January 6, 2021, assault on the Capitol as a “minor little thing.” In 2022, election deniers tended to fare poorly in swing states.  

Meanwhile, the State Board of Elections is still investigating irregular contributions and expenditures from Robinson’s 2020 campaign, said Bob Hall, a longtime good-government activist. 

Hall’s complaint, filed in 2021, cited nearly $7,000 spent on clothes, including at least $4,500 worth of apparel for Hill, which it called a possible violation of a state law prohibiting candidates from using campaign funds for their personal benefit. It also noted incomplete donor information, a $2,400 cash withdrawal, and donations from businesses and unregistered political action committees, all of which might be illegal. 

After Hall filed the complaint, Robinson blamed “clerical errors.” But in an open letter earlier this month, Hall said the problems hadn’t been fixed. 

“If your case wasn’t about such substantial wrongdoing or if you were fully cooperating with authorities, the investigation likely would have ended by now,” Hall wrote. 

Lonergan said Robinson’s campaign has fully cooperated with the investigation, and the delay is due to the elections board being short-staffed. 

Folwell, who has criticized Robinson for failing to show up for debates or official duties like presiding over the state Senate or attending meetings, said the campaign finance irregularities and the issues with his wife’s nonprofit fit a larger pattern. 

“Anyone who’s ever come in contact with the Robinson family has been fleeced,” Folwell told The Assembly. “The people at [Balanced Nutrition] have been fleeced because of lack of compliance with the rules of the program. The donors of his campaign had been fleeced. People who have rented him houses have been fleeced. 

“And now the taxpayers, because he’s been absent 90 percent of the time as the president of the Senate, even they’ve been fleeced.”

But many Republican primary voters are willing to overlook Robinson’s flaws for the same reason they overlook Trump’s, Heye said: They see him as a fighter. 

“Some of these character issues that were very defining, say, 10, 20 years ago, aren’t on that level anymore,” he said. “People want the results that they want. People defend Donald Trump, saying, ‘He’s a jerk, and that’s what we need.’”

Electability calculations don’t play the role they used to, either, Heye added. And that argument is hard to make when polls over the last year have shown Robinson tied or slightly ahead of Stein. 

Cooper, the political scientist, said Democrats shouldn’t necessarily be rooting for Robinson to win the primary. “Anybody who thinks Mark Robinson cannot be the next governor of North Carolina,” he said, “is fooling themselves.”

Jeffrey Billman reports on politics and the law for The Assembly. Email him at jeffrey@theassemblync.com.

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