McHenry's chief consultant and voter fraud

Meet Douglas F. Stewart III, known as "Dee." He served as Congressman Pat McHenry's first chief of staff from January to May 2005. But he'd already started up a company called The Stewart Group. It's url was thestewartgrouponline dot com.

Funny thing, the week that McHenry's former housemate (and staffer) Aaron Lay was indicted, The Stewart Group Online disappeared from the internets tubes.

Another funny thing: Dee Stewart's connection to the McHenry voter fraud case isn't his only brush with questionable voter registrations. While the Lay case ended in a deferred plea, the other case still rests in the hands of Moore County District Attorney Maureen Kruger, the Gaston Gazette reported in May.

The Moore County Independent covered that story extensively but is no longer in business so I'm linking to the North Carolina Conservative's reprint of their article quoting the questionably registered voters and the candidate:

Pinehurst- A paid staff member of Joe Boylan’s May primary campaign said last week that she never intended to move to Moore County as a permanent resident but registered to vote here so she could cast a ballot for her boss. That could be a violation of state voting laws, elections experts say.

Reitler and Powell both got their positions with the Boylan campaign through connections with Dee Stewart, Boylan’s Raleigh-based campaign consultant. Stewart also served as campaign consultant for Congressman Patrick McHenry, first elected to represent the 10th Congressional district in the western part of NC in 2004. Some in the district have alleged that the McHenry campaign registered campaign workers from outside the state who were living temporarily in a Cherryville house owned by the Congressman during the race. According to the Gaston County Board of Elections, no challenges or official complaints were ever filed surrounding the allegations.

Reitler worked as a field operative for McHenry in 2004, but did not change her registration during the election. Powell is a political neophyte. The Boylan job was her first out of college, and came, she says, through a cousin who worked for Stewart’s consulting group. Reitler said the current scrutiny of her voting record reminded her of the allegations surrounding the McHenry campaign, which she called “silly.” She says her decision not to register to vote in the 10th District in 2004 shows that she acted legally when she registered to vote here late last year.

North Carolina Conservative wrote:

A confidential source, speaking on background, contacted NC Christian Coalition Chairman Donnie Young earlier this year. This source claims to have worked closely with persons involved in the McHenry and Boylan campaigns. The source has also been a candidate. He claims that certain persons volunteered to help his campaign, saying “We will poll to find out how many votes you need. Then, we will bring enough college students into your district, and register them to vote, so you’ll win.” The NCC contacted the source who spoke with Mr. Young, and he verified the information, saying “It wasn’t quite that explicit, but that was the general idea.” The source asked us to maintain his anonymity for fear of reprisal.

And for a guy who's worked for two congressmen (Robin Hayes and Patrick McHenry), who's appeared on every major television network, and who has worked for numerous North Carolina state legislature campaigns like Joe Boylan's, it's odd that when you google his name, not much shows up.

It's not like he's out of business. According to McHenry's campaign disclosures, Pat paid the Stewart Group $6,000 for "Development and Planning" every month for the last year.

Here's the current website "coming soon."

Here's the archives of The Stewart Group's webpages from December 12,2001 to April 23, 2007

Here's what Dee Stewart used to want people to know about him:

Dee Stewart is an experienced political strategist, prolific fundraiser and talented speaker. He lives in Raleigh, North Carolina and serves as President of The Stewart Group, Inc., specializing in campaign consulting, fundraising and public affairs.

Dee was born in Winchester, Virginia and was raised in Martinsburg, West Virginia, located in the Shenandoah Valley, a region where the Stewart family has lived since the early eighteenth century. He received his undergraduate degree in Government from Campbell University, located in Buies Creek, North Carolina. His honors included: Omicron Delta Kappa, Pi Gamma Mu, Dean’s List, Presidential Scholars, Student Body Treasurer, 1992 North Carolina Bush/Quayle Youth Chairman and State Chairman of College Republicans. Also, Stewart received a Master of Business Administration with a concentration in Management from the Lundy-Fetterman School of Business at Campbell University.

After graduating from Campbell, Stewart was appointed National Youth Coordinator of the 1996 Phil Gramm for President campaign, based in Washington, DC. In addition to creating collegiate political organizations for Senator Gramm (R-TX) in seventeen states crucial to the presidential nomination process, Stewart managed the youth caucus turnout operation in Iowa that accounted for 10% of the total caucus vote of the campaign.

Stewart served as a Field Director of the 1996 Robin Hayes for Governor campaign, based in Raleigh, North Carolina. In the primary election, the campaign was victorious in 43 of 44 counties in which he oversaw grassroots operations for Representative Hayes (R-NC), thereby helping to provide the statewide primary margin of victory, 50%-46%.

In 1997, Stewart served as the Legislative Liaison of the North Carolina Automobile Dealers Association. In this capacity, he raised a record amount of money for AUTOPAC, the Association’s political action committee. In addition, by fostering relationships between dealers and legislators, he helped guide landmark legislation through the General Assembly that strengthened North Carolina’s motor vehicle franchise laws.

From late 1997 until early 1999, Stewart served as Finance Director of the North Carolina Republican Party (NCGOP). Through aggressive solicitation and prospecting, he retired the 1996 campaign debt (in excess of $300,000) in less than eleven months, while funding all fixed and variable expenses of the 1998 election cycle. In addition, Stewart organized the most successful NCGOP fundraising event on record, the Jesse Helms Silver Anniversary Tribute, which raised in excess of $100,000.

In early 1999, Stewart was named Executive Director of the Republican Party of Iowa (RPI), based in Des Moines. As Executive Director, he managed and coordinated the 1999 Iowa Straw Poll, which was the best-attended paid political event in American history, drawing over 40,000 Republicans. The event raised over $1 million for RPI, a record amount for any political fundraiser in Iowa’s history. In addition, he oversaw the 2000 Iowa Caucuses, which were attended by more than 88,000 Republicans at 2,131 precincts. During Stewart’s tenure, the Iowa GOP maintained its congressional majority and its majority in the State House and State Senate. Also, George W. Bush attained over 48% of the presidential vote, the most of any GOP nominee since 1984. Stewart held the post of Executive Director until early 2001, when he returned to Raleigh and founded The Stewart Group, Inc.

In 2005, Stewart served as Chief of Staff to U.S. Congressman Patrick McHenry of North Carolina. In this capacity, he was charged with hiring and managing a successful staff in the Congressman�s offices on Capitol Hill and in the Congressional District. He also developed and implemented policies and procedures that help the staff effectively assist Congressman McHenry.

Stewart has appeared on the CBS Evening News, ABC’s World News Tonight, NBC’s Today, CNN’s Inside Politics, MSNBC’s Equal Time, the Fox News Network, and C-SPAN.

He is married to the former Angela Joan Miller of High Point, North Carolina.

I guess the only question left is, why would someone work for years in politics and then all of a sudden remove any trace of existence from the public media?