Mark Robinson, the Republican candidate for governor, said on Tuesday that a Greensboro daycare owned by his wife never had any bad reports from the state. The Department of Heath and Human Services, however, indicated the day care attempted to falsify information starting in 2005.
The day care was owned by Robinson’s wife. He helped manage it.
In 2005, DHHS wrote in a report that a false training certificate was on file for a staff member. Two years later, the department said that the Robinsons had produced credentials allowing them to operate the center - even though the state had no record of issuing them. That was also the case with documents the center presented showing the completion of criminal background checks.
Robinson’s wife sold the center in 2007.
The DHHS documents were first reported by the News and Observer.
In an interview after an event in Charlotte, Robinson, the lieutenant governor, said people are slinging mud at the wall.
"There were no falsified documents, nothing nefarious. We simply sold it because my wife got burned out decided to move on and do something else," he said.
When asked again about the DHHS documents, Robinson said it didn’t happen.
"No, we didn’t have any bad reports on our day care."
A member of his campaign stopped the line of questioning and referred questions to a campaign spokesperson, Mike Lonergen.
Lonergen said Democrats are raising the issue in an attempt to smear Robinson. He said the daycare had also received superior ratings, and that focusing on the reports in question was, “Cherry picking minor violations and clerical errors.”