He also reportedly skipped court dates, and bench warrants were issued
His foot was heavy enough to get him clocked at nearly 20 mph over the speed limit. Heavy enough to generate 14 traffic cases across two states. And heavy enough, apparently, that when courts told him to show up and answer for it, he just... didn't.
Michael Whatley has made law and order a centerpiece of his U.S. Senate campaign, opening the general election flanked by police officers and promising to "put dangerous criminals behind bars," while dinging former Gov. Roy Cooper for pandemic-era prisoner releases.
But a review of public court records shows the former Republican National Committee Chairman repeatedly failed to appear in court for traffic cases, and in 2015, two orders for his arrest were issued as a result.
Those "orders for arrest" are what most people call bench warrants. Bench warrants are generally not an asset a candidate wants to carry into a tight Senate race.
THE RUTHERFORD COUNTY CASE
The most serious episode began with a June 26, 2015, citation in Rutherford County. Records searched by Crimson Hub show Whatley was accused of driving 64 mph in a 45-mph zone, charged as a misdemeanor. He missed his court dates. The court issued two arrest orders, with bonds of $500 and $1,000. Attempts to serve them in September and December were unsuccessful.
Whatley appears to have retained counsel in January 2016, after the arrest orders had already been issued, and the court recalled them. He ultimately pleaded responsible to a reduced charge of faulty speedometer and paid $258 in April 2016. The records do not indicate he was taken into custody.
Raleigh defense attorney Colby Berry told NC Newsline that a driver who signs a citation is promising to appear in court. A defendant may hire a lawyer to appear instead, but the Rutherford County record shows Whatley did not retain counsel until after the arrest orders were issued.
THE PATTERN
Nearly eight years later, while serving as general counsel to the RNC, court records indicate Whatley missed two court dates in a 2023 Martin County traffic case for doing 68 in a 55 on U.S. 64 near Jamesville. That was eventually recorded as a traffic-control-device violation.
An older case from February 1997 also includes a failure-to-appear entry for driving without an operator's license and no seat belt. In Virginia, guilty findings were entered in Whatley's absence in at least four cases, including an HOV violation in Prince William County and an illegal U-turn in Stafford County.
A separate 1997 docket shows a charge of passing a simple worthless check. The available record does not establish how that case was resolved.
At minimum, President Trump has a better record of showing up to court than his former RNC Chairman does. That's an area where Trump probably, well, trumps Whatley.
THE POLITICS
To be clear: the records reviewed do not show a felony conviction or a violent offense. Whatley's legal history is overwhelmingly speeding, vehicle equipment, and other traffic matters. Public records reviewed by NC Newsline show he's paid $912 in traffic fines since 2015.
But the political problem is real. Whatley, 57, built his general election launch around law enforcement. He's picked up endorsements from the North Carolina Police Benevolent Association and the North Carolina Troopers Association. At his July endorsement event, he told the crowd: "I don't think we need to reimagine law enforcement. I think we need to enforce the law."
Cooper's record on crime is less than stellar. But the pandemic prisoner release attack isn't the clean hit Whatley wants it to be. As the Daily Caller has noted, both Cooper and current Governor Josh Stein were involved. Stein's office negotiated the release settlement while Cooper was chief executive. And Whatley's own state party was out there in 2020 slapping Cooper for failing to "protect folks in prisons" during the pandemic. Shared liability all around.
Whatley's campaign did not dispute the underlying court records when it responded to other reporting. Spokesman DJ Griffin called them "speeding tickets" and accused Cooper of trying to change the subject.
That's one framing.
Here's another: a candidate who wants to enforce the law might want to start by showing up when the law asks him to.
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