Top 5 fact-checks of 2019

WRAL News and PolitiFact present the five most popular fact-checks of 2019:

Posted 12:16 a.m. Dec 24, 2019 — Updated 12:13 a.m. Dec 28, 2019

RALEIGH, N.C. — WRAL News and PolitiFact present the five most popular fact-checks of 2019:

1. Did Roy Cooper wear black face while at UNC?

Earlier this year, an old yearbook photo emerged showing Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam wearing black face to a party, and the scandal threatened his political career.

Days later, racist photos from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's 1979 yearbook also emerged. No politicians were identified in the photos, but Gov. Roy Cooper was tied to the yearbook by the Daily Mail, a controversial website based in the U.K.

The Mail rightly noted that Cooper graduated that same year, but the site used misleading headlines and photos to suggest wrongdoing.

That led a right-wing conspiracy theorist to tweet inaccurate claims about Cooper. The tweet was shared more than 3,000 times, despite being blatantly false, and the conspiracy theorist was later banned from Twitter.

So, the Truth-o-Meter rated his claim that Cooper was involved in a racial incident in college as "Pants on Fire."

The outrageousness of the claim might explain why the fact-check was the most read of the year.

2. Did teachers and supporters fill Halifax Mall during May rally?

For the second year in a row, the North Carolina Association of Educators held a major teacher rally outside the Legislative Building to lobby for more state funding for classroom supplies and higher pay.

"Thank you North Carolina. You showed up en masse to insist that the state fund our public school legislative priorities," NCAE President Mark Jewell tweeted after the May rally.

The tweet included a photo of Halifax Mall, where demonstrators gathered. People noticed almost instantly that there was something off about one of the photos. It took some digging, but reporters discovered that Jewell’s photo was a doctored version of a photo taken by Rep. Grier Martin, D-Wake.

Clusters of people were duplicated to fill in green space on the lawn, and some signs appeared more than once.

Jewell denied doctoring the photo. But, by sharing the altered picture, he made the crowd seem bigger than it was.

So, the Truth-O-Meter rated his tweet false.

3. Did Democratic congressional candidate support open borders and sanctuary cities?

North Carolina was home to a pair of special elections for Congress this year, and President Donald Trump campaigned for Republican Dan Bishop in the 9th Congressional District.

Before an August rally in Greenville, Trump took aim at Bishop’s Democratic opponent, Dan McCready.

"Looking forward to being with Dan Bishop in two weeks in North Carolina. His opponent believes in Open Borders and Sanctuary Cities ... ” Trump tweeted.

Trump's campaign said McCready believes in open borders because he supports the DREAM Act. But the DREAM Act would grant residency only to immigrant children already in the U.S., and backing the legislation doesn’t equate to supporting open borders.

As for sanctuary cities, McCready said he believes sheriffs should have the freedom to choose whether to cooperate with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. But he didn’t directly say sheriffs shouldn’t work with ICE.

So, the Truth-o-Meter rated Trump’s claim that McCready supports open borders and sanctuary cities mostly false.

4. Were Democrats at a 9/11 memorial when the House overrode the state budget veto?

After weeks of scheduling and then delaying a vote to override Gov. Roy Cooper's budget veto, Republican House Speaker Tim Moore called the vote during an early morning session on Sept. 11, when few Democrats were in the chamber and easily secured an override.

Many media outlets, from The Washington Post to a local television station, reported that Democratic House members were at 9/11 memorial services when the vote took place, leading to an avalanche of criticism for House Republicans.

But PolitiFact North Carolina found only one House Democrat who said he was at a 9/11 event. Most others were still at home, in their cars or in the Legislative Building complex, just not on the House floor for the vote.

Some media outlets made corrections to their stories. But one online media source, Now This News, never deleted or corrected its tweet that was shared more than 600 times.

The Truth-O-Meter rated the claim that Democrats were at a 9/11 service during the budget override vote false.

5. Did Democrats "force" a special election in the 9th Congressional District?

The North Carolina Republican Party sent out a fundraising email in March claiming that Democrats "forced" a special election in the 9th District, but that’s not how it happened.

After the 2018 election between Republican Mark Harris and Democrat Dan McCready, the State Board of Elections noticed irregularities in some of the absentee ballots. So, the board investigated the results and held hearings on its findings.

Witnesses testified to illegal ballot harvesting on behalf of the Harris campaign, and before the hearings were over, Harris said he supported a new election but abruptly dropped out.

The elections board is made up of Democrats and Republicans, and members voted unanimously to hold another election.

At the time, the state GOP said the party “unequivocally” supported Harris’ decision.

The Truth-o-Meter rated the claim that the Democrats "forced" a special election false.

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