North Carolina’s Lieutenant Governor Who Blasts Public Spending Caught Cashing In On Family Nonprofit With Taxpayer Funds

Talk about the pot calling the kettle Black....

North Carolina’s first Black Republican gubernatorial candidate, Mark Robinson, has benefited from public spending after describing it as a “plantation of welfare and victimhood.”

Robinson’s nonprofit, Balanced Nutrition Inc., founded in 2015 in partnership with his wife, Yolanda Hill, has profited from North Carolina taxpayers, receiving nearly $7 million in government funding since 2017. Tax filings and state documents show that the organization has also paid roughly $830,000 in salaries to Hill, Robinson, and other family members.

While claiming public spending has placed generations of Black people in “dependency” and poverty, income from Balanced Nutrition provided the Robinsons with stability after struggling for decades. For years, the family faced several bankruptcies, home foreclosures, and misdemeanor charges for allegedly writing bad checks, which were later dropped.

In his 2022 memoir, Robinson praised the organization’s success for helping his transition into conservative politics from furniture manufacturing.

“Yolanda’s nonprofit was providing a salary for her that was enough to support us,” he wrote. “I either was making speeches or was downtown at my wife’s office, helping her with her work.”

He wrote of juggling his early political activity with Balanced Nutrition, which records indicate paid him about $40,000 in 2018.

“When I ran for office, I stopped doing that. Now, my son does it.”

He often speaks of struggle and redemption while on the campaign trail, garnering support from former President Donald Trump, who endorsed Robinson at a rally in March 2024, often referring to him as “Martin Luther King on steroids.” However, the organization’s finances have continued to be questioned. In March 2024, state regulators launched an investigation after raising red flags regarding financial irregularities — including an unaccounted spending of over $100,000.

If Robinson wins the governor seat over his opponent, Attorney General Josh Stein, in November 2024, he will be responsible for overseeing a state budget of more than $30 billion. However, campaign spokesman Michael Lonergan defended Balance Nutrition’s finances, citing a routine audit that found no “material weaknesses” in the 2021 finances and blamed Democrats for the backlash. “Lt. Gov. Robinson is proud of the work his wife has done to help needy children get nutritious meals,” Lonergan said.

“Democrats are weaponizing bureaucracy against the family of their political opponents.”

Hill shut the organization down in April 2024, citing “some type of vendetta, be it personal or political.”

Nothing has been revealed supporting Hill’s remarks as accurate, but Robinson has upset many people and groups with his seemingly extremist viewpoints. During an appearance at a church in 2021, he spoke against teaching about “transgenderism” in schools. “There’s no reason anybody anywhere in America should be telling any child about transgenderism, homosexuality, any of that filth,” he said, according to Advocate.

He once claimed former first lady Michelle Obama is secretly trans.

Ahead of the election, the Robinsons are seemingly facing financial troubles again. In early May 2024, the couple took out a line of credit worth $96,000 on their home, according to public lending records.