Cardinal & Pine released a bombshell report, revealing that Chief Justice Newby recruited Trey Allen to run in a primary against April Wood because she refused to raise money with convicted child predator Harvey West. Until Newby recruited Allen, Wood was widely regarded as the frontrunner for the Republican nomination in the 2022 Supreme Court election. The reporting also unearths new information on the role Newby and Justice Phil Berger Jr. played in making West the NCGOP’s most powerful judicial fundraiser– with West’s wife herself saying that Newby and Berger asked the Wests to make their fundraiser an annual event.
Michele Woodhouse, an elected leader of the North Carolina Republican party was blunt, saying, “April Wood stood up and refused to go [to West’s picnic] and her reward – Paul Newby had Trey Allen primary her.” Based on this new reporting, it’s clear that Harvey West’s influence on our Supreme Court is much greater than previously known.
“The Chief Justice of our Supreme Court effectively replaced the front-running candidate of his own party to empower a pedophile. Just as we called for the full release of the Epstein files last year, the North Carolina Democratic Party is calling for full transparency from Justices Newby, Berger, Allen, and candidate Sarah Stevens about their ties to Harvey West. North Carolinians deserve a court they can have faith in. Full transparency is the only way to achieve that,” said NCDP Chair Anderson Clayton.
Cardinal & Pine: Republicans say they warned NC GOP leaders for years about convicted sex offender’s party roles
The Down East Judicial Picnic, hosted at the Wests’ home, was an annual event for several years. According to Kim Cotten-West, Harvey West’s wife, the idea was supported by prominent leaders on the State Supreme Court, including now-Chief Justice Paul Newby.
“So the first event was so successful, Justices Newby and Berger suggested we make it a yearly event,” Cotten-West said in a 2023 video.
During the 2020 election cycle, Justice Newby received $5,400 from the Al-Pam Republican Club.
According to Woodhouse, some judicial candidates were not aware of West’s past, including Appellate Court Judges April Wood and Jeffery Carpenter, as well as current NC Supreme Court Associate Justice Tamara Barringer. She says she warned these candidates to stay away.
“At the end of the day, it was about protecting candidates,” she says.
Woodhouse believes the ripple effects of the fundraisers continue to haunt the party heading into the midterms.
“If Michael Whatley would have addressed this back in 2021, removed Harvey from that committee, and denounced that picnic, Republicans wouldn’t be in the situation they’re in right now,” she said. “It’s probably going to cost Sarah Stevens her Supreme Court race because she chose to go to that picnic.”
Stevens, the Republican nominee for the Supreme Court, has denied knowing who West was. However, she appeared on Cotten-West’s podcast prior to the 2025 fundraiser. She also attended the event itself and received a campaign contribution from the fundraiser. As of Aug. 5, 2026, she is also still friends with West on Facebook.
Woodhouse also claimed to both Cardinal & Pine and in the comments of a post to the Daily Haymaker that Newby recruited current Supreme Court Justice Trey Allen to run against Wood in the 2022 Republican primary after she didn’t attend the fundraiser.
“April Wood stood up and refused to go and her reward – Paul Newby had Trey Allen primary her,” Woodhouse wrote.
Allen defeated Wood in the primary that year and was listed as the master of ceremonies for the 2025 fundraiser.
Cardinal & Pine reached out to both Judge April Wood and Chief Justice Paul Newby for comment, but neither had responded by publication.
Ackiss said the West saga speaks to a longtime frustration she has had with the party as a whole.
“My issue has always been, is that the Republican Party does a very poor job of vetting candidates, and they do a very poor job of weeding out people that you wouldn’t want them at your dinner party with your kids,” she said.
Cardinal & Pine reached out to Michael Whatley, Chief Justice Paul Newby, and Judge April Wood for comment on this story, but has not received a response as of publication.