Satan
05-03-2014, 06:51 PM
GOP candidate was once a female impersonator
Bertrand M. Gutierrez/Winston-Salem Journal
Posted: Saturday, May 3, 2014 7:00 am
Steve Wiles, a Republican state Senate candidate who supports North Carolina’s constitutional amendment against same-sex marriage, once worked as a female impersonator at a gay nightclub in Winston-Salem and was gay at the time, according to a co-owner of the nightclub and a former employee.
Wiles, 34, was in his early 20s when he worked at the now-defunct nightclub, Club Odyssey, according to co-owner Randy Duggins and former employee Gray Tomlinson.
“He is Mona Sinclair,” Duggins said, referring to Wiles’ female persona.
Wiles’ responses over the past three weeks have ranged from categorical denial to tacit admission.
“I have already apologized to the people who matter most to me for the things I did when I was young,” Wiles said this week, declining to clarify for what he has apologized. The comment was made in the last of three separate interviews. At first, Wiles denied the claim.
“That’s not me,” Wiles said three weeks ago, referring to Mona Sinclair. Wiles responded “no” when asked whether he was gay. This week, Wiles’ campaign website, Facebook page and Twitter handle were taken down.
For about 14 years until 2010, Club Odyssey on Country Club Road was a nightclub where gay, lesbian and straight clientele could spend some money on drinks, relax with friends and, weekly, watch a show with talented female impersonators.
Wiles was a frequent patron in the late 1990s, Duggins said. Around 2001 and 2002, Wiles worked for Duggins as the show director, booking performers and running the show as Mona Sinclair, the emcee. At the time, Tomlinson also knew Wiles.
“That’s him,” Tomlinson said, referring to current photos on Wiles.
Duggins said he had no doubts.
“I recognized his picture when I was looking in the paper. That’s definitely him. He has aged some, but that’s him,” Duggins said. "I have no ax to grind against him. I just think he's a liar."
All these years later, Wiles is a real-estate agent who lives in Belews Creek. He filed papers to run in the Republican primary May 6 against two other GOP candidates – incumbent Joyce Krawiec and East Bend resident Dempsey Brewer – for the largely conservative Senate District 31, which comprises Yadkin County and rings around most of Forsyth County.
Wiles denied accusation to GOP
In the political arena, Wiles has changed political affiliation from Democrat to unaffiliated to Republican since 2008, according to public voter records, confirmed by Wiles.
Records show that he voted in the 2008 Democratic presidential primary that featured candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Four years later, the Journal reported, Wiles stumped in 2012 for the constitutional amendment, passed in a statewide referendum, reinforcing a state law banning same-sex marriage.
“Why is it even an issue?” he asked, referring to questions about his time at Club Odyssey and the amendment.
Anyone with an Internet connection could have speculated that Wiles was a female impersonator.
An online search for “Steven Wiles” and “Belews Creek,” the place he lists as his town of residence in campaign filings, turns up a link to the Miss Gay America website.
Within the website, a webpage with Wiles’ name has been taken offline but the cached version was still accessible this week. The webpage lists a Steven Wiles as Mona Sinclair. It says he lives in Belews Creek and that he was a promoter of Miss Gay Eastern States America and a promoter for Miss Gay North Carolina America.
The webpage also says that Wiles was suspended for “conduct unbecoming to a promoter of the Miss Gay America pageant system,” according to the webpage, without providing more information. Larry Tyger, a co-owner of the Miss Gay America pageant, said in a telephone interview that he does not discuss suspensions.
The content of that webpage has provided fodder for a political attack ad on a social-media website.
Last year, as Wiles was considering a run for a county commissioner seat, Scott Cumbie, the chairman of the Forsyth Republican Party, asked Wiles whether he was Mona Sinclair, according to Wiles and Cumbie.
Wiles denied it, both Cumbie and Wiles said about two weeks ago.
“It’s not just about lifestyle. It’s about credibility,” Cumbie said.
District 31 is conservative stronghold
Even if Wiles had all the credibility that a politician could earn, it might still be difficult for the fledgling politician, up against a well-connected politico such as Krawiec, to win Senate District 31.
In January, district Republicans nominated Krawiec, who at the time was the vice chairwoman of the N.C. Republican Party, to fill the seat left vacant by former Sen. Pete Brunstetter, who went to work at Novant Health. Neither Wiles nor Krawiec nor Brewer has been elected to office, but Krawiec may have an edge because of the popularity she has accumulated over many years as an advocate for conservative issues.
The district comprises rural Yadkin County and rings around most of Forsyth County.
It’s the same district in which the town of Jonesville was mostly dry until recently. The sale of liquor had been banned. ABC stores had not been allowed. Although restaurants had been allowed for years to sell wine, some restaurant owners did not do so for fear that they would lose the after-church crowd on Sundays.
Jonesville voters, in a referendum, allowed the sale of alcohol – in November.
It’s also the same district that was represented until December by Brunstetter, a primary sponsor of North Carolina’s constitutional amendment, passed in a 2012 referendum, that reinforced a state law banning same-sex marriage.
“Why would you want to get into that knowing your past?” asked Duggins. “He’s a hypocrite.”
Wiles, an advocate in 2012 for the constitutional amendment reinforcing the ban on same-sex marriage, said he still strongly supports it.
“I do not condone the things I did when I was young,” Wiles said when asked about the amendment, declining to clarify what he had done.
Why should a candidate’s past matter?
For more than half of Americans, sexual orientation is fading as an issue, according to a recent poll, if views on same-sex marriage are any indication.
A poll released in March by the Pew Research Center said that 54 percent of the public favors the idea of allowing gays and lesbians to marry. A large gap still exists between Democrats and Republicans – with 69 percent of Democrats or those who lean Democratic favoring same-sex marriage. By comparison, 39 percent of Republicans and those who lean Republican support it, according to the poll.
Among Republicans, views are split along generations.
As it turns out, 61 percent of Republicans and those who lean Republican, under the age of 30, favor same-sex marriage while only 27 percent of Republicans who are at least 50 favor it, according to the Pew poll.
Todd Poole, the executive director of the N.C. Republican Party, declined to comment about Wiles’ candidacy and whether it matters to GOP voters that a candidate once worked at a gay nightclub.
Brewer, a three-term precinct chairman for the local GOP, said voters should expect transparency.
“Honesty is something all districts should require of their representatives. District 31 is the district I’m going to represent. I’m not going to represent California. Each voter should decide for him or her what’s important in a candidate. But voters should also have as much information as possible,” Brewer said.
Krawiec said, “I trust the voters of District 31 to make the right decision in who best represents their interests. I have complete confidence in the voters’ judgment.”
John Motsinger, the district’s Democratic candidate, is familiar with the impact that the past may have on a candidate. His wife, Elisabeth Motsinger, while running for the 5th Congressional District in 2012, was questioned about her past interest in Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, who was an controversial Indian mystic and spiritual teacher.
In the late 1970s, when Motsinger was in her 20s, she was among several thousand Westerners who visited Rajneesh in India. Now in her 50s, Motsinger is a member of the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools Board of Education and has been a member of the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Winston-Salem for more than 25 years.
And she has never hidden her past, John Motsinger said.
“The Republicans of the Senate district need to determine the qualifications of their standard bearer,” he said. “I would not make an issue of his past in my campaign because I believe someone’s private life is theirs as long as it does not affect their responsibilities as an elected official,” he said.
The winner of the GOP primary May 6 will face Motsinger in the general election Nov. 4.
bgutierrez@wsjournal.com (336) 727-7278
Bertrand M. Gutierrez/Winston-Salem Journal
Posted: Saturday, May 3, 2014 7:00 am
Steve Wiles, a Republican state Senate candidate who supports North Carolina’s constitutional amendment against same-sex marriage, once worked as a female impersonator at a gay nightclub in Winston-Salem and was gay at the time, according to a co-owner of the nightclub and a former employee.
Wiles, 34, was in his early 20s when he worked at the now-defunct nightclub, Club Odyssey, according to co-owner Randy Duggins and former employee Gray Tomlinson.
“He is Mona Sinclair,” Duggins said, referring to Wiles’ female persona.
Wiles’ responses over the past three weeks have ranged from categorical denial to tacit admission.
“I have already apologized to the people who matter most to me for the things I did when I was young,” Wiles said this week, declining to clarify for what he has apologized. The comment was made in the last of three separate interviews. At first, Wiles denied the claim.
“That’s not me,” Wiles said three weeks ago, referring to Mona Sinclair. Wiles responded “no” when asked whether he was gay. This week, Wiles’ campaign website, Facebook page and Twitter handle were taken down.
For about 14 years until 2010, Club Odyssey on Country Club Road was a nightclub where gay, lesbian and straight clientele could spend some money on drinks, relax with friends and, weekly, watch a show with talented female impersonators.
Wiles was a frequent patron in the late 1990s, Duggins said. Around 2001 and 2002, Wiles worked for Duggins as the show director, booking performers and running the show as Mona Sinclair, the emcee. At the time, Tomlinson also knew Wiles.
“That’s him,” Tomlinson said, referring to current photos on Wiles.
Duggins said he had no doubts.
“I recognized his picture when I was looking in the paper. That’s definitely him. He has aged some, but that’s him,” Duggins said. "I have no ax to grind against him. I just think he's a liar."
All these years later, Wiles is a real-estate agent who lives in Belews Creek. He filed papers to run in the Republican primary May 6 against two other GOP candidates – incumbent Joyce Krawiec and East Bend resident Dempsey Brewer – for the largely conservative Senate District 31, which comprises Yadkin County and rings around most of Forsyth County.
Wiles denied accusation to GOP
In the political arena, Wiles has changed political affiliation from Democrat to unaffiliated to Republican since 2008, according to public voter records, confirmed by Wiles.
Records show that he voted in the 2008 Democratic presidential primary that featured candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Four years later, the Journal reported, Wiles stumped in 2012 for the constitutional amendment, passed in a statewide referendum, reinforcing a state law banning same-sex marriage.
“Why is it even an issue?” he asked, referring to questions about his time at Club Odyssey and the amendment.
Anyone with an Internet connection could have speculated that Wiles was a female impersonator.
An online search for “Steven Wiles” and “Belews Creek,” the place he lists as his town of residence in campaign filings, turns up a link to the Miss Gay America website.
Within the website, a webpage with Wiles’ name has been taken offline but the cached version was still accessible this week. The webpage lists a Steven Wiles as Mona Sinclair. It says he lives in Belews Creek and that he was a promoter of Miss Gay Eastern States America and a promoter for Miss Gay North Carolina America.
The webpage also says that Wiles was suspended for “conduct unbecoming to a promoter of the Miss Gay America pageant system,” according to the webpage, without providing more information. Larry Tyger, a co-owner of the Miss Gay America pageant, said in a telephone interview that he does not discuss suspensions.
The content of that webpage has provided fodder for a political attack ad on a social-media website.
Last year, as Wiles was considering a run for a county commissioner seat, Scott Cumbie, the chairman of the Forsyth Republican Party, asked Wiles whether he was Mona Sinclair, according to Wiles and Cumbie.
Wiles denied it, both Cumbie and Wiles said about two weeks ago.
“It’s not just about lifestyle. It’s about credibility,” Cumbie said.
District 31 is conservative stronghold
Even if Wiles had all the credibility that a politician could earn, it might still be difficult for the fledgling politician, up against a well-connected politico such as Krawiec, to win Senate District 31.
In January, district Republicans nominated Krawiec, who at the time was the vice chairwoman of the N.C. Republican Party, to fill the seat left vacant by former Sen. Pete Brunstetter, who went to work at Novant Health. Neither Wiles nor Krawiec nor Brewer has been elected to office, but Krawiec may have an edge because of the popularity she has accumulated over many years as an advocate for conservative issues.
The district comprises rural Yadkin County and rings around most of Forsyth County.
It’s the same district in which the town of Jonesville was mostly dry until recently. The sale of liquor had been banned. ABC stores had not been allowed. Although restaurants had been allowed for years to sell wine, some restaurant owners did not do so for fear that they would lose the after-church crowd on Sundays.
Jonesville voters, in a referendum, allowed the sale of alcohol – in November.
It’s also the same district that was represented until December by Brunstetter, a primary sponsor of North Carolina’s constitutional amendment, passed in a 2012 referendum, that reinforced a state law banning same-sex marriage.
“Why would you want to get into that knowing your past?” asked Duggins. “He’s a hypocrite.”
Wiles, an advocate in 2012 for the constitutional amendment reinforcing the ban on same-sex marriage, said he still strongly supports it.
“I do not condone the things I did when I was young,” Wiles said when asked about the amendment, declining to clarify what he had done.
Why should a candidate’s past matter?
For more than half of Americans, sexual orientation is fading as an issue, according to a recent poll, if views on same-sex marriage are any indication.
A poll released in March by the Pew Research Center said that 54 percent of the public favors the idea of allowing gays and lesbians to marry. A large gap still exists between Democrats and Republicans – with 69 percent of Democrats or those who lean Democratic favoring same-sex marriage. By comparison, 39 percent of Republicans and those who lean Republican support it, according to the poll.
Among Republicans, views are split along generations.
As it turns out, 61 percent of Republicans and those who lean Republican, under the age of 30, favor same-sex marriage while only 27 percent of Republicans who are at least 50 favor it, according to the Pew poll.
Todd Poole, the executive director of the N.C. Republican Party, declined to comment about Wiles’ candidacy and whether it matters to GOP voters that a candidate once worked at a gay nightclub.
Brewer, a three-term precinct chairman for the local GOP, said voters should expect transparency.
“Honesty is something all districts should require of their representatives. District 31 is the district I’m going to represent. I’m not going to represent California. Each voter should decide for him or her what’s important in a candidate. But voters should also have as much information as possible,” Brewer said.
Krawiec said, “I trust the voters of District 31 to make the right decision in who best represents their interests. I have complete confidence in the voters’ judgment.”
John Motsinger, the district’s Democratic candidate, is familiar with the impact that the past may have on a candidate. His wife, Elisabeth Motsinger, while running for the 5th Congressional District in 2012, was questioned about her past interest in Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, who was an controversial Indian mystic and spiritual teacher.
In the late 1970s, when Motsinger was in her 20s, she was among several thousand Westerners who visited Rajneesh in India. Now in her 50s, Motsinger is a member of the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools Board of Education and has been a member of the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Winston-Salem for more than 25 years.
And she has never hidden her past, John Motsinger said.
“The Republicans of the Senate district need to determine the qualifications of their standard bearer,” he said. “I would not make an issue of his past in my campaign because I believe someone’s private life is theirs as long as it does not affect their responsibilities as an elected official,” he said.
The winner of the GOP primary May 6 will face Motsinger in the general election Nov. 4.
bgutierrez@wsjournal.com (336) 727-7278