Editor,

Regarding the letter written by Ed McLean (“With Karen Ray, follow the money”) about Karen Ray, candidate for N.C. Senate, I wanted to respond to Mr. McLean’s claims.

I was member of the North Carolina Motorsports Association Board of Directors when Mr. McLean was the executive director. The allegations made in his letter are false. Karen Ray did support efforts to help the state motorsports industry grow for one specific reason – jobs. She understood that Iredell County had a major stake in motorsports, more than almost every other county in the state.

Mr. McLean’s departure as NCMA’s executive director was a mutual decision by the organization and himself. It is unfortunate that he is now making these claims about the industry from which he benefited for most of his career and about an individual who is concerned about creating and preserving jobs for the citizen of the district she served.

– Doug Stafford, of Albemarle