The Wake County Republican Party is officially staying silent on the recent political controversy over Wake County school board members Debra Goldman and Chris Malone.

The new issue of the Elephant Express released Thursday night is the first one sent since the news reports about the Goldman and Malone 2010 police report. The only mention of the two in the Wake GOP e-newsletter is in the list of the 2012 candidates running for office with Goldman for state auditor and Malone for the state House 35 seat.

The newsletter also contains a link to the radio spot that will air for Wake County Board of Commissioner candidates Paul Fitts and Dale Cooke. The spots talk about "focusing education policy on student achievement versus diversity numbers games."

Could Wake County school board member Debra Goldman be facing more than political troubles over the $130,000 in jewelry, cash and coins that she reported were stolen from her Cary home in June 2010?

As noted in today's article by Anne Blythe, Cary police on Thursday reopened the investigation of the case that was closed more than two years ago without any arrests. While police aren't saying why the case is being reopened, the answer could come from Steven Goldman, the estranged husband of Debra Goldman,

Steven Goldman said Thursday that police asked him this week for a list of the jewelry he thinks his wife currently possesses.

A new poll out today shows changing political fortunes for two Wake County school board members running for statewide office.

Democratic pollster Public Policy Policy says that State Auditor Beth Wood, the Democratic incumbent, is now leading Wake County school board member Debra Goldman, the Republican challenger, 45-38. In a previous poll before the recent publicity about Goldman's personal life, Wood was leading 40-36.

"Perhaps most telling in the Triangle, where this has received the largest amount of attention, Wood leads Goldman by an astounding 65/25 margin," according to the PPP press release. "If the story continues to makes its way out to the rest of the state Goldman is heading for a double digit defeat."

In another Council of State race of note, State Schools Superintendent June Atkinson's lead over Wake County school board member John Tedesco has shrunk to 42-40. A month ago, Atkinson, a Democrat, had a 44-34 lead over Tedesco, a Republican.

The saga involving Wake County school board members Debra Goldman and Chris Malone has been a frequent topic this week on the Talking ABout Politics blog maintained by longtime North Carolina political consultants Gary Pearce and Carter Wrenn.

In a post today, Pearce, a Democrat, points to all the times Goldman and her family have contacted Cary police to write that "the police may need to build a substation at her office" if Goldman is elected state auditor.

"Goldman ought to step down and let somebody else take her place," Pearce writes. "And all of us should agree that she has no business holding an important state office."

It looks like Wake County school board member Debra Goldman may have filed a police complaint against school board vice chairman Keith Sutton following a heated exchange over the firing of Superintendent Tony Tata.

As noted in today's article, Goldman contacted a Cary police officer assigned to the school board meeting on Sept. 25 to lodge a complaint of communicating threats. The report shows the location where the threat was communicated was the school board offices and that the person who made the alleged threat was an "acquaintance."

While the report doesn't list the acquaintance's name and police won't say it either, the time listed on the report is 4 p.m. between the end of the recently completed closed session and the start of the open session vote on firing Tata.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Pat McCrory sounded more tonight like he was backing Beth Wood, the Democratic incumbent state auditor, than Debra Goldman, the GOP nominee.

When asked at tonight's debate if he still supported Goldman, McCrory said "it's extremely unfair to make a final decision based upon allegations which I don't have much information on." Goldman has been embroiled in a recent controversy over whether she had an affair with fellow Wake County school board member Chris Malone, a GOP candidate for the District 35 state House seat.

Unsolicited, McCrory went on to praise Wood, saying "she's done a good job." McCrory also said Wood "was the only member of the Council of State who did stand up to the broken government of both the Easley and Perdue administrations."

Could the flap involving Wake County school board members Debra Goldman and Chris Malone affect the accreditation status of the district's high schools?

In a blog post Tuesday for the Progressive Pulse, which is maintained by the liberal N.C. Policy Watch, Lucy Hood points to the speculation from former school board chairman Ron Margiotta that Goldman might have voted against the zone plan in October 2010 to get back at Malone. The publicity about the 2010 police report comes as AdvancED is waiting for an update from Wake on how it's handling the concerns the group previously made.

Mark Elgart, president of AdvancED, has recently voiced his concerns about the new school board majority firing Superintendent Tony Tata and dropping the choice plan.

"Already displeased with the school board’s penchant for partisan voting, it will be very interesting to see what Elgart has to say about this new brand of partisan, or 'anti-partisan,' voting," Hood writes about Goldman's 2010 vote.

Did state Republican Party leaders gamble that Wake County school board member Debra Goldman could be elected state auditor without rumors about her alleged relationship with fellow board member Chris Malone derailing her candidacy?

As noted in today's article, Greg Dority says "senior" Republican Party leaders were worried that Goldman's character might emerge as an issue in the runoff. Dority, who finished second in the May primary, says those leaders pressured him into not requesting a runoff, which allowed Goldman a clear path to Election Day.

When he was considering entering the auditor’s race earlier this year, Dority said he was approached by Wake County residents who wanted to tell him about Goldman’s conduct so that he could use it against her in the primary. Dority declined to take that approach, but the idea arose again when he talked to out-of-state political consultants about whether to take part in a runoff.

Wake County school board member Chris Malone's alleged affair with fellow school board member Debra Goldman is being used against him in his bid for the state House 35 seat.

In a new robocall today from the liberal Common Sense Matters, the group brings up the allegations raised in the 2010 police report about whether they had a romantic relationship and that Goldman named Malone as a suspect in the reported burglary of $130,000 from her home.

"With these kinds of distractions, it’s no wonder the schools screwed up student assignment plans and the bus schedule," says the robocall. "Don’t reward Malone’s unprofessional behavior by sending him to the state legislature."

Cary police are confirming the authenticity of a 2010 police report leaked to the media that details allegations Wake County school board member Debra Goldman made against fellow board member Chris Malone.

In a written statement Tuesday, Police Chief Pat Bazemore said the narrative report provided to the News & Observer last week by an unknown source "does appear to be a copy of our police report." In the report, Goldman named Malone as a suspect in a 2010 burglary reported at her home and both board members gave conflicting statements about whether they had a romantic relationship.

Bazemore said she has launched an investigation "to determine how the media could have gained access to information that is not public record." Under state law, police are not obligated to release such narratives, which contain the notes of investigators, but are not prohibited from doing so.