Progress NC Action is hailing tonight's re-election victory by Wake County school board member Kevin Hill as a rejection of Tea Party extremism.

Here's the liberal advocacy group's press release:

For Immediate Release

Will Wake County school board candidate Heather Losurdo be able to turn things around today thanks to the help of some outside political advice she picked up after the runoff?

After Losurdo only picked up 40 percent of the vote on Oct. 11, the campaign reached out to Jack Hawke to be a consultant for the runoff. Hawke is a longtime figure in state politics, having been the former chairman of the state Republican Party, a former president of the conservative Civitas Institute and a consultant to presumptive GOP gubernatorial candidate Pat McCrory.

"I knew we had to change things," Hawke said. "She was 10 points down (as of Oct. 11). I'm proud of what she's done but we had a lot of ground to make up."

Progress NC Action still insists that Wake County school board candidate Heather Losurdo hasn't proven that she was an account manager overseeing more than $2 billion worth of small business loans in the Carolinas for First Union Bank.

In a press release this evening, the liberal advocacy group notes that Losurdo's newly released employment records list her job title as small business banking division risk management servicing specialist. Progress NC Action says that shows she had an administrative and not managerial job.

Donald Senior, Losurdo's former supervisor at First Union, said Losurdo could have been considered an account manager.

Wake County school board candidate Heather Losurdo provided proof this evening to back up statements on her website that she had overseen $2 billion in small business loans for First Union Bank in the late 1990s.

Progress NC Action, a liberal advocacy group, had accused Losurdo of embellishing her resume, questioning how a person with no college degree and a personal bankruptcy could have that level of responsibility. At a press conference today, Losurdo said that she had gotten in contact with Donald Senior, her supervisor at First Union, to show her statements were correct.

Losurdo also presented statements that she said Senior had made today to a television reporter substantiating her duties at First Union.

SEE UPDATE AT END OF POST

Common Sense Matters is getting rough in this new campaign mailer that mentions Wake County school board candidate Heather Losurdo's employment at a New Orleans strip club 18 years ago.

In the mailer, the 527 group with ties to local Democrats has the words "Losurdo Exposed," saying voters should get "get the facts from the Losurdo Files." The mailer highlights the words from a Nov. 1 N&O article in which a former co-owner of the Crescent City Cabaret calls it "a strip club." Beside his quote is a photo of the exterior of the club.

The mailer also highlights Gerrick Brenner, executive director of the liberal Progress NC Action, questioning how Losurdo could go from working at the cabaret and declaring bankruptcy to overseeing $2 billion in small business loans at First Union.

"The more we learn about Heather Losurdo, the more our schools should fear..." says the mailer.

Progress NC Action is continuing to beat the drum on whether Wake County school board candidate Heather Losurdo embellished her resume.

In a press release today, the liberal advocacy group says Losurdo should provide references or Human Resources documentation to back up her statements that she oversaw $2 billion in small business loans in the Carolinas for First Union Bank.

“This is the definition of padding your resume,” said Gerrick Brenner, Executive Director of Progress NC ACTION, in the press release. “Not only is this behavior the wrong message to send Wake County students, but it is totally unacceptable for someone asking voters to trust them with their votes. Ms. Losurdo should either provide documents to back up her claims or she should withdraw from the race.”

The Wake County school board election runoff made today's edition of National Public Radio's "Morning Edition" show.

During the segment, Dave DeWitt of WUNC painted this year's election to the national audience as a d Democratic backlash to Republican businessman Art Pope. He credits Pope with the 2009 school board election results that brought in the new majority, a hotly debated charge over the past two years.

"The chief architect of the 2009 turnaround was a local businessman named Art Pope," DeWitt says. "He spends millions of dollars funding a statewide network of conservative think tanks, election advocacy groups and PACs. '

CORRECTED SPELLING OF DEWITT'S LAST NAME TO CAPITALIZE THE W

Wake County school board member Kevin Hill reiterated today that he isn't out to scrap the new student assignment plan or get rid of Superintendent Tony Tata.

In an interview today on The Bill LuMaye Show on WPTF, Hill answered the charges being leveled at him by Heather Losurdo that his re-election will result in the assignment plan being junked and a majority that could fire Tata. Hill said the recently adopted plan was 85 to 90 percent there.

"I don't believe that we're going to go back to the old plan," Hill said if he wins. "I've said repeatedly I have no intention of that. That's water under the bridge."

Wake County school board candidate Heather Losurdo is making the local conservative radio talk show rounds to defend herself against the charges by Progress NC Action that she puffed up her resume.

In an interview Tuesday on the Bill LuMaye Show on WPTF, LuMaye repeatedly complained about Progress NC Action's charges and the N&O article that appeared in the paper. He asked Losurdo to respond to the charges.

"That's a lie," Losurdo said about the Progress NC charges she overstated her resume when she said she oversaw $2 billion in small business loans in the Carolinas for First Union. "They're lying. I'm telling the truth. I did exactly what I said I did."

The definition of "overseeing" is at the heart of a dispute between Wake County school board candidate Heather Losurdo and Progress NC Action.

As noted in today's article, the dispute revolves around this statement on Losurdo's website that she "was an Account Manager for First Union National Bank, overseeing all small business loans in the states of North Carolina and South Carolina equaling a portfolio of over $2 Billion."

Losurdo says the statement is correct while Progress NC Action questions how someone with her background could hold such an important-sounding position.

SEE UPDATE AT END OF POST FOR PRESS RELEASE TODAY FROM PROGRESS NC ACTION