North Carolina GOP Senate candidate Michael Whatley has tried to paint his Democratic opponent, former Gov. Roy Cooper, as soft on crime — but a new report indicates Whatley himself forgave a sex offender accused of sexually assaulting teenagers in one of his hires for a party office.According to the Asheville Watchdog, "Whatley, former chairman of the state and national Republican Party, is at the center of the spreading revolt after championing the rise to power of Harvey L. West Jr. Whatley appointed West to lead the GOP’s 1st Congressional District committee in the state’s eastern corner, and to head the party’s powerful Plan of Organization committee, which effectively controls rulemaking."However, "West, 54, was a 28-year-old police officer in Washington, a small town in Beaufort County near the Outer Banks, in 1999 when he was arrested and charged with the statutory rape of three girls, two aged 14 and one aged 16. The charge is among the state’s most serious felonies and is defined legally as sexual intercourse with a person aged 15 or younger and the perpetrator is at least six years older. Consent is not a defense."He agreed to plead guilty to 16 lesser charges of taking indecent liberties with a child, according to the report.Per the report, the criminal past of West, who was sentenced to six years in prison and a minimum of 10 years on the sex offender registry, was known to many in the state GOP, but there was a sentiment that he had "served his time and cleaned his slate.""West and his wife created an annual fundraising picnic they called the Down East Judicial Picnic," said the report. "With support from Whatley; current state GOP chairman Jason Simmons; and such high-ranking incumbents as Supreme Court Chief Justice Paul Newby, Associate Justices Trey Allen and Philip Berger Jr., the event has emerged as a featured campaign stop and major source of judicial campaign money."Whatley did not comment when The Watchdog reached out to his campaign.The North Carolina Senate race is one of Democrats' best opportunities to flip a seat this fall, with two-term Sen. Thom Tillis, a longtime state GOP powerbroker, retiring after an increasing rift between himself and President Donald Trump. Whatley has