#ncgop: search committee formed for ED post. (crickets re: Laster)
Last month, we had quite a hubbub in a closed NCGOP central 
committee meeting about the decision to hire solar industry lobbyist Kristen Laster as the party’s new finance director. A 30-day “cooling off” period was proposed, and everyone moved on.
Well, here we are 30 days later and we don’t hear a peep about Laster. The central committee met this weekend, and the matter didn’t even come up.
I asked one person with some influence on the party committee about the Laster matter. The source told me that executive director Todd Poole’s decision to resign made filling THAT post more important and the Laster matter “a whole lot less significant.”
Really? First, you have someone coming directly from being a mouthpiece for some leftist and dubious clients to be in charge of all of the money at the state Republican Party. Seco
nd, a formal board of elections complaint has been filed against Laster which raise serious allegations that call into question her competence in the areas of election law compliance and basic bookkeeping. (Interestingly, the drive-bys are ignoring it.)
If the folks at NCGOP are simply going to stick their heads in the sand and hope everyone forgets about Laster — what happens if the complaint moves to a hearing before the board or into the criminal justice arena? What effect will that have on donors, potential donors, or the party’s public image?
On the “more significant” personnel matter, the committee decided to form a search committee and conduct a wide-ranging search for the executive director post, which runs the day-to-day operations at party headquarters.
Yep typical GOP smoke and mirrors. What has the deceitful Hassan done about anything? Has he spoken about Burr, Tillis, Ellmer’s et all rated as FAILURES by conservative review. Hassan is a FRAUD!
Still scratching my head on this one… How can you hire someone as NCGOP Finance Director that is opposed to the removable of the Renewable Energy Mandate and lobbies specifically for it? The NCGOP 2015 Platform is very CLEAR Article IX.3 “…We call for repeal of the national ethanol mandate and EPA and offshore regulation and the state renewable energy mandate.” Kristen Laster is in COMPLETE VIOLATION of the NCGOP Platform.
With the far more important post of Executive Director now in play, I strongly suspect that both sides are keeping their power dry on the Finance Director fiasco in order to concentrate on the ED position. Once that is decided, I suspect the issue of the Finance Director and probably the Political Director will come roaring back.
Ok…. first the meeting was Sunday at 2pm.
Second Hasan and Nix made an attempt to collect everyone’s cell phone in the beginning of the meeting. That was voted down very quickly. Daniel Rufty stated you can have it out of my dead hand.
Third. Hasan turned over the meeting to crumbs and allowed him to run the meeting. Hasan had about ten words once he released the gavel.
Fourth. There was an attempt by former chair Pope to get Nix on the newly created Search Committee and that was out right shot down.
Fifth. We now have a full search committee to recruiter a top tier ED to replace Poole.
Final point of interest was a motion was to adjust the agenda to have a financial report from the treasurer and the was fought by crumbee, Nix, and Harnett. In the end an abbreviated one was given till Nix shut it down.
They are not going to take my cell phone either
Cannot wait to find out the truth
I will say this ex chairman should have no say at central or excom meetings for at least one year after they leave office unless they are asked
Wrong, my brother. Hassan and Michelle were large and in charge throughout the meeting. They got everything they wanted. The phone thing? People were asked to put them in a box on the table to avoid distractions in the meeting. Also to disrupt some people from texting to Dee Stewart every 30 seconds to get marching orders. Stewart and Schumaker are losing their grip on the party and the money and it is making them crazy.
Who is on the search committee? If it includes David Lewis, then I smell a big stinky rat.
Oh, and who is ”crumbee”? Many here would not know that insider nickname.
Is ”top tier” a euphemism for ”establishment”? One hopes not, but the composition of this search committee will tell the tale. It looks like we are seeing a power play where the Central Committee defies the will of the convention. We need a North Carolinian from the grassroots / conservative side of things as ED, and especially NOT anyone from out of state sent in by Priebus’ RNC. What Priebus has done and not done with RNC shows him NOT to be a friend of either conservatives or the grassroots.
Scott Crumbie ( sorry I spelled his name wrong.). I Believe he is the Asst Secretary of the NC GOP. Very odd that Nix and Harnett allow him to run the meetings. Many believe he is the brains of the three.
You really don’t know why HH would ask Scott CUMBIE to chair the meeting? Scott is trained in parliamentary procedure and it is not uncommon for the Chief Executive of an organization to employ such an individual to chair a meeting so that the Chairman is able to focus on other related matters throughout the meeting.
You got it wrong! The power behind Hasan, eho got his ear is Joyce Cotten. She made her mission to push Nix out. As Wayne King said after the convention, she slways wanted to run the party. Now she got it.
Wayne King, huh? The same Wayne King who was the heir apparent to Robin Hayes among the secretive clique that annointed state party chairmen, but got dethroned when McCrory muscled his choice in, and had to abort his campaign for chairman before it ever took off? The same Wayne King who was one of the most obnoxious establishment string pullers under the Hayes regime? The same Wayne King who pushed people around in Council of State races in 2012 to the extreme detriment of our ticket, and was responsible for no GOP nominee in the Attorney General’s race? That Wayne King?
If Wayne King is someone who confides in you and whose comments you value, you have to be very deep in the GOP establishment.
And if Wayne King does not like Joyce Cotton, that is a very positive statement for Joyce.
It is obvious that there is a ton of propaganda being passed around, one way or the other. So who is lying? Well, who has the most to gain? It would seem to me that there are establishment plants here trying to smear Harnett and Nix. A little sour grapes? Throw Daniel Rufty’s name in there seeking legitimacy among the grassroots. Surely it would be more prudent to withhold judgement against Harnett and Nix in light of prior establishment chicanery. I will continue to support them unless or until I receive absolute proof from a trusted source that I shouldn’t.
”Smear” is Dee Stewart;s middle name.
Straight from Staff mouth and others in Central Meeting. Joyce Cotten got Hasan ear and pushed Nix out. She teamed with Art Pope to get Francis Delucca as ED.
Shoot your propaganda, spin it, BUT thats first hand information from staff who were witness to the formation of the committee after a long afternoon visit along with Zan Bunn and Matt Arnold……hmmm no Liberty in that group.
Francis DeLuca would be an extremely credible ED, a strong conservative, and someone who will be grassroots oriented. I am not sure how much experience he has in the Republican Party organization, but he has lots of experience in fundraising, policy, issues, and conservative organizing that should transfer nicely, and he knows North Carolina politics very thoroughly.. He is also someone the establishment would have a hard time throwing stones at.
It would be great to get Art Pope more involved in the party structure, perhaps as Finance Chairman, but also he would make a great National Committeeman.
You know central committee meetings are open to guests, right? Excluding executive session you can sit right there and see and hear ever word, eye roll, frustrated arm fold. But actually knowing what was going on would take much of the fun put of it. I can tell you, reading the accounts of these meetings is far more interesting than actually attending one.