The Cotten era in NC-02 comes to a RUDE end
Joyce Cotten’s tenure as head of the 2nd congressional district’s GOP may be in its final days — but everybody’s *favorite* mother-in-law is keeping it as vile, nasty and uncivil as she can.
Ma Cotten, as we all know, is the ringleader of the mutiny against the duly elected chairman of the NCGOP. She’s run Hasan Harnett’s character through the mud airing all kinds of unsubstantiated allegations publicly that range from dishonesty to incompetence to outright criminal activity.
The event — which accomplished little more than electing delegates to the Republican convention in Cleveland — took an excruciating FIVE AND A HALF HOURS.
One text from inside the meeting summed it up nicely:
Sweet Jesus. And THIS cow says Hasan can’t run a meeting ????
Harnett brought his entire family with him to the gathering in Sanford today. They were greeted by a pro-Harnett cheering section of Tea Partiers. But things got rough for the chairman after that. Ma Cotten’s goons made the volunteer chairman PAY for himself and his family to enter the meeting, and banished them to seats in the back of the room.
After the first 90 minutes of the meeting passed, it became clear that Ma Cotten had no intention of introducing the chairman or allowing him to speak.
Here’s a text from an attendee:
This is disgusting. Our Party Chairman with his family are still not recognized by Dist Chair..we are over an hour into the convention. Chairman Harnett is being forced to sit in the visitor section.[…]After calls from the audience joyce cotten refuses to even say his name.
A few more hours passed, and Cotten continued to plow through the minutiae of the meeting without even acknowledging the state party chairman’s presence or even considering allowing him the opportunity to address the crowd. Meanwhile, the chairman and his family sat quietly at the back of the room.
Cotten ignored questions from the audience about why she was not acknowledging Harnett’s presence. Finally, someone with guts took to the microphone. Miriam Chu — a candidate for RNC delegate as well as head of Moore Tea Citizens — used her time for campaigning for the delegate position to acknowledge and 
welcome the Harnett family. (See the video.) Her gracious move resulted in a standing ovation for the Harnetts, and — later — a private verbal rebuke for Chu from Cotten.
As the meeting drew to an end, Cotten made a big show of acknowledging Harnett and inviting him to come up and speak. The problem? The chairman — like Elvis — had already left the building. (Hasan endured about three hours more of that nonsense than I could have,)
Another attendee texted us about this move by Cotten:
She had to have seen the man get up and leave with his family. It was like she had one of her goons watch the parking lot and give her the high sign when he was gone. So mean. I bet she kicks puppies.
As a first time attendee at a District 2 Convention, I was horrified at the rude behavior of the Chairwoman. I would have walked out of the convention if it were not for the fact that delegates to the National Convention were to be selected. I am not privy to all the in fighting within the two factions of the state GOP nor do I know Mr. Harnett , Ms.Cotton or any of the players, but to not recognize the State Chair, no matter what you think of him, is an insult of the highest order. Ms. Cotton should be ashamed – kudos Ms. Chu!
The Christian Grass Roots might as well resign yourselves that your Republican Party has been High-Jacked by those that do not represent the “Majority” only the “Special Interest”……..marks
There was a first time attendee sitting near us who was so upset she said questioned being involved at all. As usual Cotten is alienating people.
I stand with the chairman because how in the heck could you stand with the ones against him
I was proud of Marium – Very proud. I was almost as proud of her as I was ashamed of the people who sat there – Not clapping.
It was almost as tho they were afraid to show an ounce of respect for this good man. As tho they were afraid (And this is strictly a figure of speech) that some old witch would cast a spell.
How can you stick the CHAIRMAN of the STATE GOP in the back of the room like a scene from some bad 1950s courtroom drama – And not be ashamed of yourselves.
I remain a Republican for ONE reason. To return it to the classy days of Ronald Reagan – A gentleman who would never have stood for such foolishness.
I’ll congratulate you for sticking it out. I finally decided in 2013 that the organization was beneath my dignity and the people running it (state and national) did not deserve my support.
I like your style John Zumwalt. Reagan was stellar!
What a day! It seems to me as if some people have gotten it backwards. Our NCGOP Chairman is WAY more professional than the 2nd district chair Joyce Cotten! I have never been so embarrassed and just ashamed in my life. This man and his family were completely ignored and shunned by 2nd district leaders.
Cotten randomly sent me a very rude email this week. She had a lot of facts wrong and made sweeping allocations. #patterns
Isn’t that the terrible “crime” that Hasan was accused of – getting facts wrong? Ole Cotton Mouth should be removed completely from the GOP in any capacity except perhaps janitor.
I’m confused. Where is the RUDE ending?
Read it again.
I did read it again. It says, “Joyce Cotten’s tenure as head of the 2nd congressional district’s GOP *may* be in its final days.” Where is the RUDE end? Her behavior is no different than it usually is, so why is her tenure at an end? Was she voted out and escorted to the door? Did something happen to signal her political demise, or is the post just wishful thinking? Since you see the situation clearly, kindly explain it to me. I’m a little slow.
For Yond: Because of the remapping of Congressional Districts, there will be a change in structure of District 2 – Ms. Cotton will move on – probably to run as Chair somewhere else. The rude end is of course how she handled the presence of Mr. Harnett. Hopefully a new Chair will bring some grace & dignity to the job..
In the past, when there was redistricting, Presidential year conventions were used to realign district GOP organizations with the new district lines. Not this time, and the reason is factional power politics. BItter, vindictive people are trying to cling to power a little while longer.
Props to Ms. Chu for using her time to speak to acknowledge Chairman Harnett. It should never have came to a delegate hopeful to give the man his rightful recognition. This is embarrassing for the NCGOP. While I did not vote for Ms. Chu as National Delegate (due only to us supporting different primary candidates), that was a classy move on her part and a true show of her character.
I, too, am new to the NCGOP and was an alternate delagate (ended up being a delagate) at this meeting. I sat beside Mr. Harnett and his family in the Guest Section up until I was informed I was being moved from Alternate to Delegate 2 hours in before the voting. He and his family were humble, sat quietly and didn’t try to start any issues. It’s a shame to see the way he is being treated.
For the first time in my life I felt ashamed to be a Republican as I sat and watched the treatment of our NC GOP Chairman and his wife and 2 kids, I ask myself, what would I think if I was his kids?
Throughout all my years as a Republican, I have never witnessed anything so LOW as today. Speechless….
So today really was the end of an Error. JOYCE please go home.
One thing not mentioned, Ellmers was there, and not well received. Not well at all. Made me smile, which normally happens every 5th Blood Moon.
Ellmers is on her way out! It’s so over for her and her goons!
This is exactly why I am no longer a Republican. In addition to snubbing the state chair Joyce Cotten called the police on the group of Hasan supporters who were threatening the safety of all concerned by holding signs bearing such incendiary and threatening slogans as “We support Hasan.” However some of the protesters had to leave early because they were denied access to the restrooms in the lobby of the building. The GOP is busy destroying itself and while so doing, Bernie or Hillary will take the election. I fear it is a lost cause.
So the Chairman was able to go to the second district convention. But had to cancel his Exec com meeting since he was traveling? Another lie? SMH
As I read his email, he said he was travelling out of the country on April 30, not April 9.
He canceled April 9th because he was asked to since there were so many conventions being held. He did not lie….from the start he said he would be out of country April 30th!!! Someone else following blindly…smh
YOU said the sky was BLUE, but I can CLEARLY see patches of WHITE in it! YOU FILTHY LIAR!!!
SMDH
The personal bitterness and vindictiveness of the leaders of the dominant Central Committee faction is just astounding. They do not care if they do serious damage to the party with their stupid personal vendetta against the chairman.
In June
#NCGOPCONV
Please air *all* thie dirty laundry! 🙂
Convention is in May this year.
Third Congressional District convention was not any better. Oh, may I add it was being run by Ma Cotten’s offspring. Started a little after 9am and didn’t end until around 4P. Kim CW had her goons make sure everyone was tired of amendments to amendments to amendments of the resolutions so that all were tabled. One was against Kim CW herself. Let’s get rid of the Cotten-West “dynasty” and bring back those who have been driven out of the Party by these people who think they are the rulers.
This is nothing new for Rino Joyce Cotten. She has always been rude to Conservatives! As a former district chair I have been on the receiving end of her rudeness. Thankfully Miriam Chu had the courage to stand up to such a disrespectful attitude on Mrs. Cotten’s part.
time for a REBIRTH.
The chairman’s divisiveness is one of the reasons.
Second is the vice chairman
Get used to it, dudes and dudettes. If things go according to plan, Old Joyce will be your new state chairman.
And just wait for what we have in store at the state convention when that super high registration fee runs many of the little people away. Zan Bunn will be your new National Committeewoman and you will get a big surprise as National Committeeman. The national delgates will be people ready to fall in line with whatever Karl Rove directs. We will smoke you.
We don’t need you little people getting in our way.
Of course, I am more qualified to be the new state chairman. After all, since I was hired, the ruling group on the Central Committee has transfered most of the state chairman’s duties to me, so it is only logical to give me the title, too.
So many of us, and so few of them! It is a shame how this elitist oligarchy insists on driving the party over the cliff, just so they can maintain power. The treatment of Chairman Harnett was a total disgrace! So ashamed of what the GOPe has become.
I am totally disgusted. I may un-register as a Republican at my SBOE. If it was difficult before this fracas to be a Republican, it is only much more so now.
So the one question I have is what happened…..
Pre 2015 Joyce Cotton, Zan Bunn, Kim West, Carolyn Justice, Daniel Rufty, Duane Cutlip were all driving the bus on pro harrnet. Now only Daniel remains. Rest bash him…. and now this same group are heading many of the district conventions and hand selecting the Cruz delegates. How do we know we won’t be stabbed again by this crowd of establishment hacks at National convention.
Of the 3 people left running for the gop nomination Cruz is the only conservitive left.
I do not understand why anyone would be upset with Cruz getting delegates unless they are a liberal or leftist
This crew stabbed Harnett in the back. How do we trust them leading the Cruz delegate selection?
That’s a good question. Not sure the Cruz NC team vetted some of their own recommendations that well. One Central Committee member that was on one of their recommended delegate lists has a certain reputation……I hope that one doesn’t come back to bite them in Cleveland.
I have been looking at some of the RINOs supported by the Cruz campaign, and asked the same question. I think the Cruz camp may be being had by the establishment. National convention will be interesting to say the least.
We don’t know, so that’s why it is so important not to elect hacks to important positions in the first place.
What is the end game of the Central Committee plotters?
One remembers after the last state convention when the word was that they were going after the party’s money, by 1) taking away the legislative campaign funds, and 2) redirecting all RNC money to some district or county organization. Well, the sneaky underhanded last minute David Lewis amendment to HB 373 already did the first one (and the establishment applauded that by working hard to stop his impeachment over that treachery).
Could all of this campaign against Harnett, including the press releases attacking him that the party HQ is improperly churning out which have gotten national attention, be designed to be an excuse for RNC to divert campaign money to some other entity? This poorly conceived campaign against Harnett will certainly hurt the NCGOP’s own ability to raise money, whatever the ultimate outcome. Do the Central Committee plotters just have a reckless disregard of the financial wellbeing of the party, or do they have a hidden motive to deliberately crash the party financially? Are they trying to set up a diversion of RNC funds through creating an excuse to justify it?
If there is a play on RNC funds, conservatives need to hold Richard Burr hostage, figuratively speaking, by saying that if RNC diverts the money to some establishment controlled entity, conservatives will retaliate by taking down the liberal Burr in the general election. If they want to play ”take no prisoners”, conservatives should do likewise.
Republicans need to be working together right now, and that is the best way forward, but if the establishment wants a war, and they seem to do, then conservatives should give them one. It confounds me totally that the establishment wants a big fight instead of trying to unite the party. It will be on their shoulders if the party blows up over this. Some of them have been itching for this since the day Harnett was elected.
During the 2012 elections, the RNC bypassed Nevada and Alaska’s state parties to support Romney. They did not trust the state orgs because grassroots people had taken control.
Time for the Joyce Cottens of the Republican Party all be drawn and quartered. The new Republican Party neither wants you Joyce or to ever hear from you again. I suggest you go, join and support the Democrat Party if you desire power.
I didn’t see Hasan at our 8th district convention, although I am told he was briefly there. I am not aware of any intent not to recognize him or not to let him speak. It would be a real surprise to me if that were the case, especially since this is his home district and he is one of my constituents. So I hope nothing so disgusting as what has been described here was afoot in our convention. As for the concerns about establishment tampering with delegates favoring Cruz, I feel that I can assure you that if there was such an effort in our district, it failed. Our three delegates are, in order of who got the most votes, Neva Helms, myself, and Carl Ford. The alternates are Justin Burr, Jean Griswold, and Lanny Lancaster. I can tell you for certain that Neva, Carl, Jean, and I are all staunch Cruz supporters. I think Justin and Lanny will be firm for Cruz, as well. I was asked to put my name on the ballot specifically because I will stand up for Cruz to the bitter end, and no one will change my mind by threat, promise, or bribe. Of course, if I am required to cast a vote according to the rules as one of the delegates Trump won in the primary in the first round, I won’t have any choice but to do so. There would be a $10,000.00 fine for doing otherwise, which I certainly can’t afford. However, I hope I will be allowed to be one of the ones Cruz won. If it goes to a second round, I will definitely be voting for Cruz to the end.
Here is the sort of press that the Central Committee group’s press releases are getting us:
Frontpage article above the fold in County Compass (based in Pamlico County, also circulates in Craven, Beaufort and Albemarle Sound counties) titled ”State GOP Shoots self in the foot – A bullet to the brain would be quicker” by Jeff Aydelette, staff writer, with picture of a shoe with a bullet hole in it.
After discussing the registration fee dispute, the allegations of computer hacking, and identifying the chairman as a grassroots conservative opposed by ”the elite”, it also brought in race noting that ”any smattering of black vote that the GOP could possibly squeeze out in November has likely disappeared”. The whole affair was described as a ”soap opera”
The last paragraph in this GOP-leaning newspaper is particularly telling: ”The long and short of it: Feuding Republicans in North Carolina can do nothing but improve the chances of either Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders residing in the White House for the next four years.”
And yet I get another mailing from Cumbie and Stark today still wanting to gin up a fratricidal war within the party, and still demanding an executive committee meeting when they know Harnett will be out of the country.
Reference to Ms Cotton as a COW surely seems to describe District 2 HEAD perfectly although TAIL might be a better description. She and her ilk are almost enough to drive me out of the NCGOP.
Someone should have called the bouncer to eject her from the meeting.
This is the NC GOP. Always has been. Establishment thugs. They aren’t conservatives, and they have no use for conservatives until election time. Most of them prob. were Democrats when that served them. Ridiculous.
Period.
I was a lifelong republican up until a few years ago when I switched to independent because, and to be completely honest, too many GOP leaders and so many in the party are an embarrassment and could care less about the people. Everyone can rightly complain about Cotten, but she’s not the problem…she’s just a result of the problem. The Problems and issues within the GOP are the fault of the GOP. And just on a side note, based on all that’s been going on with this primary, I would have to think (and probably rightfully so) many of the ones complaining about Cotten are the same GOP members who are trying to figure out a way to give Cruz the NC delegates to stop Trump even though Trump was the clear winner. So people like Cotten aren’t the issue with the GOP. The issue is people are seeing the GOP as a whole will go against the majority of voters and ignore their voice for political and personal gain. The Democrat Party of today has moved far left pushing the country closer to socialism. But sadly, the GOP isn’t the what it used to be either…The GOP now is the Democrat party of 20-30 years ago.