#ncga: Bob Steinburg’s “greatest” hits
Here at The Haymaker, we’re all about making sure folks are well-informed about the folks serving them in Raleigh and DC — as well as those trying to do so.
Over in the 1st Senate district, Bill Cook is retiring and Edenton Republican Rep. Bob Steinburg has said he will run for the reworked 1st seat.
Let’s flash back to 2012, when Steinburg was first running for his current House seat:
North Carolina’s heated campaign season may have finally come to blows.
Republican NC House District 1 candidate Bob Steinburg has been charged with assault after an altercation with his opponent’s campaign manager Thursday night in Hertford.
The incident happened following a candidate forum at which Steinburg appeared with his Democratic opponent, Bill Luton. The alleged victim of the assault is Luton campaign manager Russ Haddad.
Reached by phone Saturday, Steinburg confirmed the charge, but told WRAL the Luton campaign is to blame for it.
“It was a setup. This is all they’ve been doing, my opponents – trying to get something on me personally,” Steinburg said. “Unfortunately, I took the bait.”
According to Steinburg, he was trying to have a “private conversation” with Luton after the forum when he noticed Haddad was taking phone video of it. He says he told Haddad to stop taping three times before grabbing for Haddad’s phone – “swatting at it, really,” Steinburg said.
Asked whether his response was appropriate, Steinburg said, “It was for me. I’m a man.”
(Wow. You hear that, ladies?)
By the way, here’s video of the incident in question.
MORE: 
[…] “I’d warned him three times – get it out of there, get it out of there, get it out of there,” [Steinburg] added. “This is an innocuous event that was staged for their behalf. That’s it. That’s what happened.”
He says he was informed by a police officer on the premises that Haddad had filed a complaint with the magistrate. He says the officer encouraged him to come down to the magistrate’s office “so they wouldn’t have to serve papers.”
Russ Haddad declined to speak on the record about the event, deferring to his boss, Democratic candidate Bill Luton.
“Based on the facts, the magistrate found probable cause,” Luton said. “But because this is a criminal case against him, there’s really a limit to what we can say.”
Sources who witnessed the altercation say the incident started immediately after the forum, when the candidates were shaking hands. Haddad showed up to record the conversation between Steinburg and Luton after it was clearly becoming heated.
Those sources say Steinburg grabbed Haddad by the neck “like a dog gets scruffed” and tried to wrestle his phone away from him. […]
(Gee. THIS seems soooooo familiar. )
At the time, Steinburg dismissed the kerfuffle as an “isolated” incident. But there there was his 2005 arrest and forcible removable from a Chestefield County (I’m guessing South Carolina) planning commission meeting:
[…] In 2005, Steinburg was arrested at a Chesterfield County Planning Commission meeting and charged with disorderly conduct after refusing to leave the podium when asked to do so.
In a video clip of that incident posted on YouTube, a police officer
coming to escort Steinburg away can be heard telling him, “Get your hands off of me.”
“Get your hands off of ME,” Steinburg tells the officer before he’s escorted away.
Planning Commission leaders later dropped the charge against Steinburg. But he followed up with a federal lawsuit against them, seeking punitive damages for infringement of his First Amendment rights. That case was dismissed, as was the appeal.[…]
Brant, this is old news that has been completely vetted and explained ad nauseam to opponents and hit men like yourself who cannot find anything else to criticize me on. In fact, when my opponents tried to use this against me, it backfired big time. My voters, district and region have all heard this and it only increased my margin of victory . Never found guilty of anything and charges dropped after the campaign by my opponents who lost but thought this stunt would help them win. Nice try but no cigar. Can’t wait for the primary to begin should there be one by any Republican who would like to jump in. Bring it on! Im ready for any all comers should these maps be approved. I will stand up and defend whatever is right, whatever the cost, whatever the consequence and the people of northeastern North Carolina know it. And, I’ve never given any money to any Democrats, unlike some who gave thousands to Roy Cooper in 2016 and 2012 along with other Democrat donations over the years. Whether they also gave money to Republicans or not, is meaningless to NENC voters. It is helping the enemy and Roy Cooper is the enemy. Just ask Doug Raymond who ran now Senator Norm Sandersons campaign and who had a primary opponent who gave money to Democrats. Raynor wisely beat the opponent over the head with it and Sanderson won comfortably over the Raleigh Senate’s preferred candidate. You’d think Raynor would have shared that information with Clark Twiddy who he now represents. Voters will learn it and they won’t like it even a little bit. Helping the enemy in any way cannot be explained away in a Republican primary.
Raynor is a “she”, as any coastal conservative activist would know. 🙂
Doug Raymond is Twiddy’s campaign manager and Sanderson’s as anyone who really knew this district would know. And since I talked to HIM just a few days ago for a considerable amount of time his voice was a dead giveaway unless he is one of those folks interested in using the girls room. That would explain the support of Roy Cooper. You really want to start on typos? This is too much fun! By the way-how about you allow everyone to scrutinize your conservative credentials the way you do others and stop hiding like a coward behind anonymity. It might be virtuous under the first amendment on occasion but if you want to be the person who defines who is a good or bad Republican you should have enough integrity to demonstrate how you deserve to do that. Name and residency please. Oh- smiley face, emphasis, cutesy pose and happy dance back at you!