#ncga: A primary for Speciale. (*Sur-prise. Sur-prise. Sur-prise.*)
It’s regularly done for his House compatriot Larry Pittman. Now, one has magically come out of the woodwork for conservative 
stalwart Mike Speciale of New Bern:
A Republican primary shaping up for 2018 would pit two retired Marines from New Bern against each other – including Rep. Michael Speciale, a legislative lightning rod.
The challenger, Eric Queen, 41, holds views in line with most Republicans. He supports voter ID and small government and opposes abortion.
But Queen says voters will see clear differences between him and Speciale, a three-term NC House incumbent.
Speciale sponsors bills that attract a lot of public attention but don’t get much support in the legislature.
He sponsored a bill this year that sought to repeal the part of the state constitution that prohibits secession. He was one of four House sponsors on a bill this year that would have once again made gay marriage illegal in the state, in defiance of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling. As the bill made national news, House Speaker Tim Moore said it would not be considered.
Queen said he does not agree with the secession amendment or the effort to defy a Supreme Court ruling.
“I believe in a traditional family,” Queen said. “I also believe in the Constitution. When the state is going to ignore the Supreme Court – I don’t know where you’re going with that.”[…]
(At different points in history, The Supreme Court ruled that (1) blacks ARE property, and (2) separate but equal is A-OKAY. Would Mr. Queen have defended those decrees by our high court?)
This driveby needs to read her own paper more often. The “secession” amendment would have given voters an option via referendum to strike a provision forced into the state constitution 150 years ago. A related amendment would have sought to modify the state constitution to place loyalty to The Constitution above loyalty to “The Government.” (One would think a big fan of The Constitution like Mr. Queen would appreciate a move like that,)
Hmmm. This guy wants to represent you in Raleigh, but leave the big decisions to the guys and gals in the black robes.
The last time I checked, The Supreme Court was all about interpreting legislation passed by our legislative bodies. Our Founding documents allow the legislative and executive branches to place some limits on its power. The Court is not a law-making, legislative entity. Too many of the folks we have elected to make laws have ceded that authority to the folks in the black robes.
MORE:
[…] Speciale did not return a message left at his home.
Speciale represents a district that includes Pamlico County and parts of Beaufort and Craven counties. He has drawn attention for his commentary on social media, including criticizing the Jan. 21 Women’s March protests as “a joke.” […]
That stuff was controversial mainly to the snowflakes who inhabit McClatchy’s rapidly-dwindling North Carolina newsrooms.
MORE:
[…] It tends to be hard for challengers to win primaries. Incumbents have better name recognition and their campaigns often have more money.
Rep. Larry Pittman, a Republican from Concord who has worked with Speciale on many controversial bills, handily defeated an attorney who ran against him in the 2016 GOP primary.
Queen said he considered running for local office but decided to seek the House seat as he and his wife talked about his options.
He wants voters to have a primary choice, and he’s banking on voters agreeing with his view of the Constitution.
“You might not agree with me,” he said, “but the Constitution protects your beliefs as much as it protects mine.”[…]
Debate within the parties is all fine and dandy. We encourage it all the time right here on this site. But this guy — judging from his web site and public comments — does not appear to be very familiar with the US or North Carolina constitutions, the action in Raleigh, nor Mike Speciale himself.
Mike Speciale and Larry Pittman have long been lonely voices in the wilderness in Raleigh. Speciale has been a rock-ribbed warrior for The Second Amendment, low taxes and smaller government. People like Speciale and Pittman have stood strong on principle while so many others — in both parties — have sold their votes to the lobbyist who writes the biggest check.
There are a lot of people in Raleigh and DC who need to lose their jobs in 2018. Mike Speciale is NOT one of them.
Hillsdale College offers several free online courses about our US Constitution. I believe Mr. Queen should take advantage of the opportunity and then find something more productive to do besides challenging Rep. Speciale.
This liberal challenger obviously believes in liberal judges legislating from the bench. What they spew is, in the cases he supports, not following the Constitution but making a mockery of it.
Tim Moore’s hand is very clear in this attack on conservatives. Conservatives need to destroy Moore and all of his support group, preferably in the primary.
Is there any mystery where this is coming from? This RINO recruit has obviously been provided with some oppo from Raleigh to attack Speciale. There was a whole lot more than a conversation with his wife in his running.
http://www.beaufortobserver.net/Blog-3931.112112-13749.114136-Legislative-leaderships-War-on-Conservatives-attacks-Speciale.html
Mr. Queen strikes me as another liberal trying to look like a Rino. Either way he would suck being in our state government.
Mike Speciale has served his district well. He is a Christian Constitutional Conservative. He worked with us to reject Common Core, and we are proud to stand with him. We need more legislators like him. The ruling on same-sex marriage was rejected in NC by 63%. I agree with others that whoever wrote this article for Mr. Queen does need to review his history and the Constitution.
Linda, the Representative and Senator in your county both sold out on HB2 and quite a few other things. You would make a great primary candidate to get some dependable conservative representation from Wayne County in either House or Senate/
Hint: There is a Contribute link at http://www.michaelspeciale.com
The liberal Republicans have been up to this for a little over a decade. Richard Morgan started it when he and Jim Black recruited liberal Thom Tillis to primary conservative State Rep. John Rhodes in 2006. Then Morgan used his “co-Speaker” influence in redistricting to concentrate on punishing GOP conservatives and helping GOP liberals for primaries, thereby drawing districts that allowed a complete Democrat takeover of the House. Tillis and now Tim Moore, have just followed the Richard Morgan tactics.
Tillis used the 2011 redistricting to draw conservative State Reps Glen Bradley and Bill Cook into into districts they could not win. Both ran for the Senate instead and Cook won in the Senate. Tillis was also active in recruiting primary challengers to conservative incumbent legislators such as ultra-lliberal John Fraley against 9-term conservative incumbent Robert Brawley of Iredell.
Now we are seeing Tim Moore use redistricting to gut conservatives and recruiting primary challengers agaisnt conservatives. he is Richard Morgan all over again. Maybe we should call him Tim Moore-gan.
Conservatives should not sit back and take these attacks from the left of the party. We need to go balls to the wall to take these suckweasels down.
Sadly, we are also now seeing the Richard Morgan method being used in the Senate with the appalling redistricting hatchet job on Bill Cook, which many believe that Phil Berger did at the behest of a powerful special interest, the solar cabal. This is Bill Cook’s second round of being gutted by leadership because he is a solid conservative.