NC’s RNC committeeman endorses Priebus, responds to grassroots activists

gopelephant

 

 

 

State Rep. David Lewis (R-Dunn), one of North Carolina’s two voting members on the Republican National Committee, has stepped forward to respond to a resolution put forth by Tar Heel state grassroots activists regarding this coming week’s election in Charlotte for RNC chairman.   As a refresher, here is the text of the resolution in question:

Resolution of the Grassroots

Whereas, under the direction of Reince Priebus, the Republican Party declined in the number of seats held in both the House and Senate during the 2012 elections, undermining the strides gained by republicans in the 2010 elections and;

Whereas, during the course of the 2011-2012 elections cycle, Reince Priebus has failed to abide by the resolution previously passed, “resolution in support of good governance,” which calls upon the chair of the RNC to conduct competitive bids for all contracts that exceed $100,000 in value and;

Whereas, Reince Priebus presided over actions that knowingly & purposefully disenfranchised the grassroots factions comprising the republican party, such as rule changes that received heavy criticism and push-back from several states’ delegations to the RNC, as well as de-credentialing delegates to the RNC who were duly elected by their states’ Republican Party members to be representatives to the RNC in Tampa, FL and;

Whereas, Reince Priebus’ actions in chairing over the 2012 elections have embarrassed the party nationally and;

Whereas, Reince Priebus’ actions in chairing over the 2012 elections, having disenfranchised and disheartened many Republican voters, caused the Republican Party to lose the 2012 Presidential campaign and;

Whereas, the North Carolina State Executive Committee, at their December 2012 meeting, passed a resolution of opposition to power-grab rule changes that were passed under Reince Priebus’ supervision, which stated that the North Carolina State Executive Committee values grassroots participation within the party and;

Whereas, North Carolina Republican Party Chairman Robin Hayes has made effort to reach out to the grassroots and express support of the grassroots and;

Whereas, the grassroots of the Republican Party of North Carolina do not support Reince Priebus’ reelection bid and;

Therefore,

We, the grassroots members of the Republican Party of North Carolina, at this time, petition for Chairman Robin Hayes, Committeeman David Lewis, and Committeewoman Dr. Ada Fisher to accurately represent the grassroots by refusing to endorse Reince Priebus for Chair, as well as endorse and vote for Mark Willis for Chairman of the RNC at the 2013 RNC Winter Meeting in Charlotte, NC, on January 25, 2013.

And HERE is what Rep. Lewis had to say, in response to the resolution’s authors:

 

On Friday, January 18, 2013 at 5:33 PM, “David R. Lewis” <davidl@davidlewis.org> wrote:

>

>Thank you for your email.

>

>Please accept my apologies for this delayed reply.  Your email was sent

>to my Legislative Account and was inappropriately filtered.

>Please send all RNC email to my personal account:

>DavidL@davidlewis.org<mailto:DavidL@davidlewis.org>.

>

>I very much appreciate the well written resolution and all those caring

>enough to take time to prepare it.

>

>I acknowledge the first “Whereas” clause but strongly feel that without

>Chairman Priebus’s efforts, our losses would have been much greater.

>It also fails to recognize significant gains in state and local offices

>which were achieved in 2012.

>

>The second clause I will look into.  However, to the extent possible, I

>believe the management of the RNC has been quite effective and has and

>will pass any reasonableness test.

>

>The third clause dealing with the rule change is something I am

>actively working on.  Respectfully, I do not agree with the premise

>that the Chairman “knowingly & purposefully disenfranchised” anyone.

>

>The fourth and fifth clauses are matters of opinion and I respect your

>right to voice these sentiment.  I do, however, disagree with them.

>

>I am aware of the Resolution passed by or Executive Committee and of

>the hard work of Chairman Hayes.  As I stated earlier, I have already

>begun to work on the rules change.

>

>I value your opinions and appreciate your passion, commitment and hard

>work.  I do not, however, agree that the undesigned Republicans are

>legitimately qualified to speak for anyone other than themselves.  The

>”grassroots” is a phrase too often thrown around by those wishing to

>make a point.  There are thousands of Republicans who have worked,

>continue to work, and will work in the future to build our Party.  Each

>one is important, needed, and welcome.  We are just of different

>opinions on the question of Chairman.  As with most questions, I am

>certain there are many more issues on which we can agree.

>

>While I value your input, I will be supporting Reince Priebus for RNC

>Chair.  The level of support North Carolina received from the RNC

>during 2012 was unmatched and crucial to our success.  The “Victory”

>effort was far from perfect but it was very good.  To his credit,

>Reince has already begun asking for ways to improve and I have shared

>openly and directly that greater local input was needed and that, at

>times, the effort was too “top down” to truly meet its objectives.  I

>am convinced his experience not only in DC but in Wisconsin will allow

>us to continue to build our Party.

>

>Again, thank you for your email.

>

>David Lewis

>

>

>Sent from David Lewis’ iPhone. Please excuse any misspelled words,

>grammatical errors or excessive brevity.