#ncga: Meddling in primaries. (Again. *SIGH*)
Remember when that sketchy affiliated committee stuff got rammed through the General Assembly? All the, um, “honorables” pinky-swore that they would not be used in primaries for the General Assembly. Each of the major parties has rules about party officials getting involved in primary races.
After considering all that, take a look at what we found on Twitter:
Hmmm. George Robinson was appointed in February to fill this seat that had been held by Edgar Starnes (who left for a sweet job in state government). He actually hasn’t yet faced 
the voters. This photo was taken December 3rd. According to media reports, Destin Hall filed as a primary opponent to Robinson on December 1. (As a matter of fact, local media broke the story about Hall’s nascent primary campaign in October.) So, this crew in this photo KNEW they were sticking their noses into a primary contest for a state House seat.
We’re all about equal time and fair play here. If you’re interested in getting to know Destin Hall, click HERE to go to his campaign Facebook page or click HERE to go to his campaign website. (The campaign website includes a button to click for donations.)
Tim Moore knows that meddling in a primary is against the rules, and when rules are broken there should be consequences.
It’s time to primary Timmy.
I’ve not seen a hard copy of it yet, but there’s a letter circulating online today from the NCGOP endorsing Richard Burr for re-election–with no mention of the fact I’m challenging Mr. Burr in the primary. (It may be bogus, but it certainly looks official.) So much for our party remaining “neutral” in the primary.
We’re not only fighting against the democrats/liberals/socialists, but our own party’s “ruling class” is against us as well!
Larry Holmquist
What did you expect after the Hall of Fame dinner? Tricky DIck Burr was the keynote speaker and the other two announced US Senate primary candidates, you and Judge Wright, were not invited to have any official role. If the party was playing fair in the primary, all three announced candidates would have been given equal billing and equal time. Major Domo Woodhouse, who has usurped the power of the chairman in a palace coup backed by a majority of the Central Committee, was apparently responsible for that travesty since he is the one calling the shots at headquarters.
If you find out more about that letter, please pass it on to Brant. Maybe he can dig into what is going on..
The letter is official NCGOP. It’s a two-sided (front and back) letter. I’ve sent Brant the front page, and am working on getting the second page (which contains Hasan Harnett’s signature) for him as well.
Is this a letter whose purpose is to endorse Burr, or is it something else, like a fundraising letter that uses inappropriate language that amounts to an endorsement of Burr? The former would be a blatant and deliberate violation of the PoO, while the latter may be that or may just reflect inexperience and cluelessness.
I can understand that in a fundraising letter, the point about keeping the Senate seat is one they would want to make in presenting the need for contributions. Someone who knew what they were doing would have phrased that something like ”Regardless of who wins the primary, it is essential that we keep the Senate need now held by Richard Burr in Republican hands so that we keep our Senate majority in Washington”
While the chairman’s signature is usually on fundraising letters, it would be rare that he actually drafted it. He should have reviewed and approved it, but given the current situation at headquarters, there would be some question as to whether that happened.
Normally, the draft of a fundraising letter would come from either the Finance Director or a fundraising consultant, and then go to the Executive Director for approval. My understanding is that currently the Finance Director’s position is vacant. so the letter would likely have been drafted by either the Executive Director or the fundraising consultant. One problem is that neither of them has much experience within the party structure, and the chairman has only a little more from his service as a paid party staffer. Inexperience and cluelessness may indeed have been the culprit.
However it happened, if this letter flatly said something like ”We need to reelect Richard Burr” you need to demand an apology, and one that would be seen, like a prominent statement on he NCGOP website that the party is neutral in the US Senate primary. If it is a letter with the sole purpose of supporting Burr, you need to demand much more than that.
This isn’t the first incidence of this sort of thing, of course. For example, Jason Saine and Andrew Brock, executive committee members both, are working for the Rubio campaign.
http://jonesandblount.com/2015/10/01/rubio-taps-lawmakers-brock-and-saine-as-his-n-c-go-to-guys/
So it doesn’t particularly surprise me that the corrupted NCGOP is blatantly violating it’s own rules to endorse Burr in the Senate Primary or these legislators, (again, all of whom are Executive committee members) are doing this.
Distinction needs to be made between working behind the scenes for candidate versus publicly endorsing in a primary. EC members should not be expected to sit on the sidelines during primaries–just not take sides publicly, as some of our legislators are doing.
Rep. Robinson is a wIlling soldier of the NCGOP Establishment. He has done his job filing in for Starnes, but his time is up. It’s time for him to face the voters. He doesn’t have the support to keep this seat.
I am solidly behind Destin Hall to fill this seat in the future. Hall is a conservative Republican with deep knowledge of the NC & US Constitution, and the issues in NC.