#ncpol: NCGOP’s Harnett distances himself from Richard Burr endorsement letter
There is quite a bit of fuming going on among the grassroots about a recent fundraising letter sent out by the state Republican Party. The letter calls on recipients to “Re-Elect Senator Richard Burr” — despite the fact that he has TWO primary opponents.
Well, NCGOP chairman Hasan Harnett was asked about this matter on a closed Facebook discussion group. Here’s what he said:
Why issue this denial on a private Facebook forum instead of doing it publicly? Going public would make Harnett look ineffective, in the dark, and incompetent. And there are PLENTY of people inside and outside the headquarters building trying to reinforce that perception.
The governing bodies of the NCGOP bear much of the blame for stuff like this. They have handcuffed and restricted the chairman and vice-chairman of the state party unlike ever before. Chairmen are usually allowed to pick their own candidate for executive director. But the governing bodies of the party have foisted this BOOB — who thinks bumper stickers are personal fashion accessories — on Harnett, vice-chairman Nix, and the party’s hapless and frustrated activists. Couple this with the tolerance of David Lewis’s antics, and you have clear evidence that the leadership in Raleigh are thumbing their noses at the masses outside the beltline who GAVE them the power they now enjoy.
Some grownups really need to step in, clean house, and re-establish order in the NCGOP house.
This issue is not going away–it’s going to intensify.
Dallas Woodhouse told me Friday he would “consider” placing an apology for the fundraising letter endorsing Burr on the NCGOP website. The apology should be addressed to every Republican in North Carolina who has a desire for–and understands the necessity of–fair play within our party. Sadly, this unfortunate letter was a shameful example of the favoritism and back-room deals in the NCGOP that are causing many people to question their commitment to our party.
If clear, forceful, corrective action is not taken promptly, I fear the Republican Party in North Carolina faces a shaky future.
Larry Holmquist
To her credit, the Vice Chair has done her level best not to air the NCGOP’s dirty laundry while privately calling the conservative members of the ExComm to arms against the corruption now controlling the NCGOP. Afraid that it’s all about to messily spill out into the open, though.
Behind closed doors is not helping anyone all the truth out in the open so it can be handled like responsible adults and responsible conservitive republicans
If you cannot defend what you are saying in public you should not be saying it in private
I’m with youthe executive committe should call for woodhouse to step down if he was the one that approved this letter before it went out.
I heard Both Harnett and Nix in public setting state we must re-elect Burr and McCrory.
And they stated so at the Hall of fame dinner
Vice-Chairman Nix didn’t speak at Hall of Fame. Or was I dreaming? Even so, wasn’t that way before filing? Showing support of elected officials “in a public setting” and endorsing are quite different. Support is a positive thing.
The apology should be the first paragraph of a 2 paragraph letter:
I’m sorry.
I resign.
PERIOD
One thing that needs to be done at the next state Executive Committee meeting is for that committee to define in writing the rules of party neutrality in the Senate primary , and make violation a firing offense for paid staff. It would also help to define in writing the relationship between the chairman and the ED. It appears that the ED thinks he runs the party now, and that should not be the case. The ED is only the hired help to execute policy, not a policy maker and he needs to get a grip on that.
I agree with what you are saying. The only thing I would add is that the Executive Committee slide a rope around the necks of the Central Committee members and jerk a kink in their necks. They’ve gotten too big for their britches.
We’ve seriously got to come to an understanding. No more bullshit.
Or scrap the rule altogether. If local Party leadership are free to endorse primary candidates, at least, at the State and National level, a lot of power devolves down from the NCGOP to the County Parties. Which is the real reason for the existence of that rule, by the way. Of course, since the rule is ignored with regularity by NCGOP leadership and legislators, and the County Parties are becoming aware of these violations, I suspect some will ignore it as well.
As far as I’m concerned, the correct response from county parties would be county endorsements. The NCGOP has done a de facto scrapping of the rule already, obviously.
If legislators are allowed to endorse in the Primary, everyone should be allowed to endorse, without fear of reprisal.
Here is my proposal we change the plan of organization and remove the central committee all together we divide up the central committee’s responsibility’s and vote in different committee’s at the executive committee level so that the WHOLE membership of the executive committee can keep better control of the state party and not allow a few people to control the outcomes of everything
The plan of organization needs to be looked at word for word and changed to help protect the party from itself
The State executive committee is more powerful than the central committee and executive committee need to force its hand and take make the power it has been stolen from it during past chairman reins
A quote from The Daily Haymaker several weeks ago.
“Woodhouse was not the choice for true conservatives on CC. It was revealed that the other contender presented a detailed plan to CC and is highly respected in DC. He’s also well connected with liberty minded conservatives with mucho deep pockets that dwarf Art Pope’s. He knows how to act on national TV too.
So Who’s Woody working for? You decide.
Hired to do the Chairman’s job? Big mistake.”
It is time the Central Committee reconsidered its corrupt action! Who is this mystery man?
The CC knew what they were doing. They won’t ever get rid of him. It was fixed from the start. The State Executive Committee can reverse all the nonsense and force Woodhouse’s resignation in January. If it wasn’t apparent before, it should be now……it’s ALL about Dallas, not the good of the Party. Mo’ camera time baaabby!
Lets make it clear when the CC committee was having trouble making a choice for ED and the EC was right outside with a quorum established this whole ? of ED should have been handed back the the EC from the CC at that time. The fact that this did not happen only goes to back up what I have been saying that our structure of faulty and the Plan of ORG needs a major overhaul. The central committee needs to be done away with and the EC should set up multiple committee for the CC was doing these new committee would have to update the EC at every EC meeting report their actions and if the room felt the committee was doing a improper job and got like a 2/3 to recall then at new committee would me elected from the members of the EC. So no one and any one time can gain control and use the party for their own purposes
As a parent of four, I’ve heard many times during my life, “I didn’t do it”. This is what children say when caught doing something wrong. More importantly, this is what is wrong with our country. Not taking responsibility for things that are your responsibility is a sign of major leadership failure.
This fiasco is not surprising at all. The NCGOP has shown its hand over these past several years as they’ve been pressured to stop the business as usual. Character and integrity is in serious question and it’s not just one person.
A political party with rules? Isn’t that one of those oxy things?
The Democrats on the national level have quashed debates so that Ms. Hillary can breeze through the primary season.
The National Republican Party is so disorganized they are not even sure how many candidates are running for President and if all the candidates have a green card.
So don’t expect the folk at the NC Hq to know much about rules. I’m thinking they think that Senator Burr is the man to carry the GOP banner into battle. It is that “electable” thing all over again. And you must admit he looks Senatorial in his nice suits, neatly trimmed hair and inviting smile. He is the man. That is for sure.
The Dems seem to be having a hard time coming up with an “electable” opponent. Maybe they will conjure one up and bring Senator Burr back home but it will be a tough contest. Of course Hillary’s coattails could propel a Democrat into the Senate like Pres Obama lifted high the name of Dumplin’.
Go easy on the State Republican HQ. They are doing the best they can. Bless their hearts.
Richard Burr ought to know something about meddling in primaries after he spent thousands of dollars out of his own campaign fund as one of the Shameful Seven liberal US Senators to finance the underhanded dishonest race baiting smears of conservative frontrunner Chris McDaniel in the Mississippi US Senate primary last year. The campaign that Burr helped finance was designed to and did get a large turnout of liberal black Democrats to vote in the GOP primary for liberal GOP incumbent That Chochran, whose voting record is even farther to the left than Burr (Burr is in the high 30’s in the Heritage Action rating and Cochran in the low 30’s) by falsely accusing McDaniel of being a racist.
Here are the details of Burr’s financing of that ultra-sleazy operation:
http://www.senateconservatives.com/site/post/2713/the-shameful-seven
More details of what Burr helped finance, including links to audio of the nasty and dishonest radio ads played on black radio stations are in this article from a major British newspaper:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2672565/The-worst-race-baiting-ads-Ive-seen-Radio-ads-Mississippi-senate-race-accused-tea-party-candidate-Ku-Klux-Klan-links-drove-black-Democrats-vote-against-REPUBLICAN-primary.html
How could ANY conservative even think of voting for Burr in a primary after what he was caught doing in Mississippi? He is shameful, indeed.
If legislators are allowed to endorse in the Primary, everyone should be allowed to endorse in the Primary without fear of endorse in the Primary without fear of reprisal.