#ncga: NCGOPe tightens its grip on HD92 seat
You would THINK it might make sense to appoint a guy who oh so narrowly lost to incumbent Charles Jeter to fill the seat and run for it in November. But Noooooooo. We’re talking the NCGOPe here. It’s more important to keep them and their cronies in charge than to respect the will of the voters.
Mecklenburg attorney Justin Moore will fill out Jeter’s term through November. At that point, former Huntersville commissioner Danae Caulfield will take over as the GOP standard-bearer for House District 92. Who the hell is Dane Caulfield, you ask? 
She’s a long time realtor with Allen Tate in the Charlotte area. So, that gives her a tie to Susan Tillis. She worked for IBM, as did ThomT. She served on the Huntersville town board with Charles Jeter, who just resigned this House seat. Ol’ Thom and Susan now live in Huntersville — so there’s another political tie. This was not about respecting the voters. It was all about keeping it ”in the family.”
Tom Davis ran a great race against Jeter in March. He bashed Jeter on the I-77 tolls and his voting record — the most liberal in the House. House leadership had to dump a whole bunch of money into the race to save Jeter’s neck. And they did — just barely, by about two dozen votes. All kinds of local leaders — including county commissioner Jim Puckett — had backed Davis for the seat.
It’s clear the NCGOPe had their hand in this. Davis was too much of a wild card for them. It wasn’t clear that he could be controlled. So, they apparently went with a “sure thing.”
So, here we go with one more middle finger to the conservative grassroots rabble. Slander and depose the duly elected party chairman. Meddle in a US House race. Badger and harass folks in the legislature who merely want to honor the party platform and operate with some sort of ethics. STEAL a vote for RNC committeewoman.
These s
ame people, who have been behind the aforementioned offenses, are now going to come to you, hat-in-hand, to donate to and vote for weak sisters Pat McCrory and Richard Burr. (They apparently see an “I” in the word team.)
Conservatism is not just in the back seat this year. It’s in the trunk. Cronyism and corruption are driving.
Disgusting. Conservatives ought to sit this race out on election day. Who organized this? Was Szoka’s hand in it? Who in the Mecklenburg party? Take names and kick ass. Local conservatives need to go to their precinct meetings and make sure none of the scoundrels who voted for this hold any position in the party come next year.
I see the GOPe easily gaining control of the new 12th congresional district when the next district convention time comes and thus putting the last nail in the coffin of conservitives values in mecklenburg county
The only way to stop this would be a conservitive take over of the county party and I just do not see that happening because you have to push out too many woodhouse and grandpa supporters
If it makes you feel better, there’s a decent chance that conservatives will take over the 1st and 3rd districts, should we lose the 12th. Which may very well happen as the current Meck Chair is one and the same as the Chair of the Teller Committee at the April 30th coup.
Well she did a fair job running the teller committee at least what I witnessed during the vote that elected grandpa. So I will give her the benefit of the doubt on the other counts and in terms of the county no one else was willing to step up when the vacancy opened up midterm
So I will trust that the other votes were fair also unlike the process that I cannot comment about further due to executive privilege
Grandpa started his term lying to the room and that probally was not the only lye that day
I don’t deny she ran the committee as fairly as you say, I was merely pointing out her allegiances, which will certainly influence the direction of NC-12
yep I just would not say her allegiances but the allegiances of probably 98% of old 9th district mecklenburg so called republicans
the clear divide between the 9th and the 12th 2 years ago at the county convention and then the clear Rubio support from the same people at this years convention
mecklenburg republicans that showed up at convention are not the conservative republicans that showed up back when I went to my first convention
I don’t usually comment on threads like this but the truth was so distorted that I feel I must. It would have made good ethical sense to speak with Tom Davis before you started assuming things and trying to distort someone’s reputation. I hope you make it right.
For the record, I supported and helped Tom Davis during the primary and when he said he was going to ask to be placed on the ballot I was 100% with him. However, Tom called me this Monday and asked me if I would consider placing my name on the ballot and he would run to fill the vacancy. One of his reasons was he felt with such short notice it would be too much for one person to do both. He wanted to go to Raleigh and speak with people about issues and he would help raise funds to get our conservative voice out. So I agreed, even though I knew it would be a tough fight and I would be making a sacrifice from my business to do it. And Tom was willing to make the sacrifice because he believed it was better for the conservstive cause. You see when a player leaves the team and you’re getting ready for a big game… you néed someone to step up to the plate and you hope the other players have that person’s back.
I won’t comment on the other assumptions other than to say Susan and I are professionals that work together and you and I live in the same county, I’m not ashamed of either one. We won’t accomplish anything great if we tear each other apart. Danae
Sorry. This does not pass the smell test. The two big red flags are the inordinately long delay in calling this meeting and the sudden appearance of a lightweight seat warmer. The two are logically related. If you want to win an election and have a candidate you want, you get it on the books ASAP to give him maximum campaign time by getting the meeting out of the way early. If you want to cast around for an alternative, you drag your feet on the meeting date until you can find that rival. I doubt this ”temp” attorney had the horsepower by himself to get the votes. He would have needed some help from above.
Obviously, Davis saw the handwriting on the wall at some point to not waste his time with a poisoned chalice for the November race. The establishment clearly wanted to make him damaged goods by slapping him down in public for the vacancy.
Moore is a despicable self serving sleazebag who has cost the GOP any chance at this seat this year. He should be shunned in the party from here on out. So should those who were behind him.
With a short period to build a campaign, running a candidate who has an existing political network, both volunteers and contributors and existing name recognition gives a much better chance of beating the Democrats. That this is a marginal seat makes those factors all the more important. It hurt GOP chances of holding this seat to pass over such an already established candidate for someone else.
On top of that, giving the appointment for the remainder of the term and the nomination to two different people also hurts the chances of winning the seat in November. It strengthens a candidate to be able to run as an incumbent.
Something is very strange here. It almost looks like those in power would rather throw away the seat than let a conservative have a shot at winning it.
Nice job of presenting all sides, Mr. Clifton. Can you cite to a single policy difference between Mr. Moore and Mr. Davis? Can you explain why Mr. Davis declined to run for the ballot slot in November – which is why the MeckGOP exec comm members only had Danae Caulfield to vote for in the first place? You should stick to reporting on local issues in Moore County and leave the conspiracy mongering to others.
Is it really any surprise that Davis chose not to run for the November ballot nomination after he was sandbagged for the appointment for the unexpired term? It would be clear to anyone at that point what was going on.
Your explaination only leaves more question
1 so why did mr. Moore not run for the ballot spot in nov
2 are you saying it was mr. Moore vs mr. Davis to fill the remainder of the term and Davis lost and moore won ?
Policy differences usually matter a lot, and always do when it involves a candidate who is running for an office in which they would be voting on policy, or seeking an appointment to an office where they would vote on policy. But in this case, it is extremely unlikely that this legislature will ever meet again to vote on policy, and Moore was not seeking the nomination as a candidate for the next legislature. Given that, please tell me how policy differences even matter in this situation.
There are two aspects of this seat that give a benefit from this appointment to fill the vacancy, one that matters a lot and one only marginally. The one that matters a lot is the benefit the general election candidate would have by running as an incumbent. The marginal benefit is being able to put on one’s resume that they had been a member of the legislature and a small pay check for a few months.
Why would someone recruit a lightweight as a seat warmer for the minor benefits and ignore the major benefits to the party for its November candidate? And Moore is indeed a lightweight. He is not even an associate at a real law firm. He is a temp at a temporary staffing agency for attorneys. Maybe for him those small paychecks do matter. And I am sure he is getting his resume out every chance he gets to find a real job.
This was clearly a sandbagging over some sour grapes, and the real question is whether it was organized from Charlotte or from Raleigh or both. This sandbagging has also cost the GOP any chance of holding on to this seat. This Moore dude should be real proud of that, as well as those who put him up to it.
There seemed to be a lot of unnecessary delay in calling this meeting, and now it is clear why. They needed time to find a seat warmer, and then a backup candidate for after they sandbagged Davis on the vacancy. Anyone with a brain would have comprehended that with the writing on the wall from the sandbagging that Davis would not likely take up the poisoned chalice for November.
The other question is how much the NCGOP office was involved in this. They stay on top of these vacancy situations and should have smelled a rat with the unnecessary delays in holding the meeting. If we had a real party chairman instead of Grandpa Munster, he would have knocked heads to look out for what was best for the party instead of petty personal vindictiveness.
I am so glad I donate nothing to the NCGOP anymore.