#NCSEN Rhodes files requests for multiple probes of Tillis activities
Former North Carolina state legislator John Rhodes is putting his money where his mouth is. On Friday, he held a press conference expressing concerns about alleged activities of state House speaker Thom Tillis. Rhodes has followed that up by submitting written formal requests for formal investigations of Tillis by the North Carolina state board of elections, the House Ethics Committee, and the North Carolina Attorney General’s office.
During that Friday press conference, Rhodes also called on Tillis to resign the speakership and suspend his Senate campaign until these probes can be completed.
Rhodes’ complaints center around the controversy related to recent appointments to the University of North Carolina Board of Governors. A number of high-dollar donors to the Tillis House campaign, and Tillis-connected SuperPACs, were nominated to the board and pushed through the House by the speaker’s office.
I wonder why he did not include the US Attorney’s office as well?
For now I am a Brannon supporter, but how do I know that Rhodes isn’t working for the enemy?
I think Rhodes is just working to dethrone Tilli$, just as he worked to dethrone Tilli$’ political mentors and role models, Richard Morgan and Jim Black. As far as many conservative voters are concerned, both Hagan and Tilli$ are the enemy.
As to how this will play out politically, I think there are two likely scenarios:
1) The exposure of Tilli$ is sufficient to wake up enough GOP voters to the fact that he is a seriously flawed candidate, and that results in our nominating one of the other candidates in the primary, who will have a much better chance to beat Hagan.
-or-
2) Tilli$ survives the primary, and the liberal press starts barraging him with this and all the other pay for play issues they have been tactically sitting on during the primary. On the legal front on these complaints, things go as follows:
a. The State Board of Elections is controlled by knee jerk establishment Republicans, who treat Democrats with kid gloves, coverup for establishment Republicans, and barbeque grassroots Republicans at any available opportunity. They will go into full coverup mode for Tilli$, although the Democrat minority on the board may make some noise for their media friends to pick up. The coverup may be easier because the allegations do not necessarily fit the SBOE’s jurisdiction.
b. The House Ethics Committee has too much Tilli$ influence and will also go into coverup mode, Again, Democrat members will likely make some noise for their media friends to pick up.
c. AG is said to stand for ”Aspiring Governor” as well as ”Attorney General” and Cooper is no exception to this tendency. Cooper will be the big play on this issue, but how much he does in his own office before he passes it off the the US Attorney will depend upon what he thinks most benefits his own political aspirations. This is where most of the political drama will happen, either with an AG investigation or the US Attorney taking it to a Grand Jury. There will be all sorts of leaks about subpoenas and such to feed media stories. It will be drawn out so that there is no trial before election day, perhaps not even a possible indictment. It will be left hanging to milk the most media coverage possible. Rhodes could probably have speeded up the process by filing a complaint with the US Attorney from the beginning instead of letting the state AG play with it until he almost inevitably decides to send it to the US Attorney.
Of course all the media coverage on this will lead the liberal media into all the other Tilli$ baggage they have been sitting on through the primary, and by the time they are finished, Tillis will be unelectable.
Rhodes did Republicans a big favor by forcing this stuff out now, instead of letting the media play their waiting game to spring it all after the primary. Now we have a chance to get a candidate without all this baggage.
The truth has no agenda.