A Post-Timmy NC House: A choice of bad, worse, worst, or, um — (worster???)
As House speaker Timmy Biscuitville kicks off his farewell tour in Raleigh, the political chattering class has begun cackling about just WHO will fill the tubby little guy’s shoes. (The little guy from Kings Mountain is already running around to places like The American Legion and raving about his love for Jesus and Apple Pie and, and, and ….)
The strong word is that Timmy has his eyes on DC. That makes sense. Where else can someone with his prowess and skill for sliminess, back-stabbing, double-dealing, and mealy-mouthedness go to prosper, bloom and further nurture and grow these skills? (Don’t say The Law. He’s already been there, done that.)
Well, the folks at Pope, Inc. — aka Locke and Civitas — are already disseminating softball-laden interviews with the “announced” candidates for speaker. Judging from that field — it’s quite safe to say that IT CAN get worse.
John Bell. From a distance, this guy looks harmless. (He’s actually had the cojones to converse with ME.) But you need to keep in mind that Bell was a long-time protege of — let’s say “controversial” – former legislator David Lewis of Harnett County. So, he’s danced with the devil.
Bell has sat quietly by while Medicaid expansion, legal marijuana, casinos, alternative energy nonsense, and corporate welfare have flowed through the GOP-dominated legislature. Promoting him would be little more than adding some flavor and garnish atop the already prepped sleaze salad on Jones Street.
Jason Saine. Oh, hell-to-the-no. Saine was plucked off of the unemployment rolls in Lincoln 
County in 2011 to fill a vacancy in the House. He sounds like actor Seth Rogan and looks like Bob’s Big Boy.
A background of business failures and unemployment helped magically propel Saine to the top money-dispensing job in the House.
A review of his campaign finance reports suggests he’s been living off that money for years. And we all know legislative campaign funds – especially those of high-ranking legislators – are mostly filled by lobbyists and other heavy hitters with business before the legislature.
This guy is up for “Policy Maker of The Year” by the gambling industry’s top lobbying group. Saine has shared the announcement all over social media. He’s OWNED and proud of it.
I’ll never forget the nearly $20,000 expenditure on his campaign report. The report claimed he spent the money with Tom James — a world renowned firm that deals mostly with ‘big dogs’ of the corporate world like Donald Trump. The company caters to people who are too busy to go clothes shopping. They send tailors to the big-dog’s office to take measurements and do fittings. (Their stuff is made from scratch and looks good. I know people around Pinehurst who have patronized Tom James. It’s out of my price range, I’ll admit.)
Saine admitted to the drive-bys that he’s FAT and needs specially tailored clothes. I’m pretty sure there are other fat guys in the world who can get suits that don’t require an in-home or in-office visit by the tailor. I’ve seen Saine’s wardrobe on a number of occasions. He doesn’t wear anything Tom James-caliber. So, who got the expensive clothes –IF the money was actually spent on expensive clothes?
Saine also has a reputation for threatening and intimidating anyone who dares to question or veer away from House Leadership’s game plan.
Jason Saine is a loser in life who could not survive without the assistance of special interests with fat wallets. He can’t manage his own business or his own life. Yet, the NCGOP believed him worthy of handling our money. Saine doesn’t need a promotion. He needs to be sent home to Lincoln County for a refresher on The Real World.
Destin Hall. We had high hopes for Hall when he first came to Raleigh. He primaried and knocked off a RINO incumbent. Speaker Timmy and the boys even came to the district to campaign against Hall in the primary. Hall made us think we had a bright, young MAGA warrior on our hands.
Now, here we are with Hall as the Rules Committee chairmanship. Chairing the Rules Committee makes you the Speaker’s right hand man. It’s the position Timmy held until Tillis left for DC. Nothing moves in the House without Hall’s blessing. Hall, still, has to answer to Timmy. Medicaid expansion, corporate welfare, centralized government power, casinos, and weed have all breezed through the House without a whimper from Hall.
In some circles, Hall’s political posturing has been labeled, not a ‘full Monty,’ but a ‘Full Murphy’ in honor of Third District congressman and former legislator Greg Murphy. Murphy campaigned as a conservative with Mark Meadows and Jim Jordan, but ran to Kevin McCarthy and Richard Hudson as soon as he got to DC.
Keith Kidwell. Kidwell has had a respectable voting record. Yet, we’ve seen no evidence of any kind suggesting leadership qualities on his part. He’s chaired the so-called House Freedom Caucus, which has basically sat on its thumbs as Speaker Biscuitville and the boys rammed some godawful stuff through the House. He’s yet to prove himself as a firewall against business-as-usual in the House. What makes you think he’ll be any better as speaker?
So, in conclusion, we’ve got four choices who all deserve a one-way ticket back home more than a promotion in the House ranks.
Any victories we’ve seen in the House recently have been due to the forceful application of outside pressure. We have less tolerance for failure by the coaches of our favorite teams than we do for our elected officials. Have one or two poor seasons on the court or field? FIRED !!!!
Bust the budget? Raise taxes? Sell your votes to the highest bidder? Two or Six more years in office for YOU!
We can do better, people. A lot better.
Bell is clever, but he has his own agenda. Looks good, talks a good game. Saine…..umm. NO. Hall has NEVER had an independent thought while in Raleigh. He is Moore’s puppy. Kidwell is okay, but leadership is not where he belongs. It’s a total shame that the majority of red republicans have left Raleigh.
It should be remembered that Saine was also one of the legislators present for that pathetic excuse for a trial that ousted the NCGOP’s last legally elected State Chairman.
It should also be remembered that Keith Kidwell, attending that ExCom meeting as chairman of his county GOP, opposed the impeachment of Hasan Harnett, and then stepped up to the plate at the last minute to run against Robin Hayes to fill the vacancy, as the grassroots candidate against Hayes. Kidwell also ran against Hayes nominee for state party Treasurer at the ExCom meeting after the next state convention.
“Kidwell is ok”? LOL. Kidwell threw a temper tantrum and sought retribution when a SUPPORTER of John Kane posted Kidwell’s picture on an article about Kidwell’s pro-vax, pro-mask mandate positions. In an act of retaliation, he switched his support from Kane to Whatley, then spoke on behalf of Whatley at the convention.
So Kidwell gets pissed off and… somehow changes his core values?
Yeah. NOPE on Kidwell. Piss him off and he’ll vote FOR the right to abort more babies just to spite you. Go against Kidwell and he’ll strip you of your 2A rights if that’s what you want to keep. This man has no core values. He only operates based on who sucks up to him.
He AIN’T what he purports to be….I wrote, called him NUMEROUS times during covid shut down. Small biz in this area were being DESTROYED. WHEN this was an answer, mostly ignored, it was ‘we don’t have the power’ with Coop in charge…SO, let’s just sit on our hands/a****es and DO NOTHING???????????
And then he got really, really snippy…which he can do….
NO VOTE for me!
Kidwell “pro-vax” and “pro-mask”??? Nonsense!
Perhaps you are unaware of who it was that organized the lawyers, the plaintiffs, and the funding to bring the successful lawsuit to reopen the churches in North Carolina after Cooper’s lockdown. It was Kidwell, and he followed that with doing the same thing to bring other lawsuits to end Cooper’s lockdown emergency orders on other groups. Perhaps you are unaware of who it was who sponsored the bill to strip the governor of his most heavy handed emergency powers, that was subsequently incorporated into the budget and became law, ending those authoritarian powers. That, too, was Kidwell. Perhaps you are unaware of who it was who called the NC Pharmacy Board when they were trying to prohibit pharmacies from dispensing ivermectin and hydrocloraquin to treat Covid, read them the riot act, and threatened a legislative investigation if they did that, causing them to back down. That, too, was Kidwell.
Kidwell, in his home county of Beaufort supported a movement to get the local county commissioners to declare Cooper’s lockdown and mask emergency orders null and void in the county, and pledged to do all he could to back them up. It appeared there was a majority to take that step, but two of the commissioners got cold feet. The local Republican sheriff, however, did not enforce those lockdown orders in the county or the maks requirements.
The nuance that has a few panties in a twist has to do with the conflict of rights between small business owners and their employees, on whether or not the small business owner can require his employees to either mask up or be vaccinated. Kidwell does not like government telling small business owners what to do, so he sided with small business owners on that one. I might not totally agree on that one, but I can definitely see his conservative reasoning on it. Kidwell consistently and vocally opposed government’s authority to order either mask wearing or vaccination.
Personally, Kidwell did not get vacinated and he got a doctor’s excuse to avoid having to wear the face diaper. When he himself got Covid, he found a doctor who would prescribe ivermectin and hydrochloroquin. He practiced what he preached.
The John Kane situation was unfortunate. Kidwell had met with Kane, and they were of the same mind on a wide range of issues, particularly getting the legislators to follow Republican principles set out in the GOP platform. Then, an independent group that was supporting Kane stupidly put a swipe at Kidwell in an internet post supporting Kane, complete with Kidwell’s picture. That blunder drove Kidwell into the arms of Whatley. While I think Kidwell did overreact to that, I put most of the blame on the group that made that blunder in their post.
Ask every Medical Freedom activist and they will tell you what Kidwell them: we can’t interfere in the affairs of a private business. Requiring employees to wear a mask or get vaccinated is no different from requiring a dress code.
He SAID THAT in front of many people.
Requiring employees to inject something into their bodies is the same as requiring them to wear a suit and tie. That was and still is Keith Kidwell’s position.
Steven Radar’s take:
Kidwell “overreacted” by making a retaliatory strike when his feelings were hurt, but it’s ok because I like him. It’s not Kidwell’s fault he abruptly changed his core principles whether the People or the Establishment Old Guard should control the NCGOP. No, it was the stupid people’s fault.
Got it.
Nice that Kidwell, as a business owner, had the option to avoid getting jabbed and wearing a mask. Kinda sucks for those who lost their jobs over it, though. Did he stand up for them? Nope.
But Kidwell came out ok. Guess that’s all that really matters.
Steven Rader and Kari Donovan: Keith Kidwell’s PR team.
In his own business, Kidwell did not require anyone to get the vax or wear a mask, and he recruited plaintiffs, lawyers, and funders to file lawsuits to end lockdowns of various categories of business. Kidwell did more to actually fight the Covid tyrants than many of those who whine now. Some were doing little more than flapping their gums while Kidwell was taking on Cooper’s lockdowns in court, and winning a number of those battles. The first battle was opening the churches, and he went on to other groups after that.
The assertion that Kidwell would vote against the right to life or gun rights, two of his key issues, is an absurdity. You might want to ask NC Right to Life and Grassroots North Carolina about that.
I hate to see these personality conflicts divide conservatives.
Timmy Moore has been Thom Tillis 2.0, forgetting where he came from and ignoring the Reublican base and Republican principles, while pandering to the special interests and doing rotten deals with Democrats on way too many policy issues. John Bell, Jason Saine, and Destin Hall are the same breed of cat, and would be Tillis 3.0. There’s not a dime’s worth of difference among them. Kidwell is the only one who would set our majority on a course toward our party principles. Unlike the others, he does not allow himself to be bought by lobbyists, and his voting record shows it.
Our party just overwhelmingly passed a censorship of the original Thom Tillis for abandoning party principles and going over to the dark side. Our legislative leadership is doing precisely the same thing in the General Assembly. It is way past time to turn up the heat on our failed and flailing “leadership” in the General Assembly. We have junior Thom Tillis wannabees all through the “leadership”.
Interesting commentary above. One thing I would like to vet these four candidates on- Where do they stand on restoring party authority to close their NCGOP primaries to unaffiliated voters (so that Republicans – rather than Unaffiliated voters -can reasonably choose the Republican candidates for election to the NCGA)? Clearly all of them have recently voted on S747 to open those primaries permanently. But that was because some undisclosed leaders in the NCGA chose to slip that poison pill into the Omnibus Elections Bill we HAD to pass. Now is the time to get all four on the record about that litmus test. Along with that- which of them would support eliminating the House & Senate caucus accounts that are currently channeling money to candidates who are loyal to the Speaker and the President Pro Tem. That too would reveal a lot about their future predispositions as Speaker.
Excellent litmus tests. Bravo!
Looking at key votes cast by the candidates for speaker is a good objective test, and the vote on stripping parties of authority of who votes in their primaries is a good one. The problem is that from my understanding there was a vote in the House GOP caucus on that and it was, as usual, a voice vote or show of hands with no record of who voted how. I understand it was a split vote with some legislators standing up for the party and against the leadership’s power play but they were in the minority. Legislators are not supposed to talk about what happens in caucus, but maybe someone can get one to tell, off the record, what they remember of how the speaker candidates voted.
There are recorded votes on key issues that will also tell the tale, like the repeal of HB2, the Obamacare Medicaid expansion, the Green New Deal, the Blue Cross insider deal, and the various gambling bills. Those are issues we need to look at in vetting these speaker candidates.
Here is what I have been able to find on recorded key litmus test votes:
corrupt Blue Cross giveaway:
YES – Bell, Hall, Saine
NO – Kidwell
gambling bill (sports betting and horse tracks)
YES – Bell, Saine
NO – Kidwell
No Vote – Hall (but he took a boatload of gambling industry money)
Obamacare Medicaid expansion
YES – Bell, Hall
NO – Kidwell, Saine
Green New Deal (Senate committee substitute)
YES – Bell, Hall, Saine
EXCUSED (Covid) – Kidwell
Repeal of HB 2 (bathroom bill)
YES – Bell, Saine
NO – Hall
(Not yet elected to House) – Kidwell
The one candidate who voted wrong 100% of the time on these keey issues was Bell. Two of the others did so most of the time.
Here is another set of numbers that matter, from the recent report of gambling and marijuana special interest money taken by legislators:
Saine – $42,200 (#1 recipient in House
Bell – $29,000 (#2 recipient in House)
Hall – $16,200 (#3 recipient in House)
Kidwell – $0 (tied for lowest recipient in House)
https://dailyhaymaker.com/pot-pay-off-welcome-to-raleighs-republican-revolution/
Whats the old saying about birds of a feather? Saine, Bell, and Hall are bought and paid for by the gambling and marijuana kingpins.
Steven Rader, Sarah Hucksbee Sanders put out a statement like this one from McMasters. https://rumble.com/v3fox3o-gov-henry-mcmaster-south-carolina-will-not-comply-what-we-did-the-first-tim.html
Do you think a legislator who wants to be House Speaker would ever make these statements publicly, standing against Medical Tyranny? If not, why not? Because they’re all just Moore the Sequel?
We have a SuperMajority that should neuter Cooper. The GA is in charge here.
With the “fear porn” now going on by the media and Democrats of a new Covid wave, it is important that ALL candidates spell out their positions on Medical tyranny – lockdowns, mask mandates, vax mandates, etc. Also, they should spell out their positions on government encouragement of questionable actions like the Biden regime giving a big grant to Planned Parenthood to push Covid mRNA vaccination of pregnant women, which is just horrendous.
Candidates should also tell us what they did last time around on the Medical tyranny if they were in office then.
Since Kidwell did more the last time around to fight medical tyranny than anyone else in the legislature, I find it strange that there is so much venom by some to split hairs on a few aspects of the issue. While I grew to hate the “face diapers” myself, especially when I had to wear one all the way across the Atlantic on a flight, I understand Kidwell’s analogy of a small businessman requiring one on employees to a dress code. Customers may otherwise not want to shop there after hearing all the “fear porn” on the media. I have never heard him use that “dress code” term on employees being given a vax mandate by employers, but I know he also sees a problem with government telling small business owners what to do there. He and I are not exactly on the same page there, but given his great overall record on fighting medical tyranny on the last Covid round, we can agree to disagree.
I have several members of my family who work in the medical field, and the vax mandate is pervasive there. Someone in that field who leaves a job over a vax mandate by one employer is highly unlikely to find any other medical facility who would hire them without submitting to a vax mandate there. Those in my family understood that the mRNA jabs were the most dangerous, so they opted for the non-mRNA J&J version to keep their jobs and fortunely have not faced any booster mandates, which would all be the mRNA type. I was happy to see some out of state hospitals successfully sued by nurses and other medical staff who had to leave their jobs over vax mandates.
Obviously, Kidwell votes on my side but he got his feeling hurt at the convention and became a turncoat in my eyes. Whatley is poisonous to conservatism. So I lost confidence in Kidwell. Sorda like when, Dr Greg Murphy gave his ok to vaccine passports. That was his turncoat moment.
I can’t decide if the Whatley endorsement and Kane backstab was a butt hurt reckless move or a calculated move. Whatever, the conservatives I know were not impressed.
Don’t get me started on the Doctor from Vidant or whatever they call it now.
I’d be shocked if it was a pre-planned or calculated move. He saw the article, got pissed off, made a phone call and had a heated discussion.
Not a Crime is Passion, but a Reversal of Passion.