It was an interesting night to make an announcement — amid the State of the Union and some (albeit terrible) UNC basketball. And they had help from the extra-horrible Thom Tillis. You want to continue running the miserably under-performing NC GOP and you bring arguably the most hated person in the Tar Heel State to help you announce this to the public.
(I don’t know what was going on with Tommy’s face. Either he was munching on something containing a lot of powdered sugar, or he had recently face-planted into one of Hunter Biden’s kilos. )
Whatley just crammed drastic rules changes down the rank-and-file’s throats.
The indefinite postponement of district elections significantly helps the incumbent leadership by keeping its lapdog district chairs in power and the current Executive Committee at bay.
Now, he and his moll Susie have announced their intention to hang around and make mischief for two more years.
Those two are likely helping a lot of sketchy folks stay on — and feast upon – the ‘gravy train.’ $$$$$$$ …
Apparently, the Trump campaign can’t find a role for Whatley, so he is relying on the establishment wing of the party to anoint him for two more years of losing pivotal elections. Sadly, this does not bode well for Mark Robinson or Dale Folwell (whomever gets the GOP nod for Governor); nor does it engender confidence in winning more seats across new Congressional districts in 2024.
Whatley also announced the NCGOP General Counsel has resigned and moved back into the private sector. (One has to wonder if perhaps Philip Thomas recognized the folly of continually breaking party rules, witnessing the erosion of support from the party’s base.)
Mega-donors are abandoning the party. some are claiming they will never again contribute. (Folks, we love money TOO. And we’ll make GREAT use of it.)
Worse still, there is a fleeting “small donor” base supporting the clown show on Hillsborough Street.
Without the RNC propping up the NCGOP, it is destined to fall apart, financially and operationally. County GOP leaders are rapidly losing interest in anything that district and state leaders are promoting. (More than 35 county leaders didn’t even bother to call in to Tuesday night’s clarion call.)
On the bright side, there are a number of prospective candidates warming up for a run at party leadership. Michele Woodhouse and John Kane are making serious noise about running as grassroots challengers. Several more are rumored to be in ‘dogsniffing’ mode.
Will rank and file Republicans mobilize in June and vote out the current incumbent pretenders? Or, will the Central Committee set convention fees so high that – as in years past – they scare away grassroots convention-goers?
One can only wonder what other trickery Thom TIllis’s boy has up his sleeve to extend his tenure working for Art Pope’s political machine in Raleigh. (Perhaps a newly proposed organizational construct for the NCGOP that firmly cements it as an exclusive country club?)
You can hang around here and keep moaning in our comment section. We love having commenters, fwiw. But that will not change things in Raleigh. Plans to change things need to start at the most local level possible. Then, you work your way up to Raleigh.
As Hasan Harnett found out, winning the chairmanship does not guarantee a thing. You need help on the governing committees. You give help to a newly-arrived reformer by throwing out a lot of the current deadweight from the local level. If you think the NCGOP is worth saving, work at the local level needed to start YESTERDAY.
Corruption and sketchy pay-to-play cash OR principled, conservative reform of government. You make the call.
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Whatley just crammed drastic rules changes down the rank-and-file’s throats.
Please tell us there is someone else running for vice-chair. I can’t find one single thing Mrs Mills has done to help the party.
This makes several things clear. Tillis is running for governor, not heading for a lobbyist slot. Whatley intends to use NCGOP to back up Tillis’ run for governor. Whatley has always been Tillis’ man from the beginning, as Tillis’ wife campaigned with Whatley openly in his first campaign.
That means that a key objective of the conservatives planning to run for governor and their supporters accross the state must be to STOP WHATLEY. I hope they get it and engage heavily in the campaign to end Whatley’s tenure.
The fact that Whatley announced immediately after his power play on district conventions and elections shows that was something factored into what he intends to do in his campaign. Those who voted to illegally stop the district conventions need to be targeted for defeat. Every district chairman who backed Whatley’s corrupt move needs to be challenged. The whole Whatley clique needs to go.
Whatley’s puppet general counsel must have been ashamed of that bullshit ruling of his to justify Whatley’s power play on the district conventions to immediately resign. Heck, his term would have been over in three months or so. Why the speedy departure if he was not sick to his own soul of the corrupt act he had to perform for Boss Whatley.
One other thing, I am open to a Trump 2024 bid and also open to deSantis. If Trump makes the dumb mistake of endorsing Whatley, then I am DONE with Trump. That would cause me to lose any faith I have in his judgment on people he pushes.
NEVER TILLIS / NEVER WHATLEY
Grassroots Agency;
We need a plan like they have in AR, AZ, TX, & Fl. and luckily, you can see it this Saturday. Reps from several states are descending on Charleston, SC Sat, 2.11.2023 for an 11-6pm training and best practices review and support gathering. Starting with lawsuits, maybe we need one on this blatant overreach of breaking the rules. They understand lawfare. When they are lawless, we need to call them on it!
On Saturday folks who haven’t quit and refuse to be ignored by state party leadership are meeting to solidify independent efforts to Precinct reOrg.
Highlights are found at mySCGOP.com, study up and come on down where the paid RNC co-chair job went to Mkinnsik of SC after he behaved like Whatley to keep power.
Susan Mills has traveled this state and spoken to many county GOPS and various women’s clubs about the GOP platform and provided updates. She is a high school teacher in one of the poorest high schools in Sampson county. She knows firsthand the plight of our children and the education system. She is working with the general assembly to help make changes in education reform. She may not be able to go visit a county at the drop of a hat but eventually she will get to you. She’s a true Republican. She works for a living.
Her hands are basically tied. She’s not in the same position that the state chair is, but she does make it known that she does not condone party disloyalty and she travels around with a copy of the POO and leaves people with a reminder of the party disloyalty clause in it.
Susan is well liked and well respected in the state. She is a loyal and faithful Republican and she works for the good of the party, not for herself.
She is no one’s moll or minion. She is her own person, and I am proud to call her my friend.
The bible says, we need not follow evil government. Overturning tyrans take more than a pledge, it takes Numbers.
details at myscgop.com.
Then why is she running on a ticket with Whatley? Most chairman and vice chairman candidates run their own campaigns separate from each other, not doing joint press conferences. And how did she vote on Whatley’s power play on the district conventions? If you lie down with dogs, you get fleas.
On party loyalty, has she raised the issue of Senator Phil Berger’s open endorsement of a Democrat judge who had a Republican running in race?
You are sadly mistaken, if you think they’re running on a ticket together. They are running separate campaigns just like they did in 2021. And please tell me when and where they have held joint press conferences? Seems you are privy to information that the rest of us don’t know.
As for the central committee vote on Monday night, I believe that central committee business is confidential information, and not to be shared with the general public unless Chairman Whatley decides to release it himself.
And as for Senator Berger’s, lapse in judgment, nothing would’ve been done to him. So the North Carolina Federation of Republican Women decided to support and endorse the Republican candidate John Morris, who was running against Berger’s boy. And Judge Morris won and won big. Why did Senator Berger’s district re-elect him? Voters had a chance to let him know that they didn’t appreciate him supporting a democrat over a republican candidate.
A joint press conference speaks volumes. I do not recall that ever having been done before, and as I read the article above, that is exactly what happened.
So you think Whatley is now being secretive about Central Committee meetings? That is not the way it is supposed to work and not how it has worked in the past. It is known which district chairmen opposed Whatley power play coup and which did not. Hopefully someone will reveal how Susan Mills voted. If she supported that power play, she is part of the problem and needs replacing. Maybe you could contact her, get the info and post the result.
And how about them stonewalling on the overdue state ExCom meeting? They are spending money without authorization because they are stonewalling on geting a budget approved. Why?
Whatley has always seemed to be one of the good guys trying to get conservatives elected. The Haymaker consistently rails against any so-called establishment leaders, so take anything here with a grain of salt. As for his changing the rules, I’ve read the rules and he is clearly following the intent and letter of the plan of organization. I was not one of his original supporters, but he has won my support.
Vice Chair Mills is another story. I attended a public meeting she held about education, and it could have been a KKK lecture. I almost walked out, as did a few of the black conservatives in the room. I can’t vote for her. I don’t see anything she’s done that has contributed to the party or conservative thought.
And Tillis running for Governor? He’d lose in a landslide at the primaries _IF_ we had a closed primary. My bet is we’d get a lot of left-leaning unaffiliated voting just to vote for a poor republican candidate.
Really? Where and when was this so-called “public” meeting?
Sure. A guy who makes his living at the DC hog trough wants conservatives elected.