As The Pachyderm Turns …
Yes, my friends. It seems like we’ve got quite a soap opera brewing in Raleigh amongst the powers-that-be in the NCGOP.
First, we hear from well-placed sources that operatives close to Gov. Pat McCrory are working behind the scenes to evict the state Senate Republicans’ political operations from NCGOP HQ. Could this possibly be tied to the spat over the state budget?
We also hear that efforts to unify and bring together the governor’s office, state party HQ, and county GOP leaders have fallen apart. Said one well-placed source familiar with the situation:
”There was a lot of talk when McCrory took office about having this chain of communication between Raleigh and the rest of the state about helping to staff the bureaucracy with Republicans and boost Republican leaders around the state. It worked well for about three or four months. Everyone was getting together and talking. Then, it all just went away. It’s my understanding that there is not even all that much communication between the governor and Claude Pope.”
We don’t hear much from NCGOP HQ in the drive-by media (or even in cyberspace) advocating the GOP agenda in Raleigh. If it’s true that communication has broken down between the governor’s office, GOP HQ, and the local Republicans, it begs the question that one of my sources asked:
“Claude is getting paid $10,000 per month. What in the hell is he doing for that money?”
Perhaps the establishment, they are now realizing the Tillis force feed was not so mash of a good idea.
I spoke with Claude Pope at a Republican function at the Pinehurst Country Club & Resort a number of months ago. I stated I was a Tea Party Republican and he responded he was one of the first Tea Party members in North Carolina. I was pleased but, have not seen any indication of this from him.
I know there is a serious conflict in the NC Republican Party between the Tea Party and the “establishment” Republicans such as Robin Hayes, George Little, Tom Bedow, John Rowerdink, Richard Burr, Renee Ellmers, Thom Tillis and numerous others so Claude is in a tough spot if he is a Tea Party loyalist.
If Tillis and/or Ellmers lose in November, and many Tea Party members will not vote for either, things may change in the power structure.
In three months we will see!
If Claude Pope is a tea party member, then we can really understand what has happened to the movement, especially when they are betrayed by people like Renee Elmers.
Russ~ I’ve met John Rowerdink, and would not put him in that group. I would say about John, he is a good conservative in a tough spot as MCGOP Chair.
Mr. Pope will tell you what you want to hear. I would not call him a TP guy. Pope is establishment all the way.
You are clearly right.
First of all we need to be watching their every move. Gov. Pat is a Globalist. He believes in whatever the U.N. dishes out. He believes in public-private partnerships. Does Detroit ring a bell with the water situation sitting on one of the Great Lakes and people still residing in a bankrupt city but couldn’t afford the water because their bills quadrupled. The UN Agenda 21 is in the making in our state. They just keep changing their name so people won’t get wise to what they are working on to destroy our state. They have set up numerous locations dangling carrots in front of local politicians and planning boards to further their programs. Wake up. We are under siege Nationwide.
All I can say is that if McCrory is the solution, I have NO CLUE what the problem is.
Don’t follow it enough to know if Claude Pope is a McCrory guy, but if he is, then you know what the problem is.
It may be that someone had the hairbrained idea of trying to get the NCGOP to cold shoulder the Senate Caucus, but I do not ever see that happening. I think both the Central Committee and Executive Committee would be up in arms over any such attempt.
The attitude of many party activists toward McCrory seems to be a lot different than it was to the previous Republican Governors. Republicans felt they were a part of those past GOP administrations, but that is not true as much with this one, and a big part of that is McCrory does not pay the attention to party activists on appointments that previous GOP governors did. That has put more distance between him and GOP activists. Many GOP activists note all of the non-Repubicans being appointed to things and then connect the dots when they see non-Republican policies.
County chairmen were very much in the loop with board and commission appointments under Marin and Holshouser, as they were with local state jobs. Now they feel ignored.
I do not see hostility toward McCrory among GOP activists. It is more just not really feeling that McCrory wants them as part of the team as previous GOP governors did. That will likely translate to less excitement about a 2016 candidacy than there was in 2008 or 2012, but I think most will at least go through the motions of supporting McCrory in a general election.