DISLOYALTY: Is *somebody* in Raleigh about to get ‘The Richard Morgan Treatment’?
Those of you who have been in North Carolina politics for a few decades — at least — are likely to
remember Moore County’s very own state Rep. Richard Morgan (R). In 2002, Morgan and a handful of GOP cronies in the House managed to turn an elected 61-59 GOP House majority into a 60-60 tie with the Democrats. Morgan and Democrat speaker Jim Black worked out a *co-speakership* arrangement.
Black and the Democrats went back to business as usual — gleeful over having snatched defeat away from a dumbfounded GOP almost-majority. Morgan and his cronies huddled up with Morgan’s then-consultant — Paul Shumaker — to start targeting Republican House members who resisted and protested the co-speaker arrangement.
State Republicans worked out an arrangement to basically kick Morgan out of the party. It kept him from being a party nominee or holding party offices. It also opened the door for GOP officials to go after Morgan at election time.
As many of you know, Jim Black departed the House for the greener pastures of federal prison. Morgan lost in the 2006 GOP primary. He passed away in 2018.
Some are seeing a scenario quite similar to the Morgan brouhaha in today’s Raleigh.
The NCGOP is Phil Berger‘s party. Raleigh is his town. Jones is his street. We’re allowed to visit every once in a while. (For fundraisers, that kind of thing.)
Some may seek limited government, lower taxes, or ethics in government. In Berger World, all that seems to matter is (1) the accrual of bureaucratic power and (2) monetizing said bureaucratic power.
Berger and his cronies have been identified as targeting conservative operatives who refuse to prostrate themselves at the pro tem’s feet. We uncovered an example where Berger went as far as endorsing a Democrat against a *problematic* conservative.
We’ve received word that — in advance of this year’s state convention — punitive resolutions about Berger and his team are being drafted and debated by local Republican organizations from Murphy to Manteo. From what we can tell, The Duplin County GOP is the first to pull the trigger.
Here are some of the highlights from the Duplin submission:
We’re hearing from folks who were involved in the Morgan affair. They’re telling us this Berger action is proceeding in quite a similar fashion as the move against Morgan. We’re also told that this submission from Duplin is just the tip of the iceberg.
Stay tuned.
What a trip down memory lane. Remembering the bag of money in the I Hops bathroom and such. The Uni-party nightmare.
Thanks to the Duplin County Executive Committee. Looking forward to other counties doing the right thing. I’m depressed about my county though. They’re eyeball deep in disloyalty themselves. No help coming from my occupied county saturated in corruption.
THe real question is whether the powers that be in the NCGOP will bring this issue in a timely manner to the NCGOP state executive committee, which is who rules on these matters. The facts here are open and shut. Berger clearly violated the PoO by committing party disloyalty in openly endorsing a very liberal Democrat judge running against a conservative Republican challenger. He should be punished the same way as Morgan by being excluded from party affairs for five years, the maximum amount provided in the Plan of Organization.
It is very sad to report that when some Rockingham Republicans raised objections to Senator Berger’s behavior in that 2022 judicial race, the only response of the County Chair was to delay any meetings of the County Executive Committee until after the elections and then take action against the Precinct Chairman who had raised those objections by stripping him of his office. Berger’s behavior has only become more arrogant since — against strong local opposition he pressed (unsuccessfully so far) for a casino in Rockingham County and then attempted to torpedo the election of an anti-casino candidate for County Commissioner who had been duly nominated in the spring primary of 2024. The latter action also pulled in the State Party, which published flyers omitting the name of that candidate from the list of candidates for commissioner to support in the general election. Senator Berger’s bullying conduct has chased away many Republican voters and he came as close as he ever has to losing reelection for his own seat in 2024.
Bill, you are doing a great job of twisting the truth! You know, as well as I, that during the election there was no time to call a special meeting and you did all you could to cause strife in the local Party. You stood accused of using the Precinct list to cause more confusion and bad information. The entire Executive Committee chose no punishment for Senator Berger and every judge that we had at the Courthouse that supported Ed Wilson, which was all of them. You know the story well and why that decision was reached. WE handled this issue 2 years ago! Why does anyone think it is coming up again recently?!!
As someone from outside of Rockingham County, when a high profile office holder in the Republican Party commits such blatant party disloyalty, it CANNOT be swept under the rug. It HAS to be punished or it will encourage others to do the same thing. The Rockingham County GOP ExCom may have been under Berger’s thumb and aftraid of him, but they commited shameful cowardice in not lowering the boom over this outrageous conduct by Berger.. The State GOP ExCom must act where the Rockingham GOP ExCom failed miserably or party disloyalty will become meaningless.
Clearly, the Rockingham County GOP ExCom has some issues. They are not alone. My own county has major issues also. Disloyalty is one of those issues. As all this plays out it will be interesting to see if the NC GOP can come through this with any credibility left.
Characteristically, the Chairlady from Rockingham County adds a generous helping of fancy to her depiction of the facts regarding the fall campaign of 2022. Here is what transpired.
In September not long after Labor Day and the traditional commencement of the campaign season, Democrat judicial candidate Ed Wilson’s postal flyers arrived in Rockingham; they were the first of several mailings and the pieces boasted of Wilson’s endorsement by Republican Senator Phil Berger. The endorsement was seconded by all of the GOP judges in the County. The Senator’s and judges’ slap to the faces of Republican activists and workers in Rockingham precipitated great concern. After all the time and money everyday Republicans had poured into the Senator’s and those judges’ support, this is how they treat us?
Very abruptly, with six or seven weeks to go before election day, the Chairlady cancelled the upcoming September meeting of the County Executive Committee. It was plainly apparent that her purpose was to torpedo any actions by the Executive Committee – there would not even be a discussion of the Senator’s and the judges’ blatant and disrespectful act of disloyalty. In order to hinder any other efforts toward the party’s disloyal office holders, the previously scheduled October meeting was subsequently cancelled, too.
Mind you, the alleged “need” she cites to cancel those meetings and to “concentrate” on the campaign in 2022 did not prevent the County Party from holding its major social/fundraising event during the fall of 2024, an event which requires days if not weeks of preparation. In 2022 there was not even time for a meeting of, at most, a couple hours’ duration? Really?
As Chairman of the largest precinct in the County, I announced that with the lack of action by the Party Chair, I would make my own decision: I would not work for the disloyal candidates at the upcoming 2022 election; so far as I was concerned, they were on their own. If their names were not stricken from the handouts that the local GOP typically provides at the polls, I was on strike. I invited anyone else in the precinct to step forward to organize the election day activities if he or she wished. None did. My action is what the Chairlady calls, “causing strife.” Kind of reminds me of the Democrats complaining about Elon Musk after he uncovered the rot in so many federal agencies.
The Party Chair then notified me that I was relieved of my post, at which stage I pointed out to her that she did not have the authority to dismiss a party official without due process. Her action in my instance paralleled her previous and arbitrary retaliation against several other party activists, with whom she had had a personal dispute earlier in the year. She had ostracized them from the Party Headquarters, quarreling with them over some harsh and unflattering postings on a Facebook page. The Chair’s vindictive action against those individuals generated some serious friction between myself and her which preceded the matter of Ed Wilson’s flyers. I will spare the reader the details.
In any case, the Judge Wilson issue was moot when it was addressed at the post-election November meeting when the County Executive Committee was finally summoned. The Chairlady would have her pound of flesh, however. The agenda for the evening was my dismissal and the question of whether or not to complain to Senator Berger and those judges regarding their insulting transgression of a very firm rule in the Party Plan of Organization about loyalty – the rule that says no Republican may support a candidate from another party who is challenging a GOP nominee.
To make another long story short, in response to the Chairlady’s urging I was fired (by a one vote margin in a meeting that was packed full by the Chair with people, including the Senator’s own son, who infrequently attend sessions of the Executive Committee) from my post as precinct chairman for “dereliction of duty.” The same meeting voted unanimously to take no action against Senator Berger and the judges. I leave it to the reader to decide whether or not the Party Chair has pursued a consistent application of the Party rules.
Careful, Berger is NC’s Boss Tweed. He is very much a student of the Art of War and does not forget. He and his cronies including Jim Blaine will hunt down any opposition. I assure you the NC GOP will squash any such resolutions. Attack Boss Berger at your peril.
Yes, Berger uses Boss Hogg as his role model. He is a bigger power bully than Liston Ramsey used to be in the state House or Marc Basnight in the senate. But there are lots of grassroots Republicans who have had a bellyfull of Phil Berger’s pushing through liberal legislation. His betrayal of the GOP base on HB2, bathroom privacy, opened a lot of eyes, and Berger has gotten horrible on a wider range of issues since. I don’t think he will intimidate the grassroots Republicans on the State Executive Committee, but I am sure he will the members of the Senate who serve on the ExCom. That conflict of interest is a good reason to take all legislators off the exCom as ex officio members.
Who he might intimidate is the state GOP chairman into stalling a vote on this matter, but if that happens, the solution is to elect a different state GOP chairman who has a backbone.
Wow, Mr. McClane. You have an interesting facebook profile that is simply a black profile pic and header pic. I doubt that’s your true name. Making veiled threats? “hunt down”? “At your peril?” Those that fail to act righteously or want to discourage others from acting ethically and righteously need to worry more about standing in front of the throne and having to explain themselves to their Creator. Read my last sentence again. What is this, the casino mafia posting? We all see Berger for the fraud he is. Championing pot/gambling, feeding the Democrats narratives about holding up teacher pay (our state budget) to shove gambling down our throats (which oppresses the poor), which arguably is why we lost so many state-wide races and lost our supermajority. Discouraging our voting base with wasting our super majority on championing leftist values like casinos. It’s just disgusting. Why don’t you do something with your time like being a productive member of society instead of trying to discourage accountability? The NCGOP itself is a fraud if they don’t call an ex com meeting swiftly to address this and the plan of org a joke. Berger’s fellow Senators need to find their spines already and put their big boy pants on and stand up to him already.
Brant, if an R wants the sample letter and resolution for their county GOP, they can download the Word documents here:
https://www.wtpevents.org/post/phil-berger-charged-with-party-disloyalty-letter-and-resolution-template
From a fellow Republican in my county:
Oh…I Most CERTAINLY AGREE With You On That, Carol….
BUT, RIGHT NOW, RINOS ARE NOT INCITING RIOTS, ANARCHY, AND VIOLENCE, LIKE THE (D)’s ARE….
The Cockroaches You See First Are The Obvious Ones In The Light….Go Ahead, And Elimanate Those First, The Others Will Surface When The Light Is Flashed In Thier Nest….Elon Is The Light-Bearer…He’ll Expose Them, Too…AND, THEN……..SQUISSHHHHHHHH….
Reply:
No, the RINOs are just quietly funding them… and shaking hands with the Dems to pass legislation that is antithetical to the beliefs and values of conservatives.
The undercover enemy is more dangerous than the one we can see.
It’s a ploy of the RINOs to get us to focus all our attention on the Ds, as if they’re our only enemy.
Let’s agree to disagree.
I have had enough of Berger!! I am shocked every time he wins an election because I can’t believe people still want him in Raleigh!. We have got to term limit him ourselves and this censure will hopefully just be the beginning of the end of his term!! I hope every county in NC joins this push to censure him! It will take every Patriot/conservative/grassroots person but I believe if we stand together we could get this done.
I believe Trump is SHOWING (FINALLY!!!) how to dismantle dc’s hold on power, control, greed, abuse and fraud.
Perhaps we in NC can get the grit, determination and courage to act accordingly. Again, network of grassroots are essential across this state. This site is a good platform. We NEED to make it happen or we get what we allow. And we’ve allowed a lot of crap.
And veiled threats are the worst form of making one get fired up and determined. Let’s roll grassroots.
jwmson is right about Trump doing his part and exposing the thieves in DC, but cornered rats are dangerous and the ones in DC have plenty of allies in NC. The people who have committed great crimes are not going to quietly give up their power, either in DC or NC. The smart thieves are trying to lay low and plan their comeback.
Also, Trump has to be focused on the national government, but the corruption in DC is due to voter fraud in the states. DC didn’t elect the crooks in the federal government or on the various state boards of elections. If grassroots Republicans in NC don’t put good honest people in office, in the party and in the legislature, people who will address voter fraud, there is no way to stop thieves from using the government (at every level) to steal from the public.
The last time the thieves in NC felt seriously threatened, in 1898, the major papers helped orchestrate the Wilmington massacre to help their Democrat allies regain power. The papers helped sell the idea that blacks rioted in Wilmington. but research the actual history of the “Wilmington Riot.” Contrary to the lie the press helped sell, there was no “Wilmington Riot.” It was a political massacre, a planned mass murder, which was orchestrated by Democrats to regain their political power. And it worked. The Republican governor was removed and NC has had one party Democrat rule for most of the last century and Uniparty rule for most of this century.
If good people don’t make time to participate in government, guess who gets to run things?
So… he is automatically resigned, no? When is the state exec com meeting to address this? If they don’t meet pronto, they are all frauds. How can they disagree that Berger engaged in Party Disloyalty?! Rules for thee but not for me? What’s up NCGOP?
“2. Party Disloyalty
Any registered Republican attempting to influence or influencing the outcome of any election against a Republican candidate or Republican endorsed by the appropriate Republican Executive Committee or Legislative Caucus, other than by supporting an opposing Republican candidate in a Republican primary, may be declared ineligible to hold office under the State Plan of Organization at the State, District, County and Precinct level for Party Disloyalty by 2/3 vote of the State Executive Committee. Charges of Party Disloyalty may be brought by petition of 50 members of the State Executive Committee, or by resolution of a County or District Republican Executive Committee. The State Executive Committee may declare a Republican found to have engaged in Party Disloyalty as ineligible to serve in any office under the Plan of Organization for a period of time between 6 months and 5 years.
3. Automatic Resignation.
Any Committee member or officer of a County, District or State Republican Executive Committee campaigning in person, on social media, or in any other manner for a candidate, in any race, who is a not a member of the Republican Party and is running in opposition to a member of the Republican Party, shall have been deemed to have automatically resigned from the Committee and any position. In addition, no Committee member or officer shall serve as a treasurer or member of a campaign committee for any candidate, in any race, if that candidate is not a member of the Republican Party and is running in opposition to a member of the Republican Party.”
Berger’s automatic resignation would be from party positions, not from the state Senate.
The ExCom meeting would normally be called in response to a complaint such as this by the state chairman. What the state chairman does on this will have a bearing on his fitness for reelection as he is currently running for reelection.. Can he afford to try to sweep this under the rug?
A meeting can be called by petition of the executive committee members, but with members scattered across the state, that is difficult to organize.
It is long overdue for the state executive committee to meet in regard to this matter..
“A meeting can be called by petition of the executive committee members”
The state exec com themselves can call for a meeting by petition? Am I understanding this correctly? Has this been done before? What is the procedure to do this and how many members would it take to do this?
If Chairman Simmons fails to act, he is derelict in his duties, grossly inefficient, one would think and needs to be replaced.