Even MORE meddling in primaries by NC House GOP leadership?
Richmond County Republican Ben Moss, against the odds, beat fellow incumbent Jamie Boles of Moore County in the primaries earlier this month. The race started off with kind words being exchanged by each incumbent legislator. Things then went south quickly, thanks partly to some hard-hitting negative mailers disseminated against Boles by the Moss campaign.
Adding to the race’s controversy was an allegation that Moss verbally threatened one of Moore County’s elected Republican officials.
Well, we’ve discovered one more interesting tidbit about the race. Leadership got caught red-handed meddling on behalf of candidate Catherine Whiteford in the District 73 GOP primary. (The director of the House Republican caucus was caught campaigning in the primary for Whiteford. He has racked up quite a track record of inserting himself into contested GOP primaries.) Now, it appears a staffer for Majority Leader John Bell was actively advising Moss in his campaign against fellow Republican Jamie Boles.
Check out Moss’ campaign website. On the bottom left of the home page, Capen Consulting is given credit for the website. The Capen in that firm’s name is David Capen, who serves as “policy director” for Majority Leader John Bell. (Capen, at one time, held the same title on former Rep. David Lewis’ staff and even shared a home address with Lewis.)
On his LinkedIn profile, Capen IDs himself as simultaneously holding the “policy director” job and the ownership of Capen Consulting. The job with Bell is likely a state-funded position.
It appears Capen is somewhere between 23 and 25 years old. According to Capen’s LinkedIn profile, Capen has only held political jobs during his short time in adulthood. Does anyone else feel uncomfortable about someone so young and so inexperienced having so much influence over House Republican “policy”?
The Capen Consulting post is private. How can we, as taxpayers, be sure that our tax dollars did not finance Capen’s work for Moss against Boles in this month’s primary?
Boles has been in office for 12 years, that’s long enough for one person.
It is, but to replace him with someone that is a through back to the Richard Morgan era is a bad move. A sitting House member issuing threats.
That’s not good.
It’s all hearsay. There is no proof at all of these weak “threats.” This was a personality conflict between a country boy and an egomaniac. Grow up and move on. Idle hands…
This isn’t anything new, which is why I personally get involved in primaries, state executive committee membership or not. I suspect I’m not alone, I see and hear an increase in the breaking of that particular POO rule at the county level, and I get why. If the legislators aren’t bound to that rule, why should the non-legislator members of the EXCOMM be?
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The Senate caucus is even more blatant in campaigning for incumbents in primaries, and Moore County got a bad taste of that one election cycle ago. Moore County was not the only one. Caucus resources such as its ultra-cheap mailing permit were used in other primary races that year by establishment incumbents against conservative challengers, such as RINO Senator Jim Perry. Now the House is getting into the act as well.
If Raleigh leadership, and indeed Washington leadership (such as Kevin McCarthy dumping over half a million dollars in vicious attack ads against Sandy Smith in the 1st Congressional district) are going to be active in picking sides in GOP primaries, then the party grassroots should be able to do the same thing, up to and including formal endorsement of candidates, as many other states allow.
Allowing the House and Senate caucus to control USPS ultra-cheap mailing permits that by federal statute are only supposed to belong to state party organizations, is a travesty. Why has the NCGOP not lodged a formal complaint with the USPS over this? These party permits allow mailing at far below even the best commercial bulk rates.
As to Capen, he has been involved in other races, too. He did the crappy website for Celeste Cairns in her primary, for example. John Bell should be ashamed of himself in allowing this outside employment for his staff member meddling in GOP primaries..
“Why has the NCGOP not lodged a formal complaint with the USPS over this?”
Because they’re doing it, too. Rotten to the core. As connected as you are to the party, I’m surprised you asked this question.
Yes, if even the NCGOP DID have honest leadership, they still might not prevail with a complaint, because of legislation enacted back in 2015 (House Bill 373) which would allow both Parties to create “Party-affiliated committees” which legally creates what is in essence, a private political party within a political party for the NC GOP House and Senate caucuses, whereby they can claim USPS mailing privileges because they are theoretically under the umbrella of the NCGOP. That little gem of legislation is another rotten gift from a recently disgraced and widely despised (by conservatives anyway) former legislator from Harnett County.
My question was rhetorical, of course. Until we get grassroots oriented leadership, the state party is full blown GOPe.
Those ultra cheap mail permits are controlled by federal legislation and by USPS regs. Those trump anything the General Assembly might do. If party organizations lodged complaints, those would be decided on the basis of federal statutes and regs, NOT state law.
As long as we have House and Senate leadership engaged in primaries and using “party affiliated committees” to do it, the ban on grassroots party organizations getting involved in primaries should be scrapped. Everyone should be fed out of the same spoon.
The entire “threat” allegation is total nonsense. Are we a bunch of crybaby snowflakes? Also, hundreds of twenty somethings are trolling around the GOP with influence from their uncles or parents etc and are double dipping or moonlighting as “consultants.” They are just working side hussles creating websites and getting out the young Republicans to do the grunt work. This is one big nothing burger.
And that elected official with the “threat,” this entire thing has a sour taste of sore loser.
And this is why the GOP will continue to get their teeth kicked. No its not the influence of an uncle or a parent, its the influence of an employee in the house majority leader’s office and ties to his former boss, the convict.