#hayesscandal: Two months since The Big-I, the NCGOP is at a crossroads.
Today marks the two month anniversary of NCGOP chairman Robin Hayes being dragged kicking, screaming and crying in front of a federal judge and slapped with FIVE – count ’em — FIVE criminal counts for his alleged role in a plot to bribe state insurance commissioner Mike Causey.
And the crowd that runs the show at North Carolina Republican HQ doesn’t seem all that concerned. I’ve honestly heard some of them laugh it all off — claiming it will all blow over and go away. None of them are forcing Hayes to actually resign and GO AWAY. Oh, he’s made the questionable appointment of “acting chairman”, but the capo di tutti from Concord is still very much in the mix.
This coming weekend, state Republicans will meet — ironically, in all places, Hayes’s hometown of Concord — to pick a whole new leadership slate. Some of the candidates are business-as-usual: backed by the crowd that gave us Hayes and the avalanche of scandals and embarrasment. Some are planning to shake the party up and turn it into something that MEANS SOMETHING to average voters outside the Raleigh beltline.
Right now, the NCGOP is little more than a vehicle for laundering political shake-down proceeds. Those proceeds are funneled to favored consultants and incumbents. Folks who actually believe in, and fight for, the principles in the party platform are shut out.
Folks thinking they are financially backing a conservative revolution are actually contributing to an even bawdier, even sleazier #METOO scandal. Right now, you could shut that building on Hillsborough Street down and fire everyone “working” in it. And few would notice the difference.
Arms are being twisted , as we speak, by elected Republicans (and others on the “inside”) who benefit financially from business-as-usual at the state party. As a grassroots activist, you should be quite suspicious of candidates being lauded and promoted by Raleigh elected officials and other insiders. Those folks have been benefiting under Hayes and Woodhouse, and know the choices they’re promoting will keep taking care of them.
The insider crowd is already quite scared. Plans are already being formulated to move their shakedown proceeds away from party coffers if their preferred candidate does not win. Just like they did with Hasan. The parasites are also planning to install a powerful new executive director that will answer primarily to THEM — regardless of who wins this weekend’s election.
*** Chairman. ***
John Lewis has been in the thick of the scandalous mess that has turned the party into a train-wreck. There will be no change for the better with him.
Nobody heard of Mike Whatley 30 days ago. He’s a lobbyist with some powerful, connected friends. 
(Sounds like a recipe for Hayes Scandal, Part Deux.) He’s lined politician pockets with cash. He was an advance man for the Trump campaign in 2016 — lining up porta-johns and risers for rallies in the Carolinas. But I don’t know anything of his effectiveness in raising money or leading efforts to get Republican folks to take Democrat-held seats.
It does concern me to see how many of the Raleigh parasites have latched on to him and are trying to sell him to the “little people” as some kind of asset that will make Mr. Trump at 1600 Penn smile.
Jim Womack has a record of accomplishment. He’s butted heads with a powerful Democrat machine —
led by former Lt. Gov. Dennis Wicker (D) — and come away victorious. He’s built up the GOP treasury in a Democrat county and snatched quite a few elected offices away from Wicker cronies.
The state GOP has been running in reverse since 2014. Wouldn’t it be nice to find a leader who could throw the bus into gear and move it forward?
*** Vice-Chairman. ***
This race is an all-ladies affair, but does offer some clear choices. Sara Reidy-Jones offers more of the same of what we’ve seen in Raleigh. She’s bosom buddies with Dallas. She was second-in-command during a disastrous 2018 showing in Mecklenburg County. Believe it or not, she’s bragging about taking what she’s learned there STATEWIDE. (Oh, Wayne Goodwin would looooooooove that.)
Somebody named Ann-Marie Yates is reportedly running. I don’t know a thing about her. But I do hear she’s a nice person. I hope she isn’t being used as a vote-splitter in case of a tight race.
I’ve had a chance to see Miriam Chu up close and personal. She’s been an effective communicator and grassroots organizer for both the local GOP and Tea Party organizations. Miriam appears to have respect across the political spectrum — from establishment types to Tea Partiers. Her business experience with marketing and project management should be a great aid in mollifying and warming up to outside-the-beltline folks who have grown accustomed to Hillsborough Street force-feeding them B.S., telling them they WILL like it, and to SHUT UP.
This weekend, you can go one of two routes. You can stick with who Ma Cotten, Zanstratosis, or your legislators tell you to roll with. And the party can continue to be useless and meaningless to everyone except those benefiting directly from the money-laundering operations. Or you can fight to return the GOP to the instrument of good it used to be.
Ding Ding Ding…We have a winner!!! Nailed it once again!!
We the People want change. And the change we want is
#Womack/Chu
Time for some GOPe-untainted blood to be infused. An unencumbered pairing of #Womack/Chu will be a healthy start.
Leadership, not cronyism for NCGOP!
Womack and Chu!
No one ever accused Robin Hayes of being smart. Just rich. Now he is having to spend Grand Daddy’s money,
that he stole from fellow lint heads, to keep his arrogant and lying butt out of jail. Money talks-liars walk.
Yates had the line of the night at Saturday’s candidate forum when she pointed out as a mother of five daughters she had extensive experience in conflict resolution.
If you care about North Carolina and believe Republicans should stick to our values and WIN BIG in 2020, then join us in electing these two! #revivetheparty #TRUMP2020 #NCPol
The Conservative Coalition of North Carolina (CCNC) heartily and proudly endorses Jim Womack for NCGOP Chair and Miriam Chu for Vice-Chair for all of the reasons you state and a whole lot more. https://ashevilleteapac.org/conservative-coalition-of-north-carolina-endorses-jim-womack-and-miriam-chu/
CCNC is the biggest grassroots organization in NC, bar none. One Conservative Army whose mission it is to paint NC red for the next 50 years with representatives who adhere to constitutional authority and not to the alter of power, money and influence. Heavy lift that must be done if we are to right the ship, deliver NC to President Trump and the Governorship to Dan Forest in 2020 among others.
Please get to the Convention next week and vote for Jim and Miriam! Hope to see you at the Piedmont suite, second floor at the convention on Friday.
Just registered. Going to take more than numbers, though, the Tillis/Mecklenberg/I-85 Rockefeller Republicans mean to retain control. Delegates who care about transparency and an honest vote, must insist on the abolition of electronic voting.
Just curious to know if there’s a history of questionable electronic votes? I thought the process at last year’s convention benefited from the accelerated vote counts. Except for when Hayes manipulated things to stop the question on Open vs Closed primaries, even jumping from the stage to grab a microphone, I thought more discussion time was a net plus.
There’s no satisfactory transparency, in my opinion, electronic voting is an open invitation to fraud. Couple that with the behavior of the Ncgop staff in recent years, and I would have to say that the “convenience” isn’t worth it.
I attended a form last Saturday night sponsored by the Asheville Tea Pack. Unfortunately, or I should say fortunately, my vote was changed by the biased preferential treatment shown to Womack/Chu. It became embarrassing listening to and watching the female moderator. Especially, during the questions posed to the three women running for Vice Chair. It was painfully obvious that the moderator was throwing out questions which supposedly played to Mrs. Chu’s advantage. Republicans should be standing for honesty and integrity. That is why Raleigh is in the mess it is now.
This convention is likely the last go round for me if Womack and Chu are denied. I have fought the establishment for years, and if the majority of the NCGOP wants to continue to elect the likes of Robin Hayes and his establishment buddies, they can have it. They have thwarted the will of the delegates by working against a duly elected chair. They have elected traitors like Thom Tillis and have lost seats for our wonderful conservative state judges, and it is way past time for them to GO. I have done everything I could to be at the conventions that included elections for chair even though it has become a hardship in many ways. I have worked the polls for great GOP candidates, and it has all been for naught. I am sick and tired of it and I will be done if this election is not different. No wonder the GOP is bleeding voters.
I’m not in it to split it, I’m in to win it!
That was readily apparent by your thoughtful comments at Saturday’s forum.
Why are you running? What makes you a better choice? Details please, not just the generalizations listed below. How do you differ with Miriam Chu and on what issues? She has helped Jim Womack turn Lee county from blue to red and will be a full time vice chair. How will you be a better vice chair? Surely you realize that whether it is your intention or not the reality is that you will be a vote splitter? If you are in third place on the first round of voting, who will you endorse in the second round? I had never heard of you until I googled you today. Will that lack of name recognition hurt or help you? I see you are assistant secretary for the state GOP; that puts you firmly in the Establishment camp in my book and those are the ones who have ruined and embarrassed the NCGOP. Change my mind!
Gail – the Assistant Secretary is a non-voting role in the CC. Anne-Marie is definitely NOT establishment. She is grassroots and has worked her butt off in Watauga County. There are a lot of behind the scenes workers none of us have heard of before. Wouldn’t you rather have someone that works hard behind the scenes than someone seeking the limelight? We need the volunteer army to beat the Dems!!
So if Anne-Marie is not establishment then who does she support for Chairman ?
There is only one in the race that was willing to take on the FBI indicted Chairman Hayes before the Indictment does she support that one ?
Anne-Marie is an adult. She is willing and able to work with any of the three men elected as chair. The question should be, are all of the men running for the Chair position willing to work with anyone of the three women running for Vice Chair?
Being the only candidate with the experience of a Chairman (2 terms in Watauga) and 2 years as the NCGOP Assistant Secretary, I know what opportunities are ahead of this party and what can be done to help elect Conservative candidates on every NC ballot! As a County Chair in a rural part of NC I often wondered what the State Party did for us. There are many things the State Party can do better and as your Vice Chair I’d like to see them through.
We have opportunities in: Communications, strengthening and development of county parties and messaging on campuses around the state. Please come by my Hospitality suite The Kannapolis Room 6-11pm Friday and let’s talk issues. Many hands make light work and it will take us all as united Republicans to be successful in 2020!
And speaking of voting, forget the Saturday dinner and bring your sleeping bag. Remember the convention when our leadership finagled the agenda so that critical voting was delayed waaaaay into the night with parliamentary shenanigans, plus some questionable voice votes. Lots to be proud of there folks.
You are exactly right! They have done this kind of stuff at every convention I have ever attended. We must place NCGOP business ahead of dinners, speakers, and dress up occasions!
I think we have a twofer coming… Jim Womack as the new Chairman to #RevivetheParty and possibly the end of Rev Billy, the establishments’ perpetual Convention Chairman, who shows distain for the grassroots segment of his audience.
Gail- Of all the Vice-Chair candidates I am the only one with Chairman experience. I am a successful fundraiser and successful at getting Conservatives elected in a community that is home to one of NCs major universities. If something were to happen to the Chair I am ready to step in and conduct party business without missing a beat. #experiencematters
From what I hear, Whatley is the Tillis candidate and that is the very last thing the NCGOP needs. He was a very low level Trump operative in one campaign, but has done nothing in the party.
Womack is the clear choice for chairman, a solid Trump supporter and grassroots leader.