#nc-03: Some advice for Taylor Griffin
It looks like the GOP primary for US House is not going to look anything like the last go-around. The Walter Jones campaign got caught flat-footed in 2014 and nearly paid for it.
Jones is cruising along fine with the base in 2016. He is consistently ranked as the — if not one of the top two — most conservative members of the state’s House delegation. His confrontations with John Boehner have him looking really good right now — in the wake of Boehner’s resignation announcement. The discontent with Jones is just not there this year.
Taylor Griffin is in real danger of becoming a two-time loser in this congressional district. Filing doesn’t take place until December. There is still time to make a change. And here is the change we think he should make.
Buck Newton is vacating his Wilson-centered District 11 state Senate seat to run for North Carolina Attorney General. We understand that Griffin’s parents LIVE in Wilson. And Griffin himself has further personal ties there. Why not close up shop in the Third and move back home with mom and dad to run for the open Senate seat? It appears moderate Republican state Rep. Susan Wilson is abandoning her bid for the Senate seat. So, the field looks wide open in Senate District 11.
Winning a state Senate seat would definitely bolster Taylor’s political résumè. It would provide him a jumping off point for further political adventures down the road. Attorney General Roy Cooper was in the state Senate. Thom Tillis served a few terms in the state House before winding up in the US Senate. Even Walter Jones honed his political skills in the state House before graduating to the US House.
Taylor is about as hard headed as they come, he has a snow balls chance in hell
Great advice. We want to encourage young newcomers into the ranks. Jones has national recognition with his refusal to abide by the Cartel rules & conservs are going to reward him
Representative Walter Jones supports the people of eastern NC. High Conservative Rating by Heritage. Watches to reduce spending, supports Commercial Fishermen, Supports US Military and Veterans.
I agree that it is great advice. After his last defeat, Griffin gave up his rented condo with rented furniture in Craven County and moved his voter registration to his parents home in Wilson, so the suggestion would fit well with the facts on the ground. Also, I hear that Griffin has been ignoring his PR business in Washington, DC and been actually living with his brother in Raleigh, lobbying in the General Assembly (not I do not see where he has registered as a lobbyist), so it would seem that the General Assembly should interest him.
The problem is money. Griffin’s funding comes from the beltway area, and they are not interested in state races. Indeed, a close associate of John Boehner just hosted a fundraiser up in Washington for Griffin this week.
http://www.beaufortobserver.net/Blog-3931.112112-9922.112112-Boehner-ally-hosts-fundraiser-for-Taylor-Griffin.html
Griffin cannot both any money he has already raised for a federal race to a state race.
Maybe he could run against Burr. He would have a much better chance there than against Walter Jones.
If you tell a lie often enough, people believe it….such as Jones takes care of our vets.
From Military Times April 2015
“Eastern North Carolina:
North Carolina is home to the Army’s Fort Bragg, the Marines’ Camp Lejeune, and nine of the 50 VA medical facilities with the most patients waiting more than 30 days for care. Around 16 percent of the vets getting treatment at the clinic in Jacksonville, North Carolina, had to wait longer than 30 days for an appointment. Close to 1 in 9 patients there had to wait longer than 60 days to see a caregiver. The VA has opened several new clinics in the state in recent years to deal with long waits, but those new and expanded sites haven’t met expanding demand.”
http://www.militarytimes.com/story/military/benefits/veterans/2015/04/09/longest-va-wait-times/25472229/
The problems at the VA are the fault of the Obama administration. Walter Jones speaks out strongly for fixing the VA, but unfortunately the GOP leadership of Congress under Boehner has been all talk and no do, prefering show votes on any and all issues, but nothing to substantively challenge Obama. Hopefully new leadership will give us at least a House of Representatives with some gonads.