NC-09: A sorry GOP lot, indeed …
Boy, I am GLAD I am not in the 9th district and having to make a choice in THAT U.S. House primary. We have Robert (“Thoughtul Answer”) Pittenger — he of the FBI and IRS probes ; pastor Mark Harris of Charlotte, and former Union County commissioner Todd Johnson.
We heard stories of Pittenger using his position in the state Senate to benefit his private business. He’s been a bit of a weasel during his time in the House, sabotaging efforts to kill ObamaCare and amnesty for illegals. He needed to have been gone YESTERDAY. But, in the land of Thom Thilli$$$ and Edwin Peacock, he’s just fine with a lot of the natives.
We know Mark Harris from his 2014 US Senate run. He was bad on amnesty. He was using Robin Hayes’s campaign consultant and taking guidance from Hayes himself. Many suspected he jumped in the race to split the conservative vote and help fellow Charlottean Thilli$$$$ take the primary. Harris took some heat during the 2014 campaign for politicking in churches and taking money from them.
In an interview with us that year, Harris vehemently denied being an establishment token. But, at the 2015 GOP convention, he got photographed wearing buttons of all-GOPe candidates. *Some rebel. Some Tea Partier.* After assailing Thilli$$$’s character in the primary, he was out there on the campaign trail praising him as a great choice.
Other than amnesty, Harris sounds pretty good on the issues. But he has THE STINK — the smell of sulfur — of Robin Hayes all over him. Yes, Robin of the Ripon Society. Yes, Dallas Woodhouse’s wingman. Yes, the man back in the saddle of the NCGOP after helping to engineer a coup against the first elected black chairman. 
That leaves us with former Union County commissioner Todd Johnson. He’s a relatively young guy, 37, from a prominent political family in the county. He sounds good on the issues all the way around, as far as we can tell. But we were concerned early on when we heard his campaign was looking to hook up with his old friend Dee Stewart. (Yes, THAT Dee Stewart.) After scouring Johnson’s FEC reports, we can find no evidence of a tie between his campaign and The Stewart Group. That doesn’t mean Dee is not around. (Stewart’s running buddy, Paul Shumaker, is Pittenger’s guru.)
So, there is a possibility of a Shumaker v. Stewart v. Hayes proxy fight. What a choice.
The least objectionable choice here appears to be Johnson. It’s a shame you have to characterize things that way. But we’re recommending a vote for Todd Johnson in the 9th district this Tuesday.
I voted for Johnson yesterday! Very clear choice.
Todd Johnson is a proven conservative from his record on the Union County Commission and will stand up against the DC establishment if elected as Congressman. I would encourage everyone to vote for Todd as well.
Stewart and Shumaker both have a practice of sometimes using other, lesser known consultants, as front men so their name is not connected to a candidate. Just searching reports would not tell one if this is going on in this race.
One poster here has repeatedly said that Johnson and Stewart are connected. It is getting late to present the smoking gun if he/she has one as the election is just around the corner.
Both Shumaker and Stewart are poison, especially after Civitas outed them as taking boatloads of money from far left environmentalist groups to promote Obama’s green energy agenda in the NC General Assembly.
I find this all very confusing (except for the part about Pittenger, who I consider to be a shameless puppet for the GOP leadership in return for his share of campaign cash); however, I must report that Harris has claimed to be opposed to amnesty on the NumbersUSA website. https://www.numbersusa.com/candidate-comparison/election/2016/congressional/house/nc-09
The Harris amnesty claim seems to be from a Pittenger mailer that ended up getting some traction, but has since been completely discredited. Mark Garrison from WBT destroyed Pittenger for it.
http://wbt.com/clt-6-battle-dirty-9th-heats-congressional-race-gets-ugly/
Pittenger supported a path to legalization in 2014 on his website.
“Amnesty is not an option, but national security dictates we bring illegal immigrants out of the shadows. Undocumented workers who desire to stay in the United States should be offered the opportunity to register with local authorities, providing fingerprints or other physical identification in exchange for some sort of work permit or legal status, but not citizenship. The privilege of citizenship should be reserved for those who respect the law and are willing to follow the legal immigration process available for generations”.
http://votesmart.org/public-statement/849261/issue-position-immigration#.V1Ne4pErLIV