#ncga: Steinburg ally beats up Boswell
Beverly Boswell committed the sin of being nice to Clark Twiddy, the Dare County businessman fighting Bob “Cleanup on the pickle aisle” Steinburg for a state Senate seat. As payback, Steinburg — between thumps on his seldom used Bible — reached into his Nixonian bag of dirty tricks and found her a primary opponent.
Bobby Hanig of Currituck County — who, by the way, swears that everyone in The Outer Banks already has a job — has attached himself to Steinburg’s hip and unleashed a hail of Steinburg-esque vitriol on Boswell, a rookie Republican legislator.
Now, Hanig has stooped so low in the waning days of the primary that Steinburg and his golfing partner Mephistopheles must be beaming with pride. In 2016, a leftist group leaked Boswell’s 30 year old record of criminal charges — accumulated during a messy divorce that included domestic violence 
allegations — to the media.
(Accruing a criminal record during a messy divorce is nothing new. A buddy of mine went through a rough divorce a few years ago. He was an upstanding member of his community and a successful businessman. His now ex-wife went to a magistrate 17 times in a 20 day period to file criminal charges against him. Of course, they were all fabricated. But the cops had to come pick my friend up every time and take him to jail. He’d have to spend time waiting for a judge in order to bail himself out. On one occasion, she arranged for him to be picked up at 4:30 on a Friday. So, he got to spend the weekend in jail before he could go before a judge. It’s taken him a few years — and a lot of legal fees and time — to get his record expunged and his good name back.)
The 2016 leak from the leftists was roundly denounced by Republicans and Democrats as a cheap shot. But that didn’t stop Bob Steinburg’s buddy Bobby Hanig:
[…] “I wanted to run a clean campaign since the beginning,” Hanig said in a phone interview with The Voice after the mailer had been released.
“But she has consistently bashed me throughout the campaign,” Hanig said. “It was time for people to know the facts. No name calling, no innuendo.”
Boswell’s spokesperson Luke Stancil issued a statement later Thursday, calling the mailer “shameful, personal attacks against Representative Boswell, making her relive her history as a victim of domestic violence.”
“I call on Bobby Hanig to apologize for his shameful attack on Representative Beverly Boswell and all women who have suffered as victims of domestic violence across North Carolina,” Stancil said.[…]
“There should be no place for these types of attacks in politics in eastern North Carolina, and we should show respect and care to the millions of women who are victims of domestic violence,” Stancil said in his statement Thursday.
“The facts stand for themselves,” Hanig replied.[…]
Unbelievable. Even Democrats thought this was a low blow and a dirty trick two years ago. But ol’ Bobby has no shame about reviving it.
(Hanig is also in favor or tax-funded windmills, a ban on plastic bags and a ban on offshore drilling.)
Remember this, folks, as Steinburg and Hanig thump their Bibles and preach to you over the weekend.
These two fine progressive Republicans, Bobby Steinburg and Bobby Hanig are champions of President Obama’s green energy agenda. If you appreciated President Obama, you will love this pair. They are both big friends of the Polar Bears, even if that means ripping the electric ratepayers a new one. Bobby Hanig is also big on President Obama’s anti-gun legacy. The NRA rated him a D, which is great in our book. What really gives me the grins is how many Republicans are stupid enough to vote for them when they support our progressive ideology instead of your right wing ideology.
This Senate seat may turn out to be Berger’s Blunder. Berger gerrymandering it out from under Sen. Bill Cook to do the bidding of the Solar Goons, but in doing so, he made it significantly less Republican. The last time it was an open seat, and a better district, Bill Cook, who is a super candidate, only won it by less than 50 votes his first time out.
Solyndra Steinburg will lose, and the only question is whether it is in the primary or the general. Twiddy might be able to hold this seat for the GOP in November, but not Steinburg. Steinburg has more baggage than the lost luggage office at JFK airport, from his nasty personal disposition, his whoring to some of the most corrupt special interests in the state, his constantly stabbing conservatives in the back like recruiting this liberal to run against a Freedom Caucus member, and lots of other things. Steinburg would have serious problems holding onto the normal Republican vote ;and Dare County’s swing vote in particular in a general election.
There are lots of reasons to hope that Twiddy beats Steinburg in the primary. The same is true for Boswell beating Hanig.
Hanig is in a heavily Republican district, and it is hard to imagine the winner of that primary losing in November. The Constitution Party is the one factor that could change that equation.
If either Steinburg or Hanig comes out of the primary, these should be target seats for the Constitution Party. That would guarantee a Steinburg loss and might even take down Hanig. There would be lots of disgruntled conservative voters, and therefore an opportunity for the Constitution Party to make inroads..
This reeks of the stench of Dee Stewart. If it is not Stewart himself, then it is someone schooled in the Stewart academy of dirty tricks. A stock Stewart ploy is to drop one or two very last minute attack mailers, where the line of attack is bogus but the target does not have time to respond.
When Democrats tried the same attack line on Boswell two years ago, it backfired because she had time to respond, and once voters knew all the facts, the attackers looked like smucks.
Boswell has “bashed” Hanig on his liberal positions on issues. Issues are what campaigns are about, and discussion of candidate positions on them should be expected in a campaign. Character assassination based on distorted ancient history is a different matter entirely.
Hanig’s dishonesty was also shown by his placing an NRA logo on a mailing without NRA’s permission. The NRA rated Hanig a “D” and they endorsed Boswell.
Hanig has demonstrated that he lacks the character to be a janitor at the State Fair, much less an elected official.
#NeverHanig
#NeverSteinburg
The Board of Elections reports show that Hanig’s consultant is one Jim Burton. I do not know much about Burton or his connections to Stewart, but I do know that Dallas Woodhouse has been pushing GOP legislative candidates to hire Burton. He does seem to have the Stewart method down pat.
Injecting this poison into GOP primaries is a dangerous game in a low turnout election year, because it leaves hard feelings making it difficult to reunite the party and to get people to turn out in November. That also holds for what has been going on in the 25th Senate District.