#ncgop: Gloves coming off in state party leadership races?
We may have a real-life episode of House of Cards breaking out here. Judging from A.J. Daoud’s Facebook page, “President Frank Underwood” is making a cameo appearance in the nascent stages of this year’s NCGOP leadership races:
Is somebody getting that upset over the 6th congressional district chairmanship race? Or does ol’ A.J. have his sights set on bigger things in our fair capital city? There is a movement out there to draft Daoud to run for NCGOP chairman. But the man himself has yet to confirm he is running for that post.
Hopefully, the guy AJ is talking about is an outlier. It’d be a real shame if raw, naked ambition and holding on to power were trumping the promotion of ideas.
This seems a little odd. The 6th District Convention was held April 18th. Daoud was re-elected as Chair. That race is already over. What would be the point of starting a whisper campaign about that?
A J along with some others will announce from the floor. McCrory and the RINOs want to keep the grassroots out of power at all costs. I have been told by several that the powers that be would ruin them if they announced before the convention. No one I have talked to plan to vote for Collins, Harnett is the fall back guy if all else fails.
I’m not sure I follow. I know Harnett is a grassroots guy, so he can’t be the establishment’s fallback. I’ve been to several state conventions, and aside from the Fetzer vs. Adams race, I’ve never seen the establishment pick for Chair have a hard time winning. Are you saying Daoud wants to run for Chair as a grassroots candidate, but is afraid to publicly announce and campaign beforehand?
The “draft AJ” movement appears to be picking up steam, which frankly, surprises me because I thought it was just wishful thinking by certain people. But because I was approached recently by a County Chairman from a part of the State nowhere near AJ’s District, asking me to support the draft effort, I’m convinced it’s for real. That, and those radio ads that he’s been buying up.
McCrory diluted his impact by being one of several big shots to jointly endorse Collins. He would have had more impact not going with the pack, and his pack has some pretty significant negatives. Burr helped finance the very worst of the dishonesty dirty race baitiing campaign in Mississippi against Chris McDaniel, and to any knowledgable conservative activist that is absolute poison. Tillis has a lengthy history of trying to oust conservative legislators in GOP primaries or by redistricting, and he is also poison to conservative activists. McHenry voted to fund Obama’s executive amnesty, which is also poison to conservative activists, plus he is a close associate of Boehner, whose constant sellouts to Obama sicken GOP activists.
Then there is Dee Stewart and his record of vicious dishonest attacks on conservatives and his close relationships with liberal special interests, most recently with the Obamaites of the Green Energy cabal. Having Dee Stewart as a consultant is a good reason by itself for any conservative to vote against candidates he is associated with.
http://www.nccivitas.org/2015/special-report-conservatives-pushing-big-solar-funded-by-the-left/?utm_source=iContact&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Civitas%20Institute&utm_content=Newsletter+2015-04-22
When you lie down with dogs, you get fleas.
Methinks A. J. may be protesting too much.
Sounds like another Mark Harris. Split the Cons between Harnett and Daoud. And the winner is ….. the RINO Collins.
But we’re too stupid to notice the man behind the curtain. Again.
That strategy made sense with a 40% threshold in the Senate race (something that badly needs to be changed back to a majority). It does not in a state GOP convention, which requires a majority. If the establishment candidate is stopped on the first ballot, he is going down on the second. The more conservative candidates in the mix, the more conservative leaders are turning out delegates.
Hasan has zero support, there is no splitting the vote. He’d be awful as a representive of our state party, just not ready for prime time. Collins is not much better, just a goofy guy reading whatever script the governor and Dee give him. AJ will be chairman if he wants it, shouldn’t be too close either, if not then it will be two years of a do nothing Collins regime.
To help end the speculation, AJ Daoud was reelected on Saturday to the chairmanship of the 6th District GOP. There was no opposition. AJ has done a remarkable job in the 6th.
In 2012, AJ Daoud ran for Secretary of State in a crowded primary. After losing, AJ worked the entire state for nominee Ed Goodwin. It was a selfless move.
He was elected Chairman of the 6th District in 2013 in a bitter and close race. He put the District back together by being inclusive and friendly. With his executive team, AJ delegated almost every task. This method brought all of them into the fold and made them feel important. He has criss-crossed the state as an advocate of the Republican Party and its principles.
During the election cycle of 2014, with an open Congressional Seat, AJ made sure all candidates had access to opportunities without ever taking sides. He was masterful at being impartial during a heated run off.
If he decides to run, the NC GOP would have a likable, charismatic presence leading the troops. We would be lucky.
I live in the 6th and meet AJ during his Sec.of State run.
During this Establishment Party era, I submit that the appropriate strategy is to use the system to defeat the system.
No one should be taken lightly.
Richard Carter Jr
What do they expect with that slimy viper RINO consultant Dee Stewart in the mix? They should remember the sleazy campaign he ran for Fetzer and all the hit pieces, whisper campaigns, etc. Dirty politics is Stewart’s middle name. Many also remember some of the lies and half truths he used to nominate RINOs over conservatives in legislative races such as against Fern Shubert and Robert Brawley.
Collins’ connection with Dee Stewart, all by itself, is enough to take an ”anybody but Collins” position. When you lie down with dogs, you get fleas.
I could support a couple of the names I’ve heard, that haven’t announced, but if they’re afraid to announce I don’t really see them being able to do the job. The job of supporting the party platform that is. Maybe it’s just me, but draft me campaigns just appear to lack resolve.
It is interesting to look at past involvement of GOP Governors in state chairman races – Jim Holshouser and Jim Martin.
At the beginning of the Holshouser era, there were two main party factions, the Old Guard, consisting of descendants of Union sympathizers during the War Between the States and scalawags from the Reconstruction era, to which Holshouser belonged, and the Gardner / Goldwater wing, also called just the Gardner wing, consisting of ideological conservatives who had come into the party as a result of the Goldwater presidential campaign and Jim Gardner’s campaigns for Congress and Governor in the 1960s. In 1973, when the chairmanship came up, it was held by incumbent Frank Rouse of the Gardner wing, who announced for reelection. Holshouser endorsed and strongly backed Tom Bennett from his wing. This was probably the bloodiest intra-party campaign in modern GOP history, as the Holshouser faction sought not only to beat Rouse, but also to purge Gardner wing supporters at every level, including district and county officers, and even officers of the main auxilliaries like the Republican Women and Young Republicans. Holshouser used state government patronage, especially state jobs, to buy support and did so extensively, using up most of the patronage of his term to get control of the party, and when the smoke cleared that had worked. The old Gardner wing mostly morphed into what became the Jesse Helms / Congressional Club wing which roared back to regain control after Holshouser’s term was over.
The party was torn up so badly by the 1973 battle, that the next convention under Holshouser in 1975 elected Bob Shaw state chairman as a compromise candidate, acceptable to both factions..
Prior to Jim Martin, the chairmanship was held by Dave Flaherty who was backed by the Congressional Club. Governor Martin suggested Bob Bradshaw and the Congressional Club did not opposed him in 1981 and Bradshaw won without opposition. Bradshaw was a finance guy and lacked many other political skills and was a mediocre chairman. Governor Martin and his political consultant Brad Hayes realized they needed someone with more political savvy and backed Jack Hawke for the 1983 race. Hawke had been a major player in the old Gardner wing, and also had a lot of appeal to conservatives in the party. This time the Congressional Club engaged, backing Dr. Barry McCarty as a challenger. Hawke appealed to many of the usual Congressiional Club backers and won easily. He was thereafter reelected easily, even after the end of the Martin administration.
Holshouser, and his political guru L. Gene Anderson, had an extremely heavy touch in the state chairman’s race in 1973 while Jim Martin had a very light touch, not even making a formal endorsement, although most in the party figured out who was his candidate. Bennett won almost entirely due to Holshouser muscle, while Hawke won mostly due to his own personal campaigning.
Holshouser widely used patronage with a quid pro quo to get support for Bennett. He even offered an appointment to Rouse to try to get him to withdraw, which Rouse refused. Martin did not resort to patronage to push Hawke.
Looking at McCrory’s situation, he lacks a political guru like Anderson or Hayes to handle his involvement in party affairs, which is a definite disadvantage. The way he has handled patronage also puts him at a disadvantage since he does not have a personnel office centralized in the governor’s office like Holshouser and Martin did, and almost all staffing is farmed out to the departments, half of whom have Secretaries who are not even Republican. While Jim Martin did not use patronage to push Hawke, the fact that his administration was largely staffed with people out of party ranks gave him a huge amount of good will in the party. The fact that the McCrory administration has almost gone out of its way to not appoint people out of the party ranks to key positions means he lacks that fund of good will in the party.
The patronage that moved votes for Holshouser was almost entirely in paid state jobs. Board and Commission appointments did not cut the mustard, especially those already appointed. It also did not motivate people in the Hawke / McCarty race. Indeed McCarty was a Martin appointee to the NC Social Services Commission and was chairman of that commission at the time he announced for state chairman. The appointment which Frank Rouse rejected was to the Board of Trustees of NC State University, his alma mater.
Wow, Raphael! That makes my head hurt!
Oops, the conventions under Governor Martin should be 1985 and 1987, not 1981 and 1983.
When it comes to takes control of the leadership of the NCGOP for a two year term of Chairman and Vice Chairman the delegates to the convention need to follow the money
and when I say follow the money ever delegate before they vote for a person Chairman should ask that person if they are going to looking to take a salary from the party if they are elected to the Volunteer position of Chairman or Vice Chairman
Who ever is elected Chairman and Vice Chairman is the Face of all NCGOP grassroots volunteers during the 2 year term. So who will represent this spirit of the party the best ?
The endorsements that really should matter are from the unpaid republicans of this state spending their hard earned money and a weekend to drive to Raleigh and vote for a Chairman.
I pray each of these delegates will walk into convention with open eyes, ears, and mind prepared to ask the hard question on and off the convention floor
That’s a good prayer to make, too many dellies walk in like its a big party (as opposed to Party), shift their brains into neutral, and zone out during the boring ol’ Friday business session when entirely too many shenanigans get pushed through.
The average delegate is there to see some high ranking government officials for a few minutes, maybe catch a speech from some fly-in political celebrity.
I don’t know what was the lowest point for me – watching delegates vote to gag themselves with tighter convention debate rules – or watching quorum break a few years ago so people could have ice cream with Robin Hayes.
Well all I can ask is that you pray also for the party and that every delegate would have the wisdom to make the correct decisions to lead the part in the strongest direction
Please also share this issue and try to educate each and every delegate you know to the importance of this issue and the importance of why the NC Republican party needs a Volunteer Chairman and Vice Chairman to be the face of all the other volunteer grass root Republicans in this state