NCGOP: The return of Wayne King?
Raleigh-based sources familiar with the inner workings of the NCGOP tell me that a group of leaders — including state House majority leader Mike Hager — are lobbying former party vice-chairman Wayne King to jump into the state party leadership race. King was vice-chairman during the Robin Hayes era at NCGOP HQ. King left his post and took a job with the district staff of US Rep. Mark Meadows.
The announcement this weekend by current party chairman Claude Pope that he won’t run again has set off a wave of political maneuvering. Tenth congressional district chairman Craig Collins — a close ally of that district’s congressman Patrick McHenry — has announced his candidacy for chairman as part of a ticket that includes current vice-chairman Carolyn Justice running for reelection as vice-chairman. My sources are telling me that the ticket was arranged to clear the path for Collins in the chairman’s race. Said one well-placed source:
”It’s been no secret that Carolyn has wanted the chairman’s job. However, the boys in the smoke-filled backroom know they can’t control her. They own this Collins guy. They were very worried about Carolyn running for chairman. I guess it’s like that old saying — keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.”
Many party activists still have heartburn over Justice’s role in the 2003 deal that created the unholy alliance of Jim Black and Richard Morgan in the state House. The deal gave Democrats working control of the House, even though voters gave Republicans a majority. Many saw the mischief that team performed on the redistricting process set the Republicans back nearly a decade.
Hasan Harnett of Cabarrus County is also out there as a chairman candidate.
A state chairman with ties to Mark Meadows beats the heck out of a state chairman with ties to amnesty funder Patrick McHenry, but King’s shannigans back in the Hayes era still leave a lot to be desired. The more candidates, the better however.
King’s behavior in the State Auditors race in 2012 was despicable. Him making personal threats and then promises to one candidate to drop out of the run-off as he (King) supported the Goldman lady was sickening. His logic for supporting her is still not understood to this day. She was a terrible candidate for that job and we all know her personal life was a huge liability for the entire ticket. This whole story has not come out but I’m sure its just the tip of the iceberg for his actions as Vice-Chairman. If he was meddling in the Auditors Race–and lets face it that’s not the sexiest slot out there–Lord knows what he did to other candidates for other offices. Wayne King needs to stay out of NC GOP politics for good!
Any Conservative reading this should be appalled at the thought of either King or Collins leading the NCGOP.
Collins has a weak resume for the job and all the establishment RINOs have endorsed him. King? What Paul said.
Here’s what Conservatives need to know: Just a few hundred people can make the difference between the NCGOP being led by Progressive Republicans or Conservatives. All it takes is just a few extra Conservatives in each county taking a few hours to go to their county convention and then going on to the state convention and voting for Harnett. It’s easy. If you’re a Conservative and don’t go then you only have yourself to blame when you’re disgusted once again by the Tillis/McCrory/Hayes lackeys who are calling the shots at the NCGOP.
Between Collins and King, it boils down to the lesser of the evils, and that is probably King. We definitely need a better candidate, but I am not yet sold on Harnett. I am leary of his RNC background. I want to see and hear more about him.
I would like to see some new candidates.
We definitely need to get conservatives out to the state convention. We also need to defeat the RIchard Morgan ally for vice chairman.
Obviously, your source doesn’t know much about The relationship between King and Hager. Let’s just say “there’s no love loss”