#ncgop: Todd Poole. Push Poll. (Problem?)
This curious item popped up on the NCGOP’s Facebook page:
Okay, got that? Todd says the NCGOP HAS NOT COMMISSIONED ANY POLL.
And, “rumors” ???? Well, we have a recording that suggests otherwise. You can fast forward to the 4:09 
mark and clearly hear Advantage Research supervisor “Matthew” say:
“We’re calling from Advantage Research and we’re calling for the North Carolina Republican Party.”
Ooops. Deflated footballs? What deflated footballs?
It’s also worth noting that the pollster first asks about which party chairman candidate the delegate supports. Then, later in the call, she backtracks to ”oh, we’re just calling to see who’s going.”
I hope the next NC GOP Chair stops this corruption.
Well for that to happen you would have to vote for someone not supported by the corruption… Well lets just say establishment instead of corruption cause at this point i have not seen the invoice for who paid the bill
Hasan Harnett is not part of the establishment so maybe he is becoming a better choice by the day
I would not call this ”poll” corruption because it does not look like the party is doing it, and it may be that Advantage Marketing is not even doing it. Where corruption exists is with the consultant class, and that is a problem with the RNC as much as the NCGOP.
This poll may be a total fabrication of a consultant, and we know which campaign for state chairman is the only one using a consultant.
The state party does definite need to do more to let delegates know that it has no part in this poll and to investigate with Advantage whether they are really doing it as opposed to someone using their name, and if so who paid them (a consultant who the NCGOP has used in the past might have misrepresented their authority on this deal). The state party name is being misused and they have an affirmative duty to party members to get to the bottom of this and to expose as much as they find out.
As to consultants. ANY consultant who works for ANY candidate for state GOP chairman has a conflict of interest to do ANY work for the party during that chairman’s term. The state executive committee, when it adopts the budget for the each year should add a rider to the budget to that effect. The rider should also prohibit anyone at party HQ throwing that consultant work indirectly by recommending him to candidates. Conflict of interest should be totally prevented.
The consultant class is getting out of hand in the party, both nationally and at the state level. It is high time to put a stop to it.
While the Hillsborough mafia is spinning this, they should also explain why they helped a contender for the Presidential nomination to use the NCGOP headquarters for a meet-and-greet. Sounds like State leadership is in violation of Article 7, Section G of the NCGOP POO.
So who paid for this ? Inquiring minds would like to know the truth?
and all this effort and money to win a contest in a political party that should be a volunteer position
seriously if someone did not have a lot to personally gain by winning then why would they go to all this trouble?
“for the good of the party”
I think not! If you were someone that was doing this for the good of the party you would not need this kind of effort
Can you say PAYDAY?
This is why the chairmanship of the party has to be a VOLUNTEER position… MONEY CORRUPTS and BIG SALARIES CORRUPT EVEN MORE
I received one of these calls about 10 days ago. They made sure who I was in favor of, i.e., Hasan Harnett, Craig Collins, or A.J. Doud!
This push poll sounds a heck of a lot more like a typical Dee Stewart dirty trick than it does the party itself doing anything. Instead of this lame disclaimer, they ought to be calling out this ”Advantage Research” for using the party’s name without permission. They also ought to be calling out Dee Stewart. My problem is their failure to do those things, not the illusion that it is the party itself doing this push poll.
Doing some checking, it appears that Advantage Marketing is a real (and out of state) company, it has been around quite a while, and it has some substance. It is unlikely that such a company would be doing a poll and misrepresenting who they were doing it for. Their credibility would matter more than the little bit of money they would make.
That suggests that either 1) someone was making the calls and misrepresenting both the company calling and the client, or 2) someone who had negotiated prior business on behalf of the NCGOP with Advantage, such as a consultant, spoofed Advantage into doing this poll and thinking they were working for the NCGOP.
The very first question that should be asked, either by the NCGOP or by our fearless Haymaker is to Advantage to find out if it was really them doing the poll. If they were not, they should certainly be alerted that someone was using their name. If it was them, they need to be alerted that the NCGOP did NOT authorize this poll.
Dee Stewart makes up names of entities to run ads on behalf of, like the fictitious Americans for a Balanced Budget he ran ads supporting liberal Congresswoman Renee Ellmers on behalf of. Maybe he made up a name for a poll and it just happened to be the name of a real company?
Someone needs to get to the bottom of this. The NCGOP’s name was misused, and its integrity is on the line. One would think they would swing into action to get the skinny on this. A mere facebook post or a post on their website just does not cut it. At minimum, they need to email every delegate and let them know that they may have received a poll and that it did NOT come from the NCGOP.
If I were one of the other two candidates, I would be doing my own email with a link to the Haymaker article. This word needs to get out.
it does seem like this should have been a email notification from the party
then again I tend to hit delete on most of them because of this Dramatized Example
email – registration is about to close
email – one more day of registration
email – last day or registration
email – HEY REGISTRATION IS EXTENDED BECAUSE OF DEMAND
if I remember right they seem to play this game every year
I think people signing up now should have to pay LATE BIRD REGISTRATION
and some of this money should be given back to the Early Bird people that can read and follow the rules
so no it is not to much to ask of the state party to get to the bottom of this and to let all the delegates know by email