#ncpol: A front-runner for NCGOP E.D.?
It’s going to take someone special to fill Dallas’s over-sized clown shoes. But word is leaking out about a familiar name ( to political insiders) being the front runner for the job.
Does the name Jim Burton ring any bells? If not, here’s a refresher from last year:
In an apparent attempt to dilute votes for the North Carolina Democratic Party’s endorsed candidates, a shadowy group linked to Republican consultants is sending mailers “recruiting Democratic lawyers to run for judge.”
Wake County Commissioner John Burns, a Democrat, tweeted photos of the mailers over the weekend. “North Carolina needs strong Democratic voices on the bench for Supreme Court and Court of Appeals,” the mailer says under an image of Uncle Sam.
The group behind the mailers and an associated website is calling itself The Alliance for Fairness in Justice. The group’s IRS registration form lists former N.C. House Republican Caucus Director Jim Burton as its primary contact.
Burton is no longer on the NCGOP staff but works as an independent political consultant for Republican candidates, including N.C. House candidate Bobby Hanig’s campaign. He did not respond to an email inquiry Sunday. […]
NCGOP wantss to hire the guy who lost the race for Barbara Jackson? Tillis should hire him too.
Kelsey Brown is the man you need for this job. He doesn’t want to be out in front of the cameras but behind the people of this Grand Old Party! Help bring law and order back to the Party we love. Stand up for what is right by electing Kelsey Brown as your new E.D.
That would go a long way towards actually uniting the Party. Quite a few county leaders who have strained relations with the NCGOP, trust him. But given their last hire, not sure the Central Committee are competent enough to see his worth.
I agree with you that Kelsey Brown would be a great choice for ED. He currently is Chair of the 8th Congressional District so he has experience with knowing how the State Party operates and he endorsed Jim Womack in the 2019 Chairman’s race so he will be friendly to the Tea Party wing of the GOP.
Has Kelsey Brown applied? I hope he has because he sounds like just what we need, someone who has worked within the party structure and knows the ropes and how things are supposed to be. An outsider like Woodhouse comes in and makes up his own rules, which was a whole lot of the problem with Woodhouse. A Raleigh political operative who has never worked within the party structure is not what the NCGOP needs, and someone from out of state would be even worse.
From what I am told, Woodhouse was heavily promoting Jim Burton as a consultant with legislative candidates, although it looks like the only one who hired him was Hanig. That suggests that Woodhouse also may be the one who pushed Burton for the ED position. We do not need Woodhouse 2.0. Another concern for conservatives is Burton’s background of working for the House GOP leadership, and that leadership is not noted for being particularly friendly to conservatives or to the party grassroots.
I have applied but it appears that people I will not name at this time have put the halts to my chances.
I do know that one certain person was not on the committee at all and now has a major role in this decision.
It will be up to the Central Committee to make this choice but will they follow blindly like the Excom did after the convention.
Only time will tell…..
Thanks for the positive comments from readers of this publication and I am strongly conservative in all my views. I would only like to see the NCGOP succeed and be fair to all Republican candidates.
Good to hear you applied. I hear there may be one or two other applicants who have a strong background within the NCGOP party organization. I very much hope someone with that background gets the position. With a chairman who has little background or experience within the party organization, that experience will be critical for the new ED. This Burton guy clearly lacks it, and that would be a kick in the teeth for the grassroots.
It is also essential that the new ED be either aligned with conservatives or at least acceptable to conservatives. Burton is not. The one legislative race Burton has consulted in was a liberal Republican challenging a conservative incumbent in a primary which puts him very much on the wrong side of things. To make matters even worse, Burton used a dirty and distorted personal attack at the last minute to narrowly defeat that incumbent, which is rubbing salt in the wounds. Conservatives and the grassroots should shun the state party organization if Woodhouse’s favorite “baby consultant” is hired as ED.
When the smoke clears on this appointment, the grassroots needs to know the whole story of how it happens, and this site usually is who brings us up to speed on such things. I will be waiting for the analysis. If there are bad actors in the process, we need to know who they are.
Michael Whatley ran on winning judicial races which have been grossly neglected. We don’t need anymore “cute” tactics that give us frauds like Chris Anglin. We need smart and steady leadership. I hope they are looking at some female candidates!
So this guy ran Hanig’s extremely dirty primary campaign against conservative GOP incumbent Beverly Boswell? That should destroy any trust for him among conservatives and grassroots Republicans and disqualify him from the position. If anything, Burton would be even worse than Woodhouse.. Burton is proven to be anti-conservative, and Hanig has turned out to be quite the liberal in the NC House.
A very large part of the problem is this: The GOP primary allows “unaffiliated” voters to be included. This skews the winners of all primaries to the moderate center, or worse. The GOP leadership knows this, and that is why they do NOTHING to correct it. The fact that a Chris Anglin
could even have run as a republican also shows we have NO party control over the “definition” of a republican, nor discipline to kick out dems who “become” republican to run and be a spoiler in a race. The question always is: “WHO BENEFITS”? Cui Bono? The establishment republicans are taking this party down the road to eventual split, UNLESS they begin to truly act more inclusive of true conservatives and allow participation in leadership and in strategy decision making. I will not hold my breath for those.
Close the primaries
Too bad convention delegates were again not given a chance to vote on the matter. When asked why the related resolution from District 11 (forwarded on a 2:1 vote) did not make the cut, the Resolution Committee Chair informed me it was voted down at committee because the issue had failed the past three years. I’m told a similar submission was made by about half of the districts. Looks like the resolution votes at district conventions are moot when the state committee holds all of the cards.
We’re playing poker against a stacked deck.
Why not make a motion from the floor to amend the Plan of Organization? The procedure is straight forward. The state committee doesn’t hold all of the cards unless you allow it.
I believe state law stipulates a semi-closed primary system. A state party resolution would urge GOP legislators to make the change. Of course delegates will need the opportunity to vote on it. And offering a resolution from the floor was moot this time. Resolutions never came up during the convention business sessions—clock ran out dealing with PoO amendments. Argh!
I understand your logic – And I imagine it comes from experience. I’d like to disagree with you.
I am unaffiliated. I am 70 years old and became unaffiliated recently because I felt the party had abandoned Republican values. I am blessed to live in Moore County where most Republicans still hold the old time Reagen and the modern Trump values.
I believe most unaffiliated voters are very conservative. Events like the election of Mrs Chu will go a long way towards bringing us back to the party.
Closing the primaries would also bring people back to the party cause if they wanted to make a choice in the primaries they need to commit to a party. Many of us are also fed up with the party but we have not walked away from it but kept trying to fix it…. Why should people that walk away still get a say in the matter they would be welcome to vote in the general just not the primary
Remember, unaffiliated voters are more moderate than conservative. So long as the GOPe is in charge, the primaries will not be closed. Let the unaffiliated voters have their own primaries.
Follow the money and remember that the GOP allows anyone with a
check book to have a seat at the table. Some people should start asking….”Why are you here?”
PS… We’re letting people move in here and run for mayor who
could not get an appointment with the mayor where they came from.
The party needs to vet better.
Someone once told me that my opinion in the party did not matter till I gave $5000 and then another $5000 and then $5000 more to the party #TrueStory
That’s a bald faced lie. The numbers are MUCH larger.