#ncpol: NCGOP chairman candidates debate (*Oh, goody*)
The Raleigh Republican Club hosted the candidates for NCGOP chairman and vice-chairman last night. Here’s the video. It’s a little over an hour long. if you don’t have the patience to watch, I’ll do you the service of providing some of the, um, “highlights”:
- Tougher on fellow Republicans than Democrats. Incumbent Robin Hayes started off by praising himself as a complete and utter success in leading the party. One of the keys to success he cited? The RNC being in-state year-round. Then, he swerved dramatically toward attacking his predecessor, Hasan Harnett, and his current opponent Jim Womack:
[…] “As I look back on the mess, the disaster this party found itself in under my prior chairman, I am not willing to let that happen again. […] There is a lot of difference in my opponent and I — a very clear difference. Jim has a history of being divisive. Jim has a history of supporting our previous chairman who, when I walked in the door, we were three days away from closing. […] Morale was in the ditch, a lack of leadership.[…]”
Never mind that an objective fact-based study found that the party, under Harnett, outraised the party under Hayes ‘s first term as chairman. Let’s also ignore the fact that Hayes allies on the party’s ruling committees sought to undermine Harnett at every step via their agent, executive director Dallas Woodhouse. Dallas 
and his team were also regularly leaking negative stories to The N&O and other drivebys on a regular basis. Let’s also ignore the fact that Woodhouse and his allies regularly locked Harnett out of the headquarters building, his email, and his computer. Taking all that in, it’s absolutely astounding that Harnett STILL outperformed Hayes.
On several occasions, Hayes walked out of the camera’s view with an annoyed look on his face, and even cut off and interrupted Womack. At one point, a woman in the audience, off camera, said to Hayes:
“Can you please let him have his 30 seconds?”
Womack questioned Hayes’s assertion that he has been a paragon of efficiency and leadership at state party HQ — noting that the party web site hasn’t even been kept up. He noted that David Lewis was recognized as RNC committeeman long after Mark Brody had replaced him.
Hayes fired back at Womack:
“What you’re doing with ball bats and bags over your head and talking about running over the county manager with a tank, that’s not helping the Republican Party.”
Womack came back:
“Ball bats? I haven’t held a ball bat in years.”
Hayes retorted:
“Going with ball bats down the streets. National news. Thank you, Jim.”
- Lying? This line from Hayes during the debate provoked more than one spit-take here at Haymaker HQ:
[…] “I don’t do any work for outside groups. I don’t take a salary. […]”
Folks along the coast are well-familiar with Hayes’s work on behalf of an environmental group bent on wiping out the state’s commercial fishing industry. When pressed by the Dare County GOP chairman, Hayes apparently admitted to lobbying the governor to make some regulatory appointments that were not favorable to the state’s commercial fishing interests.
- Blame for 2016. Jim Womack came out swinging — laying blame for the party’s three big 2016 defeats (AG, Governor, and Supreme Court) at the feet of Hayes and his grandson. Said Hayes:
“I’m sorry we lost the governor’s race, but the governor had an awful lot to do with that.”
Womack countered by saying that the party chairman should be more of a trusted political adviser to candidates:
“Far too often, it was decided that we should just leave things to the governor to do what he wants.”
Womack said that he, as party chairman, could act as a liaison between Raleigh and the grassroots activists out there from Murphy to Manteo. He also argued for stepped-up voter education measures like fliers promoting judicial candidates and their records.
- Party governance. Womack also hit the Hayes-led party apparatus for failing in a number of areas: transparency, communications with the grassroots, organizing precincts, and voter education. Said Womack:
“I want Robin to convene the executive committee quarterly as per the plan of organization. We met one time last year — and that was to throw out the chairman.”
Womack said he would like to have year-round committees working on things like the party’s governing documents and platform. He said he’d like to see a lot of the bigger decisions made at these meetings throughout the year so more can get done at convention time.
#RudeRobin
I am so glad this video is public so the convention delegates can see how he handles himself as our Chairman. Since state GOP meetings are not filmed or shared now all the delegates can see the same type of reaction some have gotten for asking Historical questions and in turn got an answer that left them Hysterical. This exchange between Hayes in the video clearly shows why the NCGOP needs new leadership from the TOP down
Jim Womak needs to get to as many GOP Club Meetings throughout the entire state. State Convention Delegates need to see and hear from him outside the confines of Raleigh. He is a good man who will be a great leader, people need to hear from him before June! The pressure will be on to vote against him to keep the status quo – shame on all of us if that happens and we have another year of Grandpa.
It it would be two years cause it would be a full two year term this time #PleaseLordNo
Just hope that this party does not close primaries now. What is needed is open communication, transparency, and education on how the party really works. Both parties are exclusive when they should be inclusive. As Jim said but first prove the party open and honest and it will grow. Shut the doors and the democrats will make hay with it.
Better idea. Get rid of primaries altogether and nominate candidates by convention of delegates. Accomplishes the same thing as a closed primary without the cost of elections to taxpayers and makes candidates for office more accountable to their Party and it’s platform.
Hayes and Woodhouse deliberately undercut the top statewide elected official in NC and likely gubenatorial nominee Dan Forest over HB2. That is absolutely unacceptable and both need to be tossed our of office for it. No official party body ever took a formal position on the HB2 sellouts / ”compromises” and it was very wrong for Hayes and Woodhouse to inject their own personal positions into it as the party position.
Note to Jim. The POO does not call for quarterly ExComm meetings. We had three last year, not just one. January, April, and December. Might want to do your research. Typically, in an off-year (odd-numbered year) we have two. June and November.
There should have been one after the convention as well to deal with the resolutions and platform that were not reached by the convention, but Robin Hayes refused to call it.
OK point taken he got a little point wrong but the MAIN POINT Is that we did not have the historical EX-COMM meeting the Sunday after convention to deal with convention business that did not get handled during convention. This has happened every year that I have been on the EX-Comm on and off for the last almost 20 years now except that time and in CHEROKEE when not enough EX-comm members even hung around the next day to have a quorum for the meeting (This goes to the structural problems in the PARTY) ….. I understand the convention in Greensboro was mothers day weekend and that is why the did not have a meeting. But since the ex-comm tossed out the Convention elected Chairman only the week before convention then it should have been even more obvious that the NEW Ex-comm elected CHAIRMAN should have called a EX-comm meeting within a month after the convention to DEAL WITH THE MATTERS NOT- ADDRESSED at the convention and it would have been a chance for the REPLACEMENT chairman to start to BUILDING BRIDGES AGAIN with the EX-comm
But the Chairman’s actions towards EX-COMM members when a meeting was finally held months later at the normal end of the year BUDGET meeting show why the Ex-comm replacement chairman is not FIT to run this party any longer. Every Delegate should go watch the debate video posted so the can also have the experience of #RudeRobin
and when it comes to the number of ex-comm meeting having quarterly ones seem like a good chance for the central committee to keep the ex-comm updated and in the loop to what GOOD or BAD is happening in the party but is the central committee wanted to that they would not hold their meeting under the nondisclosure agreement
The problem is the ex-comm cannot even get a budget print out anymore when talking about the annual budget because they say it might end up in the hands of the press. The Ex comm is not allowed to ask for historical budget data because they they are called HYSTERICAL but if anyone in the public wants to see the $$$ dollar about of checks cut to people anyone can go right to this link and looks around and find interesting info like PLANE FUEL and more that is never properly addressed in STATE GOP Executive Committee meetings
http://docquery.fec.gov/cgi-bin/forms/C00038505/
Bring Transparency Honestly Accountability Honor back to the NCGOP
and one more thing about miss-speaking between bi-annually and quarterly. The POO called for the district committees to hold Quarterly meetings so it would make Quarterly a easy slip of the tongue if you wanted to look at one miss spoken word
Hayes the Hazer Needs To Go! It’s laughable truly that the issues he and WoodHouse accuse Mr.Harnett of are exactly what those two are guilty of from the head down. Hayes the Hazers Abandons GOP CoChairs at National Convention simply for responding with neutrality. Hayes the Hazer Fails State Of North Carolina Republicans when He Is the Party Chair And Failed To Win our #Conservative Republican Governor’s Seat- Tge State Attorney General Seat And Lost Our Supreme Court Because He Put a Big Fat Zero next to his List of Republican Priorities! Hayes the Hazer In bed with the Inland N.C. Game and Fishery Responsible For Shutting Down the State’s Shrimping And Fishing Industry Putting Six Generation’s of Republican Voters and workers Out Of Business! Its Time For Robin Hayes To be Hazed Right Out The Republican Door! Hayes is Not a Man with Any Honor or Integrity infact in Washington He Was A Leader At Playing Foul And Dirty. Now he has thrown his Old Dirt in the Face Of Every Republican Voter and Donor. Hazer Out! Jim Womack has served with Honor And Integrity And Has A Phenominal Plan of action to get the State GOP back on the right and Winning Track!
Hayes also sandbagged Governor McCrory and helped cause his loss by putting his personal environmentalist ideology ahead of his responsibilities as state party chairman in conning McCrory into highly controversial appointments to the Marine Fisheries Commission which cost McCrory lots of votes down east from people who normally vote Republican. We do not need a state chairman whose loyalty to a liberal ideological group means more to him than his duties to the NCGOP. Harnett never sabotaged major GOP candidates like Hayes did.
I love how I can stir things up and cause division in the party, yet spin things to make it look like the other side is being divisive. Although I can’t get around very good anymore, I can still debate with the best of them! You know it is really Pat’s fault he lost, he took my advice and filled the DMF with my CCA buddies. He’s his own guy, he could have done what he wanted to. I actually blame it on Harnett and his crowd of pot smoking Ron Paulers that still tend to linger like annoying gnats. I mean seriously, didn’t you see that one crazy Ron Pauler wearing a Trump sign for a shirt at my coronation following the lynching last year? You know why you should vote for me? I can make the hardest decisions. I mean it was really tough and brought me to tears when I cast the deciding vote for NAFTA and CAFTA that ruined my beloved textile industry in North Carolina, but hey it was one hell of a paycheck!
VOTE Robbing Hayes NCGOP Chair
Sorry if my comment about quarterly meetings was misunderstood. I did not mean to infer the POO called for us to meet quarterly, Instead, I was trying to communicate the POO calls for the ExCom to govern the party (not the Central Committee). The ExCom cannot do that with less than quarterly meetings. There is nothing to stop the Chairman from calling quarterly meetings; and that is precisely how frequently we need to meet if the ExCom is to actually govern. Else, the Central Committee is left to its own devices, with little recourse from the organization chartered by the POO to be in charge.
Does the Daily Haymaker support Jim Womack going around openly endorsing Dan Forest as the GOP candidate for governor in 2020? Or is the chairman of the party supposed to be neutral?
I just find it interesting that The Daily Haymaker calls for the heads of people it doesn’t agree with and turns a blind eye to those it supports. More hypocritical nonsense out of the DH…
NCGOP HQ under Hayes and Woodhouse openly backed backed Richard Burr in the last Senate primary by giving him access to party resources they denied to the other candidates.
For Governor, Tillis is actually more of a Democrat than a Republican, and we do not need loser McCrory again after he fumbled the ball in two governors races he should have won.
In the chairman’s race, what I find most distasteful is Hayes sandbagging McCrory and helping cause his loss over those MFC appointments Hayes conned the governor on for his outside special interests.
Hey, folks! The first round in the 2020 Governors race will be in Wilmington this June at the state convention. In Forest’s conservative grassroots corner will be Jim Womack. In Thom TIllis’ moderate establishment corner will be me and my sidekick Robin Hayes.
What happened with Robin Hayes out in Columbia last week or the week before? I know we tend to blame Robin Hayes for everything, but did anything come out of that meeting with MFC. I know the Haymaker would have reported anything bad.