NC’s RNC committeeman endorses Priebus, responds to grassroots activists
State Rep. David Lewis (R-Dunn), one of North Carolina’s two voting members on the Republican National Committee, has stepped forward to respond to a resolution put forth by Tar Heel state grassroots activists regarding this coming week’s election in Charlotte for RNC chairman. As a refresher, here is the text of the resolution in question:
Resolution of the Grassroots
Whereas, under the direction of Reince Priebus, the Republican Party declined in the number of seats held in both the House and Senate during the 2012 elections, undermining the strides gained by republicans in the 2010 elections and;
Whereas, during the course of the 2011-2012 elections cycle, Reince Priebus has failed to abide by the resolution previously passed, “resolution in support of good governance,” which calls upon the chair of the RNC to conduct competitive bids for all contracts that exceed $100,000 in value and;
Whereas, Reince Priebus presided over actions that knowingly & purposefully disenfranchised the grassroots factions comprising the republican party, such as rule changes that received heavy criticism and push-back from several states’ delegations to the RNC, as well as de-credentialing delegates to the RNC who were duly elected by their states’ Republican Party members to be representatives to the RNC in Tampa, FL and;
Whereas, Reince Priebus’ actions in chairing over the 2012 elections have embarrassed the party nationally and;
Whereas, Reince Priebus’ actions in chairing over the 2012 elections, having disenfranchised and disheartened many Republican voters, caused the Republican Party to lose the 2012 Presidential campaign and;
Whereas, the North Carolina State Executive Committee, at their December 2012 meeting, passed a resolution of opposition to power-grab rule changes that were passed under Reince Priebus’ supervision, which stated that the North Carolina State Executive Committee values grassroots participation within the party and;
Whereas, North Carolina Republican Party Chairman Robin Hayes has made effort to reach out to the grassroots and express support of the grassroots and;
Whereas, the grassroots of the Republican Party of North Carolina do not support Reince Priebus’ reelection bid and;
Therefore,
We, the grassroots members of the Republican Party of North Carolina, at this time, petition for Chairman Robin Hayes, Committeeman David Lewis, and Committeewoman Dr. Ada Fisher to accurately represent the grassroots by refusing to endorse Reince Priebus for Chair, as well as endorse and vote for Mark Willis for Chairman of the RNC at the 2013 RNC Winter Meeting in Charlotte, NC, on January 25, 2013.
And HERE is what Rep. Lewis had to say, in response to the resolution’s authors:
On Friday, January 18, 2013 at 5:33 PM, “David R. Lewis” <davidl@davidlewis.org> wrote:
>
>Thank you for your email.
>
>Please accept my apologies for this delayed reply. Your email was sent
>to my Legislative Account and was inappropriately filtered.
>Please send all RNC email to my personal account:
>DavidL@davidlewis.org<mailto:DavidL@davidlewis.org>.
>
>I very much appreciate the well written resolution and all those caring
>enough to take time to prepare it.
>
>I acknowledge the first “Whereas” clause but strongly feel that without
>Chairman Priebus’s efforts, our losses would have been much greater.
>It also fails to recognize significant gains in state and local offices
>which were achieved in 2012.
>
>The second clause I will look into. However, to the extent possible, I
>believe the management of the RNC has been quite effective and has and
>will pass any reasonableness test.
>
>The third clause dealing with the rule change is something I am
>actively working on. Respectfully, I do not agree with the premise
>that the Chairman “knowingly & purposefully disenfranchised” anyone.
>
>The fourth and fifth clauses are matters of opinion and I respect your
>right to voice these sentiment. I do, however, disagree with them.
>
>I am aware of the Resolution passed by or Executive Committee and of
>the hard work of Chairman Hayes. As I stated earlier, I have already
>begun to work on the rules change.
>
>I value your opinions and appreciate your passion, commitment and hard
>work. I do not, however, agree that the undesigned Republicans are
>legitimately qualified to speak for anyone other than themselves. The
>”grassroots” is a phrase too often thrown around by those wishing to
>make a point. There are thousands of Republicans who have worked,
>continue to work, and will work in the future to build our Party. Each
>one is important, needed, and welcome. We are just of different
>opinions on the question of Chairman. As with most questions, I am
>certain there are many more issues on which we can agree.
>
>While I value your input, I will be supporting Reince Priebus for RNC
>Chair. The level of support North Carolina received from the RNC
>during 2012 was unmatched and crucial to our success. The “Victory”
>effort was far from perfect but it was very good. To his credit,
>Reince has already begun asking for ways to improve and I have shared
>openly and directly that greater local input was needed and that, at
>times, the effort was too “top down” to truly meet its objectives. I
>am convinced his experience not only in DC but in Wisconsin will allow
>us to continue to build our Party.
>
>Again, thank you for your email.
>
>David Lewis
>
>
>Sent from David Lewis’ iPhone. Please excuse any misspelled words,
>grammatical errors or excessive brevity.
It sounds like David Lewis needs a Reality Check: http://www.fox19.com/story/19423487/reality-check-rnc-rule-change-starting-a-republican-civil-war Because he has conveniently forgotten how Reince and the rest of the RNC stomped all over the grassroots in Tampa.
And those “gains” in the state level races in NC? They were mostly because of gerrymandering and anybody who is proud of that is in politics for the wrong reasons.
Priebus lost seats in the US senate, and lost the presidential race. I consider that a failure. Not to consider all of the cheating and blatant disregard for the rules of the party. He is the national chairman and he has been an utter failure, He has created division in the party, and as long as he is chairman this party will continue to lose.
This is the same problem i see in my own GOP county group that i am a member of and go regularly, they have all these idea’s to re capture what they loss yet will not adress the 500lb gorillia in the room and that is the deep rift in the Republican party localy and nationaly. As the Republican party hero ole abe linclon said a house divided cannot stand, well the republican party is deeply divided and if you do not adress this and try to heal the wounds the party will loose and fail thus becoming as the whigs. You can deny this and stick your head in the sand but the fact remains and is unchanged. The party is split.
Sounds like David needs to be reminded that gains in state and local offices are not the doing of the RNC, they are the grassroots, i.e. the BPOUs and Senate districts, the state parties. David Lewis is making a lazy man’s cop out and excuses for Reince Priebus’s horrid behavior. Priebus couldn’t even bother being sober while he was chairing the last night of the convention. That’s just what the GOP needs as it’s face, a cocky arrogant drunk who things he should be accountable to no one. A man who managed in teamwork to lose what should have been the easiest presidential election in history. Might I remind readers that Obama had less voters this time around that he did the first time, and Mitt had less than McCain. It’s because both major parties are trampling on the grassroots, or as it’s known, The Base.
This is an unwise move, just has a large segment of disenfranchised voters were lost during the Presidential election – I can see this pattern continuing.
The Republican Party unless it reverts back to Constitutional, fiscally sound principals will go the way of the Whig Party.
As a life long GOP voter, I will be giving serious look at the Libertarian Party.
We don’t need the next election to have reasonable loss.Never keep a nonperforming employee ,this like giving a pay increase to a CEO who has a loss in profit .
If Mark Willis cant fix things cut him too, but never keep a non performer,never!
Thank you Rep. David Lewis for sincerely ignoring the grassroots of the party. With your response it is easy to see why you endorsed Reince Priebus, you both seem to have the same opinion, that top down control is better for the party.
Does it really matter who they pick? The Republican Party is a sinking ship. It’s done for. They will never win the presidency ever again and the rest of the seats are dropping like flies. Local elections are about the best they can hope for at this point. See ya! Wouldn’t wanna be ya!
Dear Mr. Lewis,
I am disturbed by your confusion of the facts of the RNC. If you honestly believe that Republican supporters were not Knowingly and purposefully disenfranchised, I can see that you too have no chance in helping the Republican party regain power and traction in our great nation. You sir have a very short memory, and apparently cannot discern fact from fiction. (you were at the RNC weren’t you?) If these dishonest and appalling tactics were not used, a Republican would be taking the oath of office for the POTUS this week, instead of our failed second term President. You are not helping the Republican Party, but further dividing it. Your further support for Reince Preibus will be duly noted.
It is clear that the Republican Party of NC, as well as the National Republican Party do not want to give up what little power and influence those within the party and in office have accumulated. They will fail again. Make no mistake, if Hillary runs for President in 2016, she will win in a landslide. We all warned the Mitt was not the issue, it is the two faced nature of the party. They claim to want small government, but at every turn they rebuked and minimized the only legitimate candidate that had a platform the actually minimized government. We can’t feed out families on words, we need actions. Like advocating our newly elected governor to give back the Obamacare money now. Nullify the exchange mandate in our state, and Pledge to Nullify any additional EPA or Federal Gun Laws. They won’t do any of that because that is how they get paid. We are asking people that make their living off us to risk their jobs. They want do it until they realize supporting true Grass Roots efforts are in their best interest to stay in power. These last elections should have woken all of us up. The RNC is no different that the DNC. Stop listening to their words and look at their actions. They lie, cheat, and yes steal and justifies those actions with flowery words of patriotism. They are a sham and I will never donate another dollar to the party.
REMEMBER THE MAINE !
Why was a conservative alternative for this office not put forward at the state convention last year? That is where the real failure was. Everyone knew who pulled Lewis’ strings, and yet he was allowed to be reelected unopposed!
We must not allow that to happen at this year’s state convention for party offices. Every office, both elected by the convention and by the state executive committee, from state chairman down to assistant secretary needs to have a solid conservative grassroots candidate running. We need to kick out the beltway establishment.
“Why was a conservative alternative for this office not put forward at the state convention last year?”
Probably because 99% of delegates don’t know what their leadership is doing and probably think the establishment ARE the conservatives.
David Lewis-
You are putting yourself on the wrong side of the GOP. The grassroots is awake and coming for ‘the Establishment’. You would be wise to rethink your position of backing Priebus if you plan to have a future position of leadership in the GOP. It is laughable to think that the GOP didn’t alienate the Ron Paul people. Romney could have won if he would have just given an iota of respect to the true liberty and freedom newcomers to the party. The GOP will not win another POTUS election without the liberty/freedom grassroots. You are missing the boat by not supporting Willis.
Here is something else that he needs to back{
http://www.redstate.com/morton_c_blackwell/2013/01/21/saving-the-national-republican-rules-from-the-ginsberg-blunders-in-tampa/
I just cannot believe that Reince Priebus’ leadership, especially with the RNC Rule Changes very deliberately trying to transfer the power of the party to a few moneyed folks at the top, would stand anyone’s test of “success”.
Just losing better than losing badly? From my point of view, we lost pretty badly.
Robin Hayes is at least consistent – consistently delusional and corrupt. He exists to serve the corrupt status quo of the RNC. If he as well as Ada Fisher and David Lewis sincerely thought that Priebus was spectacular why not let Mark Willis challenge him? In typical partisan corrupt fashion they would only permit the illusion of choice, i.e., they would only permit Priebus to be challenged by someone who is the same form, fit and function. Hayes is towing the party line by declaring the RNC Chair as pristine and effective when he is corrupt and ineffective. Hayes needs to be replaced as does Fisher and Lewis. They are more committed to the GOP than to principle.