#NCSEN: The two faces of Thom
Hollywood gave us “The Three Faces of Eve.” This year, the GOP establishment is trying to force-feed us a real stinker called “The Two Faces of Thom.”
Americans have a real respect for flexibility when it comes to athletes and, um, cheerleaders. In politicians? Not so much. Today, the shih-tzu gives us a pretty good look at how flexible state House speaker Thom Tillis has been in his positions on the issues:
• On the federal health care law, the House under Tillis’ leadership advanced HB 115 in 2011 to create a state-based insurance exchange as a way to “protect state-based authority.” The effort died in the Senate, and two years later, lawmakers approved a measure to reject any ties to “Obamacare.”
• On Common Core, Tillis said recently in a Senate debate that he supports a repeal of the national education standards, which are loathed by some conservatives who consider them an intrusion into local decision-making. But in 2011, the House approved Senate Bill 479 to direct the state to participate in Common Core.
Adding to the suspicion on this issue? Tillis appointed — and keeps in place — pro-Common Core legislator Linda Johnson as House Education Committee chairman. He’s been endorsed by former Florida governor Jeb Bush and The US Chamber of Commerce — two HUGE cheerleaders for Common Core.
• On renewable energy standards, as a freshman legislator, Tillis voted with Democrats in 2007 to support Senate Bill 3, which required at least 12.5 percent of retail power sales by electric utilities come from renewables and energy efficiency programs by 2021. Republican efforts to repeal these standards died in 2013. But amid the campaign, Tillis said he supports their repeal.
Tillis was blamed for killing the repeal of the mandates in 2013. He’s also — coincidentally — a significant investor in a bank that has financing of renewable energy ventures as a centerpiece of its business plan.
Let’s not forget amnesty. Theam Tillis swears their man is not for amnesty. Yet, he spoke to the NC Farm Bureau using some of the familiar ‘code words’ of the pro-amnesty crowd. Tillis has warmly embraced some Super PACs that have campaigned aggressively FOR gay marriage and FOR amnesty. Speaker Thom has also been endorsed by pro-amnesty warriors like Renee Ellmers and Jeb Bush — who has described illegal immigration as “an act of love.”
A source of mine, who has a vote on the floor of the General Assembly’s upper chamber, threw in his two cents about working with Tillis:
“We’d try to get together with him and his team to work together on certain issues. He’d tell us they were on board and ready to work with us. Then, he’d apparently go talk to his campaign folks and find out this position might not poll well in the Senate race, and he’d leave us hanging out to dry. We got hung out to dry time and again on things like repealing the Racial Justice Act. A promise of teamwork up front does not necessarily mean yeoman’s effort to the very end. In the end, with Thom Tillis, it’s not about what’s best for North Carolina. It’s what’s best for him and his ambitions.”
Back to the N&O article. Tillis attempted to defend himself on the contradictions pointed out by The Shih-Tzu:
If anything, Tillis said, these issues reflect the nature of lawmaking. “That’s the difference between someone experienced who actually understands the legislative process and someone who is maybe speaking before they think about the consequences and how they would do it in an orderly fashion,” he said.
The repeal legislation for the renewable energy mandate is in a posture that it could move in the short session from what I have been told by legislators in the House. However, another legislator has later said that Tilli$ will not allow it to move. Talk is cheap, but as the old saying goes, actions speak louder than words. If this legislation does indeed fail to move, Tilli$ will be exposed as a Obama-style LIAR on this issue.
On amnesty, these days one has to use other terms to smoke these shifty politicians out. Marco Rubio, for example, claims that the Gang of 8 Senate bill is ”not amnesty”. Other slippery politicians may well use Rubio-style Orwellian interpretations to say they ”oppose amnesty” wnen they really support it. House challenger is running ads saying he ”will never support amnesty” but told Laura Ingraham he supports ”normalization” for illegal aliens now in the country. Well, duh!!!! Normalization is just another term for amnesty. It would appear that Tillis is using a Rubio-style distortion of terms. Tilli$ told the NC Farm Bureau he supports a ”pathway to citizenship” for illegal aliens and when he says he opposes amnesty, he is telling an Obama (a lie).
Jeb Bush endorsement of Thom Tillis: “It is critically important that Republicans win a majority in the United States Senate, and I am confident that the road to a majority runs through Thom Tillis in North Carolina.”
Jeb Bush? Don’t make me laugh? The idiot who says illegal aliens come here out of ”love”? Yeah, love of the free stuff they can mooch off of the American taxpayer! An endorsement by this Big Government moron should be the kiss of death for any candidate with conservative voters.
But then again, I guess big Amnesty Amigo Jeb Bush fits sort of naturally with Tilli$ who supports ”a pathway to citizenship” (amnesty) for illegal aliens.Yeah, Tilli$ is indeed in the Bush Leagues.
I guess they will trot out Marco Rubio next? Or will it be Chuck Schumer or maybe La Raza?
As a representative every bill I introduced , I talk to Speaker Tillis about before hand, he agreed my ideas were issues that needed to be discussed . After I introduced the bills , he and his staff REDLINED ( it took me awhile to learn about that system) the same bills and never brought them up for discussion. He never said he supported the bill but he did support the issues being aired at least when I was in front of him.
That behavior is part of TIlli$’ ”War on Conservatives” that make him totally unacceptable as a nominee. Another part was Tilli$ attempts using gerrymandering and primaries to push conservative legislators out of the legislature. Tilli$ is an anti-conservative, and no conservative voter in their right mind would vote for him either in a primary or general election.