Rucho Roars at MeckGOP chairman
A dentist-turned-legislator sounds like he wants to perform a root canal on his county party chairman — without anesthetic. We told you last
week about MeckGOP chairman Curtis Watkins trying to arrange a primary for House majority leader Mike Hager. Hager punched back — calling for the state GOP organization to investigate and punish Watkins. Well, retiring senator Bob Rucho (R-Mecklenburg) has joined the fight and upped the ante in a terse letter to his county party’s vice-chairman:
[…] I write to express concerns about conduct by Mecklenburg County Republican Party Chairman Curtis Watkins that I believe may be inappropriate and could violate the rules of the Mecklenburg County Republican Party and the North Carolina Republican Party. It has come to my attention that Mr. Watkins has recently contacted one or more individuals outside of Mecklenburg County to express support for a primary against a sitting member of the North Carolina General Assembly.
Mr. Watkins learned of my concerns and he called to discuss this issue. Mr. Watkins admitted to me that he had, in fact, made a telephone call to an individual in Rutherford County regarding a potential primary in House District 112. which is currently held by House Majority Leader Mike Hlager who has already announced that he is running for re-election. I also understood Mr. Watkins to say that he had made similar calls to individuals in other counties as part of his personal employment duties. Apparently. he is employed by an organization that has interest in energy issoes. I expressed we concerns about this behavior and encouraged him to focus on finding candidates for races in Mecklenburg County– where no Republican has filed yet. […]
Exactly. This is not just sleazy GOPe tactics. It’s solar goon shenanigans. He was pretending to do his party chairman job, but really working for his solar goon pals.
Let them on the inside, and see what you get. (This is what was likely avoided in the Kristen Laster affair at NCGOP HQ.) But the senator was not done:
While I understand that, as a party chairman. Mr. Watkins has a duty to identify and recruit qualified candidates for public office in Mecklenburg County, it is unclear to me how anything in Mr. Watkins’s job description would require or permit him to be involved in races in other counties. This conduct by Mr. Watkins is troubling to me because members of the General Assembly must be able to rely upon the state and county GOP organizations and their leadership to support them in general elections. Any conduct by a party leader that appears to “target” a specific member of the General Assembly with a primary undermines the confidence that members and candidates for the General Assembly need to have in these party. organizations.
I WISH he had shown this kind of concern over similar activities by Thom The Therrible. But I get it. It is MUCH EASIER to speak out when you are on your way OUT. MORE:
Moreover, in every election cycle. there are districts in Mecklenburg County that go uncontested. I cannot understand why Mr. Watkins would concern himself with races in other counties when there are currently multiple legislative seats in Mecklenburg County in which no Republican has filed.
Both the Mecklenburg County and North Carolina Republican Party plans of organization prohibit members of their executive committee like Mr. Watkins from using the powers and dignity of their offices in arty Republican Primary for public office at any level. Additionally. I understand that party officers may be removed for “gross inefficiency,” 1 respectfully request that you immediately investigate Mr. Watkins’s actions to detemtine if any party rules have been violated or any disciplinary action, including removal. of Mr. Watkins is warranted for “gross inefficiency.” By copy of this letter to the Chairman and General Counsel of the North Carolina Republican Party.. I am also requesting that the slate party make a similar inquiry into Mr. Watkins’s conduct. […]
Boom. <stepping away from keyboard to offer standing ovation.>
Curtis if this is all true you should do the right thing and resign
Watkins, and his puppetmaster Faison are infiltrators from the cult of Climate Scientology. Their worship to that cult takes priority with them over anything to help the GOP. They need their walking papers from the GOP. Hooray for Rucho!
Are you listening Hasan Harnett and Michele Nix?
Did the Democrats behave this way when they took over the state 137 years ago? How does their system differ from the Republicans’ system?
Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. Republicans don’t know how to have power. They’re acting like Keystone Cops.
Unfortunately, Mr. Watkins is too busy trying to line his and his boss’s pockets with taxpayer money to be concerned with things like abiding by the Meck. County plan of organization, adhering to the NCGOP platform and doing the job he volunteered for as Meck. Chairman. Opportunistic and dishonest are the words that come to mind.
As a resident on Mecklenburg and a registered Republican, I submitted the below yesterday to NC GOP Legal Council, Chairman Harnet and Vice Chair Nix.
I am requesting an investigation into the actions of Mecklenburg County Republican Chairman Curtis Watkins in using his title and influence to recruit candidates for State House (NC) District 112. This complaint is based on an article in the Charlotte Observer dated December 11. As to the Mr Watkins response, the below rules DO NOT restrict geography.
I believe this action is in violation of the Plan of Organization of the Republican Party of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina as stated below.
ARTICLE IX – REFRAIN FROM UTILIZING POWERS OF OFFICE IN REPUBLICAN PRIMARY
Each Officer and each Member of the County Executive Committee shall refrain from utilizing the powers and dignity of his or her office or position in any Republican Primary for public office at any level.
Please note, this section is in total agreement with the NC GOP Plan of Organization Article VII –
G. REFRAIN FROM UTILIZING POWERS OF OFFICE IN REPUBLICAN PRIMARY
Each Officer and each Member of the State Executive Committee shall refrain from utilizing the powers and dignity of his or her office or position in any Republican Primary for public office at any level.
Thank you for giving my complaint due consideration. I’m happy to answer any questions and I look forward to your reply.
Thanks Jack
What is really needed is impeachment petitions, circulated both among Mecklenburg GOP members and among NC GOP executive committee members. For the latter, the upcoming state executive committee meeting would be a good place to get signatures.
Heck Nix and Harnett are working to have primaries for Burr and McCrory. They should be removed as well
Do you have any proof of this you cannot just say something and not back it up with proof
It sounds like the sort of liberal disinformation that one expects out of the likes of Stewart or Shumaker. There is no connection between any of the primary challengers to Burr or McCrory and our party leaders.
Burr, in particular, does deserve a strident primary challenge due to his very low party loyalty, and by that I mean his lack of loyalty to principles of the GOP platform. Burr’s voting record on key issues is closer to that of Harry Reid than to Ted Cruz, and that is just not acceptable.
Here’s the thing Colin — your irrelevance is probably kicking you in the rear end — but you have no evidence; therefore, that statement is just as irrelevant and useless as your rampage on Harnett/Nix. They both ran on principles of getting the party out of primaries. Frankly, I’m bothered by district chairs choosing sides in the primaries too. Get back on your rocker.
Any GOP party official involved in recruiting candidates to challenge duly elected GOP officials at any level of the ticket should be removed from his positions with the Party. Such actions reflect a lack of knowledge about the struggles of our Party in attaining majority status at the Legislative and Local level. If the allegations are true throw the Bums out and find those who work for the benefit of the Party ticket, Top to Bottom.
If they use their party titles to do so, they should indeed be removed.
However, when Republican elected officials regularly betray the Republican platform, like a number of state legislators I could mention, then party officials have a duty to the base to get those officials replaced by more loyal Republicans. They need to be squeaky clean about how they go about it, though.
What we really need is a well organized conservative PAC to recruit solid conservative candidates and raise the money to support them. Some other states have this, but not North Carolina. That is a much better way to go about it than having party leaders do it.