Tea Party stirring things up in Cabarrus County

This county — just outside Charlotte — made news recently when its local GOP organization denounced two Republican candidates running in the May primaries as not being ”true Republicans.”    Leigh Brown, a primary challenger to state Rep. Larry Pittman, once planned an independent election challenge to Pat McCrory and has been accused of trying to get Democrats to switch parties and vote for her in the GOP primary.  County board of commissioners candidate Diane Honeycutt has railed publicly against an “extreme right wing faction” she says has taken over the county party.

The denunciation has stirred up a spat with establishment, Old Guard Republicans in the county.  The Tea Party-affiliated Cabarrus Conservative Alliance, via spokesman Ronnie Long, has issued a call to county residents to increase their involvement in local affairs and elections:

For many years now most of us have sat back and just allowed government (local, state, federal) to run on auto pilot. What most of us didn’t realize, however, was that while we were not paying close attention there was a certain ideology that was taking full advantage of our lack of attention.

The Progressives have been working overtime to change the dynamic to their way of thinking. The average citizen has now come full circle and is awakened by the pain we are feeling in our wallets. We are realizing that we allowed some things to happen that have proven to be detrimental to our way of life. This is happening at every level of government from the Federal, to the State, to the County and on down to the City levels.

The 2014 Primary election here in Cabarrus County is a prime example of average people waking up.

We are asking the tough questions once again. We are holding people accountable for their actions.

We are asking what can be changed to correct the mistakes.

We are looking for people who are willing to serve the citizens with a servant’s heart and not for political or economic gains.

We seek the very best for all of the citizens of our county and are looking at ways to make it the very best it can be.

The members of the Cabarrus County Republican Party Executive Committee just released an announcement pointing out the truth about two individuals who are running for election under what can only be termed false pretenses. This is what those in the Executive Committee positions should be doing. They are showing leadership and fortitude against the incursions of those who either unwittingly or intentionally support the Progressive agenda.

Those on the Committee are taking the heat and facing the slings and arrows of the Progressives for doing exactly what the voters of Cabarrus County should expect them to do. In evidence of that statement there were well over 175 people who showed up to the most recent Cabarrus County Commissioners meeting and nearly 40 people spoke both in support and opposition to some budget proposals being made. There were so many people participating that it was necessary to set up chairs in the lower level of the Government building in order to facilitate the crowd. Previously the Commissioners chambers have been woefully empty and very few people have been involved.

The truth of the matter is the Cabarrus County Republican Party Executive Committee is made up of a very diverse group of citizens. There are three former Cabarrus County Commissioners, representatives from both Republican Women’s committees, sitting and former members of the Cabarrus County School Board, a retired teacher, local business owners, a sitting city councilman, one who holds a PHD Degree in Theology, two Information Technology experts, a truck driver, a homemaker/homeschooling mother of two, one who is a commercial pilot, real estate broker in charge, auctioneer, professional appraiser of aircraft, cars and real estate who owns businesses in 3 counties, another who has been an entrepreneur for 25+ years; owned/operated the only privately-held mobile mammography facility east of Texas … and won national recognition for her work; now owns a real estate brokerage and a property management company and another who is a financial planning professional as examples.

Does this look like a group of political extremists to you? It looks like a group of people who are genuinely concerned about the community in which we all live. It looks like you and me, our friends and neighbors, our co-workers and the people who run one or more of our local businesses that we see on a regular basis. Not one of them has three heads nor did they drop in from another planet. They are people just like you and me who have taken the time away from their businesses, jobs and families to work for the betterment of our community.

The fact that they are shedding the light of truth on some potential candidates in much the same way newly appointed Commissioner Jason Oesterreich is shedding light on the financial situation our county is making some people (those with things to hide) uncomfortable. The citizens of Cabarrus County deserve the truth. Then and only then can we make wise choices about whom we want to represent us in the different elected offices. For any to stand up and criticize these hard working people for telling the truth and pointing out the facts makes an average person wonder what their motivations are for the criticisms.

It’s truly wonderful to see so many people waking up and getting involved in the political processes of our county. I can only hope that those people will not just see and hear one side of the issues but will invest the time to thoroughly investigate the facts from many different sources and then formulate their opinions and make their choices based on facts and not just campaign rhetoric, slick mailers, glitzy TV and Radio advertisements and the like. Get to know the candidates, locally we can meet them face-to-face, call them on the phone and ask those hard questions up close and personal.

I am hopeful everyone who reads this will get actively involved regardless of your “Party Affiliation” or non-affiliation. The future of our community, or state and our nation is in our hands. It is up to us to make the changes we desire. The time of leaving it up to someone else needs to come to a screeching halt and we need to be the ones who are in control of our lives, our schools, our taxes, our elected governmental officials at all levels.

This message works — and should ring true — for every county and municipality across The Carolinas and The United States.  We’re in control.  Don’t let THEM forget it.