Team Berger: It’s OK to back Democrats.
Saturday was a big time in the big city of Greensboro for the North Carolina Republican Party. They had the annual “Hall of Fame” fundraising banquet. There was also a meeting of the party’s executive committee. (Of course, we had eyes and ears in the room.)
At the top of the executive committee’s agenda was hearing arguments about punishing state senator Phil Berger for party disloyalty. Berger, the party’s de facto leader, backed a Democrat incumbent over a Republican challenger in a Superior Court race in his home county of Rockingham.
At least three county party organizations have passed resolutions demanding punishment for Berger for party disloyalty. Berger allies from Rockingham County turned up at the executive committee meeting to plead their hero’s case.
Rockingham County GOP chairman Diane Parnell – a notorious Berger cheerleader – was the loudest pro-Berger voice at this weekend’s meeting. Sources tell us her presentation moved so fast from the sublime to the ridiculous that parliamentarian Billy Miller – known as a notorious shill for the party establishment – would not cut her any slack.
An example: Parnell did not contest that Berger endorsed a Democrat with a Republican challenger. Though, she compared what Berger did in the election to Republican legislators voting for the Democrat’s appointment — after losing reelection — to a special superior court seat.
If the party was going to punish senator Berger for what he did, Parnell argued, they needed to punish all of the legislators who voted for the Democrat’s appointment.
One of those events was an election contest between a Democrat and a Republican. The other was a gubernatorial appointment to an open judicial seat. (*In case you didn’t notice.*)
Parnell also argued that party disloyalty charges need to come only from the county where they allegedly occurred. She reportedly argued that her county’s party leadership knew of Berger’s endorsement of the Democrat and they had absolutely no problem with it.
Senator Berger even went public with a defense of his endorsement of a Democrat incumbent against a Republican challenger:
[…] Berger says he endorsed Wilson over Republican John Morris, who ultimately won the seat, because he knew Wilson and didn’t think Morris was qualified.
“There are things that [I] disagree with him on, and I’ve seen some decisions he’s made that I would disagree with,” said Berger, who is a lawyer with a firm in Eden. “But the basic things you want a judge to do as far as handling criminal cases, the basic things you want a judge to do as far as administration of the docket in court, those sorts of things he did in a way that I thought was acceptable and in many respects commendable. The individual that was running as a Republican was someone that I deemed wholly unqualified to be a judge.” […]
Three interesting points to consider here:
(1). Then-NCGOP chairman Michael Whatley campaigned in Rockingham County that year for John Morris. Does this mean Whatley’s judgement and competence should come into question as well?
(2) John Morris – at the time of the campaign in question – was the Rockingham County attorney. His boss at the time was county commission chairman Kevin Berger — senator Berger’s son. There has never been any public report about commissioner Berger seeking to terminate Morris. He had the authority to do so. If Morris’s competence was indeed in question, what does that say about Kevin Berger‘s competence as Morris’s boss?
(3) Morris had a conservative professional background which included a stint with the Alliance Defending Freedom. Wilson, the Democrat incumbent, served as an aide to liberal Democrat Terry Sanford and was a fellow with the leftist Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation. It’s disturbing that a senior GOP leader has more solidarity with a Reynolds Fellow and former Sanford aide than he does with a conservative attorney.
The NCGOP parliamentarian came through for his GOPe masters on Saturday — throwing up several roadblocks that kick the Berger condemnation effort further down the road. Perhaps, after the March primary election against sheriff Sam Page.
Supporters of the disloyalty charge argue that they can come back with a few more petition signatures and a set amount of meeting attendees whenever they like. And they strongly suggest there will be little to nothing Berger’s protectors can do to stop it.
