The NCGOPe and ‘weasel words’
I have a friend who introduced me to the concept of weasel words. That’s a slang term for verbage that leaves the speaker with a lot of wiggle room. Kinda like ‘It depends on what your definition of IS is.’
It appears a driveby drove by our site and saw something he liked that didn’t involve dudes-in-dresses-in-the-ladies-room:
Embattled N.C. Republican Party Chairman Hasan Harnett said Tuesday that he’s in the “final stages of consummating a reconciliation document” with other party leaders to end months of infighting.
But party leaders say they’re not close to an agreement and still plan to vote on removing Harnett at a committee meeting April 30. About 200 of the 550 members of the party’s Executive Committee have signed an impeachment petition.
The conflict has hurt fundraising and harmed the party’s reputation in a crucial election year.
Harnett is the party’s first black chairman. He was elected last year with Tea Party support, beating a candidate who had endorsements from nearly every GOP statewide elected official.
Harnett’s proposed “peace accord” was sent to party members and posted Tuesday on The Daily Haymaker, a conservative blog.[…]
And while Harnett says he’s close to an agreement to end the feud, he also posted an eight-minute video statement Tuesday that blasts party leaders and two former chairmen.
“No one would want to be treated the way I am being treated,” Harnett says in the video. “The Central Committee has made me nothing more than a telemarketer that calls and begs for money.”
Harnett said he has apologized to other party leaders in the hopes of coming together. “My apology was met with more divisiveness and hatred,” he said in the video. “I am not going to resign. I am not going to sit down and shut up.”
Addressing criticism of his fundraising, Harnett said his predecessors – former chairmen Claude Pope and Robin Hayes – caused the party to go into debt, and he blasted Pope for taking a salary as chairman.
Pope said Tuesday that the party was “never in debt” during his tenure, and that when he left office last June, the NCGOP had $300,000 in the bank.
“This shows his lack of political skills,” Pope said. “You don’t reconcile by beating somebody over the head with a video.”
[…]
Pope’s language here is an example of the weasel words I referred to earlier. He denies ever being in debt, but insiders tell me Pope, Hayes and just about every other chairman prior to Harnett had regular periods where they had to go beg big money folks across the state at crunch time just to make the monthly payroll. *It must be nice to have cousin Art standing by to cut a check with a lot of zeroes whenever you need it.*
It may be true that $300,000 was in the bank at the end of his term. THAT could have come from the RNC. or from legislative caucuses, who have since pulled their money from the party and put it into ”affiliated committees.” But if you — at the end of the month — are calling guys with fat wallets frantically seeking money to pay your staff., you fit the criteria of being flat-ass broke. You ARE in debt.
Claude had his cousin Art and his friend Robin, among others, standing by ready to help. Now, Claude and his buddies are sitting on their hands whenever Harnett finds himself in a similar situation.
(Oh, guess who Pope supported in the last race for chairman? )
If the criteria being used to condemn Harnett was being used even-handedly, Robin Hayes should have been fired well into his first year as chairman. This is all about (1) revenge for Craig Collins, and (2) fulfilling the needs of the RNC on their whole open convention gambit for the presidential race. It’s not about me and you. It’s not about the good of the GOP.
I do not think this has anything to do with Collins. We, the voters & delegates are not getting the truth. We deserve the truth and need it before convention.
Act like big boys and girls and put this issue to bed NOW. EVERYONE involved is now looking like a bunch of pompus, crooked, thieving, lying bunch.
Legislators were on the convention floor scared that collins was going to loose and that they had to get there money out of the state party
You are right it is not about collins it is about how the person they had crowned chairman somehow lost the vote… But they always have plan B or C or D to keep there power and then gov gave the loser a judicial appointment so yep collins is not the issue any more he is taken care of the corruption in the party is the problem and has been growing in the party during the last 4 or 5 chairman at least way before the current chairman was ever elected
The excomm members need to see the big picture when they are asked to say yay or nay this really has nothing to do with the chairman and everything to do with the future heart and soul of the party
It is a factional power play and always has been. Sour grapes over the Collins loss is what drove it originally and still motivates some of the ringleaders.
The knives were out for Harnett from the beginning. Part of the power play was to try to marginalize him by stripping the normal powers of a chairman, and they started that as soon as he was elected. They also want to marginalize the grassroots which is the reason for both the grossly excessive $90 registration fee for the business session at the convention and the elimination of registration at the door.
Harnett fought for the interests of the grassroots and that is what really irritates the establishment thugs.
These power bullies play rough. The last Legal Counsel only lasted one meeting because he was intimidated by personal and professional threats to force him to resign. That is how they got their bully boy Stark in. The power bullies did not want an objective legal counsel, but wanted their own hack instead and pulled out all the stops to get him.
Do not expect them to play fair on April 30. They have already shown they play dirty by setting the meeting for a day that they knew their target, Hasan Harnett, was scheduled to be out of the country on business. They knew that since January.
and by setting the meeting to start so early in the morning so that it will make it hard for members of the board to be able to drive that morning and make it on time
There was one meeting in December 2012, (I think it was at the Embassy Suites in Cary) that started around 10 or 10:30 AM on a Saturday Morning.
I think the reasoning for the 10 AM start time, is that the last Central Committee meeting which discussed the Hassan Harnett Situation ran from 2 PM to 9:30 PM, so I think the NCGOP wants to avoid going deep into the evening with the April 30th meeting.
Bobby Crawford
District 7 Executive Committee Member 2012-2014
From the very beginning Hasan failed to understand the relative roles and responsibilities of the chairman, Central Committee, and Executive Committee under the party’s Plan of Organization. He attempted to usurp the authority of the ED (Todd Poole) resulting in his resignation last August. Then he failed to recognize that the PoO gives the responsibility of hiring a new ED to the Central Committee, so he called an ExComm meeting to “elect” a new ED. This gross ineptness resulted in a marathon meeting on Sept 26th. But even before the meeting began he sent out an email to all ExComm members claiming that he was being conspired against. This is a theme he has played ever since to shift responsibility for his shortcomings. ExComm members saw this again at the Jan 9th meeting when Hasan and Rufty attempted to chair the nearly five-hour meeting, but had to be rescued by those who have at least a rudimentary knowledge and experience with Robert Rules. It was painful to see our chairman struggle with such lack of self-awareness. It is Hasan–not the Central Committee–who has been abusing his authority. In spite of his good intentions with regard to the convention fees, defiance of a 27-2 decision of the Central Committee, is a clear violation of the POO and an abuse of the chairman’s authority.
”authority of the ED”????? The ED is only the hired help to carry out policy set by the convention, executive committee, central committee, and chairman. He is only the hired help, and has not mandate to set policy, only to do the nuts and bolts things to carry it out.
Todd Poole started the controversy you mention by hiring two people who he knew the grassroots would strenuously object to. Harnett was a little slow initially on the uptake, but once he figured out what was going on, tried to stop it. Poole was deliberately stirring trouble, given the outcome of the convention, with those hires.
Traditionally, the ED has been recommended to the Central Committee by the chairman, and thus they are able to work closely together. In this instance, the Central Committee has done all it could to set up the ED as a power rival to the chairman. They had to know that hiring someone who had been a Karl Rove go-fer would not sit well with the grassroots, so they were thumbing their nose at the grassroots as well as at Harnett. This was all very deliberate.
As to the convention registration fees, this was a deliberate attempt by the Central Committee to make a factional power play to suppress the delegate votes of the grassroots and was done in total bad faith. The POO does not specifically say who has the power to set those fees or even provide for those fees at all. The Central Committee just grabbed that power based on one of Stark’s distorted rulings that took a POO provision out of context. Stark has been nothing but a factional hack, not a neutral and objective Legal Counsel.
Harnett tried to thwart a factional power play by the Central Committee, using a better interpretation of the POO than that used by the Central Committee.
There has been a very deliberate campaign here to destroy the chairman and disenfranchise the grassroots.
Claude Pope did all he could do to help Hasan, a lot of folks did.
This is just sad. I know y’all ain’t going to want to hear that but I always try to give it straight on here.
Help him to ‘obey’ the establishment, which he would have no part of. This is all because Harnett won’t play by the rules which the status quo has laid out. People have gone to Harnett and demanded that he start obeying them, sure. Unlike you, I do not consider that to be a good thing.
This is about the chairman following the rules. The rules that are laid out in the plan of organization that are adopted each year at the state convention. He doesn’t seem to get the fact that he can’t just go out and do whatever he wants. He has to follow the rules, and if he has not or can not, he needs to go.
The Central Committee is often not following the rules. Their hack of a Legal Counsel, Stark, twists the POO any way he likes to turn it on its head. They are trying to make the executive director the key leader of the party instead of the chairman The chairman is the party’s elected leader with a mandate from the convention while the executive director is only the hired help.
Then there is Cumbie’s idiotic comparison of the party structure to a business corporation, which would fundamentally transform the way the party has always operated.
Glen, all of the state party officers and most of the district chairs supported Hasan last June. But through his ineptness and unwillingness to learn the job of chair of the party–as laid out on the Plan of Organization, he has lost their confidence. This is just sad, but more than that, it is impacting the ability of our party to provide the infrastructure and support our candidates need.
It seems that we didn’t so much elect a chairman last June as an idea. The idea was that anyone who wasn’t beholden to the “establishment” was the better choice because he would be more likely to be responsive to the grassroots of our party. Unfortunately, that has not been the case. Hasan is being responsive to one district chair, and ignoring all of the other folks we the people elected last year to lead our party. This is not a grassroots movement.
Trying to block headquarters hires of people connected to obnoxious liberal consultants was standing up for the grassroots, and was the very first thing that the establishment faction on the Central Committee had a dispute with Harnett about. Those hires were highly controversial with the grassroots and were an outrage coming just after the convention put the grassroots in power.
Trying to stop an outrageous and excessive convention registratioin fee that was designed to suppress the delegate votes of the grassroots was also standing up for the grassroots.
Where Harnett has had friction with the establishment clique on the Central Committee has been where he has stood up for the grassroots when the ED or Central Committee was taking an action that was very hostile to the grassroots.
I would like john steed to identify who “they” are. From what I have heard and seen the entire Central Committee did all they could to help Hasan but he only listened to Daniel Rufty. People offered to write his “scripts” for when he chaired Executive Committee meetings and he refused. Hence when he did chair them they quickly disintegrated into chaos as he does not know what he is doing. He has no idea of the Plan of Organization, he does not know Roberts Rules nor does he listen to his appointed parliamentarian. .He is a nice guy but not a leader and it is time for him to go.
I am not John Steed and all I know about John Steed is below………. BUT the more important question is who is Sunny Gal – We assume you are a Gal and your name might or might not be Sunny – you want someone to identify themselves here and you also post under a alias???? really ?????
————————————————————————————————–
John Steed is the central protagonist in the 1960’s British spy series The Advengers
————————————————————————————————-
The closest thing I know about Sunny Gal would be Sunny Delight and that is it not real orange juice
I asked ol hound about it, ‘Who is that Gal?’ Humm, ol hound says K.C-W.
I asked ol hound about it, ‘Who is that S. Talker?’ Humm, ol hound says B.P.
Who the hell is BP?
Look, I’m not hear to shift someone’s view or try to argue. I come on this site, and you can review the history of my posts, to lay it out truthfully as I see it. 9 times out of 10, again review my posts, I’m right…
Sinny gal da socialist also likes Burr, Elmers, Tillis, and the rest of the lieing RINOS who have done nothing but LIE the past 7 years. GTH!
Sinny do you feel that way because you are a liberal/socialist?
It is mighty obvious that the establishment, and their puffed up vassal District Chairpersons on the Central Committee, really have no qualms about undoing the will of our last Convention just before this year’s Convention during a Presidential election cycle
Now, who is it that is lacking leadership and judgment? It’s well past time for our party leaders to start acting like grown people.
Facing the consequences that are the destination of the road we are now on strongly suggest that the different sides of this conflict have completely different motivations. Could it be that wresting establishment control of the Party and defeating conservatives is worth absolute disaster in the elections? This episode and a long train of other abuses tell us it is so.
My question, posed to the Chairman and many of my peers, is why the Head of State, the Govenor, hasn’t gotten involved behing the scenes and resolved these differences. Based on the most recent Elon poll I think he needs to help heal the party so there is a party, grassroots included, to help re-elect him this November.
I doubt the will of last year’s convention was for our chairman to attempt to overthrow decisions of the Central Committee (comprised of the slate of officers nominated by Hasan the next day, and district chairs elected at conventions last April), run off our experienced ED (who Hasan told me he intended to keep), and run to the media to embarrass and defame the NCGOP by alleging conspiracies against him by other party officers and staff. He campaigned on broadening our reach, and bringing us together.
It is worth noting that Hasan’s margin of victory last June was very slim. Weighted 4100/3800 (in round numbers), which equates to 40-50 in raw delegate votes out of some 1300 votes cast. He has surely lost the confidence of many since then.
The problem is that the Central Committee has gone off on a power trip, trying to marginalize the chairman, while putting the executive director at a level of power unprecedented in the NCGOP. That is ass backwards. The chairman is the top elected officer of the party with a mandate from the convention. The executive director is just the hired help. The Central Committee has also sought to grab power that belongs to the Executive Committee like setting the convention registration fee.
The former executive director was a qualified and well thought of person, but after the grassroots won the convention, he started to try to undermine the chairman and then resigned. The current executive director is an unqualified goober whose only qualification seems to be a willingness to take orders from the power clique on the Central Committee and ignore the chairman.
As to the district chairmen, they showed their true colors when they voted to keep themselves in office on the old district lines instead of using the Presidential year conventions to reorganize the districts under the new lines, as has been done in the past. They want power, not what is best for the party. Using old district lines will mean the party structure will be useless for Congressional races this November.
The campaign to reverse the outcome of the convention started right after Harnett was elected. This is not about ”mistakes” Harnett made but about a factional purge from the establishement. Everyone from party activists to the media see the big picture on that.
I reiterate the sentiments from my previous posts. The GOP wonders why longtime members are leaving the party? We’re sick of the corruption, backbiting, name-calling and general bad behavior that is getting in the way of the real issue, which is the November election. The GOP leadership is so busy with mudslinging that they have forgotten their purpose of getting Republicans elected to office. Kind of gives you a big clue as to why Donald Trump is leading at the polls, doesn’t it?
I am sick and tired of reading about this. It’s nothing more than a bunch of political mobsters lashing out because their iron-handed leadership has been thwarted by the grassroots. At this point, if the party can’t get its act together, perhaps they ALL need to resign — the committee members and the chairman — to allow for new ones appointed from a committee of the grassroots. Perhaps new leadership can actually get something done before most of the party members pack their bags and leave for the ranks of the unaffiliated and possibly taking their votes with them.
I for one am very relieved that this disfunctional organization and its petty ruling elite did not receive any money from me this year. I really wonder what value the party has anymore – aside from spreading money around to political consultants and media liasons.
If their recent behavior in NC is any indication, the party is useless. Removing your membership and refusing to donate to this dysfunctional group is the best way to get their attention!
No, that’s been tried by many and it hasn’t proved to get their attention at all. A friend of mine had this idea he told me the other day…everyone departing the NCGOP should walk in the door of the Libertarians. That Party is a ghost town now but it is ballot eligible. We could have the run of the place and the sudden growth of the new party should scare the ncgop in a way that going Unaffiliated won’t.
Well, I for one, will not vote for corrupt Republicans in November.
I’d just assume vote for the destructive Democrats and kill the state faster. It would be quicker to recover from a fast disaster than a festering one.
Don’t go away mad; just go away. That is exactly what we in the chosen few want all of you unwashed masses of the so-called ”grassroots” to do. We do not need you or want you. Go spin your wheels as an Unaffiliated, but just leave us alone.
Why do you think we put in that huge registration fee? It is to run you little people away. And why do you think we are going to kick out the chairman you little people elected? You people are just too stupid to fight back.
We are waiting for the end of today, so we can see that we have succeeded in railroading the convention. Unlike previous conventions where delegates could register at the door, on this one, if you do not register by the end of today, you cannot register. We know that you conservatives and grassroots will not bother to go online to our party site and pay that high fee to register. We will get our way at the convention. Karl Rove will be so proud of what we have done for him. Just imagine who we will nominate at the national convention!
Well, I don’t know if I’ll be going away or not. But, on voting day any contest with an unacceptable Republican on the ballot will not get my vote. A Libertarian vote would require less pressure clamped on my nose.
You people try to make this about Hasan Harnett personally, but this is really an attack on the grassroots. The establishment wants its power back.
It was Dallas Woodhouse who was improperly letting his favored candidates use party resources in the primary, which is totally improper, not Harnett. And those favored candidates were the establishment candidates.
Those of us in the grassroots don’t have a lot of trouble in figuring out who is targeted by those ultra high registration fees for the business session of the convention. It is as plain as the nose on your face.
Nobody believes your side’s crap about this being personal about Hasan Harnett. Even the media has figured that out. You people are whistling past the graveyard of the November elections in your all out factional war on the grassroots.
It has come out that you want to put an establishment figure in after you remove the chairman. That is the bottom line about what it is all about – the establishment taking power back.
Get stuffed!
As a point of fact, the petition was not to remove Chairman Harnett, but to meet to discuss doing so. At least one Executive Committee member I spoke with expressed a desire that the charges have a fair hearing in the light of day and in accordance with NCGOP’s rules.
The Central Committee has shown little regard for rules, and has acted contrary to how they have demanded that County and District GOP Executive Committees handle similar situations.
I did hear that a Central Committee member spoke before the Beaufort County Republican Executive Committee last week. My source said he didn’t get the reception he probably expected, and that there was a lot of skepticism from members, especially when his accounts of events at the last state convention conflicted with the experiences of some on the local committee that were participants at that convention. Some on the local committee walked out at that point. According to my source the CC member’s charges against Harnett were real weak. He concluded that he didn’t think the Central Committee had ANY intention of bringing this mess to a productive end. He said it seems to be all about power and that they (Central Committee et al.) are fully committed to this power play.