The Dickheads in the General Assembly Escalate Their Dickishness

Tim Moore and Phil Berger intend to put themselves in control
of every goddamn lever of power in North Carolina

So you saw it coming, right? The Republicans are reconvening the General Assembly today at noon in a super urgent special session for the sole purpose of messing with the November ballot a little more, because they're afraid that information about their true designs is leaking out to the voting public.

It's all about those six constitutional amendments they rushed through the GA a few weeks ago. Those contain a one-two-three punch of "suppressing the vote, picking their own judges, and appointing their own regulators" (Ford Porter). If passed, those amendments will constitute unprecedented destruction of the whole fabric of the separation of powers in this state.

Their justification for this special session? Rep. David Lewis of Lillington has been the prime mover. He chairs the Rules Committee and is responsible for all sorts of past innovations including voter I.D and the miracle of gerrymandering. Lewis actually wrote to Speaker Tim Moore, in words on paper, his barefaced motives for wanting a special session: “It appears that the Commission [charged with writing amendment descriptions for the ballot] may be falling to outside political pressure, contemplating politicizing the title crafting process, including using long sentences or negative language in order to hurt the amendments’ chances of passing."

Let's clear that up: "A special session is needed to keep my party’s politically motivated amendments from being politicized" (Ford Porter).

Secretary of State Elaine Marshall, who chairs the Constitutional Amendments Publication Commission and is a Democrat (clearly "the enemy" to David Lewis), wrote a strong rebuttal to the representative's presumptions and suspicions:

... I was astonished this weekend to find out that Representative Lewis has cast aspersions on the upcoming meeting of the Constitutional Amendments Publication Commission ....

... the Commission scheduled a meeting on July 31st to provide simple and commonly used caption language well ahead of that deadline [Aug. 8]. Any assertion to the contrary is false. In fact, Representative Lewis’s proposal for a special session will take much longer and cost the taxpayers a whole lot of money.

Second, I have had no outside groups or pressure tactics aimed at me or used against me. None. If either of the other two commissioners have received such pressure, they have not indicated such to me. In any case, I am publicly stating it has not happened to me. 

Third, the Commission’s job is not to promote or oppose proposed amendments. The Commission did not write these amendments and takes no position on them. It has not asked the voters to approve or reject them. In fact, it is the General Assembly that wrote them, approved them, and has now asked the voters to change our North Carolina Constitution by adding them....

You can read Marshall's entire backbone-of-steel letter here.

In an interview with WRAL's Laura Leslie, Tim Moore hinted that seizing the power to write amendment captions may not be all they intend to grab: "Tim Moore says they may also take up a bill requiring a majority vote for a judicial election, which looks suspiciously like a response to the fact that another Republican candidate has entered the 2018 Supreme Court race in which incumbent R Barbara Jackson is trying to hold onto her seat. 50 percent would force a (low-turnout, base-driven) runoff if Earls doesn't get a majority vote the first time. Shenanigans, anyone?"

They keep trying new shit. They never stop. The voters must stop them.

Goodbye, Rep. Millis

NC House member, Republican Chris Millis of Hampstead, the idiot who tried to start a movement in the General Assembly to impeach and remove Secretary of State Elaine Marshall, has himself fallen in the weeds. He suddenly announced his retirement because -- you guessed it -- he wanted to spend more time with his family. (Totally not making that up.)

His lust for impeaching Secretary Marshall, based on bad and misunderstood information, had earned him nothing but jeers and face-palms from both sides of the aisle in the GA.

What Happens When Our Republican Overlords in Raleigh Get Bored With Their Usual Power Grabs

Chris Millis

So this young warrior of the Republican right wing mainstream, Chris Millis, has decided that Secretary of State Elaine Marshall needs to be impeached, and he's got 20 of his fellow Republicans on the House Rules Committee to go along with an impeachment resolution against one of the best, most dedicated, most competent members of the Council of State. The whole NC House will have to vote on this waste of time, and if the others agree, it'll be the first impeachment proceeding in the state since 1870.

Millis is alleging massive malfeasance against Marshall, claiming that she's allowed all sorts of illegal immigrants to become notaries of the public. Marshall fires back that Millis doesn't know what he's talking about, doesn't understand the legal procedures she follows, and is conducting a political attack for purely partisan advantage. Which he is.

Millis first launched his attack on Marshall back in March, after he says he "came across an article" which made suggestions about Marshall's administration of her office, and Millis called a press conference to make allegations. Very prominent at the press conference was the man Marshall defeated for reelection last November, Michael LaPaglia, who had made similar allegations against Marshall in last fall's campaign.

Political attack? Ya think?

An Upside to the 2nd Primary?

Not my usual line of thought, but Gary Pearce, with loads more experience in this venue, has a valid point.

Unity and Disunity

Me likee the slide show of the Democratic senatorial unity rally on Wednesday in Raleigh following Elaine Marshall's decisive 2nd primary win.

Compare and contrast with Machine Gun Tim D'Annunzio's attitude toward the man who beat him in the Republican 2nd primary in the NC-8 and toward the Republican Party generally (not to mention the godless Democrats!). Apparently, the apocalypse is upon us.

Elaine Marshall Surges Against Burr

Rasmussen polling -- Rasmussen! -- finds that Elaine Marshall got a big bounce from that awful, hideous, wasteful 2nd primary. She is now dead even with Sen. Dick Burr. Whaaa?

Dick Burr's got all that money. But sometimes buckets of money can seem like exactly what they are ... proof that a politician is bought & paid for.

Sez Rasmussen:

Another concern for Burr is that incumbents who earn less than 50% of the vote at this stage of a campaign are considered politically vulnerable, and no incumbent has been reelected to the seat [Burr] holds since 1968. The incumbent may benefit, however, from the fact that the political environment is very difficult for Democrats this year.

That last point is a pretty blunt instrument, Mr. Pollster, when the actual "political environment" might more accurately said to be "very difficult" for incumbents. Most of whom are Democrats, granted. But not in the case of North Carolina's senior senator.

Just sayin'.

2nd Primary

Cal Cunningham lost to Elaine Marshall. No surprise.

Machine Gun Tim D'Annunzio lost to Harold Johnson. No surprise.

But Bernie Reeves lost to Bill Randall in the NC-13 Republican run-off, which was something of a surprise to those of us who read Carter Wrenn. Wrenn, who was a major synapse in Jesse Helms's brain trust, had been railing against Randall as a fake, a man who plagiarized and fluffed his resume. We knew Randall as the dude who suggested that the Deepwater Horizon disaster was planned by Barack Obama and BP. Randall was the darling of religious conservatives and tea partiers.

If Carter Wrenn represents in any way the old Republican establishment in NC, then the Tea Party defeated the Republican establishment yesterday in giving Bill Randall the nod to go up against incumbent Congressman Brad Miller in November.

Fritter Fest

Thank Gawd it's over today, this monumental waste of time, energy, and money.

oh ouch

The very sharp Laura Leslie of North Carolina Public Radio and Isaac Hunter's Tavern was particularly pointed late last night following the Elaine Marshall/Cal Cunningham senatorial candidate debate on WRAL:

The only thing I learned from tonight's Dem Senate debate is that neither candidate is ready for prime time yet.

Now Is the Time for All Good Men To Come to the Aid of Their Party

Cal Cunningham immediately called for a run-off election against Elaine Marshall because she didn't make the 40% threshold, though she beat him yesterday by almost 10 percentage points in the primary.

If Cal Cunningham sees his shadow on May 4th, it means seven more weeks of campaigning?

Wish he hadn't done that. The tide is running against him, and in the estimation of most of the pundits who count beans, he can't win. He can only sap, drain, and delay. And this ain't the season for that.

We saw Cal early last year as a bright and rising star, and we liked him very much. Then he started dating the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) and went from rising star to parser of policy (a.k.a., tool of the establishment).

He should have a bright future in NC Democratic politics, but not if he only saps, drains, and delays and becomes the clod in the churn. His bright young staff people and volunteers could instantly find berths with other campaigns and continue to hone their skills, but not if they're going down with this ship.

A second primary is a waste of money, time, and talent.

Elaine Marshall Takes Note

U.S. Senate candidate Elaine Marshall did a live chat on Crooks & Liars last Thursday, and during it she had a question about the 5th District:

Q: Have you met Billy Kennedy, the Democrat running against Virginia Foxx, in the northwestern part of the state? And if so, what do you think of his chances? Will your race against Burr help him?

Marshall's response: I met Billy right before last Christmas. I am very impressed with him and I understand he is doing a lot of great online organizing. If Virginia Foxx keeps doing what she does, he might not need much help. But aside from Virginia, I believe I can energize our base to get out and vote and help attract unaffiliated voters that want to get things done in Washington.

Depending on the outcome of the May 4 primary in the Senate race, these two may be leading the ballot in the 12 counties of the 5th District.

Which is just fine with us.

In the Face of Conventional Wisdom

Nate Silver, the Numbers Nerd at fivethirtyeight.com, the man who has called more races right than anyone else we know, crunches the math for North Carolina and declares that the U.S. Senate race against Dick Burr "winnable with a tip-top campaign" and that -- surprise! -- "Elaine Marshall looks like the best candidate."

There are gonna be some NC politicos and young turks howling over that one.

Uh-Oh

Newest U.S. Senate candidate Cal Cunningham sez he applauds Obama's Afghanistan surge. Rival U.S. Senate candidate Elaine Marshall, not. Elaine Marshall supports a public option reform for health insurance. Cal Cunningham, not so much, deigning to admit only that he'd vote to let debate go forward.

Whaaa?

Those are some clear distinctions in the upcoming N.C. Dem primary, differences that don't in our mind tilt in Cunningham's favor.

In fact, Campaign Diaries is driven to perhaps the unkindest comparison one could make at this time: Is Cal Cunningham shaping himself to be North Carolina's Creigh Deeds, the recently defeated Dem candidate for governor of Virginia, who failed miserably to ignite his own base?

Thanks to the heavy thumb of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, Cal Cunningham today looks less like an attractive insurgent than like the good ole boys' boy.

Elaine Marshall on Afghanistan Surge

Elaine Marshall, one of three Democrats announced who say they're running in the 2010 Democratic primary to challenge Sen. Dick Burr, issued a statement on President Obama's decision to send 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan:

I acknowledge that there are no easy answers in Afghanistan and I respect the time and consideration that the President took in making his decision. However, I disagree that now is the time to commit 30,000 additional men and women to prop up a corrupt government that has shown no real effort to reform itself. The mission that we are about to undertake has too much to do with building a nation that has not had a stable or responsible government in decades and too little to do with keeping us safe at home.

Cunningham Won't Run

Cal Cunningham, prominently mentioned this year as another possible contender for the Democratic nomination to take on Dick Burr in the 2010 Senate race, posted on BlueNC late last night that he's decided it's not the right race nor the right time.

Leaving Elaine Marshall and Ken Lewis still definitely in.

And Bob Etheridge, congressman from the NC-2 who voted FOR the Stupak amendment on Saturday, is also still considering a run. We'd advise against it.

Dick Burr, Wrong for N.C. in So Many Ways

The Senate Guru lists "Eight Ways Richard Burr Displayed Poor Judgment, a Lack of Integrity, and Utter Contempt for Others." Let us recite some of the ways:

2) Richard Burr Lied About Supporting Additional Funding for the Successful "Cash for Clunkers" Program

Promised he would vote for an additional $2 billion, money already appropriated in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, but then voted "nay."

3) Richard Burr Voted to Keep "Being a Victim of Domestic Violence" as a Pre-existing Condition Worthy of Denying Insurance Coverage

It's just a basic fact that women have more "pre-existing conditions" than men. Whattya gonna do?

6) Richard Burr Is a Shameless Hypocrite When It Comes to President Obama's Economic Stimulus Bill

Voted against President Obama's stimulus plan as "wasteful" spending, then shows up for the photo op and takes credit when money gets handed out in N.C.

8) Richard Burr Ordered His Wife to Make Some Notorious Trips to the ATM

Everyone's most memorable Burr is the Burr with inside knowledge about an impending bank crisis who was generous enough to let all us ordinary people know about it. No, wait. This is the Burr who sent his wife to grab what she could before the rest of us depleted the cash pool.

There is more in this vein at Senate Guru.

The most recent and perhaps the most outrageous example was Burr's vote against the Franken amendment to a defense appropriations bill that would ban federal funds going to companies (like Halliburton) that require arbitration in the case of sexual assault, rather than allowing a raped woman to seek redress through criminal court proceedings. The measure passed 68 to 30 with all the Democrats and all the Republican women voting for the Franken amendment. Burr was one of the 30 Republican men who were much more concerned about protecting no-bid contractors than protecting the rights of women.

Glad to see Elaine Marshall out this a.m. with a statement condemning this last vote by Burr. Meanwhile, Burr is scrambling to explain it all away, kicking up a small cloud of dust that the amendment doesn't really do women any good and, by the way, some of his best friends are women.

Elaine Marshall Is In

N.C. Secretary of State Elaine Marshall has filed paperwork to create a campaign committee for a run for the U.S. Senate seat currently warmed by Dick Burr.

This announcement will probably clear the field of many potential rivals, as Marshall will be formidable in any primary.

She has, for example, been consistently the top Democratic vote-getter in Watauga County whenever she's on the ballot.

Cal Cunningham

There's chatter this a.m. over at BlueNC about Cal Cunningham, who's obviously itching to get into the Democratic senatorial primary for a chance to face "Bank Panic Dick" Burr, the Invisible Senator, next year. A whole host of possible candidates -- including Cunningham, Elaine Marshall, Dennis Wicker, and Bob Etheridge -- are waiting for Sen. Robert Menendez, head of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, to tap the DSCC's pick, since a lot of money and tactical support would come with the tapping. Coronation by the DSCC would also winnow the field pretty quickly.

We've had a chance to meet and hear Mr. Cunningham speak a couple of times recently, and we're impressed that he would take the fight to Burr and is probably best equipped to generate enthusiasm among that newest Democratic demographic, the 18-30 age group. He's honing his attack on Burr and drawing the necessary distinctions.

Chuck Schumer, head of the DSCC two years ago, picked Kay Hagan to run against Liddy Dole. Robert Menendez will do the picking this year. It's not necessarily the way we'd like to see our senatorial candidates picked, but that's the way it is. Period.

Senate Guru profiles the four "most likely" Democrats to get into a Senate primary race next year to challenge Sen. Dick Burr.

Four? Add Chapel Hill Mayor Kevin Foy, sez Senate Guru.

She'd Be the Instant Front-Runner

Elaine Marshall, North Carolina's excellent Secretary of State, sez she's not ruling out a run for U.S. Senate against Dick Burr.

"It's on my radar screen," Marshall said. "I have not excluded myself from that."

She'd have the name recognition, not to mention the political moxie, to dominate the projected rivals who have been mentioned so far.