The Return of John Blust

 

Photo by Andrew Krech

John Blust was a member of the NC House representing a Guilford County district for some 18 years, until he decided not to run again in 2018. He had been an honest thorn in the GOP's backside -- emphasis on honest. In 2013, when Republican leaders were in the process of rushing through a bill to simply fire all the existing members of several important regulatory commissions and boards, John Blust stood up and shook his head: "I don’t like this idea. We have the power, but I wish we would be more careful with it." (John's brother David Blust served several terms on the Watauga County Commish.)

In 2015, when Sen. Trudy Wade tried to gerrymander the city council of Greensboro so Republicans could take over, John Blust blasted the bill in the House: "You all know it is wrong for a city of 285,000 to have a form of government put in place by one person." Ouch. Wade's manipulation bill got voted down in the House.

In April 2018, John Blust, who had already announced his projected retirement, stood up in a committee meeting and asked why the Devil Republican legislative leaders were even discussing seizing another appointment power from the Governor -- the right to appoint district and special court judges to vacated seats. “Why are we competent to make this kind of decision on appointing judges?” Blust asked. “Why do we want to take on one more thing that may not be an area we have expertise when we claim we have limited time, and we can’t get to so many important subjects because of that limited time?”

So John Blust has announced a return to politics, and he's already bucking like a maverick. Blust announced for the newly drawn HD 62 last November (leans Republican by 53%) and told the Greensboro News & Record that "his opposition to including casino authorization in the state budget and to the potential de-annexation of land in Summerfield by the legislature helped lead to his decision to run again." In other words, he'll be the death of Phil Berger's ultimate goal of putting more casino gambling in North Carolina.

Who's John Blust Running Against in the Republican Primary?

Britt Moore, an older gentleman and a long-serving at-large member of the High Point City Council, he boasts that he's the only candidate to be endorsed by retiring John Faircloth, whose Dist. 62 was redrawn. I'm guessing he may be the frontrunner.

Ann Schneider, an older woman and an Oak Ridge town councilperson and mayor. She's kind of transparent: "Other priorities she’ll be stressing on the campaign trail include parents’ rights, creating excellence in schools and providing North Carolinians more school choice – helping make schools 'free from political indoctrination.' ” Oh, okay. We see you.

Jaxon Barber, young, clean-cut, white guy, and "Above all else, I am a Christian." "It is time to pass legislation to end abortion at any stage of pregnancy." He actually says that on his website.

Michelle Bardsley, a middle-aged woman, "education leader and teacher with over 16 years of service in K-12 public education" (according to her website). She takes the same route as Ann Schneider above: "She has the commonsense to protect NC children from dangerous ideologies (CRT), indoctrination, and inappropriate sexual content in our schools" (Bardsley website). That bogeyman is just too handy!

John Blust Stands Up Again

Justin Burr

Republican John Blust has spent one term as an NC senator and nine consecutive terms in the NC House, and though he's a good Republican soldier, he's also perfectly capable of being mavricky and pissing into the wind on occasion. He warned his House colleagues in 2013 about hubris, not that they were listening. He also vehemently denounced Republican Senator Trudy Wade's attempt to gerrymander the Greensboro city council in 2015.

Friday John Blust, who's not running for reelection and so what the everlasting hell?, stood up in a committee meeting and asked why the Devil Republican legislative leaders were even discussing seizing another appointment power from the Governor -- the right to appoint district and special court judges to vacated seats? (Special judges handle complex business cases and more, and though the governor’s appointments are subject to lawmakers' confirmation, Republicans want more.)

Rep. Justin Burr, a Stanly County Republican and chair of the House Special Committee on Judicial Redistricting, called the special meeting last Friday. Burr, an Albemarle bail bondsman, has been leading the effort to change election districts for judges across the state, and he'd also like to seize the power of appointing some judges. What could possibly be in it for a bail bondsman?

Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/article210061849.html#storylink=cpy

John Blust, last Friday, on the subject of hubris:

“Why are we competent to make this kind of decision on appointing judges” Blust asked. “Why do we want to take on one more thing that may not be an area we have expertise when we claim we have limited time and we can’t get to so many important subjects because of that limited time?”

Blust knows that only a few Republican leaders -- including presumably Justin Burr -- would actually be making those judicial appointments, if they're taken away from the governor. We know who “holds most of the cards,” Blust said. Everybody knows it. Phil Berger, Tim Moore, and their boys.

According to reporter Anne Blythe, John Blust invoked the virtues of democracy itself: “The governor’s one person, but he’s elected statewide,” Blust pointed out. Who elected us? Blust might have continued, in our gerrymandered districts? The people spoke. They wanted this governor to make those appointments, in keeping with the powers granted by the state constitution. Who are we to seize that power?

Anne Blythe: "The committee ... left on Friday without making any recommendations or scheduling any more meetings." Maybe because John Blust stood up?

"Republican legislators have seen more than a dozen of their unconstitutional laws overturned in court, so now they want to handpick their judges," Ford Porter, a spokesman for Cooper, said in a statement after the meeting. "Legislative Republicans should respect our state’s Constitution instead of repeatedly working to inject partisan politics into our courts. "

An Unexpected Republican Retirement from NC House

John Blust

John Blust, Republican member of the NC House (District 57), has just announced that he will not be running for reelection this year. That suddenly opens the door a little wider for Democratic challenger Ashton Clemmons (who was written about here on February 1).

That retirement seems like a pretty big deal and it comes rather late, on the opening day of filing, which means Republicans in Guilford County may be scrambling about now.

While John Blust retires, his brother David Blust intends to take another shot at Watauga County commission. He'll be running against Democrat Larry Turnbow, who beat him in 2016.

More Democratic Challengers for the NC House

The filing period to run for office in North Carolina opens February 12th at High Noon and closes on February 28th, also at noon. It's going to be one of the most exciting periods in North Carolina political history and very interesting to watch.

Here are three more new Democratic candidates who have announced their campaigns this week. They deserve our appreciation! And our support.

Lowell Simon, running in the 52nd NC House District

Lowell Simon

The 52nd District takes in part of Moore County including the towns of Aberdeen, Southern Pines, Pinehurst, and Whispering Pines.

Incumbent Republican: James ("Jamie") L. Boles Jr. was first elected to the House in 2008 and currently serves as deputy majority whip. He is a funeral home owner and was criticized in 2015 for introducing a bill in the House that would benefit funeral home owners. Internal disputes inside the Moore County Republican Party, largely between country club and Tea Party factions, can get vicious, and Boles has been regularly sneered at as insufficiently conservative. Boles was a major recipient of American Petroleum Institute money in 2014 around the time the General Assembly was opening the state up to fracking. Boles is susceptible to the charge of political corruption in other areas, as he pushed a sweetheart rezoning into a "local bill" for an out-of-county developer. In other words, the man has a record. He's also not even had Democratic opposition in the last three general elections.

Democrat Lowell Simon became this week the first Democrat to run for this seat in ten years. He is a recently retired high school math teacher, a profession he came to late in his career after many years in business. First in New York state and then in North Carolina, he managed chains of convenience stores. He was vice president of operations for Quick Chek, a chain of about 30 convenience stores based in Troy, which brought him and his family to Seven Lakes to live. He later bought into Southern Pines based Fuel Mate, which had six BP stores. During his time teaching math at Union Pines High School, the superintendent tapped him to start an entrepreneurship program for students. "Simon has served on the boards of Philip Morris, RJ Reynolds and the North Carolina Council on the Holocaust. A political appointee of three different state House speakers from both parties, he has helped draft key legislation, including the formation of the NC Lottery .... He currently serves on the boards of Moore Regional Hospital and Moore Forward, and is president emeritus of the Sandhills Jewish Congregation."

Simon doesn't yet have an on-line fundraising ability, but he has a mailing address.

Ashton Clemmons, running in the 57th NC House District

The 57th includes a portion of Guilford County and much of the city of Greensboro, but which district map will be in use in November is currently anybody's guess.

Ashton Clemmons

Incumbent Republican: John Blust is a high-profile (and sometimes "mavericky") member and has held his House seat (which used to be District 62 and is now District 57) since 2001. He had previously won a seat in the NC Senate but soon lost that to Kay Hagan. He says he was recruited in 2000 by the Republican leadership to run against a less-conservative incumbent Republican House member, so he has a reputation as a doctrinaire conservative (but he has criticized the high-handed methods of the Republican leadership after the Republicans took control of everything in 2013). In 2016 he jumped into the very crowded Republican primary for the newly formed 13th US Congressional District, and after he was eliminated in the March primary, he went on to run for reelection to his House seat. He's the brother of Watauga County perennial candidate and sometimes county commissioner David Blust.

Democrat Ashton Clemmons is a career educator and current assistant superintendent of the Thomasville City Schools. She announced her candidacy back early in December. Clemmons was born in Alamance County and graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill as a NC Teaching Fellow. She was a classroom teacher in Durham and Guilford counties and went on to earn a Master’s in School Leadership from Harvard University. She then served as principal of schools in Rockingham and Guilford counties, where she led the turn-around of one of the state’s lowest performing schools before becoming assistant superintendent in Thomasville. She was selected as one of the Triad Business Journal’s “40 Leaders under 40” and has also been honored by the United Way with its Human Rights Advocate award. She says, “As an educator, mother and lifelong North Carolinian, I believe that our state owes every child a chance at success, and strong public schools are the foundation of that promise. The North Carolina I grew up in led the South in keeping that promise, and I see the progress slipping away. North Carolina deserves leaders who will join together to take our state forward — improving schools, expanding job opportunities, protecting our environment and ensuring basic rights, including fair voting districts and laws.”

If you would like to contribute to the Ashton Clemmons campaign, here's the on-line tool.

Bastards Grab Power in Greensboro

Illegitimate power, illegitimately achieved.

Four sitting minority members of the Greensboro city council are now forced to run against one another as Greensboro's city government is "redistricted" to suit Republican Sen. Trudy Wade, in a process that blocked the wishes of the actual residents of Greensboro, not to mention their elected representatives in both city government and in the North Carolina General Assembly. (Rep. John Blust gets credit for standing up to his fellow Republicans.)

The power grabs in cities, the high-handed mucking about in local issues, and arrogant seizure of process so that no actual citizens have a fighting chance to choose their own course of action ... this is the contemporary Republican Party in North Carolina -- a circle-jerk of super jerks bent on seizing everything they can while they can.

The Lord Voldemorts who run these plays have drawn their own legislative districts to keep the very possibility of change completely beyond hope ... they think. How long are the citizens going to allow this?

Rep. John Blust Goes All Gentler, Kinder

Rep. John Blust, elected to the NC General Assembly from the Greensboro Dist. 62 (and brother of Watauga County Commissioner David Blust), gave an interview to reporter Joe Killian of the News&Record that is potentially going to get him stigmatized as fatally weak-kneed when it comes to political jihad.

Blust said repeatedly in the interview that he didn't want to criticize Republicans in the General Assembly, and he made it clear that the legislative activity of the new Republican majority was A-Okay with him, but he couldn't help suggesting that the manner of operation throughout 2013 was ... wait for it ... just as bad as when the Democrats did it.

The mythology of the victimized ... that what we went through in the minority was akin to the martyrdom of the saints. Which naturally justifies turn-about slaughter of the pagans. John Blust admits that he didn't have the stomach for it, that he blanched at what he saw Thom Tillis and Phil Berger and the other Republican honchos doing throughout 2013 to ramrod and bully and squelch dissent.

John Blust says if reelected to the NC House, he'll be seeking a leadership role. But he may have just rendered himself ineligible.

A GOPer Cautions His Party in the NC General Assembly

Rep. John Blust of Guilford County (brother of David Blust of Watauga County) warned his colleagues about hubris on the floor of the NC House yesterday.

Republican leaders were in the process of rushing through the bill to simply fire all the existing members of several important regulatory commissions and boards. Blust complained about the rush, the failure to follow procedure, the arrogance that has been a feature of the General Assembly since early in January:

"I don’t like this idea, 'Well we have the power, let’s go ahead and do it,' " he said. "Just because we have power we need to be judicious with it. I wish we would be more careful with it."

"The people have the right to yank us in two years and put someone else in," he added.

Video of Blust's remarks:

First, We'll Count the Chaste, and Then We'll Count the Bodies

In the debate in the N.C. General Assembly on whether parents of high school kids should get the option of putting Sally & Joe into "comprehensive sex ed" classes or into "abstinence only" classes or into study hall, where there'll be no info whatsoever about anything (the Healthy Youth Act, H88, would establish that parental option), some Republican members couldn't tolerate the thought of free choice:

Guilford Republican John Blust accused his fellow House members of living "on Fantasy Island…with Tattoo and Da Plane," for thinking more information would lead to less sexual activity. But supporters say the educational change is less focused on curbing teens' sexual activity (which they're obviously engaging in, anyway) than on making sure they don't get pregnant or ill as a result of it. (Via Laura Leslie at Isaac Hunter's Tavern)

While you absorb the political outlook that would sacrifice young lives for the sake of theology, Rep. Mark Hilton (R-Catawba) "argued the only people who want comprehensive sex ed are liberal fringe groups."

This is part of the reason the Republican Party is so robust and successful right now.

North Carolina Teens Talk Sense, But Republicans Won't Listen

A group of North Carolina teenagers visited the N.C. General Assembly and talked to legislators about the reality of their lives ... that "abstinence only" sex education is no education at all, and as a result, many of the state's teenagers have a "dangerous" lack of knowledge. The teenagers were advocating for a bill currently being considered that would establish a two-track option for parents: either keep their children woefully ignorant in abstinence-only programs or allow them "comprehensive" sex education.

While the students were visiting the legislature, a House committee voted to pass the proposal, with all the Republicans (naturally, dude!) voting against giving parents the option.

Rep. John Blust of Greensboro spoke for many of his Republican colleagues, holding high the banner of ignorance: expanding the sex education curriculum, saith Blust, would give schools license "to mention things way out there that are properly discussed at home, if at all."