Student Voting and the Local GOP

In yesterday's Mountain Times, Watauga County Republican Chair Denny Norris complained about a flyer handed out on the ASU campus which said "Republicans Don't Want Students to Vote. So Why Would You Vote for Them?" Mr. Norris thought the flyer was quoting NC Senate candidate David Blust. Actually, it was quoting Republican "campaign manager" Lauren Cehula, a hired gun that the local party brought in from out of state.

Norris "took issue with the card's implication that Blust's comments came from the entire Republican Party. The distortion of the comment's context was tantamount to a lie, Norris argued." (The video of Blust's notorious statement about student voting, in front of a student audience, can be accessed here.)

Mr. Norris is a nice man, and he does good works for the community. But when he spoke to the MtnTimes reporter, he was himself ignoring a good deal of context:

Following his loss in the County Commission race of 2004, Allen Trivette did up his famous bumperstickers: "SHAME ON YOU ASU." Fellow defeated commissioner candidate James Coffey, Republican Party officer Karen Wilson, and other leaders of the party were all saying very much the same thing: ASU STUDENTS SHOULDN'T BE ALLOWED TO VOTE.

At what point did this attitude NOT become the official position of the Watauga County Republican Party.