Crazy-Acting Michael Speciale in the NC House Gets a Democratic Opponent

Michael Speciale

Republican Michael Speciale was first elected to the NC House in 2012, representing Beaufort, Craven, and Pamlico counties (House District 3). He has often teamed up with that other crazy-acting House member Larry Pittman to propose embarrassing legislation. In February 2017, Speciale and Pittman teamed up on an amendment to the NC Constitution to allow the state to secede from the Union, and in April of 2017 he and Pittman proposed a law declaring gay marriages in North Carolina, whether they were performed in-state or anywhere else in the known universe, illegal and illegitimate, the US Supreme Court be damned!

NC House Speaker Tim Moore, a house-broke Republican who knows not to pee on the furniture, decided the law against gay marriage was a bridge too far, and he killed it (by referring it to the Death Chamber, a.k.a., the Rules Committee) before it reached the floor of the House.

Speciale made vicious fun of the people taking part in the massive Women's March on the day after Trump's inauguration, and when the Raleigh News and Observer reported his Facebook posts, Speciale made vicious comments about fake news and the "snowflakes" infesting his sunny world.

But nothing captured the Speciale personality like his comments in his first year in Raleigh about First Lady Ann McCrory's favorite anti-puppy-mill law requiring commercial breeders with 10 or more female breeding dogs to provide the dogs with the American Kennel Club's basic standards of care, like food and water, clean bedding, daily exercise, and veterinary care, and humane euthanasia when needed.

In the House floor debate, Speciale couldn't contain his nastiness: " 'Exercise on a daily basis?' " Speciale sneered at the language of the bill. "If I kick him across the floor, is that considered daily exercise?" Speciale continued: " 'Euthanasia performed humanely' – so should I choose the ax or the baseball bat?" Ann McCrory was sitting in the gallery of the House at the time. Later Speciale declared on Facebook that he "will not succumb to political correctness."

He won't succumb to basic humanity either, apparently.

Speciale has a Republican primary opponent this May, Eric Queen, a retired career Marine who explicitly

Charles Dudley, outside the New Bern
BOE

denounces extremist views on his website. We'll see if that gets him anywhere in the contemporary North Carolina Republican Party, won't we?

Democrat Rev. Charles Dudley of the New Beginnings Ministry of Faith in Havelock filed for the seat on February 16. New Beginnings, a non-denominational church, is located practically at the gates of the Cherry Point Marine Corps Air Station: "Our mission is to reach the lost, give every person a New Beginning in life, teach the saved by the Word of God, equip the saints for the work of the ministry, and reach the world through the mission field."

After filing to run in New Bern, Charles Dudley spoke to supporters outside the Board of Elections office. He described himself as “strong, fair, and compassionate.” He said he considers taxes as investments, and more investment should be made in education, especially in teacher salaries. He said more of the tax dollars paid by Craven County residents should be invested in Craven County. He also promised to represent all people in his district equally. “Every one of our 83,000 residents [in this district] is worth investing in,” he said.

House District 3 is almost 20% black and over 90% decent human beings (I bet!) who might in a Blue Wave year want a compassionate Christian representing it in Raleigh.