Tillis Comes Out for the Business of Marijuana

 

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) told the Green Market Report, a pro-marijuana publication, that he supports creating a “comprehensive regulatory framework that treats marijuana just like tobacco,” arguing that “the federal government needs to figure out a safe way to allow this market to occur.”

That's actually solid conservative philosophy -- let the market govern.

But it again puts Tillis, who's already been censored by the NCGOP for suspiciously moderate views, waaay out there compared to his North Carolina brethren, who won't even enact a very strict joke of a medical marijuana law.

Sometimes Tillis just surprises us.

The Case Against Mark Robinson

Social conservatives swooned over [Mark] Robinson because he is adamant about gun rights, opposed to abortion rights, critical of gay and transgender people, skeptical about the Civil Rights Movement and willing to say that public school teachers are indoctrinating children with liberal ideology.

--NewsAndObserver Editorial Board, 30 July 2024 

While they were swooning, they certainly had their eyes closed to the sketchiness of Robinson's past brushes with the authorities. He has been evicted for nonpayment of rent, declared bankruptcy three times, and failed to file federal income taxes for the taxable years 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, and 2002. "Robinson and his wife ran a Greensboro child care center in the early 2000s that was cited for a raft of violations. Those violations included claims that the center presented falsified documents showing that staff had passed training requirements and criminal background checks. DHHS took no further action after Robinson and his wife gave up the business in 2007."

The more recent revelations about Robinson and his wife Yolanda Hill's nonprofit, Balanced Nutrition, documented that the couple "collected roughly $7 million in government funding since 2017, while paying out at least $830,000 in salaries to Hill, Robinson and other members of their family." Some of that "employment" looks like it was essentially under the table. The state Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) announced that Balanced Nutrition (Yolanda is CEO on the paperwork) must repay $132,000 for disallowed expenses submitted to a federally funded child care meal program. "The causes of the overcharges are suspicious. In one case, Balanced Nutrition billed the government for more than $10,000 for food and related items it purchased for Gingerbread Learning Academy in Fuquay-Varina, but the child care center says it did not receive any resources from Balanced Nutrition."

When Balanced Nutrition came up for audit a couple of months back, Yolanda Hill abruptly closed the business, mouthing what has become the company line -- that Balanced Nutrition is being targeted for political reasons and only because Yolanda is married to Mark. Mark, of course, has echoed that red herring -- apparently, North Carolina has its own Deep State that is targeting Robinson. Robinson, for his part, added pathos: "Robinson says shirking his obligations is some sort of everyman trait, just the financial bumps and bruises endured by all people of limited means. He says in a recent campaign ad, 'I’m running for governor because we deserve to be represented by someone who’s actually lived like us.' ”

The Editorial Board of the News and Observer responded:

[No!] Most people don’t live like Robinson. They pay their rent. They pay their debts. They pay their taxes. And when they are questioned, they come forward. They don’t stonewall or repeatedly walk away from what they owe.

Chronicles of Cat Ladies

 

The State of NC Women's Health Options, Post Dobbs

 

The latest action in Federal Court last Friday:

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A federal judge ruled Friday that a provision in North Carolina's abortion laws requiring doctors to document the location of a pregnancy before prescribing abortion pills should be blocked permanently, affirming that it was too vague to be enforced reasonably.

The implementation of that requirement was already halted last year by U.S. District Judge Catherine Eagles until a lawsuit challenging portions of the abortion law enacted by the Republican-dominated General Assembly in 2023 was litigated further. Eagles now says a permanent injunction would be issued at some point.

But Eagles on Friday restored enforcement of another provision that she had previously blocked that required abortions after 12 weeks of pregnancy to be performed in hospitals. In light of the 2022 U.S. Supreme Court decision that overturned Roe v. Wade, she wrote, the lawmakers “need only offer rational speculation for its legislative decisions regulating abortion.”Unlike challenges in other states like South Carolina and Florida that sought to fully strike down abortion laws, Eagles' decisions still mean most of North Carolina's abortion laws updated since the end of Roe v. Wade are in place. GOP state lawmakers overrode Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto and enacted the law in May 2023 . It narrowed abortion access significantly from the previous state ban on most abortions from after 20 weeks to now after 12 weeks. The hospital requirement would apply to exceptions to the ban after 12 weeks, such as in cases of rape or incest or “life-limiting” fetal anomalies.

But here's the bottomline according to the AP:

Unlike challenges in other states like South Carolina and Florida that sought to fully strike down abortion laws, Eagles' decisions still mean most of North Carolina's abortion laws updated since the end of Roe v. Wade are in place. GOP state lawmakers overrode Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto and enacted the law in May 2023 . It narrowed abortion access significantly from the previous state ban on most abortions from after 20 weeks to now after 12 weeks. The hospital requirement would apply to exceptions to the ban after 12 weeks, such as in cases of rape or incest or “life-limiting” fetal anomalies.

 That's an issue for the ballot box this November.

Alas, Don Davis

NC Congressional District 1, newly gerrymandered, used to be a safe Democratic seat, and had belonged to venerable G.K. Butterfield since 2004. A first attempt to gerrymander what had been a majority Black constituency caused Butterfield to announce in late 2021 that he would not run again because his old district had become unwinnable. But ... oops. The courts got involved, and the district was redrawn by a special master and became the Democratically leaning district that Don Davis won with 52% of the vote in 2022. We could have guessed what was coming. The Republicans map-drawers got unleashed again by the very partisan NC Supreme Court and redrew CD1 again in 2024 so that now the district is considered the only true "swing district" in North Carolina, which some commentators say leans slightly R but Dave's scores it at 50.9% D to 47.7% R.

Don Davis, Democrat

Young Don Davis is one of seven Democratic congressmen from North Carolina, and he looks to be in some trouble with a rising Republican star (recently designated a new Republican "Young Gun") running against him. To complicate his life, Don Davis may have alienated some Black women in District 1 (which is 40.5% Black) by siding with Congressional Republicans to denounce Kamala Harris. Oy.

Davis was one of only five Democrats who voted last Thursday for the Republican resolution that condemned Vice President Kamala Harris for her work on immigration policy. Then within 24 hours on Friday, Davis publicly endorsed Harris, the last North Carolina Democratic Congressperson to do so. Denounced her on Thursday. Endorsed her on Friday. Did something happen?

Davis's rise in Democratic politics has been impressive. He was the youngest mayor ever in the little town of Snow Hill. He served in the Air Force and rose to the rank of captain. Well educated at the Air Force Academy and at Central Michigan University and East Carolina University, he went on to teach Aerospace Studies at East Carolina. Altogether, he spent 20 years teaching at various levels. His interest in politics became pronounced in 2004 when he actually filed to run for the CD1 seat -- which was open at the time -- in the Democratic primary, but he dropped out before the vote, which G.K. Butterfield won in a landslide. Davis came back in 2008 to win a seat in the NC Senate (Dist. 5, Pitt, Wayne, and Greene), lost it in the Tea Party wave of 2010, but came back in 2012 to run again in a newly redrawn district, won and went on to serve in the Senate through 2022 as a conservative Dem. He decided to try again for Congress when Butterfield retired, and he won against conservative firebrand Sandy Smith. This year marks his first reelection bid. 

Davis is a senior lay-minister in the same Presbyterian church he grew up in. Which perhaps explains his religiously motivated vote for S359, the anti-abortion bill "that would criminalize doctors, shame patients, and disproportionately impact black women." Gov. Cooper vetoed it. Davis then committed the sin that is greater, he helped the Republicans override the governor's veto. The House at that time couldn't override, so that veto of that abortion bill held until 2023, when Tricia Cotham jumped the carousel and provided the vote in the House to make abortions more restrictive and to subsequently override the governor's veto.

Don Davis also broke ranks to vote for the Republican budget in 2019, allegedly because the Republican oligarchy earmarked dollops of over $400 million for several mainly Black districts. Political bribery. But painful as it sometimes is, I certainly prefer a Democrat in CD1 to the Republican alternative.

Laurie Buckhout, Republican

Buckhout is one of 26 Republican candidates nationwide recently designated a Republican "young gun" by the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC). Being a "Young Gun" gives Buckhout access to mentors, support, and tools from the NRCC. "Buckhout, 62, of Edenton, is a retired Army colonel who created Corvus Consulting, a business specializing in electronic warfare and cyberspace operations. She sold the business for $43 million only seven years after launching it." (NandO)

In keeping with the whole vibe of The He-Man Woman Haters Club, or at least the virus of trumpism that has become the sum and substance of the NCGOP, Buckhout is "A Conservative Who Will FIGHT." Fighting, promising to fight, itching for a fight. That's the prevailing meme, and Buckhout fits right in with the boys, relying heavily on her experience commanding 800 men in combat in Iraq (according to her introduction video). She's genuinely earned her warrior status through family genes: 

[Buckhout] follows a long line of combat veterans, including her Infantry Colonel father, her Army Air Corps Flight Nurse mother, her grandfather, her uncles and multiple other relatives. Laurie’s husband Paul, a West Point graduate and Army Infantry Airborne Ranger, is also a retired officer from a family of combat veterans stretching back to the French and Indian Wars of 1754-1763. (website)

She's formidable, and she's apparently had Democratic oddsmakers in DeeCee spooked since before the March primary, which Buckhout won over the more wingnut crazy Sandy Smith by a comfortable margin, despite the best efforts of at least one ill-advised Democratic PAC who ran ads saying Donald Trump had endorsed Smith in the primary. He had not, though he endorsed her for the same seat when Don Davis won in 2022. The Rolling Sea Action Fund was forced to take down the ad, though they continued to try to help Smith, who lost anyway. Buckhout crowed that she had "owned the Libs," a phrase that belongs usually to the cliched fringe of that party.

She's Trump all the way and will be bad news for never resisting the overtures of the strong man.

Cool Cat

 

Looks Like Fraud, But Let's Call It Messy Paperwork

 

Gary D. Robertson reporting:

RALEIGH. N.C. (AP) — North Carolina state regulators now declare a nonprofit run by the wife of North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson must repay over $132,000 for what they call disallowed expenses while carrying out a federally funded child care meal program.

The state Department of Health and Human Services revealed a larger amount in a Friday letter to Yolanda Hill following a compliance review of Balanced Nutrition Inc., for which Hill is listed as owner and chief financial officer. Robinson, who is also the Republican nominee for governor this fall, worked in the nonprofit years ago before running for elected office, according to his memoir.

Hill previously announced she was shutting down the nonprofit's enterprise and withdrawing from the Child and Adult Care Food Program on April 30. But state officials had already announced in March that the fiscal year's review of Balanced Nutrition would begin April 15.

The review's findings, released Wednesday, cited new and repeat problems, including lax paperwork and the failure to file valid claims on behalf of child care operators or to report expenses accurately. The program told Hill and other leaders to soon take corrective action on the “serious deficiencies” or regulators would propose they be disqualified from future program participation.

The state health department said on Thursday that the Greensboro nonprofit also owed the state $24,400 in unverified expenses reimbursed to several child care providers or homes examined by regulators in the review.

But Friday's letter counted another $107,719 in ineligible claims or expenses that the state said was generated while Balanced Nutrition performed administrative and operating activities as a program sponsor during the first three months of the year. Forms signed by regulators attributed over $80,000 of these disallowed costs to "administrative labor" or “operating labor.” The records don't provide details about the labor costs.... [Hill's daughter was working for the nonprofit]

Balanced Nutrition, funded by taxpayers, has collected roughly $7 million in government funding since 2017, while paying out at least $830,000 in salaries to Hill, Robinson and other members of their family, tax filings and state documents show.

 

Grudge Juice

Vance, who at the time had not yet officially launched his 2022 Senate campaign, suggested that the country needed to "reward the things that we think are good" and "punish the things that we think are bad" -- before suggesting that individuals without children should be taxed at a higher rate than those with children. (ABC News)

“You want me to pay more taxes to take care of other people’s kids?” asked Dave Portnoy, the founder of Barstool Sports, who has become the personification of the male-dominated “bro culture” that populates much of the Trump movement. “We sure this dude is a Republican? Sounds like a moron.” (NYTimes)

J.D. Vance as a child

I've had a grudge against J.D. Vance since 2016 when I first heard his name lifted up as the author of something called Hillbilly Elegy, which was getting praise all over the media but great condemnation among my friends and associates in the "Appalachian studies" movement, who had themselves unearthed and advanced (exponentially since the '60s and '70s) the real history of America's easternmost mountain range. Historians especially, the true elite of the academic world, were merciless in their dismantling of Vance's argument that -- bottomline -- the destitute poor of Appalachia are responsible for their own pain.

So I never read the book. I trusted the reviews of my friends, the way I'll decide which movie I might never go out of my way to see, because the reviewers I most respect said it stank. I was out of AppStudies, doing politics instead, retired already 16 years from editing The Appalachian Journal, and I had no particular business getting myself involved. I refused to watch the subsequent Ron Howard movie based on the book, which got an ever more vicious working over by many national critics. I had written a whole book on Hollywood's treatment of mountain people and actually find it easy to avoid the topic altogether when it comes to bad movies.

So J.D. Vance is having his day. But his history has found him, and I'm marveling at the extent of his weirdness. And hypocrisy.

J.D. Vance in 2016

This is just nuts:

Vance aides had no response to a proposal floated by Mr. Vance in 2021 to give parents more weight and a louder voice in American democracy by granting children the right to vote, with their votes controlled by their parents.

Vance's own reproductive performance -- he has three children -- has altered his brain chemistry, possibly, to explain his weird notions about fertility and performance. Every woman, apparently, has no choice but to produce children or suffer opprobrium:

His past comments deriding “childless cat ladies,” supporting a “federal response” to stop abortion in Democratic states and promoting a higher tax burden for childless Americans have yielded a chorus of criticism from Democrats. Mr. Vance’s fresh efforts to explain them have provided Democrats more material, with the Harris campaign promoting one short clip in which he seems to suggest that when he spoke of childless cat ladies, he meant no insult to cats — “I’ve got nothing against cats,” he said.

The weird twists to his clearly honest, spontaneous pronouncements ought to be a signal that maybe the "world" Vance saw in Hillbilly Elegy ain't the real world, nor certainly the total world of any contemporary culture.

One of the Most Endangered Democrats in the NC House

 

I wrote about NC House District 73 (Cabarrus Co.) the day after the fall elections of 2022, when Democrat Diamond Staton-Williams won an open seat and flipped the district blue:

Democrat Diamond Staton-Williams has apparently edged out Republican Brian Echevarria by 425 votes. I gotta eat crow on this one. I didn't give Staton-Williams much credit. For sure, I thought Echevarria would win easily in a red wave, and I sure am glad there was no wave and hope that Staton-Williams' slim margin holds.

An edge of 425 votes now seems like a luxury. Staton-Williams' district has been gerrymandered into an R+3 situation. The Rs forced more of Rev. Larry Pittman's old turf in Cabarrus on Staton-Williams, so that Dave's scores her jiggered district now at only 44.6% D to 53% R. A very difficult piece of math.

[NOTE: Every foreshadowing of how this 2024 election will go has to start with the possibility of a genuine Blue Wave in 100 days, when 6-point advantages suddenly disappear, when new or infrequent voters come out of their bubbles and fight their way to the polls, and when more Rs than anyone predicted, especially suburban Republican women, abandon their party.

Diamond Staton-Williams, Democrat, incumbent

Before her election in 2022, Staton-Williams had been a member of the Harrisburg Town Council and a nurse. Harrisburg (pop. 20,000) is essentially a suburb now of Charlotte, very near Charlotte Motor Speedway and 13 miles to the center of Charlotte. 

Staton-Williams has always been a working mom, with three kids (only 1 still at home). but look at her deeds (info from her business site, DSW Consulting):

...received her ADN from Presbyterian Hospital School of Nursing in Charlotte, NC in 2003 where she served as the President of the Student Nurses Association. She went on to receive her BSN in 2006 from UNC Greensboro. In 2010, Diamond completed her Master’s in Healthcare Administration from Pfeiffer University. She is currently employed as a Director for the Outpatient and Community Care Management Department for Atrium Health and is Certified as an American Case Manager and Board Certified Nurse Executive....

....volunteer with the Cabarrus County Ombudsman program for Adult Care Homes, Cabarrus County Schools, NCNA Awards Committee, ANA Awards Committee, and the YMCA as a Camp Nurse for Camp Thunderbird. Diamond is also a Board Member of Daymark Services in Cabarrus County, the NC Nurses Foundation, and Communities in Schools Charlotte – Mecklenburg. She has been a member of the NCNA/ANA and ACHE.

DSW Consulting advertises "Nurse Leadership Consulting: Delivering comprehensive services to individuals and organizations encompassing leadership development, performance enhancement, succession planning, mentorship and coaching, and policy and advocacy initiatives." Looks professional.

Mr. Mean Eyes

Staton-Williams endured the verbal slurs of Rep. Keith Kidwell (of the mean eyes) during debate on the abortion bill veto override. When Staton-Williams grew tearful, confessing her own story as illustration of difficult decisions -- she'd grown up in the church, she said. From the sidelines Kidwell quipped, "She means the Church of Satan," loud enough for nearby staffers and House pages to hear him. Will Doran, the reporter for the News and Observer, also heard him.

She seems pretty competent to me, strong enough to stand up to the Keith Kidwells of the Republican caucus. She's a soldier and well networked through the community. She can make up for the new Republican lean of her district with aggressive voter registration (new and young voters especially) and targeted canvassing.

Jonathan Almond, Republican

Almond brags about his real world management skills, which appear considerable: "Jonathan has been the Controller of a management group operating 11 franchise restaurants [Smithfield’s Chicken N’ Bar-B-Q] since 2016. He successfully managed the business during times of prosperity and [through] difficult COVID-era shutdowns and recovery."

Also, incidentally, an anti-vaxxer. Anti-abortion, check. His adorable twin boys have "learning disabilities," so Almond pledges to maintain funding for special ed programs. Quotes Mark Robinson approvingly on how corrupted school curriculum has turned normal children into DEI and CRT robots. On his website, he's very prominently photographed with an AK WTF cradled in his arms.

His Twitter feed is his real index: It's all Trump or Trump branded shit, with some Mark Robinson thrown in. Say no more.

Naturally, They Want THIS Judge on the Case

 

I reported last October about several noxious laws the Republicans slipped into the state's budget bill, evidently hoping people wouldn't notice. We noticed. Among those terrible things, Phil Berger and Tim Moore gave themselves the power to pick 10 new "special" Superior Court judges -- no election or voice of the people required, just loyalty to the almighty power of the NCGOP.

That particular chicken has come home to roost. One of those 10 "special" judges became Clayton Somers, Speaker of the House Tim Moore's own former chief of staff.

Meanwhile, there happened a very contentious Republican primary in Rockingham County, where Phil Berger's planned gambling casino would have been located on land which had been conveniently (and just in time!) rezoned to allow for a gambling casino. One Republican county commissioner, Craig Travis, opposed all of the shenanigans, and campaigned against his fellow commissioner, Phil Berger's own son Kevin Berger. Travis almost beat Berger. Just 3 votes separated them when the dust settled.

Travis sued alleging that during the primary, other county commissioners and political organizations defamed him in attack ads stemming from his opposition to allowing a casino in Rockingham. So naturally, the defendants, including Kevin Berger, are petitioning to have the case tried by "special" Judge Clayton Somers, Tim Moore's BFF.

They don't even try to hide their corruption, nor mask it in any way. It's just business as usual. Give yourself the power to appoint the judges who will preside over your cases of corruption. The America of Donald Trump.

The 2024 Blue Wave Could Make House 25 a Democratic Flip

 

House District 25 (Nash County) northeast of Wake, is about as rural as you get. The biggest towns --Rocky Mount, Whitakers, and Sharpsburg -- are on or near county lines, so much of their population don't vote in the district. When I hear the county seat is Nashville, I always do a doubletake. "There's a Nashville, North Carolina?" It's pretty small. The district, which is entirely in Nash County, is 40% Black. Civitas calls it D+2. Dave's says 51% D.

In District 25, the Republican incumbent is going to be hard to beat, but a new Blue Wave brought on by the change at the top of the ticket could make the difference.

Allen Chesser, Republican Incumbent

Mr. and Mrs. Chesser with their five kids

Chesser is the Republican who beat Black Rep. James Gailliard in 2022. Gailliard had been part of the Class of '18 blue wave. He kept his seat through one reelection in 2022 and then lost it to Chesser in '24.

Chesser's campaign video -- currently pinned at the top of his FB feed -- is a professional production featuring glowing testimonials from some of the establishment in Nash County. Chesser also promoted Opportunity Scholarships (which benefit the most well-to-do people). 

Chesser is ex-military. He served in combat in Iraq as a turret gunner. After Iraq he transitioned to police officer, first in Nags Head and then in Raleigh. Then he went into business for five years as a bail bondsman. Then he became a computer technician and then -- now -- he's VP of Technology and Security for Carrolton Facility Maintenance in Rocky Mount. Emphasis on "security."

Allen credits his time as a police officer in South-East Raleigh for "opening his eyes to the struggles found within the intercity and igniting his passion to help; a passion that still drives him today" (website). That's not MAGA talk. Rather than culture warrior, he's all business and brags that he brought $55 million in pork to Nash. He's apparently a darling of the business community.

He's another youngish Republican candidate -- a second is Melinda Bales -- who keeps their distance from Trump and trumpism while adhering to an ethos of economic conservatism. Sure, Chesser and any Republican candidate down-ballot from Trump, is gonna salute the leader and show some visible enthusiasm for another Trump presidency, but they're not carrying any flaming torches and might actually hold back their allegiance in the coming Second Civil War. Chesser did post on Twitter that we ought to pray for Donald Trump/pray for America (e pluribus, mates!), but otherwise he doesn't indulge in any hot-button-pushing conservative memes. He's cagey about looking extreme, though he has been a big wig in the North Carolina Republican Liberty Caucus, a Libertarian-leaning PAC that endorses candidates whilst promoting "the ideals of individual liberty, limited government, and free market economics" (the chalice from the palace with the brew that is true).

Last March, Chesser faced a Republican primary with a Black woman, Yvonne McLeod, who had come close to beating him two years earlier in the Republican primary of 2022. Two years later, Chesser easily beats McLeod with 66% of the vote. McLeod had been led to challenge Chesser over the gambling casino fiasco. Nash was a target county for one of the four new proposed casinos pushed by Phil Berger. It would have been near Rocky Mount. Chesser was all in for that development, but that drew backlash from all sorts of conservative Republicans, who ran Yvonne McLeod against him.

Lorenza Wilkins, Democrat

His bio on his website contains a puzzling description of his current activities: he's "an equity-driven servant leader and inductee into the National Society of Leadership and Success," an honor society that gives scholarships to ambitious young people of limited means but doesn't appear to hire. Almost in the same sentence, he vaguely mentions "a career of advocating for education, small businesses, and our children," which I take means Wilkins lives on the slim operations budget of more than one non-profit. He eventually nails it down to "currently serving as Chief Officer of People and Culture at the Inter-Faith Food Shuttle." The Inter-Faith Food Shuttle is a charitable non-profit affiliated with the Feeding America National Network of Food Banks. "We recover and distribute food to our low-income neighbors, but we know putting food on a plate is not enough. We also provide programs designed to empower people with skills to meet their own food needs through culinary job training, beginner gardening, and cooking healthy on a budget."

Wilkins is a former student-athlete at North Carolina Central University and holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, a Master of Business Administration, and a Doctor of Business Administration from Columbia Southern University. He does go by "Doctor" on his website. He will compete with Republican Chesser for the mantel of business-friendly:

Dr. Wilkins is working to foster an environment where businesses continue coming to North Carolina, creating jobs, and increasing the quality of life for communities across our state.

The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee recently awarded Wilkins its "Spotlight" designation, which should provide a fundraising and advertising boost. But NC House Republicans are salting Chesser's coffers even more, setting aside over $500,000 to help keep Chesser in office. Wilkins' fundraising has been anemic. According to The Enterprize, "Wilkins trails Chesser by more than six figures in the money race," which can be a worrying signal of low enthusiasm.

There's social media evidence that Wilkins has some ground game going. If he can rally the Democrats and the progressive Unaffiliated, he has a shot, which would actually be vastly aided by an energing 2024 Blue Wave.

This New Josh Stein Video Will Air During the Olympics

 

Featuring Debbie Dalton of Cornelius, who voted for Donald Trump in 2020.

House District 35: Lawyer Vs. Lawyer

 

The shape of House Dist. 35 is a tale of political revenge (hattip Bryan Anderson). Terence Everitt, a 2018 blue-wave Democratic star held on to this seat through two reelections, through 2022, but in the process of doing his job, he couldn't help noticing the almost theatrical corruption of Speaker Tim Moore, so he wrote the Wake D.A., suggesting that "a probe" of Speaker Moore seemed more than called for. The Wake D.A., Lorrin Freeman, declined to take that up. So for Everett's trouble, Speaker Moore moved his office without warning to cramped space in the basement. Republicans weren't done punishing him. Destin Hall and his gnomes in the House Redistricting Committee gerrymandered Everett's district from what had been D+5 to R+5. Dave's Redistricting scores the district as 51.8% Republican. Civitas makes it R+3.) In frustration, Everett opted this year to run for an overlapping Senate seat, so Dist. 35 is an open grab for someone who brings energy and a persistent ground game. 

(With the sudden change at the top of the Democratic ticket, I predict renewed and possibly stunning energy in the grassroots for the Democrat.)

Evonne Hopkins, Democrat

"Evonne S. Hopkins is a North Carolina Board Certified Family Law Specialist and Certified Parent Coordinator licensed to practice in North Carolina, California, and the District of Columbia. Evonne earned joint JD/MBA degrees from the University of San Francisco in 2003 and a Bachelor of Arts (Honors) in Philosophy from Rollins College in 1998. She's got two decades of legal experience behind her, and is chief in her own legal business, the Raleigh Law Center, "a boutique firm that can help you and your family resolve complex family law issues. We have proven success record in all aspects of family law including child custody & support, alimony, division of marital assets and debts, domestic violence restraining orders, separation & prenuptial agreements. We also offer wills, trusts and estate planning" (Raleigh Law Center website). 

I particularly grooved on this assessment of Hopkins from that same website:

Never one to shy away from conflict, Evonne is known for her straightforward honest style, powerful advocacy and is considered a formidable opponent.

Gov. Cooper came to her kickoff event. She's been pretty good at fundraising, quickly lapping her Republican opponent, though he's been bestowed some $453,000 for TV by the Republican House caucus. Hopkins has done some convassing, and if she's not shy, there needs to be more video of her.

Mike Schietzelt, Republican

Schietzelt and some of his boys

Schietzelt is also an attorney (Duke Law) and an ex-Marine. The Marine part opens up a very interesting life story I quote at length:

As a young adult, Mike toured the world as a professional musician, performing in amusement parks and on cruise ships. In 2011, he enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps as a member of “The Commandant’s Own” United States Marine Drum and Bugle Corps. While stationed in Washington, D.C, Mike represented the Marine Corps before many of the highest ranking civilian and military officials in America, and he sounded Taps for military funerals at Arlington National Cemetery.

Random facts: He clerked for then-N.C. Supreme Court Chief Justice Mark Martin during the 2018-19 term. He's lobbied at the General Assembly for changes to criminal law (what changes, not explained), and is currently a civil litigation attorney with Michael Best & Friedrich LLP, a quite large firm with multiple offices.

I don't find a whiff of MAGA or trumpism in his social media. He seems attractively moderate, good for this north Wake district. He has four sons and looks to be a swell dad and family man, which also cannot hurt since his opponent might be a single woman.

Schietzelt's greatest liability may be his name, which has to go on a yardsign. He's lagged behind Hopkins in fundraising, but to the rescue comes the NC House Republican caucus, who announced they were funneling $453,000 into Schietzelt's TV budget.

Shelane Etchison Revs It Up

 

Shelane Etchison, the ground-breaking first independent candidate for Congress from a North Carolina district (CD8), released her first TV ad on the night of that disastrous debate performance by Joe Biden.

We had previously written about Etchison's campaign back in April.

Etchison is up against the veteran Republican Richard Hudson in the 8th CD. There's also a Democrat on the ballot who doesn't even live in the district. Most knowledgeable commentators say Etchison hasn't got a ghost's chance of winning, but in this year of surprises, I'm not about to count her out.

The Party Unifies

By Jack Yordy, guest-posting:

This past Saturday, July 20th, I went to the North Carolina Democratic Party Unity Dinner, along with 900 delegates, elected officials, staffers, volunteers, donors, and Democrats. The energy at the event was very positive, even before the news of Joe Biden’s exit from the presidential race. Democrats at the Unity Dinner were excited. The speakers, including our electric party chair Anderson Clayton, and the formidable former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, energized the crowd and reinforced our commitment to working hard and winning elections in 2024. Unity was the right word to describe the atmosphere. We knew the odds were tough and the road to winning would be hard, but together, we were ready for it.

The very next day, President Joe Biden announced his decision to drop out of the presidential election and the meaning of the word unity changed. Before, we were unified in our determination to beat the odds and fight what many were starting to believe was a losing battle. It was a convicted, resolute, stubborn unity, but not a very hopeful one. Today, we are unified not only in our convictions and fortitude. We are unified in hope. Democrats are feeling reinvigorated. We young Democrats in particular finally have a vision for the future, something to fight toward rather than against. 

The highlighted message of the Republican National Convention last week was that Donald Trump would be a new man, ready to unify the country. Of course, nothing new came from him at the RNC. He is the same man spouting the same hateful rhetoric. Before Biden dropped out of the race, Democrats couldn’t substantively dispute those claims despite Trump’s continued divisiveness. We were airing out all our dirty laundry for the world to see, riddled with panic and division over questions about Joe Biden’s capabilities. Now the Democrats are showing the world how unity is done. 

State delegations, elected officials, power brokers, and grassroots organizers have unified around Vice President Harris. The party is ready to make her the next president of the United States. Not just because we must beat Donald Trump, not just because we must beat Project 2025, but because she is capable of bringing our country into a new era of prosperity, progress, and, yes, unity. 

 

 

NC House 24: Democratic Star Takes On Republican Fanatic

 

NC House District 24 is another of those Democratic targets for a flip in 2024. It's the County of Wilson, including the county seat of the same name, and a little bit of Nash County. Civitas rates the partisan lean D+2. The incumbent Republican is serving his first term and may be the only Black Republican in the House. Dave's Redistricting measures Dist. 24 at 50.7% Democratic and 38.5% Black. The Democrat appears to be running a very strong campaign. Of the House races I've so far examined, this one looks the most promising for a flip.

[NOTE: But with the change at the top of the Democratic ticket, many tight districts have every chance of flipping in a new Blue Wave of 2024. That's what I'm predicting.]

Dante Pittman, Democrat

Pittman

Dante Pittman was chosen in its first fellowship cohort by Lead North Carolina, which raises money to put "promising recent graduates" into local government jobs. Here is Pittman's writeup:

Pittman served his fellowship in the City of Wilson while serving as a platoon leader in the North Carolina Army National Guard. He collaborated with the Visual Arts Committee at the Wilson Arts Council to promote arts in the community and designed a survey for a micro-transit program. Pittman played a pivotal role with the Gig360 young professionals network, a social organization for individuals dedicated to sustaining the Whirligig Park, networking, and growing a culture of young living in the community.

"Culture of young." The guy's well networked.

Before Leader North Carolina found him, Pittman was special assistant to the attorney general in the North Carolina Department of Justice. He earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from UNC-Chapel Hill with minors in history and military science. He was an inaugural member of the UNC Institute of Politics and served as state and local editor for the Carolina Political Review. He was also a cadet in the UNC Army ROTC program.

He's deeply embedded in Wilson community life, evidenced by his phenomenal success as a fundraiser for his campaign. Pittman outraised his Republican opponent Fontenot by more than 6-to-1, and entering July Pittman had $161,000 in the bank, roughly eight times what Fontenot had. (But never fear. The Republican House caucus has pumped over a half-mil into Fontenot's campaign to make up the difference. They do not intend to lose this seat.)

Pittman is an attractive candidate with an intelligent affect, nicely captured in this 6-minute narrative that he tells of his life story (video done for the Wilson Education Foundation):

Ken Fontenot, Republican incumbent

He ran as an unaffiliated candidate in 2018 (reportedly with the support of the state Republican Party), got over 49% of the vote, proving he could profitably run as a Black Republican after all, which is what he did in 2022 and won by fewer than 3,000 votes over Linda Cooper-Suggs.

Fontenot

Fontenot is a Chicago native and an ex-Marine. He left the Corps in 2014 to move to Wilson where he became a pastoral candidate at a church there, taught middle school for four years, and currently works as an insurance sales agent in the area. What makes him stand out -- and obviously won him the seat, but that was then -- is his chosen role as Mark Robinson Extremist 2.0.

During his 2018 campaign, he made a video on the “genocide of Black babies,” calling himself “a zealous defender of the family” and asked voters to “Help him stand against abortion” by “supporting and promoting family values.” He also responded to an NC Family Voter questionnaire saying that he supports banning abortion “once a fetal heartbeat is detected.” (NCVoices.com)

He voted for Senate Bill 20, which banned abortion in North Carolina at 12 weeks, and then voted to override Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto of the bill.

Extreme views on abortion played better before Dobbs. Now, maybe not so much. But is Dante Pittman mean enough to use the cultural lever against Fontenot?

Fontenot has not been shy about his extreme beliefs. Recently, he has started posting videos on TikTok where he provides hot takes on culture war issues, such as one video where he (without providing any evidence) claims that President Joe Biden and his administration are responsible for a nationwide crime wave – despite FBI data showing violent crime dropped by 49% from 1993 to 2022 and property crime plummeted 59% in that same period. Bureau of Justice Statistics shows a 71% drop in both types of crime from 1993 to 2022.

You can witness Fontenot's conspiratorial demeanor in a Facebook video. 

It's a New Day

 

I trust that Democrats will give Joe Biden a hero's send-off at the National Convention on August 19. He saved us from a horrible future in 2020, and he may have just saved us again from the same fate. Self-sacrifice is all too rare in the Age of Trump, and Joe Biden has shown that he's a man of courage and faith in the future. I admire him for the decision, which could not have been easy.

The path forward may prove complicated. I don't know, but our progressive outlook in North Carolina just shot up several points.

Two Women Face Off for the Open Seat in NC House 98

 

NC House District 98 is in far north Mecklenburg County, encompassing the towns of Davidson, Cornelius, and Huntersville and a lot of Charlotte suburbs. In the blue wave of 2018, Democrat Christy Clark took the seat, but Republican John Bradford took it back in 2020 by a slim margin and won it again in 2022 by an even slimmer 660 votes. Bradford opted last December to sign up for the Republican primary for the 8th Congressional District, losing to preacherman-with-a-shady-past Mark Harris. So the seat is now open for the taking. Civitas rates the district R+1.

Bales

The Democrats have a viable candidate in Beth Helfrich, who has a good shot if she's supported at the head of the ticket by an energizing presidential candidate. But Helfrich is facing an accomplished Republican woman who's an experienced campaigner. Helfrich is a first-time candidate.

Melinda Bales, Republican

Bales has been a Huntersville Town Commissioner and then Mayor for a total of 11 years. She touts her work on economic development/workforce development issues, transportation needs, and affordable housing. It's fair to say she's a "business Republican," which is at least "country club" adjacent. She serves on the Centralina Economic Development District Board of Directors, Centralina Connect Beyond Committee, MTC, and the Lake Norman Economic Development Board of Directors. She also serves as co-chair of the Lake Norman Education Collaborative which is the educational arm of the Lake Norman Chamber of Commerce. She doesn't look MAGA at all.  Her social media stays far away from Donald J. Trump, and she even celebrated Juneteenth on her FB page.

She's running as a "soft" Republican woman in a largely suburban district, which makes perfect sense. But in the NC House, will her moderation mean a damn thing? No. She owes her allegiance to the Republican caucus, which just announced incidentally that they're shoveling $475,000 into media for her campaign. Republicans intend to keep this seat.

Beth Helfrich, Democrat

Helfrich lives in Davidson, is a graduate of Davidson College, the mother of five children, very active in the community in support of the schools, and started her own editing business, Honed--A Writing Company, which helps business startups with their written communications. (Editors are among the unsung heroes of this or any world. She was an English teacher in public schools for over a decade.)

Helfrich has some boots on the ground with at least one big canvass announced for July. She'll need more.

Helfrich has been endorsed by Lillian's List and a bunch more progressive groups, and NC Dems Chair Anderson Clayton has stumped for her.

"Most Vulnerable Republican" in NC House May Not Be

 

Rep. Frank Sossamon

Anderson Alerts gave us a handy guide to "the most vulnerable" Republican House members in Raleigh. All things staying equal, knocking off just one of these sitting ducks would break the Republican veto-proof super-majority. ("All things staying equal," of course, if a forlorn hope, since there are several Democrats made very vulnerable themselves by the most recent round of gerrymandering. I'll talk about them later.)

Anderson fingers Frank Sossamon, who has served as rep in House District 32 only since January of 2023,  as the most vulnerable Republican this November. Sossamon is something of a big-wig in the International  Pentecostal Holiness Church, founded in 1911 out of "the holiness movement" with quickly bonded with "the pentecostal movement" of the 1920s. Sossamon is senior retired pastor of a church in Henderson, County seat of Vance Co. (Sossamon's district includes Vance and Granville up on the Virginia border north of Wake.) Since he retired from being an active pastor, he's working full time in the family's funeral home business (they own three). From the video I've seen of him, Sossamon is an affable guy, a straight shooter who knows how to handle diversity, nothing like a typical Southern bible-thumper, and it's telling that the church he pastored for over 30 years is a thoroughly multi-racial congregation (Vance County is almost 40% Black). 

In an historically Democratic district, Sossamon "eked out a win" in his maiden campaign in 2022 (he campaigned heavily in churches) against a Democratic opponent with a personal scandal in his past that exploded at the height of the campaign. District 32 had been a Biden +10 county in 2020, but with gerrymandering is rated for 2024 by the John Locke Foundation's partisan ratings as only D+4. Dave's Redistricting parses the district as 53.2% Democratic.

Other than his assumed apocalyptic End Times/Judgment Day druthers, Sossamon appears to be about as upstanding a community do-gooder as you could find (with a heavy dollop of law 'n' order). From his website: "...member of the Ethics Council at Maria Parham Hospital, former President and Board Member of the Henderson/Vance County Crime Stoppers for 30 years, a member of the Vance County Juvenile Crime Prevention Council, current President and Board Member of the Granville County Crime Stoppers for 10 years, and a member of the North Carolina Crime Stoppers Association Board of Directors...."

But Sossamon's religio rectitude caused him to buy into David Lane's particular brand of Christian nationalism (advanced by the American Renewal Project), so you might have expected him to introduce a bill to force hanging "In God We Trust" in big letters above the Speaker's perch in the House. (The Great Seal of the state -- you know, "Esse Quam Videri" -- presently hangs there.) Sossamon's measure passed the House but got hung up in the Senate. He's very willing to intercede for the local school systems, introducing one bill  -- which passed -- reducing the length of terms on the elected Granville County School Board and another giving flexibility to both Vance and Granville school boards to start their school terms as early as August 1st (bill had moved in the House before the session ran out of time). Interestingly, he introduced a bill to add Tianeptide, an antidepressant already not approved for use in the U.S., to the "controlled substances" list in NC. Is there an underground market in NC for Tianeptide? That bill made it to a second reading but was left dangling at the end of the session. His legislative initiatives aside, he's a loyal Republican soldier voting with his caucus, and you can rest assured that he is dead set against homosexuality and abortions.

In my view, he won't be easy to beat, possibly because he has gone about the job under his philosophy and lifestyle of pastoring, which means comforting the sick, visiting the poor, helping the wounded to find salve for their wounds -- genuine good deeds which he can brag about, and does. That plus the NC House Republican caucus is shoving over $400,000 into a media blitz to help Sossamon keep his seat (Anderson Alerts).

Bryan Cohn, Democrat

Cohn won a seat on the eight-member Oxford City Council (county seat of Granville) in 2021. He says he was motivated to run by the events of January 6th. His campaign website says that he's "a senior solution engineer working in food safety" (whatever the hell that portends). In another place, he sez he's "a dedicated professional in the agricultural industry," equally opaque. But clearly he's ambitious, running for a House seat almost immediately after winning his city council job, to challenge no less a first-term Republican who seems well positioned to win reelection, even in a D+4 district. All that "pastoring" that Sossamon brags about is good politics.

Cohn, as both a young man and a newcomer to the area, doesn't appear to have the community base that Sossamon has earned. So color me deeply skeptical that this seat can be flipped. (Unless something surprising and as yet unknown should reenergize Democrats.)

A Significant Development

 

Congressional Democratic leaders, Democratic candidates at all levels all across the country, and major Democratic donors are quietly -- occasionally loudly -- sending the message to President Biden that it's time to step aside and let a younger candidate turn the tide back against the would-be dictator. A phalanx of New York Times reporters, featuring Carl Hulse, Michael Schmidt, and Peter Baker, ran down in this morning's Times many of the thread-pullers who are attempting behind the scenes to unravel President Biden's determination.

I reported down-thread that the virtual roll-call of delegates that would cement Biden's nomination is supposed to begin August 5th. Putting that off sends a very clear message, doesn't it?

...Mr. [Chuck] Schumer [Senate Majority Leader] weighed in this week to appeal to party leaders to hold off on beginning a swift virtual roll call they had considered starting as soon as next week to cement Mr. Biden as the nominee, according to a person familiar with his thinking who insisted on anonymity to describe it. The Senate leader spoke with Mr. [Hakeem] Jeffries [House Minority Leader], and both agreed to push the party to put off the start of that process, according to a second person familiar with their involvement, who also declined to be named discussing it.

Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota, the co-chairman of the party’s rules committee, which determines when and how the nomination will proceed, called Jen O’Malley Dillon, the Biden campaign chief, on Tuesday afternoon to inform her that the roll call should be delayed, according to a person made aware of the call who described it on the condition of anonymity.

Bowing to the pressure, top Democratic National Committee officials announced on Wednesday that the virtual roll call would take place during the first week of August instead.

 

Money Isn't Everything, But It's Better Than Nothing

 

Article in yesterday's News and Observer highlights fundraising reports in the marquee NC House race between Democrat Nicole Sidman and turncoat Tricia Cotham:

Sidman, a congregational life director at Temple Beth El in Charlotte and the Democratic nominee for the southeast Mecklenburg County House District 105 seat, faces Cotham in November. From Feb. 18 to June 30, Sidman’s campaign raised $264,489.33 — more than four times as much as Cotham during the same period. 

Sidman has raised $317,597.60 this election season, compared to $151,230.49 for Cotham. Contributors to Sidman’s campaign were largely individual donors, while most of Cotham’s money during the period came from political action committees.

Money's not the end-all, be-all of political campaigns, but it's very often a sign of energy, and looking at Nicole Sidman's Facebook page reassures me that she does have boots on the ground because of a large and enthusiastic volunteer base. Meanwhile, Cotham has sugar-daddies whose pudge would preclude any hiking and door-knocking.

Josh Stein Needs To Get Out More

 

Headline in today's News and Observer: "Outspoken vs. Unknown: What Some Rural Voters Think of NC Gubernatorial Candidates." Guess who's the unknown one. Reading the article one realizes how counter-productive Stein's very limited campaign-in-public strategy has been. He only attends carefully controlled events and fundraisers where the crowds are mainly friendly or at least house-broken.

Those of us who follow North Carolina government obsessively know our Attorney General Josh Stein well. Stein led other states' attorneys general in establishing a framework for exacting payment from the nation's drug companies and distributors for the opioid epidemic. He was the first attorney general in the country to sue e-cigarette manufacturer Juul for unlawful marketing to minors. He's been a champion for consumers and a hawk pursuing price-gougers, especially like the tow company in Charlotte that hiked prices and fees during COVID. He has at times refused to defend the Republican General Assembly's unconstitutional laws, and he's been a champion of women's rights.

But as the McClatchy reporters found out, too many people have no idea who he is. Meanwhile his opponent for governor, the robust Mark Robinson, struts his bully stuff in all kinds of rural churches, which delights the vengeful Christians in the pews. Maybe Josh lacks "the common touch" and that's why his handlers keep him sequestered, but he's either gonna have to get out more or his tv budget is going to have to lower Robinson's approval rating much more definitively.

Joe Biden Has Less Than a Month To Drop Out

 

Once President Biden is nominated for the presidency by the National Democratic Convention, replacing him on the ballot will be fraught. The delegates will actually vote virtually on his nomination on August 5th, two weeks before the August 19 Convention in Chicago. The WashPost reports that election law experts say that if Biden drops out before he's officially nominated by the party, "replacing him on the ballot would be relatively straightforward." If he waited until after the delegates vote, then all hell could and would break loose.

If Biden were to drop out before delegates vote, then a legal challenge by Republicans to his replacement -- whoever that turned out to be -- would lack standing in the courts, because the decision on who the Democrats choose to run is their decision, not the Republican Party's.

The real problem for Democrats if Biden should wait to drop out until after he's officially nominated are the various ballot deadlines in different states -- the date when ballots have to start being printed. We don't want to go there.

Immediately following the Debate From Hell, I wrote that I wanted an open nominating convention -- let 'er rip and we could count the corpses later. I've changed my mind. Thomas Mills wrote on July 5th a compelling rationale for why Biden's replacement would have to be -- needs to be -- Kamala Harris. And I agree with him. She would strengthen several factions of the Democratic and progressive alliance, especially women and Black voters, and I believe she would help energize the most seriously unenergized portion of our coalition -- young voters.

Mainly, I think, with Kamala we would experience a great surge of relief that we were not doomed -- irrevocably doomed -- to another Trump presidency and that we at least have a fighting chance.

Rep. Ray Pickett Shouldn't Brag

 

So NC House Rep. Ray Pickett (R-Watauga) sent out a newsletter dated July 2nd in which he bragged that he helped pass the local bill, S 912, spinning that it's a great plan for enhanced democracy -- "ensure[s] that every resident's voice is heard in the election of local officials." S 912 is the attempt by Senator Ralph Hise to keep the voters of Watauga from rejecting by referendum his new gerrymander of both the County Commish and the Watauga School Board.

Pickett's bragging may be a trifle misplaced, since the destruction of the current non-partisan School Board by a gerrymander that will ensure it will become much more partisan and divided is widely hated by both Republicans and Democrats. The current School Board, which was not consulted nor warned that Hise was about to upend it, is composed of two Republicans, two Democrats, and one Unaffiliated member, and that body unanimously opposed the change.

Pickett doesn't vote in the best interests of the people of Watauga. He votes like Senator Hise tells him.

 

Happy Birthday, America!

 

Your new king can't wait to enjoy your obeisance!