tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-61945832024-03-18T16:42:05.164-05:00WataugaWatchUp-to-date analysis of the local political landscapeJ.W. Williamsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17694324792688711136noreply@blogger.comBlogger8767125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6194583.post-69098795419029879082024-03-15T16:23:00.000-05:002024-03-15T16:23:09.193-05:00An Unaffiliated Candidate Qualifies for Watauga CoCommish<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-7mX5yFgmM6piJBuVasMGRJaDNGvTJwUHFXMyFXrpn92fPhhfSS1piGBaKqb-htDWuKVfYlWC6Hax1ICulobq2YbfdYRGg72vv2rLaJR3EoEsTStqqvO3s9rDD7RZ2F9WHdmrjCb7jAHD2oWf50V2Zyu4S3M9K1fJ7R69V0USNOP4K3Q_mfVe/s695/image.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="695" data-original-width="526" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-7mX5yFgmM6piJBuVasMGRJaDNGvTJwUHFXMyFXrpn92fPhhfSS1piGBaKqb-htDWuKVfYlWC6Hax1ICulobq2YbfdYRGg72vv2rLaJR3EoEsTStqqvO3s9rDD7RZ2F9WHdmrjCb7jAHD2oWf50V2Zyu4S3M9K1fJ7R69V0USNOP4K3Q_mfVe/w484-h640/image.jpg" width="484" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>J.W. Williamsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17694324792688711136noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6194583.post-74144924356465535392024-03-14T12:49:00.003-05:002024-03-14T12:49:43.242-05:00The Humiliations Continue To Pile Up on Mark Walker<p> </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA9DVEB7bsgB7B_ypEqpmHGVlFDu6kAROEmluJgr5zdzzkr3V5zibcJ8PoNtUA76GszGwPrDlMU2ysrC9fvoW8fa_d_BvKyPkC4K7lcfpQ0O4HhUDl63Ii2bKUKyrSXnh9ibYLHiQVzA8B_b5lge9Z_RuTU6AWauVakXV4kkVsSBNgnYPDNyt0/s320/image.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="157" data-original-width="320" height="157" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA9DVEB7bsgB7B_ypEqpmHGVlFDu6kAROEmluJgr5zdzzkr3V5zibcJ8PoNtUA76GszGwPrDlMU2ysrC9fvoW8fa_d_BvKyPkC4K7lcfpQ0O4HhUDl63Ii2bKUKyrSXnh9ibYLHiQVzA8B_b5lge9Z_RuTU6AWauVakXV4kkVsSBNgnYPDNyt0/s1600/image.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div>Trump himself announced the news that he'd completely destroyed any self-respect that Mark Walker might still cling to. Walker lost to Trump's designated patsy Addison McDowell in the 6th CD Republican primary last week by only two points, and Walker had previously talked tough about continuing to fight against McDowell in a run-off. The deadline under NC law to request a runoff was today at noon, but there will be no runoff and McDowell will be going to Congress next January because there is no Democrat in the race.<p></p><p>Trump himself put out the announcement: “I’ve asked Congressman Mark Walker to join my campaign team to work with faith groups and minority communities, and he has agreed to immediately do so,” Trump wrote in a post on his Truth Social platform.</p>According to Anderson Alerts, "Walker said in a statement that he spoke with Trump about the position Tuesday afternoon and plans to serve in the Trump administration if the former president wins in November.<br /><br />“Yesterday afternoon, I was honored to hear from President Trump asking if I would take the lead position as the Director of Outreach for faith and minority communities effective immediately,” Walker wrote. “I’m delighted to accept this position and after the Biden administration is defeated in November, I’m grateful for the offer to continue our work with President Trump in the White House.”<div><br /></div><div>What "work" will be involved in convincing the Christian Right to vote for Trump, since that group long ago started worshipping the golden ass.</div><div><br /></div>J.W. Williamsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17694324792688711136noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6194583.post-37660119680428188712024-03-13T08:22:00.000-05:002024-03-13T08:22:37.271-05:00The NC Chamber of Commerce Fears Michele Morrow<p> </p><p>On March 6th, the day after the primary that saw Republican incumbent Superintendent of Public Instruction Catherine Truitt get kicked out by Republican voters (after one term) and replaced by an ideological wrecking ball named Michele Morrow, a home-schooler and very determined enemy of public education as it has evolved in the 21st Century. Morrow will be on your ballot come November to run the Department of Education, up against Democrat Mo Green.</p><p>On March 6th, the day after that thunderbolt of Truitt's defeat -- unexpected -- unimaginable, really, that a moderate professional like Catherine Truitt would get bumped off the ticket by someone considered a nut -- the North Carolina Chamber of Commerce put out an astounding <a href="https://ncchamber.com/2024/03/06/primary-results-warn-of-threats-to-nc-business-climate/" target="_blank">official statement</a> warning that the primary win of Michele Morrow was a threat to the state's "business climate" (and if you immediately flash on Dan Bishop and those people passing the Bathroom Bill in 2016 and costing the state billions in moola and years of bad press and worse memories, you would be right). Gov. Pat McCrory signed the Show Us Your Gender Act in March of 2016 and the stars fell on North Carolina in a media catastrophe that lasted until they repealed the law a quick year later in 2017.</p><p>The Chamber evidently thinks that Michele Morrow is another bathroom bill waiting to metastasize. </p>"When both parties move to the opposite ends of the political spectrum," wrote the Chamber's political director, "it erodes the quiet, bipartisan work necessary to move our state forward. Moderating voices in each caucus will be replaced with partisan ideologues that cause division and create controversy."<div><br /></div><div>Division and controversy -- <i>very bad for business</i>. </div><div><br /></div><div>Here's a video of Morrow interviewed by Bill O'Neil for WXII. She complicates the political equation by sounding reasonable (there has been indeed an explosion of gender fluidity, but whether you can blame the schools for that and not pop culture seems debatable). She scapegoats the teaching of history for daring to admit the historic evidence that white people have made some bad choices for owning Black people and squeezing Indians into the corner. And Morrow can get fairly giddy about sending more tax dollars to private academies and thus starving public education. And incidentally, she took some of her kids to the January 6th siege of the Capitol, though she says she never went into the building.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>
<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ojk8NKAoYTA?si=Agc_meJXb8ITdUOB" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe>
<div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>She says that in addition to banning books that lean too far into any kind of sexual awareness, she wants books about "traumatic experiences" also banned from school libraries. "But couldn't a book bring some comfort to you to know you're not alone?" asked O'Neil. "No," sez Morrow, decisively, as though the word "comfort" had triggered an odd antipathy.</div><div><br /></div><div>Her persuasiveness coupled with her calm demeanor make her seem a kind of coherent culture analyst. She has noticed some blatant blunders by education bureaucrats that areactually blatant blunders. But it's how far backward you're willing to go to balance the scales that gives one plenty of pause about Morrow. There is on-line an <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCK_GwVUv6w" target="_blank">extended video</a> of her laying out her platform (and incidentally her personality) in a Zoom presentation to the Pasquotank PAC. (The Pasquotank PAC, named for the county, "promotes Republican and Unaffiliated Conservatives in Northeastern North Carolina." Lord help me but I find her persuasive, and I can see her appeal. She talks well and without visible notes and makes sense of things for the MAGA crowd who want everything razed to the ground.</div><div><br /></div><div>In other words, she has to be stopped.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><b>Maurice "Mo" Green, Democrat</b></div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi84_KlVG98ItQ0xq4qc98YfI3dXA04xGeVjdJtYx8rHcQAY7HOMSsxA4pOP6q_OqxsACOFaFbjbz6IlOds3-KjM7frpqANMfcRMioZW_Ed5Ucr0fz4Oi2w6wDt0zPl5GwZfuDvLru4K-tMQnvkDTR5RXDYJNQ2SUdFCxKqdzSPENGuSpZopMNl/s462/image.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="462" data-original-width="333" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi84_KlVG98ItQ0xq4qc98YfI3dXA04xGeVjdJtYx8rHcQAY7HOMSsxA4pOP6q_OqxsACOFaFbjbz6IlOds3-KjM7frpqANMfcRMioZW_Ed5Ucr0fz4Oi2w6wDt0zPl5GwZfuDvLru4K-tMQnvkDTR5RXDYJNQ2SUdFCxKqdzSPENGuSpZopMNl/s320/image.png" width="231" /></a></div>Mo trails behind him a distinguished career in education: Executive Director of the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation from 2016-2023. More than seven years as superintendent of Guilford County Schools. Before that, general counsel of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, then chief operating officer and then deputy superintendent. He began his career as a lawyer in private practice after doing two United States judicial clerkships. He has a bachelor’s degree in political science and economics and a law degree, both from Duke University. (Indebted to <a href="https://pamspicks.net/nc-superintendent-of-public-instruction-2024p/" target="_blank">PamsPicks</a> for the details.)</div><div><br /></div><div>He's about as establishment as you can get. And Morrow is a disestablishmentarian. The clash alone ought to give you the willies when it comes to deciding if our public education will teach inclusiveness as part of the fabric of our Republic.</div><div><br /></div>J.W. Williamsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17694324792688711136noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6194583.post-54432094421441582062024-03-12T13:40:00.000-05:002024-03-12T13:40:00.885-05:00BREAKING: 3-Judge Panel Strikes Down Law To Remake the Boards of Election<p> </p><p>S 749, the Republican grand scheme to take away the governor's power to control the Boards of Elections in every county and replace what we have now with 50-50 splits guaranteed to produce grid-lock and dysfunction -- that law was just stuck down as unconstitutional by a three-judge panel of Superior Court judges, two Republicans and one Democrat.</p><p><i>Unanimously</i> struck it down.</p>"In a seven-page order released Tuesday [today], the judges wrote that the Republican effort to remove Cooper’s power to appoint members of state and county elections boards clearly “infringes upon” the governor’s constitutional duties, and marked “the most stark and blatant removal of appointment power” since previous cases over appointment powers like <i>McCrory v. Berger</i> and <i>Cooper v. Berger</i>." (<a href="https://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/article286349535.html#storylink=cpy" target="_blank">NandO</a>)<br /><br />It's likely that Republican leaders will appeal to their BFF, the state's Supreme Court, which is guaranteed to be far more receptive to allowing the General Assembly anything it wants.<div><br /></div>J.W. Williamsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17694324792688711136noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6194583.post-425045618898471812024-03-11T07:47:00.000-05:002024-03-11T07:47:55.427-05:00For Czar of NC Agriculture, It's Good Ole Boy vs. Brainiac Innovater<p><br /></p><p><b>Sarah Taber, Insurgent Democrat</b></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvjsyIDZZsz_cnc6nU5ehod5JHlzHOAKWpblaJmCnY3DBrWq54TBundbZkZ9BUVLtOK7xwBS1uxdz-V-nIafY6xt3jSxJmdKMcYt0Z4H_j4MwzLbuje2bOuZuAd0DNni7uGTGwuScSJPdFNHpTsC6YVwsD8GIbz3lhc_p3j7FdfijwWIBjRcoX/s360/image.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="340" data-original-width="360" height="302" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvjsyIDZZsz_cnc6nU5ehod5JHlzHOAKWpblaJmCnY3DBrWq54TBundbZkZ9BUVLtOK7xwBS1uxdz-V-nIafY6xt3jSxJmdKMcYt0Z4H_j4MwzLbuje2bOuZuAd0DNni7uGTGwuScSJPdFNHpTsC6YVwsD8GIbz3lhc_p3j7FdfijwWIBjRcoX/s320/image.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>The most popular campaign photo of Sarah Taber is the one copied here, which is a studied pose, yes, but she looks to me like someone who knows farm work and heavy work at that. The look is especially crucial when you're a woman running with the boys, not to mention against a very popular incumbent Commissioner of Agriculture.<p></p><div>Did I say "running with the boys"? </div><div><br /></div><div>The boys should be so lucky to keep up with this woman, or any farm woman for that matter. Taber published <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/commissioner-agriculture-north-carolina-democrat/" target="_blank">an amazing little essay in The Nation</a> in January of this year and did some woman'splaining to the men about the importance of her gender on farms: </div><div><br /></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: left;">"We’re the ones who balance the family books, take outside jobs, handle invoicing, and turn raw crops and livestock into goods ready for people to buy. We are the business backbone that makes farm country work." </div></blockquote><div></div><div><br /></div><div>Her personal background sounds raw enough to trust and real as dirt: "I grew up working on farms. I got good at chores, sure — but I also got good at the livelihood part of agriculture." She built a business being expert in <i>aquaculture and aquaponics</i> and greenhouses. She started her consultancy in 2006 to help farms and farmers transition away from traditional crops like tobacco and toward non-traditional but highly lucrative forms of agriculture -- growing food under glass or in water. She has a justifiable brag: </div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">...growing vegetables in greenhouses [is] a great livelihood if you get it right—but if you get one detail wrong, you’ll lose your shirt. I’m proud to say every single one of my farm clients is still in business. Altogether, they’re now worth $4 billion. [<a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/commissioner-agriculture-north-carolina-democrat/" target="_blank">The Nation</a>]</p></blockquote><p style="text-align: left;">She alludes to a cascade of bad practices and bad decisions that some big (and a few small) farmers have engaged in, struggling to make lucrative what often has not been lucative: "Rural poverty causes radicalization. So does pollution from farms. Farm radicalization isn’t just a local problem. Farm outfits that hire undocumented workers put serious money behind hard-right legislators and sheriffs who pledge to collaborate with ICE. That means local country politics can get ugly. And those ugly politics don’t stay local. They can undermine democracy for the whole state." </p><p></p><p>Taber holds a doctorate in plant medicine from the University of Florida. In her case, education has sparked an <a href="https://twitter.com/SarahTaber_bww/status/1701340907688136962" target="_blank">imagination for big agricultural projects</a> that could actually save the planet, like the idea of turning abandoned oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico into seaweed-growing operations that could cleanse Gulf waters of their pollution.</p><p>On sarahtaber.com, her professional consultancy site that's disappeared from the Web in favor of taberforNC.com, she self-identified as "crop scientist and writer." Regrettably (for me at least), she decided to highlight <a href="https://taberfornc.com/about" target="_blank">in her campaign lit</a> her academic credentials a little more than I think can help her with a population used to good ole boys who are careful not to act too smart. Very first words of autobiography on her website: "<i>Dr.</i> Sarah Taber." <u>Because I R also an overeducated "Doctor"</u> and happened to have been close to lots of farmers growing up and heard their jibes, I tend to wince when I hear someone describe themselves as Doctor So-and-So. Might as well go ahead and parody yourself as "<i>Per</i>fesser So-and-So" for the country folks, cause that's what they're thinking. When is the flashing of higher education ever not off-putting as a social class marker?</p><p>Nevertheless, for her obvious smarts and practical wisdom, not to mention her vision for expanding and improving vegetable production in North Carolina, Taber is revolutionary as a candidate, but she'll have to be more than that to pull anywhere near even with the popular Republican incumbent.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>Steve Troxler, Incumbent Commissioner of Agriculture (since 2004)</b></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSRQap7QVKuFTuSMQbc60V-vUk-a5jEryvqBLk5OFmf8igsLRR2usNTAhvtxQQIUdWyfSinMQaGaPf_WmdvDL75eIRuSZQFVzp9T7kEyJJsAG1QaId2R7Am-Pfa-nkJGNZiQtOp6jmwDFnvuNGrbN9A4Nh0RYrRG24EB5gfNIFMdmGVPT5HfoP/s1200/image.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="801" data-original-width="1200" height="428" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSRQap7QVKuFTuSMQbc60V-vUk-a5jEryvqBLk5OFmf8igsLRR2usNTAhvtxQQIUdWyfSinMQaGaPf_WmdvDL75eIRuSZQFVzp9T7kEyJJsAG1QaId2R7Am-Pfa-nkJGNZiQtOp6jmwDFnvuNGrbN9A4Nh0RYrRG24EB5gfNIFMdmGVPT5HfoP/w640-h428/image.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo Joseph Bradley, for <a href="https://www.theassemblync.com/politics/steve-troxler-the-governor-of-rural-north-carolina/" target="_blank">The Assembly</a></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Here's Troxler's history of election margins, making him often the most popular Republican on the ballot below President:</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p>2004 -- his 1st election, he won by 2,287 votes or 50.3%</p><p>2008 -- won with 52% of the vote</p><p>2012 -- won with 53% of the vote</p><p>2016 -- won with 55.56% of the vote</p><p>2020 -- won with 53.86% against an unconventional woman, Jenna Wadsworth</p></blockquote><p>His popularity rose steadily after his first election but dipped noticeably in 2020 and possibly because his Democratic opponent came at him from a novel direction. Sarah Taber will be his second time up against an accomplished, out-of-her-traditional-womanly-lane candidate who may come off a little more electable than Wadsworth was.</p><p>Plus Taber is going squarely at Troxler as <i>corrupt</i>, the single biggest factor -- if it's true -- known by political science to motivate significant shifts in the vote. Sarah Taber herself summed up the Troxler era in <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/commissioner-agriculture-north-carolina-democrat/" target="_blank">her piece for The Nation</a>, "Why I'm Running for Commissioner of Agriculture":</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">We’ve had the same commissioner of agriculture for 20 years, despite a series of fumbles and corruption scandals on his watch. He presided over the largest <a href="https://www.agweb.com/news/crops/evil-grain-wild-tale-historys-biggest-crop-insurance-scam">crop insurance fraud ring</a> in US history. His department <a href="https://ncnewsline.com/briefs/advocates-seek-troxler-records-in-turkey-tip-off/">tipped off</a> meat plants suspected of animal abuse before a “surprise” inspection. His greatest success was <a href="https://businessnc.com/chinas-n-c-love-affair/">encouraging China to buy North Carolina-grown tobacco</a>—only for Trump, for whom the incumbent helped raise funds and votes, to <a href="https://www.agweb.com/news/crops/us-tobacco-exports-china-it-was-devastating-year">destroy that market with a trade war</a>. </p></blockquote><p>Meanwhile, Taber claims, Troxler and his aides "misspent taxpayer dollars on high-end lodgings and dining."</p><p>So why is ole tobacco-farmer Troxler so popular? Says Taber, he's actually quite <i>unpopular</i> with an increasing number of farmers. Her evidence is partly anecdotal: </p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">I’m struck by how eager North Carolina’s farmers are for change. It’s not hard to see why. After you account for inflation and population growth, North Carolina’s farm economy has shrunk by 19 percent in the last 20 years. Our farmers and ranchers feel it. And they know what the problem is: corrupt leadership. One hog farmer put it to me this way: “Politicians are a bit like piggies. They’re frisky when they’re little. But then they discover corn and become hogs.” He paused and went on. “Maybe it’s time to put this one in the smokehouse.”</blockquote><p>But her best evidence that Troxler's popularity may be illusory is numbers:</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">In 2020 several North Carolina farm counties voted for the Democratic candidate for commissioner of agriculture [Jenna Wadsworth], and not by a little: Anson. Bertie. Northampton. Hertford. Vance. Hoke. Chatham. Watauga. Halifax. Warren. Edgecombe. Our incumbent doesn’t win because of the farmer vote .... In 2020, hundreds of thousands of <i>suburban</i> North Carolinians voted for both Joe Biden and a Republican commissioner of agriculture who’s wildly unpopular in much of our actual rural farm country.</blockquote><p>Why would our suburban brethren, who only look at meat when it's under cellophane, stick with Troxler? Explains Taber, "Because he looks and sounds like what suburbanites think a farmer should look like."</p><p>Looks are important, O my brethren, especially in politics. If this is the year the progressive resistance rises up against the corruption of Trump and the extremism of Mark Robinson, Michele Morrow, Dan Bishop, at al. then constant pounding of the message of Troxler's corruption might wilt that big bushy mustache.</p><p><br /></p>J.W. Williamsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17694324792688711136noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6194583.post-85364472058006672862024-03-10T09:09:00.001-05:002024-03-10T09:09:37.112-05:00Michael Whatley Selected To Be the Doormat<p> </p><p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEho69X8KLGjJLNSnYiRigEfTSKKR1_J3QtlCq9ETemWyUTKKC-ZE3aAI5Ul2ER6VRpbWd7wJXpXfydjNUXwpd05Pk9biTEO5HqHyBnk0_JWB2B2LxLmY_tBBVyknKYNUDWlviRmMhGx9o5ug9VnQYt0XwgIqnTQmhAN1WtO4cHQOKBFg77wUZDm/s1140/image.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="645" data-original-width="1140" height="181" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEho69X8KLGjJLNSnYiRigEfTSKKR1_J3QtlCq9ETemWyUTKKC-ZE3aAI5Ul2ER6VRpbWd7wJXpXfydjNUXwpd05Pk9biTEO5HqHyBnk0_JWB2B2LxLmY_tBBVyknKYNUDWlviRmMhGx9o5ug9VnQYt0XwgIqnTQmhAN1WtO4cHQOKBFg77wUZDm/s320/image.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo Robert Willett, News & Observer<br /><br /><br /></td></tr></tbody></table>Last Friday, Trump's hand-picked yes-man Michael Whatley got installed as the new chair of the Republican National Committee, replacing Ronna McDaniel who had ceased to please Trump. During the "Stop the Steal" furor following the 2020 election, McDaniel had been wary of joining Trump's 65 lawsuits aimed at overturning the election, plus she appears to have pushed back about emptying Republican bank accounts to pay Trump's legal bills.<p></p><p>Whatley will be joined as co-chair by Trump's own daughter-in-law Lara Trump, who's made it clear that anyone not sufficiently loyal to her father-in-law will be purged from the party, and she's guaranteed to ensure that Trump will get all the money he wants to pay for his chaos.</p><p>Whatley will be handmaiden, pregnant with every Trump whim. And he'd <i>better</i> carry them to term!</p><p>Trump has been impressed with Whatley's own PR campaign to convince the boss that he is a true believer that the election was stolen and that the only reason North Carolina didn't go for Biden in 2020 was Whatley's own "election integrity" plan to "guard the vote" against imaginary hoards of illegal immigrants and Black felons and Deep State election officials. Whatley was full of shit then, and it'll fairly squeeze out of him now like toothpaste.</p><p>Whatley has no apparent personal integrity beyond pleasing the big man, which makes him singularly suited to lead the GOP in the Trump era and provide a square space for Trump to wipe his shoes.</p><p><br /></p>J.W. Williamsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17694324792688711136noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6194583.post-56344743755699630532024-03-07T09:03:00.000-05:002024-03-07T09:03:19.263-05:00Democrat Braxton Winston Now Has a Republican Opponent for Secretary of Labor<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgev7oHKwyBL4vjt6xyzT5utBeVqnTuj8zTjNgGa9d-gpPW8uvtwSlfeWJN7IQQMhq2n9hHkSceROhv6I4uJo9ihcJV9qGMb0U9kUlNb74nuVNbbxOxZoq5csU4uqL8wEGKyhTF-JgF3nljy_EGc-1CH5zX1PJiEAuRuOkDRFzNISQSBig0_DgB/s4096/Braxton%20v%20Luke.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4095" data-original-width="4096" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgev7oHKwyBL4vjt6xyzT5utBeVqnTuj8zTjNgGa9d-gpPW8uvtwSlfeWJN7IQQMhq2n9hHkSceROhv6I4uJo9ihcJV9qGMb0U9kUlNb74nuVNbbxOxZoq5csU4uqL8wEGKyhTF-JgF3nljy_EGc-1CH5zX1PJiEAuRuOkDRFzNISQSBig0_DgB/w640-h640/Braxton%20v%20Luke.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><br /><br /><b>BRAXTON WINSTON</b><div><br /></div><div>I've been following Winston's trajectory into politics since he won his seat on the Charlotte City Council in 2017. He promises to be a Democratic star attraction on the fall ballot. Winston was born in North Carolina into a military family, was recruited by Davidson College to play football, earned a degree in anthropology, coaches football part time at Providence Day School, and became an accidental but powerful symbol for Black Lives Matter in Charlotte following the September 20, 2016, police shooting of Keith Lamont Scott. That killing prompted several days of street protests. A chance photograph of Winston by the Charlotte Observer’s Jeff Siner went viral (see below) and catapulted Winston into local fame. He's 40 years old.</div><div><br /></div>On September 20, 2016, Winston was on his way home after coaching a middle school football game. He was driving Old Concord Road past the Village at College Downs apartments, where a ruction was going on. An angry crowd was gathering the way a crowd gathers after a shooting, and Winston pulled over to find out what it was.<br /><br />Winston actually makes his living as a cameraman -- videographer -- who films home games for the Charlotte Hornets as an independent contractor. He began live-streaming the aftermath of the Keith Lamont Scott shooting to his Facebook page.<br /><br />A Charlotte cop on the scene told Winston to leave. Winston didn't, and the cop left him alone. The cop already knew Winston as a good man from a previous incident. In November 2015, Winston called the cops to help a Hispanic woman being severely beaten by her husband. There was a big commotion, involving neighbors and a little boy running around crying. Winston grabbed up and hugged the boy to him. With his mother going to the hospital and his father to jail, the little boy didn’t want to leave Braxton's arms, "so Braxton went with us to the hospital. He stayed the whole night, trying to make sure the little boy was OK as he clung onto Braxton...” (<a href="http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/article123858364.html">according to CharlotteMeck PD Officer Shannon Finis</a>). A year later the same cop allowed Braxton to stay on the scene at College Downs apartments.<div><br /></div>Student reporters for The Davidsonian, after several interviews, <a href="http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/article123858364.html">concluded</a> this: "Winston had never been involved in any protest movement. He thought of tear-gas or potential injury as 'the price I got to pay to speak up on behalf of my children, [on] behalf of myself, and [on] behalf of what I believe in and what the world should look like.' ”<br /><br /><a href="http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/article123858364.html">According to Olivia Daniels and AJ Naddaff</a>, "tension between police and civilians escalated. Winston removed his shirt to cover his mouth from tear gas. He approached a line of police in riot gear and thrust his fist in the air in an act of civil disobedience." Jeff Siner took his picture.<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi927MNkYwWiWgHjyVman4koIdr_F9NYGo-Sj-EIDzvS8lKiM94Fn2qh80JuF3g1XZMC-WMRpdQq-U67ECIwiUXWbO0JVCLAXrUVZdx04LauHD7T-FptO7uX17r4opsduAQY7ccrd43BAqiSYIvXPA97BJf4RrSsSYaYr0fRB2MVZWOM6AZQ1Mt/s400/image.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="203" data-original-width="400" height="324" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi927MNkYwWiWgHjyVman4koIdr_F9NYGo-Sj-EIDzvS8lKiM94Fn2qh80JuF3g1XZMC-WMRpdQq-U67ECIwiUXWbO0JVCLAXrUVZdx04LauHD7T-FptO7uX17r4opsduAQY7ccrd43BAqiSYIvXPA97BJf4RrSsSYaYr0fRB2MVZWOM6AZQ1Mt/w640-h324/image.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Later, after things died down, Winston became a community spokesman, first calling for the resignation of CharlotteMeckPD Chief Kerr Putney and then meeting face-to-face with him and apparently reaching an understanding that there had to be a change in methods for interacting with segments of Charlotte that feel over-policed and under-served. When eventually the police officer who killed Keith Lamont Scott was exonerated because department policy leans way over backward to absolve the government from responsibility when the police kill people without due process, Braxton Winston acknowledged that police followed policy in letting the cop off. But after he was elected to the Charlotte City Council, he worked to reform procedures.<div><br /></div><div>Braxton announced he was planning to run for Secretary of Labor in April 2023 after six years on the Charlotte council (and attaining the distinction of Mayor Pro Tem). He is also a labor activist -- a professional videographer but also, as a stagehand and grip, a union member, in "our region’s robust sports television and entertainment production community" (<a href="https://www.votebraxton.com/meet-braxton">Winston website</a>).</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><b>LUKE FARLEY</b></div><div><br /></div><div>On Tuesday this week, Farley bested three other Republican candidates for the nomination to run in this race, taking over 30% of the vote and thus avoiding a runoff. </div><div><br /></div><div>His <a href="https://www.luke4labor.com/" target="_blank">website</a> makes him seem like a deeply unserious person. A white-on-red banner on his homepage proclaims "Make Elevators Great Again," an allusion to the former Republican holder of this office, Cherie Berry (no friend of labor), who has endorsed him (that endorsement also loudly proclaimed on his home page). I have my instant doubts about any candidate who begins his introduction, "I am a Christian...." That tells me everything and also precisely nothing about this guy's character.</div><div><br /></div><div>His main policy obsession appears to be mandated COVID vaccine shots, which he naturally opposes.</div><div><br /></div><div>He's a lawyer in private practice, specializing in OSHA rules, which on the face of it, in my view, makes him also instinctively anti-labor.</div><div><br /></div>J.W. Williamsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17694324792688711136noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6194583.post-27114829822706403872024-03-06T11:36:00.002-05:002024-03-06T11:36:26.584-05:00Primary Results -- Other Races<p> </p><p><b><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4EJcY5IxAQPOAItRSFYLLmMebftFtVKcMkSWCXepCpV1o6q02-svZ5JuIrWfUxNdKmbv83-BoSliP0dhYvksS0gdG04V70VHaAU8PO4xWA0ST-0JPPdW_wZoHczGSNUvcS_hR9u3UCdcjx3bruDf2Nw3zlkEzUxHDk6CcxRpL4HLVBuY-HYir/s300/image.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="168" data-original-width="300" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4EJcY5IxAQPOAItRSFYLLmMebftFtVKcMkSWCXepCpV1o6q02-svZ5JuIrWfUxNdKmbv83-BoSliP0dhYvksS0gdG04V70VHaAU8PO4xWA0ST-0JPPdW_wZoHczGSNUvcS_hR9u3UCdcjx3bruDf2Nw3zlkEzUxHDk6CcxRpL4HLVBuY-HYir/w320-h179/image.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Allison Riggs<br /><br /><br /></td></tr></tbody></table>Supreme Court Associate Justice, Seat 6</b></p><p>Democrat Allison Riggs took over 69% of the vote statewide, running for reelection to her seat against Judge Lora Cubbage.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>NC House Dist. 60</b></p><p>Frequent Democratic defector from Democratic policy, incumbent Cecil Brockman squeaked past his insurgent opponent James Adams by a mere 83 votes (according to the NCSBE website). There will surely be a recount. Brockman had been marked for elimination by fellow Democrats because of his frequent votes with the Republican super-majority. (<a href="https://blog.wataugawatch.net/2024/02/four-nchouse-democrats-challenged-in.html" target="_blank">Contest profiled here</a>.)</p><p><br /></p><p><b>NC House Dist. 82</b></p><p>The Republican primary featured first-termer Kevin Crutchfield trying to hang on to the seat he just won in 2022 against man-about-town Brian Echevarria, a camera hog who may think he's awfully cute. This race was called the most competitive Republican primary for the General Assembly -- and was coincidentally <a href="https://blog.wataugawatch.net/2024/02/a-mean-little-republican-primary.html" target="_blank">also the meanest</a> -- and indeed Echevarria took out the incumbent by a very close margin, 171 votes.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>NC House Dist. 27</b></p><p>Conservative Democrat Michael Wray, who often voted with the Republicans to override Cooper vetoes, finally may have been picked off (if the current vote totals hold through the counting of provisionals and the inevitable recount). Wray appears to have lost to <a href="https://blog.wataugawatch.net/2024/02/four-nchouse-democrats-challenged-in.html" target="_blank">Rodney Pierce</a> by 42 votes.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>NC House Dist. 105</b></p><p><a href="https://blog.wataugawatch.net/2023/12/the-democrats-vying-to-take-on-tricia.html" target="_blank">Nicole Sidman</a> slid to victory in a three-way race where she took over 57% of the vote. She is the winner to take on the tall quest to unseat turncoat Tricia Cotham in November. I've <a href="https://blog.wataugawatch.net/2024/02/who-will-take-on-tricia-cotham-does-it.html" target="_blank">experienced nervous exhaustion</a> worrying about the outcome here.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>NC House Dist. 62</b></p><p>Former legislator and often thorn in the Republican majority's side, John Blust won a 5-way contest with 34% of the vote, thus avoiding a runoff. I wrote about "<a href="https://blog.wataugawatch.net/2024/02/the-return-of-john-blust.html" target="_blank">The Return of John Blust</a>" back in February.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>NC Senate Dist. 13</b></p><p>Scott Lassiter, who became "<a href="https://blog.wataugawatch.net/2023/10/famous-for-wrong-reason.html" target="_blank">Famous for the Wrong Reason</a>," beat his Republican competitor in that side's primary. Lassiter will face Democrat Lisa Grafstein in November. He <a href="https://blog.wataugawatch.net/2024/01/lassiter-lashes-wind.html" target="_blank">tried once</a> to get her barred from the ballot.</p><p><br /></p>J.W. Williamsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17694324792688711136noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6194583.post-35727631685221517882024-03-06T10:51:00.001-05:002024-03-06T10:51:22.287-05:00Primary Results, Watauga Board of Education<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZRQoYdCTK-Bj11QZtAaoZqfEw8yt4K_jmF7ToChkk8W47jAydt2dLwisQkPmAG4yVeLPMoBo6bqSUgYi3LF5aiOURUrJKgh5q9qrnq8rWvWZxU5ftueoM7qUWu5o3m-mD6iinm50g8zEBqVQtudW1rR0ncuwEETYsR_SzYNd5LAwQsanQwVYS/s705/image.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="705" data-original-width="470" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZRQoYdCTK-Bj11QZtAaoZqfEw8yt4K_jmF7ToChkk8W47jAydt2dLwisQkPmAG4yVeLPMoBo6bqSUgYi3LF5aiOURUrJKgh5q9qrnq8rWvWZxU5ftueoM7qUWu5o3m-mD6iinm50g8zEBqVQtudW1rR0ncuwEETYsR_SzYNd5LAwQsanQwVYS/s320/image.jpg" width="213" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Adam Hege</td></tr></tbody></table>Very right race for the top five finishers. A total of six candidates will go
through to the November ballot:<div><br /></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div>Marshall Ashcraft 4,765 </div><div>Adam Hege 4,347 </div><div>Chad Cole 4,208 </div><div>Charlotte Mizelle Lloyd 4,204 </div><div>Alison Carroll Idol 4,128 </div><div><br /></div><div>Tom Ross 2,039</div></blockquote><p>Ashcraft, Hege, and Lloyd are Democrats. Cole, Idol, and Ross are Republicans. Anything can happen, come November. All these candidates were <a href="https://pamspicks.net/watauga-county-board-of-education-2024p/" target="_blank">researched and written up by PamsPicks</a>. Appears that the two most radical candidates were eliminated.</p><p><br /></p>J.W. Williamsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17694324792688711136noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6194583.post-1224422388273194312024-03-06T10:22:00.001-05:002024-03-06T10:22:20.571-05:00More Primary Results -- NC Council of State<p> </p><p><b>Governor</b></p><p>Democrat Josh Stein crushed challenger Mike Morgan with almost 70% of the vote. Stein did considerably less well in Watauga, where almost 30% of voters preferred Morgan.</p><p>Republican Mark Robinson easily beat Dale Folwell and super-litigator Bill Graham, taking almost 65%. </p><p><br /></p><p><b><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4dIc1vK-fHQx5Y3YChzeZ6eXpv6Y_8zdtV9Z9DEcmZYvcWfCm0kbStxjew_PlsAWi0ZJAt0zciMe3Ic8a_YZruKZABU2f3AOdGJS_bEC_nwbp73Rd71-bT7oL3CnGkPyQ_CpokgyyNqGI3cWiZtRmpx8BAHzbeEli-Lk0VdXBwa8jGnaIaYnA/s400/image.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="400" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4dIc1vK-fHQx5Y3YChzeZ6eXpv6Y_8zdtV9Z9DEcmZYvcWfCm0kbStxjew_PlsAWi0ZJAt0zciMe3Ic8a_YZruKZABU2f3AOdGJS_bEC_nwbp73Rd71-bT7oL3CnGkPyQ_CpokgyyNqGI3cWiZtRmpx8BAHzbeEli-Lk0VdXBwa8jGnaIaYnA/s320/image.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rachel Hunt<br /><br /><br /></td></tr></tbody></table>Lieutenant Governor</b></p><p>On the Democratic side, Rachel Hunt (yes, of those Hunts) took 70% statewide (a whopping 86% in Watauga).</p><p>On the Republican side, Deanna Ballard was one of over a dozen contenders. She came in last night 3rd, just missing the opportunity to be in the runoff with top vote-getter Hal Weatherman by some 8,000 votes. So Weatherman will face instead former prosecutor Jim O'Neill in the runoff. O'Neill came close to beating Josh Stein for A.G. in 2020.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>Attorney General</b></p><p>Jeff Jackson took almost 55% of the vote statewide against two competitors. He took 77% in Watauga.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>Commissioner of Insurance</b></p><p>On the Democratic ballot Natasha Marcus buried David Wheeler.</p><p>Republican incumbent Mike Causey, who's been tagged with <a href="https://blog.wataugawatch.net/2024/01/mike-causey-has-mighty-expensive.html" target="_blank">controversy and scandal</a>, took over 60% of the vote on the Republican ballot and will face Marcus in November. He's a ripe target for a negative campaign, which I think David Wheeler would have delivered with gusto. Marcus, not so much. Gives Causey a distinct advantage in November.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>Commissioner of Labor</b></p><p>On the Republican ballot, Luke Farley, endorsed by yesteryear's horror story Cherie Berry, won outright with almost 37% of the vote against NC House honcho Jon Hardister. Hardister has been infamous in these precincts as<a href="https://blog.wataugawatch.net/2022/07/devious-ncga-majority-whip-jon.html" target="_blank"> a twerpy sort of snake</a> in the General Assembly, so .... <i>schadenfreude</i>.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>Superintendent of Public Education</b></p><p>On the Democratic side, Maurice (Mo) Green won with almost 66% of the vote.</p><p>On the Republican side, right-wing fright Michele Morrow beat incumbent Catherine Truitt by some 36,000 votes. Morrow has been quite an <a href="https://blog.wataugawatch.net/2024/01/humdinger-of-republican-primary.html" target="_blank">outspoken and outright enemy of public schools</a>, calling them "indoctrination centers" and urging her followers not to send their children there. She's endorsed by Moms for Liberty. Truitt has been a target of the MAGA right for not being bullying enough to root out "diversity" and "inclusion" in all its demonic manifestations.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>Treasurer</b></p><p>Democrat Wesley Harris easily beat his rival Gabe Esparza.</p><p><br /></p>J.W. Williamsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17694324792688711136noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6194583.post-65394006475803532942024-03-06T08:35:00.007-05:002024-03-06T08:35:42.793-05:00Some Primary Results -- US Congressional Races<p> </p><p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLLBnNZ61XD3OWx10fKjXMq3DOfS2_wi0FiecV68YwCuj5AkEA6JjnPWEoJP_OBcuet0eJCvitYz4irgHJl3tqcCbyTcLc5YtMCcLH9jJbBzJw4igwNmw_fSbJwYt4N-69GivMWIjLrBlPaJRw91eAHBvFvtEdnggJSVQkHStttUbfCFHzbno3/s300/image.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="168" data-original-width="300" height="168" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLLBnNZ61XD3OWx10fKjXMq3DOfS2_wi0FiecV68YwCuj5AkEA6JjnPWEoJP_OBcuet0eJCvitYz4irgHJl3tqcCbyTcLc5YtMCcLH9jJbBzJw4igwNmw_fSbJwYt4N-69GivMWIjLrBlPaJRw91eAHBvFvtEdnggJSVQkHStttUbfCFHzbno3/s1600/image.jpeg" width="300" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pat Harrigan<br /><br /><br /></td></tr></tbody></table>US House Dist. 1 -- Republican Laurie Buckhout beat husband-beater Sandy Smith</p><p>US House Dist. 5 -- Republican incumbent Virginia Foxx beat challenger Ryan Mayberry, taking almost 68% of the vote district-wide. But almost a third of Watauga County voted for Mayberry</p><p>US House Dist. 6 -- Republican runoff coming between top vote-getter Addison McDowell, who took 26% of the vote, vs. former congressman Mark Walker, who took 24%. Bo Hines placed 4th. May be the end of his political ambitions</p><p>US House Dist. 8 -- Republican preacherman Mark Harris, the center of the 2018 ballot-harvesting scandal, won 30% against 5 other candidates and thus avoids a runoff</p><p>US House Dist. 10 -- Republican firearms manufacturer Pat Harrigan won outright over establishment pick Grey Mills (endorsed by Virginia Foxx and Tim Moore and many other big names) and 3 other candidates, taking over 41% of the vote</p><p>US House Dist. 14 -- Republican NC House Speaker Tim Moore easily won his primary in a district that was drawn especially for him</p><p><br /></p>J.W. Williamsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17694324792688711136noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6194583.post-31111132667546583212024-02-29T09:22:00.000-05:002024-02-29T09:22:27.435-05:00Too Much Drama, Such Low Stakes<p> </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxOpWfTeAWXYJa6NNPy3-CDOlFXZ_qovn5HgkwBw4OezRz2XgWtYk1Gpm7q2Hgah9t1fzfQlXcgREDN9-84Oqj0sa-T5bx9M6IQxfCaDHdA5qgS9wMglQ4sU_QXbWasBQK1cQm5L4WMaTZJYw-9kqwu6iSQWJ-xWHSgroSv0EB9fP4N6KpNwAJ/s400/image.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="400" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxOpWfTeAWXYJa6NNPy3-CDOlFXZ_qovn5HgkwBw4OezRz2XgWtYk1Gpm7q2Hgah9t1fzfQlXcgREDN9-84Oqj0sa-T5bx9M6IQxfCaDHdA5qgS9wMglQ4sU_QXbWasBQK1cQm5L4WMaTZJYw-9kqwu6iSQWJ-xWHSgroSv0EB9fP4N6KpNwAJ/w200-h200/image.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>I <a href="https://blog.wataugawatch.net/2023/12/the-wheeler-marcus-primary-for.html" target="_blank">predicted back on Dec. 14, 2023</a>, that a David Wheeler vs. Natasha Marcus primary for the Democratic nomination to run for Secretary of Insurance of North Carolina would not be something to celebrate but rather a unnecessarily personal and vitriolic negative campaign, primarily because of Wheeler's capacity for obnoxiousness. Wheeler has made accusations against Marcus, and Marcus operatives have fired back to the point of attracting Wheeler's litigious propensities, and he's <a href="https://twitter.com/davidbwheeler/status/1762871033487319237" target="_blank">threatening to sue for defamation</a>.<p></p><p>What I dreaded happened fast and keeps getting worse.</p><p><br /></p>J.W. Williamsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17694324792688711136noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6194583.post-65648328703663527452024-02-27T08:23:00.000-05:002024-02-27T08:23:08.716-05:00Race Apprehension<p> </p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">"<i>For a party that heavily relies on Black votes and campaigns as a champion of civil rights, these are not ideal optics</i>."</p></blockquote><p></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">--<b>Lucille Sherman and Jeffrey Billman</b>, "Josh Stein's Challenge With Black Voters," <i>The Assembly</i>, February 26, 2024</p></blockquote></blockquote><p> </p><p style="text-align: left;">Lord, it hurts, but Sherman and Billman pressed their hard index finger right into the tightest muscle:</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">"This year, Democratic party elites have rallied not just behind Josh Stein for governor but also Jeff Jackson, Rachel Hunt, and Allison Riggs in their bids for <span style="color: black;">attorney general</span>, lieutenant governor, and Supreme Court justice, respectively. All are white and have Black primary opponents. The likely outcome is that Democrats will have a lily-white statewide ticket in November, while state Republicans will be led by Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, who wants to become the state’s first Black governor."</p></blockquote><p style="text-align: left;"></p><p>That's a bad enough summation, but Sherman and Billman pile on the insights and opinions of Black political operatives who say the atmosphere has soured for Black voters who generally vote Democratic.</p>Collette Alston, chair of the North Carolina Democratic Party’s African American Caucus, said she only remembers Stein showing up “whenever it was time for us to vote for him. There was no other time that there was a visit or any other kind of correspondence or anything. We haven’t seen Josh Stein out in public, around North Carolina, nowhere near as much as we’ve seen Michael Morgan” -- Stein's chief rival in the primary whom the African American Caucus endorsed.<div><br /></div><div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRY0H3Piop05zD_UL_9rcu1-nmFkrskrUFLf3mxdvb5KsTdxw9ZpVbldLaA6TWcAd-03Dpzatboyee3HQHW2RzjMJb-jFV1VfZSFiOyf5WN6u22_V899S55tvS8MT3ZNV-cixWCljYblIKSn_w6f04xzZ9mdjDyx9OGrUDkSGBNha-FjD8N_5s/s400/image.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="400" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRY0H3Piop05zD_UL_9rcu1-nmFkrskrUFLf3mxdvb5KsTdxw9ZpVbldLaA6TWcAd-03Dpzatboyee3HQHW2RzjMJb-jFV1VfZSFiOyf5WN6u22_V899S55tvS8MT3ZNV-cixWCljYblIKSn_w6f04xzZ9mdjDyx9OGrUDkSGBNha-FjD8N_5s/s320/image.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Morgan Jackson, Josh Stein's<br />political advisor<br /><br /></td></tr></tbody></table>It's not just Stein's aloofness that's a problem. Preacherly Mark Robinson's hellfire denunciations of queers appeals to elderly Black men, who do vote. Alston went straight to "culture" to explain Robinson's potential for earning Black votes:<br /><div><br /></div></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: left;">“Within our culture, especially in the South, we’re gonna go to hell for certain things, because of our religious thoughts,” Alston said. “Mark Robinson can placate that type of voter. Black men can feel more empowered. And plus—he’s Black. And, you know, that’s what I’m afraid of.” </div></blockquote><div><div><br /></div>Not to worry, sez Stein's chief political guru, Morgan Jackson. Jackson runs Stein’s campaign and downplays the concerns raised by Collette Alston. Jackson and other Stein supporters believe that "every Black voter Robinson peels off will be offset by suburbanites turned off by Robinson’s rhetoric."<div><br /></div>Dawn Blagrove, director of the civil rights group Emancipate NC, said she’ll vote for Stein if he’s the Democratic nominee. But “there is nothing about his tenure as AG that will make me, as a social justice advocate, excited about seeing him move to the governor’s mansion.”</div><div><br /></div>J.W. Williamsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17694324792688711136noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6194583.post-74513016540443491432024-02-26T09:34:00.000-05:002024-02-26T09:34:12.706-05:00Who Will Take On Tricia Cotham? Does It Even Matter?<p><br /></p><p>Two novice Dems and one who's run before but lost (to Tricia Cotham, incidentally) are running now in the HD 105 primary to take on Tricia Cotham this fall: Nicole Sidman, Terry Lansdell, and Yolonda Holmes, all of whom I first <a href="https://blog.wataugawatch.net/2023/12/the-democrats-vying-to-take-on-tricia.html" target="_blank">profiled</a> here last December 18, 2023, noting at the time that Sidman had high-level connections in the Party for fundraising (from when she ran Christy Clark's successful upset of Republican John Bradford in 2018). She has indeed <a href="https://charlotteledger.substack.com/p/sidman-has-a-fundraising-edge-in?r=3ffqpj&selection=74a05159-52ac-490a-9186-5687f9020d1a&utm_campaign=post-share-selection&utm_medium=web&fbclid=IwAR3ds42tEiQU8xJaniBOJpIeIBRKo3dVWQ2PHzSDYcF7diNQ7W6FiZAw5D8&open=false#:~:text=Fundraising%20edge%20in%20south%20Charlotte%20N" target="_blank">raised the most money</a>. <a href="https://charlotteledger.substack.com/p/sidman-has-a-fundraising-edge-in?r=3ffqpj&selection=74a05159-52ac-490a-9186-5687f9020d1a&utm_campaign=post-share-selection&utm_medium=web&fbclid=IwAR3ds42tEiQU8xJaniBOJpIeIBRKo3dVWQ2PHzSDYcF7diNQ7W6FiZAw5D8&open=false#:~:text=Fundraising%20edge%20in%20south%20Charlotte%20N" target="_blank">According to the Charlotte Ledger</a>, prominent local Democrats "seem to be rallying around Sidman," and the Charlotte Observer endorsed her. She's fairly active on Facebook and she's done at least some canvassing for support. Sidman is a lawyer and outreach director at Temple Beth El in Charlotte.</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfLLl2muMxSSpulv1z3whK5RubV3nP25328RxWwxWsDS38_6rxp0biUgWdlUNJbCtg1nKOZR1PUnxQIjvynEcTBQ1VgaFhdYtOx0-PJy8PzCu3s4REVOwmBN6jYHtStkhyK9YB4EbqB0c_AGp9trhna2z2wj4xBReVjxTNGsFh8Y0tAaPBlUOM/s400/image.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="400" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfLLl2muMxSSpulv1z3whK5RubV3nP25328RxWwxWsDS38_6rxp0biUgWdlUNJbCtg1nKOZR1PUnxQIjvynEcTBQ1VgaFhdYtOx0-PJy8PzCu3s4REVOwmBN6jYHtStkhyK9YB4EbqB0c_AGp9trhna2z2wj4xBReVjxTNGsFh8Y0tAaPBlUOM/s320/image.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yolonda Holmes </td></tr></tbody></table></blockquote><p>N.C. House District 105 contains Matthews, Mint Hill, and parts of south Charlotte. Sidman's chief rival for the nomination appears to be Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools community engagement employee Yolonda Holmes. (The mainstream media spells her first name Yolanda, but it's Yolonda on the candidate's social media.)</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr></tbody></table></blockquote><p>Back last December I couldn't find a website or any social media presence for the third candidate in the primary, nonprofit executive Terry Lansdell, and still can't as of today.</p><p>The Democrats are hot to get revenge on Tricia Cotham for her treachery, but can any of these three rally the base and win the Unaffiliated?</p><p>Yolonda Holmes is quite active on Twitter (where Sidman isn't), likes to be called "Dr. Yo" ("on the GLOW with Dr. Yo!"), and is a "featured" and "targeted" primary candidate for Lillian's List of North Carolina. That gives one pause. So much for the "establishment" support Sidman supposedly enjoys. Why did Lillian's List endorse Yolonda over Nicole?</p><p>Holmes has also been endorsed by the Progressive Caucus of NC.</p><p>She told the audience at a candidate forum recently that her campaign strategy "is a secret." “Our campaign has been very diligent and strategic, and we have been very secretive in our strategy and will remain that as much,” <a href="https://www.wunc.org/2024-02-09/in-mecklenburg-state-house-race-democrats-are-focused-on-defeating-tricia-cotham" target="_blank">Holmes said</a>.</p><p>The last time we heard about high-level "secret strategies," Richard M. Nixon was president.</p><p><br /></p>J.W. Williamsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17694324792688711136noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6194583.post-53731718205386239662024-02-25T11:48:00.004-05:002024-02-25T11:48:44.406-05:00Bankruptcy Declared<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJuZ7ANvOFCuHbdHkdk34-zeUpaDsoDcpVkazBsjWW5VowIHjuvouCvX4qwlD_qbRwwLptteOjnho0xcevgiCYGt8lm4OP6L3e0qjUroppJyyz8E8X62BxbZkeUNZtF1JYUwyvrgrN7fhkekPRjK24qOy81NZXQcPpNPX-A4IOM67n2kQCByzp/s640/image.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJuZ7ANvOFCuHbdHkdk34-zeUpaDsoDcpVkazBsjWW5VowIHjuvouCvX4qwlD_qbRwwLptteOjnho0xcevgiCYGt8lm4OP6L3e0qjUroppJyyz8E8X62BxbZkeUNZtF1JYUwyvrgrN7fhkekPRjK24qOy81NZXQcPpNPX-A4IOM67n2kQCByzp/w480-h640/image.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Surrender has turned to dependency, which has its own pathology.</p><p>Foxx is perhaps projecting because her primary opponent, Ryan Mayberry, is <a href="https://dailyhaymaker.com/nc-05-can-mayberry-knock-off-the-mean-old-lady/" target="_blank">portraying himself</a> as more MAGA than she.</p><p><br /></p>J.W. Williamsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17694324792688711136noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6194583.post-33092539979094119352024-02-22T08:01:00.003-05:002024-02-22T08:01:26.610-05:00Mark Walker, Pathetic in So Many Ways<p> </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeVFX_TseLN1WyB5edeFhyzGBmNwDQPe0-KnqM9hypf6JQbFixSSw3CivSSdscZOOa9cMO2V-U2oB8Em70k-kCQXlKsi17PFu97TGssBf0UQX0EK948nKk9PgSdBC1Y3GouOX32rPePOcuK6s-rqWJ7ZXoVR3OvAKcQZ6F36jrpURRR3MsU7No/s162/image.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="108" data-original-width="162" height="108" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeVFX_TseLN1WyB5edeFhyzGBmNwDQPe0-KnqM9hypf6JQbFixSSw3CivSSdscZOOa9cMO2V-U2oB8Em70k-kCQXlKsi17PFu97TGssBf0UQX0EK948nKk9PgSdBC1Y3GouOX32rPePOcuK6s-rqWJ7ZXoVR3OvAKcQZ6F36jrpURRR3MsU7No/s1600/image.jpg" width="162" /></a></div>So which is worse: Pretending you have the endorsement of the worst person in the world, or desiring to have that endorsement?<p></p><p>Former Rep. Mark Walker, who's running now to get back into Congress from NC6, <a href="https://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/election/article285754686.html" target="_blank">has been caught</a> listing Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz as an endorsee. Donald Trump Jr. is making a big deal out of it, on behalf of his BFF Addison McDowell whom Big Daddy Trump endorsed for the job Walker is also running for.</p><p>Walker is so desperate for hard right friends that he would fake a friendship with the odious Gaetz. Sad.</p><p><br /></p>J.W. Williamsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17694324792688711136noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6194583.post-65291965688464797822024-02-21T07:51:00.001-05:002024-02-21T07:51:37.177-05:00Magical Thinking<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgL-1qETDmn2Io34mYY5qwq9dLGEhitEQhvZD-W7aH5lxispD4DR0AZhIUc8uR-aLOBO4pSePRVNu2gW2T619S3i6iCDNFssG_CZoEgwBKCDKyfSYp4hqHaewQTpGFEwVa5hu4gIKSh_WiuBcfzoq2UoDZMzn3EKKq2SJ35dzbQ_1Oen4Sp5fY8/s970/image.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="530" data-original-width="970" height="175" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgL-1qETDmn2Io34mYY5qwq9dLGEhitEQhvZD-W7aH5lxispD4DR0AZhIUc8uR-aLOBO4pSePRVNu2gW2T619S3i6iCDNFssG_CZoEgwBKCDKyfSYp4hqHaewQTpGFEwVa5hu4gIKSh_WiuBcfzoq2UoDZMzn3EKKq2SJ35dzbQ_1Oen4Sp5fY8/s320/image.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>The high-level duo of Tom Ross and Margaret Spellings, co-chairs last year of the Governor’s Commission on the Governance of Public Universities in North Carolina, issued some eight months ago a 153-page set of recommendations for reforming the way the university system is governed. Both Tom Ross and Margaret Spellings are past presidents of the UNC system, hounded out of office, incidentally, by increasingly conservative boards of governors put in place by the Republican bosses in the General Assembly. Turns out, of course, that their recommendations for reform to remove partisanship and increase diversity were akin to pissing into the wind. To suggest that the politicians should stay the hell away from boards of trustees and governors, when they had only just recently won enough control to punish the liberals in the classrooms -- that idea was dead abirthing. Increase <i>diversity</i>? Ross and Spellings actually used that word, which to Christian conservatives is evidence of a plot to turn every kid gay. So the Commission report disappeared from off the earth.<div><br /></div><div>So it's nice to hear that Ross and Spellings brought the whole topic up again. They talked about the dangers of vindictive partisanship in our colleges and universities during an online discussion organized by the nonprofit <a href="https://coalitionforcarolinafoundation.org/">Coalition for Carolina</a>. Then <a href="https://ncnewsline.com/2024/02/16/former-unc-system-presidents-less-politics-more-diversity-needed-in-governance/" target="_blank">Joe Killian</a>, writing about the on-line conversation for the NC Newsline, brought it to my attention.</div><div><br /></div><div>Killian republished the Ross/Spellings report’s top-line recommendations (which get better toward the bottom):</div><div><br /></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: left;">Expand the UNC Board of Governors from 24 to 36 members – with 32 of them appointed and four standing members</div></blockquote><div></div><div><br /></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: left;">Expand each campus board of trustees to 15 members</div></blockquote><div><br /></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: left;">Allow the minority party of the General Assembly to appoint eight seats on the UNC Board of Governors</div></blockquote><div><br /></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: left;">Reserve four seats on the board of governors and campus boards of trustees for the chairs of the faculty and staff assemblies</div></blockquote><div><br /></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: left;">Mandate 16 of the board of governors’ members be appointed from eight designated parts of the state to promote geographic diversity on the board; the other 16 would be appointed at-large</div></blockquote><div><br /></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: left;">Institute a one year “cooling off” period between serving in the General Assembly or being an active lobbyist and serving on the board of governors or a board of trustees</div></blockquote><div><br /></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: left;">Create a new “Center for Higher Education” which would monitor the UNC Board of Governors and maintain a database of well-qualified candidates for appointment to the boards</div></blockquote><p><br /></p><p>The ruthlessness of the conservatives toward higher education -- when it's coupled in any way with progressive advocacy -- came to full flower in 2015 with the punishment of Gene Nichol, a distinguished faculty member in the Chapel Hill School of Law and past President of William and Mary College and a consistent critic of the Republican super-majority in the General Assembly. It's almost Putinesque how they targeted Nichol with specific <strike>poison</strike> pain, took away his Center for Poverty, Work, and Opportunity -- just shut it down because some politicos complained that Nichol was actively helping the poor with some kind of legal aide.</p><p>The conservatives are on a jihad to stamp out liberalism in higher education. They don't need no recommendations from over-educated bureaucrats.</p><p><br /></p><div></div>J.W. Williamsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17694324792688711136noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6194583.post-77426259836890914912024-02-20T07:56:00.003-05:002024-02-20T07:56:33.767-05:00Eddie Settle vs. Darren Staley, NCS 36<p> </p><p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGhphUh2U7Mo1qivhhnpIjpU-CMYxaW_U134ZYf1M7esMEtn3sGLY_6Uo1VdQ6s5YpUlKMqa1NmLwACYKIVRff9ZW9Qc-MN3oZJJ0d2ios3ljQhp3sSknUb8Y9mCdWuihwOiKMQ4FJp42ZjnSposiD2D48uwkRPnSuP5VtuMqqByv-0yfTUotM/s450/image.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="300" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGhphUh2U7Mo1qivhhnpIjpU-CMYxaW_U134ZYf1M7esMEtn3sGLY_6Uo1VdQ6s5YpUlKMqa1NmLwACYKIVRff9ZW9Qc-MN3oZJJ0d2ios3ljQhp3sSknUb8Y9mCdWuihwOiKMQ4FJp42ZjnSposiD2D48uwkRPnSuP5VtuMqqByv-0yfTUotM/s320/image.jpg" width="213" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Eddie Settle<br /><br /><br /></td></tr></tbody></table>I knew naught of Sen. Eddie Settle, who represents Wilkes, Alexander, Surry, and Yadkin counties (Dist. 36) in Raleigh, except that the energizing Democratic candidate for that seat, Darren Staley, mocks the R+26 nightmare that district has become and is not averse to pointing out Settle's tiresome conservative smugness. Staley lives in a trailer, is as hardscrabble tested as Settle is privileged, and he knows which end is up (as they say in my part of the country). Staley's Twitter feed keeps me plugged in to what a Democratic campaign for democratic values ought to look like and rarely does, an uprising of working-class common sense, determination, and vision.<p></p><p>Democrat Staley tweeted a link to <a href="https://thewilkesrecord.com/a-biblical-look-at-capitalism-p7847-149.htm?fbclid=IwAR0ICfazaPivp0ejS63biWoSqlFaVq1m66YQn7B7nX2VDzD-F_SlScwcUkE" target="_blank">a piece of remarkable Eddie Settle prose</a> (liberally stolen from the Wall Street Journal, as it turns out), headlining it this way: "<i>I've spent a lot of time talking about why you should support my campaign. THIS is who I am running against. Let that sink in...</i>" Settle's little essay, "A Biblical Look at Capitalism," was published in the Valentine's Day edition of The Wilkes Record. </p><p>I took the bait, wondering what make of man that my man Darren Staley is running against.</p><p>Settle's profit-motive Christianity left a bad taste in my mouth, an offensive brandishing of the Bible to promote the gospel of plutocracy: "The Bible is clear on many things. It teaches about the morality of personal responsibility. It’s through this avenue that man learns to develop good citizenship that leads to happiness. The welfare state undermines this goal of personal responsibility. Proverbs teaches that man is to be productive and that he is not entitled to well-being." Let them eat wallpaper?</p><p>"The morality of personal responsibility." Really, Dude? Has Trump, past master of evading consequences, taught us nothing? "Not entitled to well-being?" Has the history of wolfish, buck-passing corporations taught you absolutely nothing, Sir? Yours is a "Bible philosophy" made to order for the already comfortable who intend to entertain no doubt nor guilt, so it's little surprise that Eddie Settle's big consuming issue is taxes on people like him.</p><div>By all appearances, Eddie Settle is a well respected Southern Baptist glad-hander in Wilkes, a former 3-term county commissioner now serving in his first term in the NC Senate. He essentially went straight out of high school (and one year studying business at Wilkes Community College) into working at and learning his father's business, Nu-Line Printing Inc. (good for t-shirt screen printing & embroidery, banners, signs & picture framing services) -- the company that Settle now owns outright and still runs today. In 1990, he got into a sideline of raising cattle and is often photographed wearing a big cowboy hat at social gatherings to prove it. He told<a href="https://nctribune.com/news/2022/jun/03/get-to-know-sen-elect-eddie-settle/" target="_blank"> Colin Campbell</a> that his personal hero was Ronald Reagan, specifically "his Christian conservative leadership."</div><div><br /></div><div>He's big on pro-life politics, organizing a vote on the Wilkes Commission to pass a resolution to designate the county "a haven for the unborn" (Whoa! Wilkes filled with very pregnant women? looking to escape the pro-abortionists?). <i>What</i> would a haven for the unborn entail? He also <a href="https://www.eddiesettle.com/issues/" target="_blank">mentions</a> Critical Race Theory on his website, calling it "pure poison." </div><div><br /></div><div>He's always going to vote the party line, but I wonder if he stood up to Berger over the casino gambling push. He certainly doesn't mention that Berger's failure to get more casinos into poor counties held up the budget for months. Settle sez not one word about Berger's determination to get legalized commercial gambling well situated in NC on <a href="https://thewilkesrecord.com/sen-eddie-settle-reflects-on-his-first-year-in-office-p7504-149.htm" target="_blank">his otherwise braggadocious wrap-up</a> of his first year in the Senate. He can certainly brag about the <a href="https://thewilkesrecord.com/settle-secures-$70,808,522-for-alexander,-surry,-wilkes,-yadkin-p7033-149.htm" target="_blank">$70 million in pork</a> he got to hand out in his four counties. Pork is always a thoughtful gift.</div><div><br /></div>J.W. Williamsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17694324792688711136noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6194583.post-86725414865795455352024-02-19T08:01:00.004-05:002024-02-19T08:01:45.896-05:00Tucker Carlson's Red Period; Thom's Blue<p><br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMiiet3TcxHdPfDFm2xJzkn5yN5j8VPekko1NcyqJHpY4ozaMcZBwtjukBF8hiQzu7DpTiz-AGyOB4cRXOUgga3akJFW5jI_8_fC6QoVH6mGvgYbcXIFt6ldzsePA1XYeNwgrgkhCHRPeTPCEMGz81bkKcIbocl9VyxCeSMWBY-FL4MTFGXou2/s399/image.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="399" data-original-width="399" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMiiet3TcxHdPfDFm2xJzkn5yN5j8VPekko1NcyqJHpY4ozaMcZBwtjukBF8hiQzu7DpTiz-AGyOB4cRXOUgga3akJFW5jI_8_fC6QoVH6mGvgYbcXIFt6ldzsePA1XYeNwgrgkhCHRPeTPCEMGz81bkKcIbocl9VyxCeSMWBY-FL4MTFGXou2/s320/image.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Tucker Carlson is now a thing on X, posting videos of interviews with strong men admired by the militant Right. Of course, you heard about the video he posted of his recent trip to a grocery store in Moscow, praising Russia (hence, Putin) for the price of its groceries and its superior cleanliness. Earlier last week, Tucker said Moscow is “so much nicer than any city in my country.”<p></p><p>The sometimes liberated Thom Tillis wasn't having it. Tillis tweeted back, “Ah yes, Russia is so much better than the U.S. with all those cheap groceries and lavish subway stations. The Soviets had a term for people like Tucker: useful idiots.”</p><p>Does Senator Tillis have polling or any other data that suggests the MAGA-wing of the NCGOP isn't as powerful as it thinks, so he feels free to let loose every once in a while (in between fits of kowtowing). Tillis is a hard man to predict. But fun to watch right now.</p><p><br /></p>J.W. Williamsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17694324792688711136noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6194583.post-30029285012469945782024-02-18T07:56:00.004-05:002024-02-18T07:56:47.951-05:00Some Lowdown on Deanna Ballard's Candidacy for Lieutenant Governor<p> </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8g5sma4XHAihNRwp51y20pmLsInOWEkHymG59bSEd5EXG-PbgPCR2Bb_Voh6mgX_8LEJKHNr1Y7Fp4O6E0olc1O9XytqqWuv8GRP94s-8ks7n26i-4l93RqGb0_KKkY98ohyvBHxCj-LxhyphenhyphenWSUFy8719mTzWmAwfUXh1YAUX2tUIiLVkMXlbT/s1500/image.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="1500" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8g5sma4XHAihNRwp51y20pmLsInOWEkHymG59bSEd5EXG-PbgPCR2Bb_Voh6mgX_8LEJKHNr1Y7Fp4O6E0olc1O9XytqqWuv8GRP94s-8ks7n26i-4l93RqGb0_KKkY98ohyvBHxCj-LxhyphenhyphenWSUFy8719mTzWmAwfUXh1YAUX2tUIiLVkMXlbT/s320/image.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>There are arch conservatives and MAGAts and slick campaign operatives running in the very crowded Republican primary for lieutenant governor, but there's only one Deanna Ballard, our former state senator who got double-bunked in 2022 with the wheeler-dealer Ralph Hise. We heard it was a plot to get rid of her because she was considered too soft and pliable in Raleigh for a Party that likes its politicians hard, like its laws. <p></p><p>The Daily Haymaker, always on the far right of the known universe, <a href="https://dailyhaymaker.com/your-early-voting-cliff-notes-part-1/" target="_blank">considers</a> Ballard insufficiently conservative and "way too close to legislative leadership" -- too establishment, in other words. That assessment was seconded by a lengthy article in The Assembly on the whole crowded field -- both Republican and Democratic -- running in both primaries for lieutenant governor (the most inconsequential job on the Council of State).</p>Carli Brosseau characterized Ballard's campaign this way<a href="https://www.theassemblync.com/politics/lieutenant-governor-race-north-carolina/" target="_blank"> in The Assembly</a>:<br /><br /><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">Though Ballard has accepted the invitation extended to all GOP lieutenant governor candidates to speak on [Lt. Gov. Mark] Robinson’s rally circuit, she has avoided a full-throated endorsement of the MAGA movement. </blockquote><br /><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">Instead, she has positioned herself to appeal to unaffiliated voters, invoking her mother’s career as a school teacher, her seven years working in the George W. Bush administration, and her passion for improving data management. </blockquote><br /><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">“We could make some better policy if we had more timely data—and that’s across the board from business to education, K12, to higher education to the workforce,” she said. </blockquote><br /><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">On abortion, she says she supports the legislature’s recent move to ban the procedure, in most cases, at 12 weeks. Before Roe v. Wade was struck down, she <a href="https://www.ncleg.gov/Sessions/2019/Bills/Senate/PDF/S547v1.pdf">sponsored a bill</a> that would have banned most abortions at 20 weeks. Would she now like to see an earlier ban? “I believe life begins at conception,” she said, but “I don’t think it can be done in North Carolina.” </blockquote><br /><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">There are some indications that Ballard’s message is landing. She raised $194,000 from July through December, more than any other Republican candidate in that timeframe.</blockquote><p>In the Republican primary, there are at least four candidates who will have formidable followings including Sam Page, the Sheriff of Rockingham, and Jeffrey Elmore, a House member from Wilkes, and Hal Weatherman, who was Dan Forest's main operative for a long time. Also Jim O'Neill, who came close to beating Josh Stein for attorney general in 2020. Ballard is up against some tough competitors. Odds are nobody gets to 30% on March 5, which means a run-off.</p><p><br /></p>J.W. Williamsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17694324792688711136noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6194583.post-17697183577367021312024-02-16T07:28:00.002-05:002024-02-16T07:28:57.246-05:00Phil Berger, Once Bitten Is Twice Shy<p> </p><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9nLAzLYGfkYsdXVhBd9xNJm7tHFZVtGckqLFAhEdXHrlOp-eZSEiSo439jnvkmMAyNFsAfUKd32ckztuZIp3X5vlydmNMelslfiz2nLF4ocwpInxiJCLdOuzrEfbbpBM0OinJNM1vNdYJwcDQGgDxCD7zEq6rldFOrDUA_PUTT4D6E6NQZNvM/s310/image.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="310" data-original-width="220" height="310" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9nLAzLYGfkYsdXVhBd9xNJm7tHFZVtGckqLFAhEdXHrlOp-eZSEiSo439jnvkmMAyNFsAfUKd32ckztuZIp3X5vlydmNMelslfiz2nLF4ocwpInxiJCLdOuzrEfbbpBM0OinJNM1vNdYJwcDQGgDxCD7zEq6rldFOrDUA_PUTT4D6E6NQZNvM/s1600/image.jpg" width="220" /></a></div>The headline on Luciana Perez Uribe Guinassi's <a href="https://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/article285477572.html" target="_blank">story</a> yesterday pretty well captured a new, somewhat chastened Phil Berger: "Once a champion of casino legalization, NC Senate leader ‘not intent’ on it for 2024."</div><div><br /></div><div>"Not intent." Understatement.</div><div><br /></div><div>Berger took a beating over legalized gambling from the most precious of the GOP consistency, rural Republicans (otherwise guaranteed to applaud Republican talking points) not so enamored with Berger's weird idea of rural development -- make the local economy blossom with for-profit legalized gambling.</div><div><br /></div><div>There was such an outcry in Rockingham County -- Berger's own constituency -- that the local <a href="https://blog.wataugawatch.net/2023/08/citizen-uprising-against-bergers-new.html" target="_blank">sheriff got talked up</a> as a potential challenger for Berger's Senate seat, and by all appearances, came close to running. Some (reliable?) polling suggested he could have beaten Berger in a primary, and that might chasten any bull elephant in his 24th year as a North Carolina Senator and his 14th year as undisputed bossman.</div><p><br /></p>J.W. Williamsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17694324792688711136noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6194583.post-9534127875278529722024-02-15T07:55:00.003-05:002024-02-15T07:55:40.318-05:00Robinson Finds a Clue<p><br /></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><i>“Not huge … but we don’t need a huge crowd."</i></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">--<b>Candidate Mark Robinson</b>, commenting on the small attendance at a campaign "rally" held at an event venue in Rocky Mount. "Not bad for a Wednesday."</p></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"></p></blockquote><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEji0XgGLCWSPkT58jPnsVTWtXpUWObOwd1b1W3uyVgqWc2RGAlnZpoXXhfFjIB2hbHHo64xY6MXyPnvMj8FCjs8rLPh9v7vaNFHMD4MHUYD1CnNeMhPEjA7hTstlq1eJ2vxCzA0f_s-Fv5UcKYaVjMP0f_UV9WK3TaYWtanlRX_x3F45VAvAyvO/s400/image.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="300" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEji0XgGLCWSPkT58jPnsVTWtXpUWObOwd1b1W3uyVgqWc2RGAlnZpoXXhfFjIB2hbHHo64xY6MXyPnvMj8FCjs8rLPh9v7vaNFHMD4MHUYD1CnNeMhPEjA7hTstlq1eJ2vxCzA0f_s-Fv5UcKYaVjMP0f_UV9WK3TaYWtanlRX_x3F45VAvAyvO/s320/image.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>Fox8 reporter Emily Mikkelsen <a href="https://www.wavy.com/news/north-carolina/nc-lt-gov-mark-robinson-explains-why-he-speaks-less-on-social-issues-amid-campaign-for-governor-weve-already-told-them/" target="_blank">obtained the audio</a> of a Mark Robinson campaign event at Factory 633 in Rocky Mount and transcribed this self-reflective moment when Robinson got ruffled that <i>anyone</i> would accuse him of toning it all down to attract more moderate vote. So this sounds like a subdued Robinson, not the hellfire preacher. One might almost say cowed:<p></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">“Now I don’t want you to be dismayed, though, [that] you all didn’t hear me mention any social issues. ‘Somehow, Mark Robinson has gone soft, is now afraid to tackle the social issues.’ I’ve already tackled the social issues.</blockquote><br /><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">"I’ve already told people how I feel about men competing against women in sports. The legislature already spoke on that issue.</blockquote><br /><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">"We’ve already told people how we feel about life. We moved that back 8 weeks down to 12 weeks.</blockquote><br /><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">"We’ve already told people how we feel about this disgusting pornography, this disgusting pornography that they tried to present to our children in our schools.</blockquote><br /><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">"We’ve already told them. I’m not gonna spend a whole lot of time talking about it.”</blockquote><p>It's guaranteed, Sir, that plenty of others will spend "a whole lot of time talking about it."</p><p> </p>J.W. Williamsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17694324792688711136noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6194583.post-1098849670614526602024-02-14T07:59:00.002-05:002024-02-14T07:59:27.678-05:00The Conservative Pushback Against Michael Whatley<p> </p><p><a href="https://blog.wataugawatch.net/2024/02/maga-warrior-or-bootlicker.html" target="_blank">See the previous item below</a>.</p><p><a href="https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-endorses-michael-whatley-rnc-chair-1869428" target="_blank"></a></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8thTMwCvdfiFoyBiFS2EYtlBzBp59gXcCuHAGIwCwEu-NE4c3_J0JGtkaoX5mWSunhlC6sHvKMKHFftvgAsGQwmsWfp-JQPQ7HCCPcHsk4IWyHOLWnmR0Eohkz-p945X4JjT2gRshXcJv5ps65UvA_L4d9SiYeGAe6Pxz5Pmn4OegNdPH-VMN/s1140/image.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="885" data-original-width="1140" height="248" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8thTMwCvdfiFoyBiFS2EYtlBzBp59gXcCuHAGIwCwEu-NE4c3_J0JGtkaoX5mWSunhlC6sHvKMKHFftvgAsGQwmsWfp-JQPQ7HCCPcHsk4IWyHOLWnmR0Eohkz-p945X4JjT2gRshXcJv5ps65UvA_L4d9SiYeGAe6Pxz5Pmn4OegNdPH-VMN/s320/image.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Newsweek has highlighted pushback against Trump's choice of Michael Whatley to replace Ronna McDaniel as chair of the RNC. With more background about what went on in 2023 when Whatley was reelected chair of the NCGOP:<p></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">But after Trump issued his statement, conservatives signaled their disapproval on X, formerly <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/topic/twitter">Twitter</a>.</blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">One X user, Denise Harrison, said: "These choices are supposed to inspire conservatives to donate money? I wasn't donating before...I sure in hell won't be donating to the RNC now!"</p></blockquote><p></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">Another X user, Reno Ciccotta, wrote: "Why Michael Whatley?"</p></blockquote><p></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">Others expressed concerns about the manner by which Whatley was re-elected to his position last year. In September 2023, a judge dismissed a lawsuit brought by three North Carolina delegates challenging Whatley's re-election as party chairman. Whatley defeated his challenger, John Kane, but those bringing the case claimed the use of a mobile phone application to vote allowed invalid votes to be cast.</p></blockquote><p></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">Recounting this issue, the host of The Absolute Truth, a show on the social media platform Frank, Emerald Robinson said: "Whatley is a Koch Bros swamp creature. He's anti-MAGA. Bad choice for RNC chair."</p></blockquote><p></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">An X user responded: "Emerald is right. I am from NC and Whatley is poison."</p></blockquote><p> </p><p></p>J.W. Williamsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17694324792688711136noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6194583.post-81772799959534549472024-02-13T09:58:00.001-05:002024-02-13T11:36:46.568-05:00MAGA Warrior or Bootlicker?<p> </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMXUP5IMtcpyt1CYu8WLjMsV7_JU6CjyGdX5g9OeIiRRCB1jjITN_m1RIZ-ZGOt6f5Xp-uyA1ErmEuwEj_Hg1dk7iNxYA9pg8APOlUKBgkCnP46C-skNrQAnovx2aCFem0xAX_4coeAqaYlELCBnp6JYBl8Sq6zaNDDlaHbe-4q2VR7mWr3jDZ/s678/image.jpeg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="381" data-original-width="678" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMXUP5IMtcpyt1CYu8WLjMsV7_JU6CjyGdX5g9OeIiRRCB1jjITN_m1RIZ-ZGOt6f5Xp-uyA1ErmEuwEj_Hg1dk7iNxYA9pg8APOlUKBgkCnP46C-skNrQAnovx2aCFem0xAX_4coeAqaYlELCBnp6JYBl8Sq6zaNDDlaHbe-4q2VR7mWr3jDZ/s320/image.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div>In high-level drama at the GOP, Trump is pushing out national Chair Ronna McDaniel, who's abased herself for his sake, and wants North Carolina's GOP Chair Michael Whatley to take over for her. Whatley is the round-faced people-pleaser who's most aligned with the country club Republican "establishment" and who, <a href="https://dailyhaymaker.com/michael-whatley-a-cheney-kinzinger-republican/" target="_blank">according to The Daily Haymaker</a>, plays at being a Trumpist lickspittle while really secretly harboring fear bordering on resistance. "[Whatley] loves to talk about Donald Trump and post pictures of himself with Trump’s plane. But much of what he does and says aligns much more with Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger — the two former 'Republican' congressmen who colluded with Democrats on the farcical so-called 'January 6 committee'.”<p></p><p>(Brant Clifton actually wrote that. Without a single example of what he does and says.) </p><p>But here's the deal: Whatley also <a href="https://nsjonline.com/article/2023/01/whatley-receives-trump-endorsement-for-rnc-co-chair/" target="_blank">presided over</a> "prodigious success in most state elections. Since taking over in 2019 Whatley oversaw Trump’s win in 2020, two U.S. Senate victories in 2020 and 2022, recapturing a supermajority in the state Senate and flipping control of the N.C. Supreme Court from 6-1 Democrats to 5-2 Republicans."</p><p>Despite such a sparkling recent career in North Carolina (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Whatley" target="_blank">Wikipedia sez</a> he's a native of Watauga County), and despite Whatley's signature affability, the most MAGA wing of the Party ran John Kane for party chair against him in 2023. John Kane was and is the number one son of an elder John Kane, a renown Raleigh mega-developer who was actually honored as Tar Heel of the Year in 2016. The elder Kane is also renown for raising big money for Republicans. The younger John Kane emphasized his MAGA bona fides, hitting especially "election integrity," <i>because the election of 2020 was stolen from Trump</i>. The conservatives who don't trust Whatley remember that he went weak after the "Stop the Steal" tourist romp at the Capitol, and condemned it all as a riot. Like a lot of other Republicans back on January 7th who later developed a twitch and then couldn't remember, Whatley never said another negative word in public about insurrection. Conservatives hate weakness, especially in their servants and allies.<br /><br /></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQdDrSDUFbl7nTBncSsbpPmbH36T6a72rHSxPpvP1dwoP7exbsIiDwpvVMBe0r1MAx73l2TGcSWdZPCfEdGB_r61F8-pcKMFwPfHHNqKrSblC3lJ9gnkanhkHlZWgzoZFAC6BGFjw9J6cd9zTlSvysPjvbY6Xj0L4AIvXqKW7g20PdZLVDFOMi/s1140/image.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="641" data-original-width="1140" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQdDrSDUFbl7nTBncSsbpPmbH36T6a72rHSxPpvP1dwoP7exbsIiDwpvVMBe0r1MAx73l2TGcSWdZPCfEdGB_r61F8-pcKMFwPfHHNqKrSblC3lJ9gnkanhkHlZWgzoZFAC6BGFjw9J6cd9zTlSvysPjvbY6Xj0L4AIvXqKW7g20PdZLVDFOMi/s320/image.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo Robert Willett, News&Observer<br /><br /><br /></td></tr></tbody></table>Whatley easily won reelection to the chairmanship in 2023, with the endorsement of Trump, incidentally. "Mr. Trump likes Mr. Whatley for one overwhelming reason, according to people who have discussed him with the former president: He is a 'stop the steal guy,' as one of the people described him. He endorses Mr. Trump’s false claims about mass voter fraud and Mr. Trump believes he did a good job delivering North Carolina, a 2020 swing state, to him." [<a href="https://ncnewsline.com/2024/02/12/trumps-pick-for-rnc-chief-worked-with-top-election-deniers-group/" target="_blank">Zachary Roth</a>]<p></p><p>Whatley walks the straight and narrow on Trump's story of election fraud and mouths the boss's beliefs and serves on all sorts of efforts to develop new voting laws to cut down on fraud while, <a href="https://ncnewsline.com/2024/02/12/trumps-pick-for-rnc-chief-worked-with-top-election-deniers-group/" target="_blank">according to Jim Womack</a>, the ultra-conservative chair of the Lee County GOP and founder of the North Carolina Election Integrity Team (NCEIT) -- semi-professional (!) fraud sniffers who cause as much trouble every election cycle as they possibly can -- Womack said that Whatley kept NCEIT "at arm’s length from the state party." That's the down home knock against Whatley, that he's actually protective of the ancient establishment and therefore weak.</p>But he knows how to flatter Trump. And act the act that is necessary for prospering. (Warning: When you sup with the devil, use a long spoon.)<div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><b>UH-OH -- Whatley, About To Get Steamrolled By Nepotism</b></div><div><br /></div>Feb. 12, 2024: "In a statement, Trump backed Michael Whatley, the chair of the North Carolina GOP, as the new chairman of the party to replace Ronna McDaniel .... But Trump also said he would support Lara Trump, his daughter-in-law, as co-chair of the party and Chris LaCivita, a top aide, as the top operating officer." [<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/elections/2024/02/12/donald-trump-rnc-mcdaniel-lara-trump/?utm_campaign=wp_politics_am&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_politics&carta-url=https%3A%2F%2Fs2.washingtonpost.com%2Fcar-ln-tr%2F3cba7fb%2F65cb5b003fac2d5c431fbe87%2F596b4ee3ae7e8a44e7d55e6c%2F9%2F58%2F65cb5b003fac2d5c431fbe87" target="_blank">WashPost</a>]<div><br /></div><div>Party rules mandate male/female co-chairs. Lara Trump will be the stronger with the capo.</div><div><br /></div>J.W. Williamsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17694324792688711136noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6194583.post-87569178216053476412024-02-12T10:00:00.000-05:002024-02-12T10:00:03.147-05:00The Shadow You Cast These Days If You're in a Republican Primary<p><br /></p><p>The Republican primary for the 8th Congressional District features 6 candidates, the most well funded of whom is John Bradford, currently in the NCHouse (Dist. 98), and the notorious Reverend Mark Harris of <a href="https://blog.wataugawatch.net/2018/12/dead-man-walking.html" target="_blank">ballot fraud fame</a> that happened in 2018 in CD9. Harris has evidently gotten over the tears of that embarrassment and is bouncing back into the political spotlight as a pretty dern self-righteous dick. So John Bradford, who's had an image in the General Assembly as a kind of Fred MacMurray suburban dad willing to get along, apparently thought he needed to up the testosterone level to compete with hell fire, so he produced this very sad, out of character 30 seconds and is putting it on TV:</p>
<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/n63ZoLPc0Lk?si=Ee0s3OMYay4L2kMw" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Grateful to <a href="https://www.newsobserver.com/opinion/article285284307.html" target="_blank">Paige Masten</a> for alerting us to this.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>J.W. Williamsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17694324792688711136noreply@blogger.com0