Wow. Apparently, the GOP leadership in the NC House actually worries just a tab about its image.
Last week, Republican Rep. Keith Kidwell remarked that Democrat Diamond Staton-Williams, who spoke about getting an abortion, had perhaps been raised in the Church of Satan. And Rep. Jeffrey McNeely questioned whether Democrat Abe Jones only got into Harvard because of his race.
Rep. Jeff McNeeley (Iredell Co.) interrupted -- interrupted -- Rep. Abe Jones, who is Black, and asked him if he could have gotten into Harvard if he wasn't Black or an athlete. Okay, McNeeley, said "if you weren't a minority or an athlete," but I think everyone knew exactly what he was implying. Abe Jones does indeed have a law degree from Harvard. (McNeeley apologized, but as we know the harm was already done.)
 |
| Keith Kidwell |
If Kidwell has ever apologized to Staton-Williams, he's kept the apology well out of sight.
Modems are illegal on North Carolina voting equipment, by law, as is any machine connection to the Internet.
McNeely, dressed like Aunt Bee's best friend, caught some blow-back, including on this site, and according to Laura Leslie, by the time McNeely got back to his office later that day, and had a chance to catch up on the news that he had made, he quickly changed his tune, "saying he would simply drive by the building where the Durham County Board of Elections keeps its voting machines to see for himself whether the machines were secure."
Hahahahahahaha [can't catch my breath] hahahahaha.
Like so much else that comes out of the Bully Caucus, this is all political theater, and the Trumpists do plum love it, every bit of strongman, authoritarian trash-talk that comes out of the mouths of politicians who sold their soul so long ago, they're now the walking dead.
At his swearing in (January 4, 2019), he told an interviewer from The Washington Daily News that in Raleigh he was going to be all about taxes and infrastructure, especially taxes. All the time.
February 2019 -- His first four bills, all of them, take aim at legal abortion. Then he signs on as co-sponsor with Rep. Larry Pitman (et al.) to a bill to nullify Obergefell v. Hodges, which legalized gay marriage. (That's crazy but don't let that slow down our momentum.)
2020, height of COVID -- During a floor debate Kidwell said he would not wear a mask, no matter what the governor said. He opposed the governor's emergency powers and was against mandatory vaccinations. Always against.
July 2021 -- As now head of the House Freedom Caucus, Kidwell demands that the NC State Board of Elections turn over voting machinery for inspection. Kidwell said he was sure there was voting fraud if he could just find it, and he needed the innards of computers to find it. State elections supervisor responded "stuff it."
August 2021 -- Both Kidwell and his wife, hospitalized for COVID.
Jeff McNeely in spring freshness
Oct. 8, 2021 -- Minus Kidwell (he spent a week in the hospital and apparently the recovery from COVID was a steep climb), the new House Freedom Caucus spokesman Rep. Jeff McNeely drew Durham County out of a hat and announced that the Caucus would be coming for Durham County's voting machines and that they would be bringing their own Capitol police force for compliance. No kidding.
So what's it now, Keith?
Today he's outed for being on the membership rolls of the Oath Keepers. You remember them. But let's review anyway (my thanks to Jordan Green):
The Oath Keepers was founded by Stewart Rhodes in 2009, shortly after the election of President Obama. The organization targets retired law enforcement and military veterans for recruitment based on a premise that they will uphold their oaths and resist a vaguely defined "tyranny." Long hostile towards the Black Lives Matter movement, the organization and its leader Rhodes took an increasingly radical stance during the George Floyd protests in the summer of 2020 and in the runup to the 2020 presidential election.
To date, 22 members or associates of the Oath Keepers have received federal charges in connection with the assault on the US Capitol, with a majority accused of participating in a conspiracy to obstruct the electoral certification on Jan. 6. Five have already pleaded guilty.
This is the same guy -- Keith Kidwell -- who told the local newspaper he was going to be all about taxes and infrastructure. But those eyes don't lie.
Good God Almighty! The Trumpiest Trumpists in the NC House intend to bring their own law force to bully elections officials in Durham County. Ain't making this up. As recorded by Rolling Stone:
A group of Republican lawmakers in North Carolina who call themselves the House Freedom Caucus are conducting their own investigation into election fraud, saying they will do “whatever it takes” to inspect voting machines in Durham County, even if they have to use police to force the inspections.
Rep. McNeely at the press conference yesterday
State Rep. Jeff McNeely and other conservative lawmakers claimed at a Thursday news conference that they are acting on behalf of constituents who believe fraud and “machine tampering” took place in the 2020 election. McNeely said the group plans to conduct their inspections by “randomly pick[ing]” counties from across the state and then examining voting machines used in the presidential election to see if they have a modem that can connect to the internet. North Carolina state law prohibits voting machines from having modems.
During the news conference, McNeely selected the first county the legislators plan to investigate. Using an incredibly scientific method — pulling a county name from a sequined, USA-themed hat covered by a napkin — McNeely chose a slip of paper and announced it would be Durham County, which voted overwhelmingly for President Biden.
“I expect full cooperation from the good people in Durham because I feel like they have nothing to hide,” McNeely said. “We look forward to working with them, proving that our elections were true and were valid and there was nothing wrong with them. If that’s not the case, then we look to do an investigation. And if there need to be criminal charges, they will be filed also.”
A Durham election official told The Charlotte Observer that the county will not let the inspection take place. “We have no plans to allow anyone, as noted by law, to inspect our voting equipment,” Derek Bowens, Durham County’s director of elections, told the paper, adding that none of the voting machines in the county has a modem because they are prohibited.
This past summer the executive director of the North Carolina State Board of Elections, Karen Brinson Bell, also denied the lawmakers’ request to inspect voting machines. “The State Board has received no credible evidence that the certified results are not accurate, and elected officials from both sides of the aisle have stated that the 2020 general election in North Carolina was conducted fairly,” Bell wrote in a letter.
In a Thursday speech on the statehouse floor, Democratic state Rep. Zack Hawkins expressed his objection to the inspection. “The people in Durham County take elections very seriously,” he said. “You are not welcome in Durham County, and I’m not sure if you want to step foot in Durham County and try to inspect the machines. You will not be greeted as liberators, let me be clear.”
But at the press conference, McNeely said that he intended to go to Durham County Thursday night with a roll of red evidence tape to “secure the spot” where the machines are kept “so that nothing can go forward from here.”
When a reporter asked McNeely how he thinks the legislators will be able to inspect the machines without the permission of the county or state election board, he said that lawmakers from the legislative branch have a right to ask questions about elections. But if they are not allowed, McNeely said they will have escorts from the North Carolina General Assembly Police, which polices the North Carolina state Capitol grounds.
“So we will start with that,” he said. “And if we have to use, like I said, our escorts and the [General Assembly] police to help us, we will do whatever it takes to go about our mission.”
