How To Make Congressman McHenry Fidget

Patrick McHenry, left, with challenger Ken Fortenberry. Photo Mike Hensdill/The Gaston Gazette

Congressman Patrick McHenry's Republican primary opponent this year, Ken Fortenberry, showed up at a supposed "townhall" meeting the Congressman was holding, and just by acting like a citizen and asking questions, Fortenberry brought the meeting to an abrupt ending.

The published account is vague about which question McHenry refused to answer ... twice.

But this info volunteered by the Gaston Gazette reporter speaks volumes about McHenry's alleged "openness":

[Gaston County Commissioner Chad] Brown said the meeting was held on “somewhat short notice.” Fortenberry said he found out about the meeting late Wednesday night. The Gazette did not receive notification of the meeting but was tipped off by a source. No other media was present.

Sounds like a "townhall" that Virginia Foxx might engineer.

McHenry Draws a Primary Challenger

Ken Fortenberry, editor and publisher of news@norman, a community news site in Denver, N.C., has announced that he will challenge Congressman Patrick McHenry in the 2012 Republican primary.

Mr. Fortenberry is taking a populist approach, unlike McHenry's previous Republican opponents, who generally (and dependably) try to portray the incumbent as not conservative enough.

No such poppycock from Fortenberry, but rather this:

He decided to run for the House seat after a conversation with his son, who graduated from Appalachian State University in Boone about a year and a half ago. Many of the junior Fortenberry’s fellow grads were struggling to find work.

“Nobody is speaking up for real people and for the younger generation,” Fortenberry said. “I have an incredible fire in my belly to stand up and speak out from every rooftop I can find on behalf of the people of this district who need representation.”

Fortenberry accuses McHenry of supporting banks and Wall Street powerbrokers at the expense of average Americans. The challenger said he would represent the working-class men and women of the district.

“I think this guy’s very vulnerable,” Fortenberry said. “People are angry. They’re frustrated.”