These Mtn Republicans Abandoned Their Constituents

 

There have been three pieces of law aimed (more or less) at hurricane recovery passed by the Republican super-majorities in the NC state Senate and House. 

1. A “first step” relief bill passed the General Assembly just two weeks after Hurricane Helene devastated much of Western North Carolina. It provided around $270 million in aid, mostly to state agencies.

2. Two weeks after that, a second relief bill added around $600 million in new aid. Notably, "the bill did not include any direct grants to affected businesses that were underwater with COVID-era SBA loans" -- businesses unable to raise cash because of property loss and the cancellation of the Fall tourist season. (Cory Vaillancourt)

l to r, Gillespie, Clampitt, Pless

The pressure for more relief from the state's House and Senate quickly built. The state’s budget director Kristin Walker estimated $53.6 billion in damages across 39 federally declared disaster counties. Gov. Cooper proposed taking $3.9 billion from the “Rainy Day Fund,” including $475 million in grants for small businesses that were (and still are) drowning. Cooper was ignored. 

Instead, the bosses in the General Assembly came up with the massive garbage of S 382, "Disaster Relief 3/Budget/Various Law Changes," which contained only a promise of future appropriations for hurricane relief but no actual money, while its real purpose was to take away power from the governor and other state-wide Council of State members after they were elected but not yet in office. The rainy day fund stayed sacrosanct and very dry. So Gov. Cooper vetoed the monstrocity. Budget Director Kristin Walker had testified in a House hearing just prior to the veto-override vote in the House that the state had $9.1 billion "unappropriated in reserves across a variety of accounts," and that Gov. Cooper's suggestion of $3.9 billion for hurricane relief would still leave a very comfortable $5.5 billion in reserve.

No dice. The NCGOP wanted to cripple Democrats more than it wanted to help its own citizens.

We've written here about the three Republican House members who initially defied their caucus and voted against S 382 and who almost immediately a few days later reversed themselves and voted to ignore the pleas of their constituents. Reps. Mike Clampitt, Karl Gillespie, and Mark Pless abandoned their supposed principles and voted to make the sham disaster relief bill an official slap in the face for their drowned counties.

They're not the only Republicans representing Western North Carolina in the House. At least three other of those guys happily voted yes on the first passage of S 382, for whatever self-serving rationalizations they made for not actually appropriating any new direct aid for their counties:

Jake Johnson (Dist. 113). Youngest Republican in Raleigh and Majority Deputy Whip. Rather than working to get more direct money appropriated for Helene relief, whippersnapper Johnson took the opportunity to criticize the Cooper admin's Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) for -- get this -- enforcing river set-backs for rebuilding disappeared infrastructure: "Where a lot of the rebuilding is going to have to be done — and a lot of the cleanup, obviously, is near the river — one thing we need to look at is, you know, at least temporarily suspending some of the [regulations], how close you can work to a river and making sure that, you know, they're not cracking down on that," Johnson told Fox News Digital.

Ray Pickett

Ray Pickett (Dist. 93). Putting his "followship" skills on full display, Pickett echoed Johnson, tagged along with Johnson's opportunistic attack on DEQ, though his "me too" and "I was just going to say that too" came without any mention of "a specific policy he was most concerned about but said he was [vaguely] worried about DEQ's permitting and approvals process in general .... I absolutely share those concerns," Pickett told Fox News Digital. "I see it with some of our infrastructure that's going to have to be replaced. DEQ … has not always been the quickest agency we have." This was all tough-guy posturing against an environmental agency that had not, in fact, been any impediment at all to recovery but had rather been on the scene in the West since the middle of the flood.

Dudley Greene (Dist. 85). New in the House, representing hard-hit Avery, Mitchell, Yancey, and McDowell counties. He's mere furniture and does as he's told by the bosses.

3 Mountain Republicans Could Stop the Newest Power Grab

 

You know what power grab we're referencing in the title, right?

Reps. Gillespie, Clampitt, and Pless (l to r)

Three mountain Republican Reps in the NC House voted with all the Democrats against the so-called "Disaster Relief Bill" last Wednesday -- Mike Clampitt (Dist. 119, Jackson, Swain, Transylvania), Karl Gillespie (Dist. 120, Cherokee, Clay, Graham, Macon), and Mark Pless (Dist. 118, Haywood, Madison). The bill in question, S 382, "Disaster Relief and Various Law Changes," passed any way, of course, without these three, but the kicker is that any one of them could provide the veto-affirming vote when S 382 inevitably comes back with Cooper's VETO stamped on it, as it surely will. 

Why would Clampitt, Gillespie, and Pless go against their caucas? It's largely speculation, but the reason for those noes seems logical: S 382 offered almost nothing in the way of actual hurricane relief. It was just cover for sneaking in a sweeping power grab, reducing the powers of newly elected Democrats just before they take office. The bill is actually kind of an insult to hurricane victims since it offers little or no cash relief to devastated businesses and homes. Only 20 pages of the 130-page bill even touched on Hurricane Helene, while the rest accomplished the most callous and naked overturning of election results by depriving newly elected Democrats to statewide Council of States offices the duties they ran for and were elected to perform. Phil Berger was in a big hurry to pass S 382 because he's about to lose his super-majority in the House for overturning vetoes. 

In other words, Phil Berger and Ralph Hise (who's lead author on S 382) and the rest of the bastards are using the plight of disaster-stunned citizens as a stalking horse for doing real damage to constitutional norms and the separation of powers. 

So it's an effing big deal that Reps. Clampitt, Gillespie, and Pless bucked their caucus. And shouldn't they, for the insult this bill represents to their districts? And come to think of it, where the hell was Ray Pickett? Pickett was quite visible in Watauga and Ashe during the immediate aftermath of Helene, a helpful (or at least helpful-seeming) high elected official who had contacts up the ladder to get help. He surely knows that S 382 does not come close to helping right now the unresolved disaster in the western counties.

If even one of the three reps. votes to uphold the Cooper veto, then this power grab dies a stumbling death.

Prediction: The three will have their arms twisted sufficiently or be bought off somehow, someway. The newly elevated Speaker-to-be Destin Hall of Lenoir has too much riding on his first legislative crisis of leadership. He can't seem weak.

The Arrogance of Phil Berger

 

The most powerful man in the General Assembly, Phil Berger, makes a useful poster child for the damage the Raleigh bunch is doing to democracy in North Carolina. But rarely do we get insight into his character from a member of his own Republican Party. Mike Clampitt (Dist. 119, in the southwest mtns) put out a public newsletter to his constituents following the disastrous meeting Clampitt's House Freedom Caucus had with Berger shortly before Berger gave up on getting casino gambling into the state budget. The Freedom Caucus was his main hitch, as House Republicans wouldn't go along.

Here's Clampitt's description of the meeting between Freedom Caucus and Berger:

Mr. Berger ... stated that he was giving an information meeting and was not interested in debate, questions, or amendments. This meeting lasted an hour, and it was very disturbing the way I and my colleagues were talked down to, bullied, disrespected, intimidated, and threatened that if we did not agree to have this included in the budget ... that the entire budget process would be reset." (Hat-tip Chris Cooper)

"Budget process ... reset," meaning that every Republican House member's preferred pork project would be in jeopardy -- a threat indeed!

The fact that the threats and intimidation didn't work this time provides its own lesson about authoritarian control, that if enough people band together, their strength is greater than one.

Oathkeeper (Insurrection Adjacent) Member of NC House Has a Credible Democratic Challenger

 

Before the end of November 2020 and following the November 3rd election, an Arizona state senator named Wendy Rogers -- a Trumpist fully invested in the big lie, a fantasy of fraud which was already manipulating millions toward what would become insurrection on January 6th -- Senator Rogers authored a letter calling for an election audit in all 50 states, "decertification where necessary," and a re-vote in the US House of Reps about who gets sworn in as president. Rogers induced Republican state lawmakers across the country -- 186 of them -- to sign her public letter. The news broke on November 25th.

Rep. Mike Clampitt (HD119), a Bryson City Republican (with his neon patriotism), signed that letter. Clampitt represents Haywood, Jackson, and Swain. He's up for reelection in a few months and has a Democratic opponent, Al Platt. Clampitt has traded his seat more than once with the seriously gregarious Joe Sam Queen, a Democrat and an architect (who actually beat Campitt more times than Clampitt beat him. It would make a "Green Acres" special).

Mike Clampitt solidly won another challenge from Queen in 2020 by his widest margin ever, and he did that on the strength of fellow citizens who have bought the big lie, big time -- and even given money, many of them, to a greed-head. Those voters believe the election was stolen. And, by the way, they also approve -- or tolerate -- Clampitt's white supremacist ties to anti-government extremists. My God. That's the reality: Mike Clampitt fits his district.

In late September 2021, Clampitt's name was among the some 38,000 people on a membership roster of the Oath Keepers, the far-right, anti-government would-be militia whose leaders are now charged with seditious conspiracy. Clampitt is also a registered member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, a neo-Confederate rah-rah group currently into putting up bigger and bigger Confederate battle flags where they're not welcome.

What this guy is doing in government, considering how he obviously feels about government! 

Democrat Al Platt

Al Platt on the left, with son Parker Platt

Kind of a surprise and looks good to me! Platt clearly belongs to the Brevard business diamond circle (the Transylvania Times said that Platt Architecture was "a mainstay of the community"), and he's a generous benefactor (supporter for years of the Transylvania Boy and Girls Club), and now with ready access to vigorous fundraising and business and civic ties all over the district. Platt Architecture is a leading architectural and design business now with about three-dozen employees and many high-profile commissions.

From NC College of Design publication:

When he first opened his practice in Brevard in 1982, Al used his home as both an office and studio. Since those modest beginnings, the firm has evolved in dramatic ways, growing to become a well-respected architectural practice, while adding several new offerings, including construction, interior design, real estate, land conserva­tion, and most recently PLATT HOME, a furniture and home decor showroom opening this spring.

In 38 years, the firm has completed over 500 projects for clients from across the country.... 

The father and son team [Al Platt very recently passed the leadership of the firm to his son Parker Platt] ... have collaborated on many of the firm’s most notable projects, including the 2006 HGTV Dream Home, a private residence featured nationally in VERANDA Magazine, the Brevard-based Oskar Blues Brewery, and the soon-to-be open Parker Concert Hall on the campus of Brevard Music Center.

Somehow I got on Al Platt's email list, though I can't vote for him. I like it there.

 

And Now for the Bad News

NCFree rates HD119 R+5.

Daves' Redistricting gives it 42.7% Democratic to 54.5% Republican lean.

Can Platt, with all his business success, overcome the built-in prejudices of the voters. (Platt is highly educated, after all, and that alone is suspicious). Success depends on turn-out (natch!) and what kind of message Platt puts out there to drive turn-out. I think he should have plenty of resources to make himself known along with Clampitt's record (though so far I don't see any video on his infrastructure, and his website is barebones and barely functioning).

Jackson County contains Western Carolina University, fer goodness sake, which has probably been under-targeted for voter registration and "know your rights" campaigns. I believe that 5% of that Republican advantage can be overcome. Especially if the students know Campitt's BFFs in the extremist world of Trump lust.

Mike Clampitt, 2nd Member of the NC House, Outed for Membership in Oath Keepers

 

Clampitt

First, it was NC House member Keith Kidwell outed as a member of Oath Keepers, the paramilitary outfit that participated in the January 6th insurrection at the Capitol. Literally dozens of Oath Keepers have been arrested for their participation in that assault. Apparently sitting back home and watching were Rep. Kidwell and yet another member of the NC House, Mike Clampitt of Bryson City. (Clampitt has traded that seat back and forth with Democrat Joe Sam Queen. Queen beat Clampitt in 2018, but Clampitt took back the seat last November.)

The following is from an investigation by ProPublica, as reprinted by The Progressive Pulse:

People with law enforcement and military backgrounds — like Clampitt, a retired fire captain in Charlotte, North Carolina — have been the focus of the Oath Keepers’ recruiting efforts since the group started in 2009. According to researchers who monitor the group’s activities, Oath Keepers pledge to resist if the federal government imposes martial law, invades a state or takes people’s guns, ideas that show up in a dark swirl of right-wing conspiracy theories. The group is loosely organized and its leaders do not centrally issue commands. The organization’s roster has ballooned in recent years, from less than 10,000 members at the start of 2011 to more than 35,000 by 2020, membership records show....

Clampitt said he went to a few Oath Keepers meetings when he joined back in 2014, but the way he participates now is by being a state legislator. He has co-sponsored a bill to allow elected officials to carry concealed guns in courthouses, schools and government buildings, and he supported legislation stiffening penalties for violent demonstrations in response to last year’s protests in Raleigh over George Floyd’s murder. Clampitt said he opposes violence but stood by his Oath Keepers affiliation, despite the dozens of members charged in the Capitol riot.

"The way he participates now is by being a state legislator." Yeah, we get that. He has another history of nostalgia for the Old Confederacy, and luckily he's a state legislator who can pass a law that you cannot bring up the Old Confederacy in any NC classroom in a discussion of racism.

Dark Money Attack Ad Against NC House Candidate Ray Russell

When you see an attack ad like the one below, don't you strain to see who paid for it? Don't you? Don't you want to know whose money went into that? Aren't you ready to spend hours trying to find out? Luckily for me, Blogger Penny Smith in Jackson County did that work, probing a PAC calling itself "Carolina Leadership Coalition," which paid for "Nutty Professor" below:

Steven B. Long

Its registered agent, at least at one time, was Steven B. Long. Long is on the NC Board of Governors; he was the force behind eliminating the ability of UNC’s Civil Rights Center to litigate on behalf of poor people. A Republican donor, he was on the board of Art Pope’s Civitas Institute, but resigned when he won a seat on the Board of Governors. He has also served as the Treasurer of the NC Republican Party.

One address for the Carolina Leadership Coalition is an office suite on Fayetteville Street in Raleigh. That must be a very large suite, because there are 9 companies listing that address as their agent’s address, including Integrity NC, NC Job Creators Forum and NC Non-Profit Corporation. It is also the address of a large, multi-state, law firm associated with Long.

However, on another set of papers the Carolina Leadership address is given as 10540 Swerling Way in Raleigh, a nice suburban house owned by Collin McMichael. It, too, must be large, because seven companies are listed there, including Common Sense Raleigh, North Carolina Issues Project and the Committee for Sound Policy Solutions.

McMichael was also treasurer for the Thom Tillis Committee, a role with which he is familiar. For example, he staffed the Elizabeth Dole campaigns. He is involved with a group called Holding Together Our Majority, which is affiliated with Tillis and includes among its donors the Koch Brothers. He is also linked to Mark Meadows (his treasurer for the Your Voice Counts PAC), whose donors include, yes, you guessed it, the Koch Brothers. And Meadows’ House Freedom Fund is linked to a number of astro-turf organizations as well as the Koch Brothers. For those of you who don’t know, the Koch Brothers are not from North Carolina. They’re not even southerners, although they have spent considerable money enlisting southerners to their pet causes. (Pope, Meadows and Tillis all have links with ALEC, an organization that churns out conservative policy papers and model legislation.)

Penny Smith got started on this research because of slick mailers (not video) in Jackson County (NCH119) extolling the manifest virtues of their incumbent Republican House member, Mike Clampitt. Paid for by a group calling itself a rosy-sounding, made-up name. It looked like a rescue operation, for Clampitt is indeed endangered. His Democratic opponent, Joe Sam Queen, has held the seat before, is widely popular and very well known, and he's been running strong. We noted here back on July 19th that Queen had vastly out-raised Clampitt in the Second Quarter. Same for Ray Russell, the subject of that attack ad below, who vastly out-raised incumbent Republican Jonathan Jordan (NCH93) in the 2nd Quarter (detailed in the same post).

Bound to be more of these "Carolina Leadership Coalition" products out across the state. Many  endangered Republican incumbents, with very anemic fund-raising -- a landscape bleak enough to give billionaires the dry heaves. Clampitt and Jordan don't need to raise money. They have Art Pope and the Koch Bros.

One final observation: This attack ad is gonna backfire. Already has. People in the district know Ray Russell. They depend on his science in their daily lives. They can recognize an outrageous smear when they see one. They resent it. Jonathan Jordan will bear the brunt of that anger, and he'll deserve it.

Some of My Best Friends Are

Clampitt

NC House member Mike Clampitt (Bryson City) held a sparsely attended town hall meeting at Haywood Community College on the day after Labor Day, and someone produced a picture of him gleaming with pleasure amid a display of men with Confederate flags (which Confederate flag detailed below), and then someone else accused him of being "racist."

The news write-up of the confrontation drew this eye-witness comment in the Smokey Mountain News:

I was not the person who called Clampitt a racist at the meeting, but I was the one who brought up his allegiance to the flag that is NOT the official flag of the Confederacy and his being photographed willingly with the men who joined the CAnton Labor Day parade by driving their trucks sporting huge flags -- the flag of the Army of Northern Virigina, which was rejected by the leaders of the Confederacy in favor or another flag.

I asked Mr. Clampitt if he would then and there denounce racism and those who adhere to it. At first he told the long story of his ancestors on both sides and his participation in re-enactments with men

Clampitt town hall, Sept. 5

[playing] Union as well as Confederate soldiers. When he seemed to equate the importance and integrity of Confederate leaders with those of the USA -- the Union. Another audience member pointed out that the Confederates did commit treason in going to war against the US, and doing so to continue to make slaves of other human beings. No real reply addressing that incontrovertible fact.

To give context to my question, I told him about growing up in Selma, Alabama, in the 1960s and watching Bloody Sunday. As a white teenager I was traumatized, but my feelings are nothing compared to what people of color in Selma must have experienced and to what they must still feel whenever they see that execrable flag, which has in every rally where KKK and other white supremacists appeared.

I told him I have no doubt at all that the flag flown by these groups IS a symbol of racism because as a white I had the misfortune to overhear what white racists in the South [say], where I've lived most of my life.

If Mr. Clampitt and his fellow family history buffs want to commemorate their heritage, why not do it accurately by using the real flag the Confederacy adopted instead of the one that sickens those of us who have seen or experienced racism?