US DOJ Convenes Federal Grand Jury To Look Into NC-9 Ballot Fraud

If this is Robert Higdon's investigation, there's no explicit word about that in early news reports. The grand jury has been empaneled by the US Department of Justice in DC, but they're subpoenaing all the major players including McCrae Dowless, the Mark Harris campaign, and the NC State Board of Investigations.

UPDATE

Robert J. Higdon Jr.

Subpoenas are coming from the Public Integrity Section of the US Department of Justice. The federal prosecutor for the Eastern District of North Carolina, Robert Higdon, remains silent and inactive on the matter of Republican ballot stealing. The Washington Post includes these paragraphs:

State election officials first referred evidence of ballot fraud in the 9th District to the U.S. attorney in the Eastern District of North Carolina in January 2017, nearly two years before allegations roiled Harris’s race against Democrat Dan McCready last fall. Frustrated state investigators said that they saw little evidence that prosecutors were pursuing the case.

A spokesman for the office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on why the subpoenas were sought by the Justice Department in Washington and not the U.S. attorney in Raleigh, Robert J. Higdon Jr.

Complicating matters is the fact that one of Harris’s sons, John, is an assistant U.S. attorney in Higdon’s office.

John Harris did the right thing in testifying honestly about his warnings to his father about McCrae Dowless. John Harris's boss Robert Higdon doesn't appear interested in justice or the rule of law in this case.

Why So Pale and Wan?

We've been highlighting here the growing wave of Democratic energy since Twitterman took control of all the TV remotes in the White House many moons ago, but Republican energy is a little harder to judge. We look for signs of enthusiasm, or signs of fatigue. We look for burning passion or dying embers. What are Democrats up against in 2020? What, in fact, are Democratic prospects right now in 2019 in two special congressional races in North Carolina?

(The most experienced Democratic political operative I know in North Carolina thinks dimly of Dem prospects in those two special elections. Fortunately, his is not the last word. Not until votes are cast and counted.)

Plenty of burning desire on the Republican side so far. There are 17 confirmed Republican candidates in the NC-3 special election on the coast --17 Republicans in a primary where somebody's got to get to 30% to win and avoid a run-off. They're enthused -- 17 of them at least -- because the district is overwhelmingly Republican, and that's a House seat they consider theirs, by right and by birth and by Divine guidance, so why wouldn't they line up three deep to try to grab it?

There'll be a bunch of Republicans running in the 9th too. We already know about Stony Rushing. But there's at least three more, including Matthew Ridenhour, with additional people still considering it. Candidate filing in the 9th opens tomorrow and closes Friday. You gotta jump and run, Brethren.

Then we read this today on conservative Brant Clifton's page:

I’m hearing that the GOP grassroots is not exhibiting a lot of excitement this year. Many counties that met today [GOP county conventions, Sat., March 9] reported poorer-than-average attendance than previous years. Over in the 9th district, Union County — arguably with one of the largest cohorts of Republican voters in the state (2nd largest in the 9th) — had attendance numbers that will easily be beat by counties around the state with much smaller GOP registration. People are worn out, I am hearing.

Yeah, but why?

I looked in vain at coverage of the Watauga GOP Convention in the Watauga Democrat, and there was no picture or mention of attendance, let alone enthusiasm. Their biggest news: Watauga GOP Reelects the Same Chair From Last Year. Party chairs often have to fall on their swords after an electoral drubbing, but not in Watauga.

I'd love to believe any Republican listlessness is at least part Trump-trauma, Twitter exhaustion, good old revulsion from repeated exposure to hideous behavior.

Candidate Filing Has Closed for the NC-3 Special Election

Some 17 Republicans (gasp!), six Democrats, two Libertarians, and one member of the Constitution Party have filed for the Congressional seat that was left vacant by the death of Rep. Walter B. Jones.

Richard Bew

A run-off primary in July seems almost inevitable, especially on the Republican side. On the Democratic side, we've already paid attention to Richard Bew, who might be the frontrunner, and to a couple of his opponents for the Democratic nomination, Ike Johnson and Dana Outlaw. Here is what I can find out about the other two:

Earnest T. Reeves -- Reeves is a familiar figure in eastern North Carolina. He ran in the Democratic primary for US Senate in 2014 and lost to Kay Hagan. In November 2015 he ran for mayor of Greenville, but was defeated by incumbent Mayor Allen Thomas (about which, see below). Reeves then ran in the Democratic primary for US Senate in March 2016 and lost to Deborah Ross. He also ran in the general election in June 2016 for the 3rd Congressional District seat against incumbent Republican Walter Jones, and lost. In April 2017 he was one of two finalists to replace David Hammond on the Pitt County Board of Commissioners but lost to Ann Huggins. In November 2017 he ran again for mayor of Greenville, but was defeated by city council member P.J. Connelly. He ran in the Democratic primary in 2018 for the NC House, got only 799 votes, and lost to Kandie Smith who went on to win the seat last November. He's a retired United States Army Communications Officer. According to his website, Reeves is "a disabled and combat zone veteran who currently serves as an entrepreneur, mentor, advisor, counselor, and advocate for the elderly and people in need on a case-by-case basis."

Allen Thomas -- Thomas was elected mayor in Greenville for three terms before resigning during his third term in June of 2017 to become executive director of the Global Transpark in Kinston (which should mean he has a leg up for fundraising). He got some star treatment when he announced on Thursday and would appear to be Richard Bew's chief competitor for the nomination. He's polished.





Full disclosure: I'm a contributor to the Richard Bew campaign.

Thomas Shanahan: Free Sheri Everts!

ASU Chancellor Sheri Everts

News leaking out of Raleigh suggests that the issue of certifying university IDs for the purposes of voting is as FUBAR as anything has ever been under the ministrations of the Republican overlords in the General Assembly.

Because some of the universities (a numerical minority, as we understand it) in the 16-member UNC System can't meet the requirements of the "attestation" form -- principally in the matter of allowing "selfies" for the photo -- UNC General Counsel Thomas Shanahan is forcing all the universities to refrain from signing, which will inevitably disadvantage and potentially disenfranchise thousands of students who otherwise would qualify for using their student IDs.

Appalachian State University is one of those universities that meet the requirements of the attestation form, but Chancellor Sheri Everts is clinging to the Thomas Shanahan "company line" and refusing to sign. She's received hefty raises from the conservative corps running the Board of Governors, and she's not likely to step out of line in support of her own students' constitutional rights. Instead, she promises to help students get a free ID, we assume by giving them the address and open hours of the DMV or the local Board of Elections.

Shanahan seemingly wants changes made to the attestation form, which would require changes to the law itself, which the Berger/Moore overlords are not going to do. So it's very likely at the moment that every student at every UNC-affiliated institution is about to be disenfrancised from using their student IDs to vote. Most severely impacted will be the students with out-of-state drivers licenses and students with no drivers licenses at all.

Shanahan could free up Chancellor Everts to sign the attestation form for AppState. Why won't he? Or she could simply refuse to toe the company line. Why won’t she? Perhaps because if some of The Sixteen sign the attestation, it will establish the tilted ground of uneven treatment under the law, which will provoke more lawsuits.

'Course, not allowing any of The Sixteen to sign is going to play into an existing lawsuit that's already challenging the constitutionality of the entire photo ID law.

Memo to Thomas Shanahan: Putting the constitutional rights of thousands of UNC-system students in jeopardy will not save the university system from itself.

One of Our Two Spectator Sports in 2019

As of yesterday, there were 11 Republicans signed up to run in the April 30th primary for the special election in the NC-3. (We discussed the leading Democrat, "Otter" Bew, yesterday, down-column.) The Republican scrum includes some hair-raising personalities, and that primary will be worth watching, but two third-party candidates also caught our eye because they'll be on the final ballot and will inevitably drain some Republican support in the final contest for the seat.

(Incidentally, the number of Republicans in that primary seems pretty certain to force a run-off -- if no one gets to 30%. A second primary will be scheduled for July 9th, with the final contest pushed to September 10th. Then whoever wins the special election will have to turn around in early December and file for reelection in 2020.)

Greg Holt, Constitution Party. Ran for Craven County Commission in the Republican primary of 2018 and lost by almost 15 points. After losing that primary, he switched to the Constitution Party and ran for the same County Commish seat that fall and got almost 23% of the vote. Holt, plus a weak Democratic candidate, could not stop the winning Republican from garnering over 50% of the vote. Holt is owner of Cravin-a-Cup, an office, janitorial, bottled water, and coffee supply business in New Bern. Holt was elected in 2017 to First Craven Sanitary District, a Craven County water authority. He's a member of Coastal Carolina Taxpayers Association, a Tea Party type group, and in an interview, Holt came out strongly against Sharia law in the US, for Christian prayer in schools, for concealed carry in schools, and for Trump's wall.

Shannon W. Bray, Libertarian. He's 46 years old and a cyber security practitioner. He has a website dedicated to Microsoft products (branding himself "a Microsoft Certified Master") and a Twitter account (@NoIdentity29) that is dedicated exclusively to cyber security. Confusingly, Bray's LinkedIn page says he's running for Congress in 2020, but in Rep. George Holdings' Second District, so perhaps he has long-range plans for breaking into politics. He lives in Apex in Wake County, which means he's running out of the 3rd District.

UPDATE
Jerry C. Thompson of Hampstead in Pender County, an unaffiliated voter, is circulating a petition to get himself on the ballot in the NC-3 special election. According to Gerry Cohen, he needs 7,551 signatures by April 30, a fairly steep hill to climb, especially as Thompson lives in the 7th Congressional District, not the 3rd.

Could This Ex-Marine Put the NC-3 Special Election in Play for Democrats?

Richard "Otter" Bew

Retired Marine Col. Richard “Otter” Bew announced yesterday that he will be running in the Democratic primary on April 30th in the first step toward running in the special election in NC-3 on July 9th to fill out the term of Rep. Walter B. Jones, who died last month. (News about other Democrats in this primary, included below.)

Bew completed the Platoon Leaders Course in Quantico in 1988, received a degree in Philosophy from Lehigh University in 1989, and was commissioned a Second Lieutenant of Marines. He became a naval aviator in 1991.

He retired from the Marines last fall after 29 years in the service. He served in Afghanistan, Iraq, Bosnia, and Serbia, and he already knows some of the doorways and secret knocks on Capitol Hill, having served as deputy legislative assistant to Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr., the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He also served as a legislative aide to the Commandant of the Marine Corps, and he earned a master's degree in international public policy at Johns Hopkins.

In other words, he's a richly experienced, smart dude to try for a seat in Congress, and he does remind us of the many ex-military personnel who ran strong campaigns last fall as Democrats, from Conor Lamb in Pennsylvania to Amy McGrath in Kentucky.

"Otter" Bew was watching those races too: “When I saw folks like that step out and run really good campaigns and do so with a different kind of dialogue — one that’s inclusive — and stay on target, the thing that I took most from that is inspiration that this can be done,” Bew said.

He's sensing a seismic shift in the voting public, a change that produced last fall the largest turnover of Congressional seats since Watergate, and even a deeply red district like the NC Third, which gave DJT 60% of the vote in 2016, can produce surprises, especially in a special election. “I got strong feedback that folks who normally would have opposed a candidate from the Democratic Party are more open to it now,” Bew said. “You have to really be ignoring some clear evidence of how [the US is] viewed in the world and how we’re performing in the world to still be sticking — with the same level of your conviction — with your vote from two years ago.”

There's some wishful thinking in that assessment, no doubt, but there's also a creeping reality.

Bew says he won't accept corporate PAC money. He puts health care issues at the top of what motivates him for office, and he acknowledges climate change as a major defining problem going forward.. 

He has professional help, obviously, judging from his website. 

Other Democrats in the April 30th Primary

Filing ends this Friday, so there may be additional candidates by Saturday, but at the moment:

Isaiah "Ike" Johnson, also a retired (1999) U.S. Marine who mentors students in Onslow County Schools. Johnson is African-American and ran unsuccessfully last fall for the NC House District 14 seat, receiving 41% of the vote in that race.

Dana Outlaw, New Bern’s mayor (since 2013) and the owner of a self-storage business and real estate consulting and appraisal business. 

Ollie Nelson, another retired African-American Marine and a Jacksonville pastor. 

Republicans Also Competing to Replace Walter Jones in Congress

There are currently at least four, one more wacko-conservative than the next (Michael Speciale ... really!). We'll wait to see who wins the primary in April before we waste our time researching all of them.

Footnote

If no candidate in either party primary fails to win 30% of the vote on April 30th, the 2nd primary will fall on July 9th, with the special election proper pushed to September 10.

What Kim Strach Said to UNC's Thomas Shanahan on Thursday

SBOE Exec. Dir. Kim Strach

Early last week, UNC System General Counsel Thomas Shanahan -- having taken heat over his negative interpretation of his 16 universities' ability to sign an "attestation" form about using student IDs for voting, finally asked for an interpretation of the law from the NC State Board of Elections (SBOE). An interpretation by the SBOE stands as the final authority. It can only be challenged in the courts or through a re-write of the law.

Reproduced below is the three-page letter from State Board of Elections (SBOE) Executive Director Kim Strach answering Shanahan's interpretation of the attestation form. He's just wrong on all points save one. Namely:

1. Shanahan has asked: Are methods used to collect vital information from university employees (non-students) sufficient for issuing IDs? By Federal statute, info includes citizenship, date of birth, and Social Security numbers. Answer yes.

2. Are universities obliged to ask their students to verify -- prove -- their date of birth, citizenship status, and Social Security number in order to qualify for a photo ID? No. You're confusing voter registration with photo ID. Director Strach's exact words: "We do not view the statute to require the college or university to substitute its judgement for that of the elections administration apparatus whose role it is to monitor the voter rolls across the State."

3. Shanahan: What if not all students provide a SSN, date of birth, or citizenship status during the enrollment process? Don't chancellors have to sign “Under penalty of perjury"?  Can we re-write that "under penalty of perjury" part? Answer: No. There just has to be a process by which evidence of identity is requested. If you're satisfied with a student's identity sufficient to enroll him, you're good for issuing an official photo ID.

4. Are "selfies" submitted by the students sufficient for use on a photo ID card? No. Photographs must be taken by the institution or its contractors. (This ruling will affect half a dozen high enrollment institutions (including NC Central, UNC-Charlotte, UNC-Greensboro, Pembroke, UNC-Wilmington, and Western Carolina), which will need to change their procedures.)

5. Can an institution issue a separate and special photo ID for voting purposes if it wants to? Answer: Sure.

Burning Questions for Thomas Shanahan:

1. Will you share -- have you already shared -- this letter with the 16 chancellors? Because in the specific instance of Appalachian State University, Chancellor Everts' spokeswoman was still spouting two days ago what appear to be official negative talking points about student photo ids -- talking points that are now proven totally wrong for ASU students by SBOE's official ruling.

2. Did those negative talking points used by Chancellor Everts (and other chancellors?) come directly from Shanahan? ("There's just so many stumbling blocks to certifying student IDs for voting, and wouldn't it be okay just to send them down to the Board of Elections at the courthouse to have their photo taken and their voting ID made?") Kim Strach's letter clears those stumbling blocks (except for the issue of "selfies," which is just sensible).

3. Are you prepared to accept the reality that all 16 universities can't be uniform in their practices, and that that's okay? Only on the issue of "selfies" is there no flexibility for method and practice.

The Kim Strach letter dated last Thursday:

Boss Hogg Will Have Competition in the NC-9 Republican Primary

We've already taken notice of "Boss Hogg" Stony Rushing, who's says he's running in the NC-9 congressional special election and who's been endorsed for the seat by Mark Harris, the man who ran last year and supposedly won but who may now be running from the Wake County District Attorney.

Boss Hogg will obviously provide the comedy for the special election. Who will supply the credibility?

Tommy Tucker

Maybe Wyatt Thomas "Tommy" Tucker Sr., a former state senator (first elected in the Tea Party Year of 2010 and who stepped down rather than run again last year). At his retirement he was co-chair of the powerful Senate Finance Committee. (Republican Todd Johnson -- who has also been implicated in the McCrae Dowless investigation -- won his open seat easily last November.)

Tucker is infamous for a 2013 confrontation with a newspaper publisher, at the time the Berger/Moore super-majorities in the General Assembly were really getting their conservative juggernaut underway and were feeling visibly arrogant about their power. In a committee hearing over a bill that would seriously hurt small-town newspapers, the publisher of the Goldsboro News-Argus challenged Tucker's interpretation of a voice vote in the committee. The publisher believed the vote had failed and wanted a show of hands. Tucker refused and declared, “I am the senator. You are the citizen. You need to be quiet.”

Apparently, Tucker had a habit of regularly shushing public opposition in similar fashion. His voting record is textbook conservative: He voted for repeal of the Racial Justice Act and even voted to ban the use of statistical evidence that would show racial bias in cases where the death penalty was chosen.

Tucker was a big opponent of same sex marriage, voting for the ban in the state constitution, and after the Supreme Court stepped in and declared such measures unconstitutional, he voted for SB 2 in February 2015, which would allow state officials to refuse to perform marriages on “religious grounds.” He supported HB 819, which banned climatologists and other scientists from monitoring sea level change along North Carolina’s coastline. Et cetera.

Ridenhour with his family

Or maybe Matthew Ridenhour, who was a Mecklenburg County commissioner until he was defeated last November in the complete Democratic sweep of all county commission seats. He was a North Carolina delegate for Marco Rubio to the 2016 Republican National Convention. Interesting, as was this: After his defeat last November, at his final meeting on the Mecklenburg Commission, Ridenhour decried the partisanship, especially from national politicians, that is “rotting us to our core." He seemed to be indirectly referencing Donald J. Trump.

Ridenhour is an urban Republican, a little more moderate, a little more house-broke than his rural rivals. You won't catch Ridenhour in a Boss Hogg outfit. Ridenhour, like Democratic front-runner Dan McCready, is a former Marine and had evidently earned the respect of both Democrats and Republicans while he was on the Mecklenburg Commission. According to Politico, he's considered "a rising star in the local GOP" (popular among the far right of his party especially because he pushed for concealed carry rights in Charlotte parks).

Ridenhour has not completely decided to run, but he says he could win if he did, especially with the Charlotte part of NC-9 behind him.

There will probably be other Republicans jumping into this primary, including some currently serving members of the General Assembly. The schedule for the special election, including the filing period for candidates, will be set by the State Board of Elections on Monday. Whoever decides to run, and whoever eventually wins that primary, will likely be facing this man who already has good name recognition and a big financial advantage.

Dan McCready

Mark Meadows Shows His Ass at the Cohen Hearing

Rep. Mark Meadows (NC-11) had a melt-down yesterday in the Cohen hearing when Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib implied he was a racist twit. Cohen had declared that Twitterman is a racist and gave examples. In rebuttal, Meadows had paraded a black woman who worked as an event planner for Donald Trump as proof-positive that DJT couldn't possibly be a racist asshole, and Meadows went on to angrily reveal that he had biracial nieces and nephews, so he couldn't be a racist either.

Proving once again that Mark Meadows may be the biggest jackass in Congress, a title for which there is stiff competition.

One thing about video evidence: It rarely goes away.