N.C. GOP criticizes speaker Morgan and his allies

Durham Herald-Sun [Durham, NC] ^ | May 31, 2003 | The Associated Press

[Constitution Day]

N.C. GOP criticizes speaker Morgan and his allies

The Associated Press
May 31, 2003   10:00 pm

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- State Republicans passed several toughly worded resolutions Saturday accusing Republican House co-Speaker Richard Morgan and four of his allies of betraying the party.

The resolutions at the state Republican convention called for party members to oust disloyal GOP lawmakers in next year's primaries and require future Republican candidates to sign loyalty oaths.

Morgan didn't attend the convention.

Reached at his home in Moore County, Morgan characterized the convention's actions as effort by an opposing House Republican faction to embarrass him.

"My interest is in trying to make policy for the state," he told The News & Observer of Raleigh. "This has been initiated by the extremists. This is sour grapes."

The move came despite pleas from U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole and former Gov. Jim Martin to avoid taking any actions that would harm party unity.

Many of the nearly 1,000 delegates to the convention expressed anger several times that Republicans had captured 61 seats in the 120-member state House in November, only to see their majority evaporate when Republican Michael Decker of Forsyth County switched parties.

Faced with a 60-60 deadlock, Morgan led a five-member faction that set up a joint House speakership with Democrat Jim Black.

"I would rather have had a Democrat (House) straight out then what we have now," said Ray Starling of Wayne County. "It is still Democratic-controlled, but the Republicans get the blame for it."

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[Constitution Day]

My apologies if this has already been posted... I'm usually not on FR over the weekend.

CD

[Constitution Day]

NC ping!
Please FRmail me if you want to be added to or removed from this North Carolina ping list (132 members).

[wimpycat]

bump

[Constitution Day]

From my local paper, the Rocky Mount Telegram:

---

May 30, 2003

Republicans to huddle in Charlotte

By Ned B. Hunter, Rocky Mount Telegram

A resolution condemning self-serving politicians is expected to be introduced during the annual Republican state convention in Charlotte this weekend.

While the resolution does not list any specific politicians, N.C. House Co-speaker Richard Morgan, R-Moore, and N.C. Reps. Harold Brubaker, R-Randolph, Julia Howard, R-Davie, Daniel McComas, R-New Hanover, and Wilma Sherrill, R-Buncombe, are expected to be named to the resolution from the convention floor, said GOP party Chairman Bill Cobey.

Those members are expected to be singled out for breaking ranks with Republicans in January and not backing either Republican caucus nominee N.C. Rep. Leo Daughtry, R-Johnston, nor N.C. Rep. George Holmes, R-Yadkin, for House speaker.

"I think they have no choice but to do it," said Robbie Davis, a Republican Nash County commissioner who is attending the convention. "(Morgan) took it upon himself to take his four and become speaker."

Davis, who said attempting to kick the five members out of the party is too extreme, said he would vote for some type of reprimand if it came to the floor.

"I think (voting to remove them) is too extreme," he said. "I would vote to have something else done to him, but I don't know what that is right now."

Morgan said the resolution was simply "poison and venom" being spit by a few Republican extremists.

"Those resolutions are nothing more than the work of sour-grape losers that now sit in the back row," Morgan said. "If things don't go real well for those extremists, they want to incite."

The resolution is not about getting even or sour grapes, but about maintaining the direction of the Republican party, said N.C. Rep. Billy Creech, R-Johnston.

"The record is pretty clear - most of those in the crowd made a promise they wouldn't raise taxes and they did. They broke their promise," said Creech, adding that he had input in the resolutions. "If we are ever to regain a force in politics, we need to stand by our word."

N.C. Rep. Bill Daughtridge, R-Nash, who will not attend the convention this year, said the resolution served no purpose.

"I don't know what the productive purpose is," he said. "While I think debate from all sides of a party as to what's important to a party is important, I don't see what this will prove."

Morgan said the resolution would prove nothing.

"That's what they are all about. These few extremists don't have any solutions to the problems that we have in the state of North Carolina," he said. "They just want to launch grenades and see how much they can blow up."

Cobey, who is running unopposed for a third term as party chairman, said eventually the party will reunite.

"I think that for certain individuals the anger will not dissipate for a long time," he said. "But I hope once everyone has vented, they will bury the hatchet."

[JohnnyZ]

"That's what they are all about. These few extremists don't have any solutions to the problems that we have in the state of North Carolina," he said. "They just want to launch grenades and see how much they can blow up."

The extremists Morgan refers to include about 80% of the Republican convention, the minority buoyed by a group of Morgan loyalists from Moore Co.

The "solutions" Morgan refers to all seem to include raising taxes. With solutions like that, who needs problems???

[Constitution Day]

Thanks for your comments.

Daughtridge is a newly-minted Rep. from Rocky Mount.
He is not in my district, so I couldn't vote for him.
His comments in the local paper lately have made him sound like a RINO in training.

I sure hope you & TaxRelief will post a firsthand account of the convention! Ping me if you do.

CD

[TaxRelief]

I was part of the minority, buoyed by the ridiculous Morgan group, that voted against one of the inane, divisive resolutions.

NORTH CAROLINA REPUBLICAN PARTY
Resolution 2003-8
RESOLUTION ON PARTY LOYALTY

• WHEREAS         Republican volunteers, voters and precinct workers, and local Republican clubs, committees, and organizations, devoted hundreds of thousands of hours to elect a Republican majority of State House of Representatives during the 2002 General Election;
  
• WHEREAS         Republicans lost its majority of seats in the House when an elected Republican Representative changed his registration to Democrat, and then voted for a Democrat to be Speaker; and
  
• WHEREAS        the betrayal of the Republican Party and Republican volunteers by this Representative should not be tolerated, condoned, or ignored by the North Carolina Republican Party.
  
  
• NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED     that the North Carolina Republican Party shall target publicly any state Representative or Senator who campaigned as a Republican, but switches party affiliation during his campaign or subsequent term of office, or who votes for Democrats for leadership positions, if Republicans are in the majority, to ensure that any such officials are defeated in either the Republican primary or the General Election.

[TaxRelief]

On the surface this resolution may seem OK, but this resolution actually, has some hidden controls. (I hate controls).

Why did I vote against this resolution?

1. Let's take a close look at part on the resolution:

"The North Carolina Republican Party shall target publicly any state Representative or Senator who campaigned as a Republican, but who votes for Democrats for leadership positions, if Republicans are in the majority."

We are on a mission to weed out RINOs, yet we have no qualms about forcing elected officials to vote for someone simply because they ran on the Republican ticket. [Hail! Hitler!]

2. As Freeper Huber pointed out, The Plan of Organization forbids this type of action:

"Any registered Republican influencing the outcome of any election against a Republican Nominee... may be declared ineligible to hold office under the State Plan of Organization at the State, District, and Precinct level for Party disloyalty by 2/3 vote of the State Executive Committee. Charges of Party disloyalty may be brought by petition of 50 members of the State Executive Committee, or by resolution of a County or District Republican Executive Committee. The State Executive Committee may declare a Republican found to have engaged in Party disloyalty as ineligible to serve in any office under this Plan of Organization for a period of time between 6 months and 5 years."

Playing devil's advocate, what if:

We were in the future in a situation where the party is divided roughly equally on an issue. Let's say half of the elected Republicans cut a deal with the Dems giving leadership of the "Outreach" committee to the Dems in exchange for Republican leadership of the "Judicial Review Committee".

The other half of the Republican officials are furious at this deal, because they wanted leadership of the "Outreach" committee, not the "judicial" committee.

With the help of the NCGOP executive committee, they bring a petition against all Republicans involved and permanently oust them from party politics, further weakening the party in the state of NC.

The plan of organization now gives discipline power, over any Republican, to the NCGOP executive committee.

3. The intent of this resolution was to humiliate the "Morgan 5" without giving them a chance to explain their position. (I hate what they did, but I would have liked to hear what their position was). There was even an attempt to "name names" in the resolution, which would have been even more despicable.

4. The last and most important reason that I voted against this movement: This type of resolution makes the entire party look petty and unprofessional and makes us the laughing stocks of the mainstream media.

Frankly, I was embarrassed to be forced to vote against this (especially with the Morgan group voting my way) at all.

Furthermore, setting ourselves up to be ridiculed,does not help us recruit folks to our way of thinking.

[JohnnyZ]

TaxRelief, I vehemently disagree with you on this. The Morgan 5 are despicable vermin. You wanted to hear their side of the story? Well, they weren't there, were they? Morgan was probably on the phone with Jim Black, working on redistricting to elect more Democrats and pit conservative Republicans in the same district to force one out in a primary. Think I'm joking? I'll post the inside tidbit from NC Spin to that effect. They distributed material at the convention defaming the conservative leaders of the NC House; those leaflets were picked up before most delegates saw them, but maybe they should have been left as proof of what scumbags Morgan & Company are.

Secondly, it's not Nazi to make someone WHO CHOOSES TO RUN AS A REPUBLICAN vote for a Republican nominee chosen in caucus. Perhaps you should rethink your comparison.

Any registered Republican influencing the outcome of any election against a Republican Nominee

This refers to the general election (nominee), and is not in conflict with the resolution to "oppose" publicly in those so-called Republicans who vote for Democrat leadership, presumably in primaries. In fact, the two complement each other, making it clear that such opposition will take place in primaries or in non-electoral matters (such as publicity).

[JohnnyZ]

From an NC Spin E-mail:

The state Republican Party will be holding its convention this weekend and it promises to be a hot time. As reported last week, mainline Republicans are upset with Richard Morgan for forsaking the House Republican Caucus and cutting a deal to become co-speaker. Morgan won’t be there to face the music. That’s not all that has mainliners upset. It is pretty well known that Morgan plans to see four long-time House Republican leaders (who didn’t back Morgan) thrown to the wolves in the upcoming redistricting wars.

Ed McMahan and Connie Wilson, both from Charlotte are reported to be put into a single member district, insuring that at least one of them lose. Further, Leo Daughtry (former Republican Speaker nominee and caucus chair) and Billy Creech both from Johnston County are going to be put in a single member district.

That still isn’t all mainliners are concerned about. Republicans have watched Morgan’s relationship with Democrats become friendlier and friendlier. They suspect Richard Morgan will actually help design more Democratic districts and actually help Democrats get elected.

The natives are restless. Morgan would be well advised to be on hand to defend himself . One of his supporters, Representative Danny McComas of Wilmington has said he will attend and has no apology for Morgan or the group that put him in power. According to McComas more has been accomplished in this session to date than in the past 20 years. ["more has been accomplished" = taxes were raised, abortion was "protected", Jim Black was orally stimulated] Does that satisfy party faithful? We suspect not.

[No Dems 2004]

The NC GOP did stunningly well in 2002 in the legislative elections, in spite of the Dems' piggy, self-preserving attempts to gerrymander it to their own liking.

I really think that their could be a Georgia-style political earthquake brewing in NC.

[TaxRelief]

You have not addressed the point that turned my vote:

4. The last and most important reason that I voted against this movement: This type of resolution makes the entire party look petty and unprofessional and makes us the laughing stocks of the mainstream media.

Frankly, I was embarrassed to be forced to vote against this (especially with the Morgan group voting my way) at all.

Furthermore, setting ourselves up to be ridiculed,does not help us recruit folks to our way of thinking.

[TaxRelief]

They suspect Richard Morgan will actually help design more Democratic districts and actually help Democrats get elected.

Exactly.

And the state convention slamming will not help the redistricting operation one little bit. All it did was cement the "dem + 5" vs the "GOP - 5" house split. We're screwed, but at least everyone thinks they set them straight. LOL

So, what's our next plan for repairing the redistricting nightmare? Our, what was it Shannon Reeves said, oh, our strategy?

[TaxRelief]

Johnny,

I want to retract my last two posts, and I will tell you why. We as Republicans, discussed the issues (where possible) and took the votes and came to some collective decisions.

I personally am willing to abide by the group decision: I realize that any more divisiveness, would be counter productive.

Now, that said, we need to work on a strategy for taking over the State government.

[Constitution Day]

It's been a busy day, y'all... I will come back & post comments tonight.

Thanks,
CD

[JohnnyZ]

Ya know, TaxRelief, posting followed by retraction makes me dizzy. Or else it's this merlot. Good stuff! (Chilean, NOT French).

[Constitution Day]

Or else it's this merlot. Good stuff! (Chilean, NOT French).

LOL. I've been buying Australian merlots lately.
My wife mistakenly bought a bottle of French syrah recently (it was marked down 25%... heh heh)
When I told her, she got right back in the car and returned it. :)

[Constitution Day]

I appreciate all your comments and want to say this:

JohnnyZ, I think you are 100% right in your comments!
I was FURIOUS at Decker for switching to the Dems.
Then I became LIVID when Morgan & his cabal pulled their stunt.

Was this resolution petty & vindictive? Yeah, maybe a bit, and rightly so.
RINOs of their ilk need to be given a public spanking IMHO.
If all this b!tching goes on behind closed doors, to me that sends the message that the state party condones such reprehensible collaborators and French-style turncoats.

Now I say these things as someone not being privy to what went on in the convention, but just a ticked-off voter who would like to see the GOP take over state govt.
How to go about this? I leave it to the more experienced to lead the way.

[Kuksool]

One can hope that the redistricting maps will be drawn by the courts instead by Weasley and Co. like last year.

[TaxRelief]

My wife mistakenly bought a bottle of French syrah recently (it was marked down 25%... heh heh) When I told her, she got right back in the car and returned it. :)

Woah! Good woman...