Posted on 12/08/2008 6:02:34 PM PST by MitchellC
According to Jordan Schrader of the Asheville Citizen-Times, old names and faces were re-elected while new ones were added as the Republicans in the North Carolina General Assembly held their bi-annual leadership elections this weekend.
Rep. Paul Stam (R-Wake) was re-elected to his post as House Minority Leader.
Senator Phil Berger (R-Rockingham) defeated challengers, Senators Bob Rucho (R-Mecklenburg) and Pete Brunstetter (R-Forsyth) to retain his post as Senate Minority Leader.
Senator Harry Brown (R-Onslow) is the newly elected Deputy Minority Leader. The post was previously held by Senator Tom Apodaca (R-Henderson) who didn't run for re-election to the coveted post, citing family issues.
Senator Eddie Goodall (R-Union) will take over the Joint Caucus Leader position, while Senator Jerry Tillman (R-Randolph) continues on as Senate Whip.
Most troubling to conservatives is the election of the new House Minority Whip, Rep. Thom Tillis (R-Mecklenburg). Tillis (left) is known as a "RINO" (Republican In Name Only) to many conservatives due to his affiliations.
According to several sources, former Co-Speakers Jim Black (D-Mecklenburg) and Richard Morgan (R-Moore) "bought and paid for" Tillis' initial victory to the North Carolina General Assembly. He defeated a solid, and much beloved conservative, Rep. John Rhodes in a Republican primary.
Rhodes (left) is best remembered as being the FIRST to call for the ouster of Jim Black. He once memorably noted in a speech on the House floor:
"One day Mr. Speaker, the people of North Carolina will take you by the collar of your shirt and the waistband of your trousers and throw you out over the seal of North Carolina."
Both Black and Morgan left office in disgrace and Black is now serving time in federal prison for, among other things, accepting bribes and obstruction of justice. A John Rhodes Day was held in 2007, thanking him for uncovering corruption.
Morgan eventually returned to politics and attempted an unsuccessful comeback, losing his bid for Superintendent of Public Instruction in November 2008.
The 2009-2010 session of the North Carolina General Assembly convenes at Noon on January 28, 2009, in Raleigh. Katy's Conservative Corner will be there, covering the action.
Katy, and folks, I can't agree that Thom Tillis is a RINO, and I don't think he can be classified properly as one "bought and paid for" by the Morgan-Black coalition.I'm fairly sure John would no longer make this assessment of Rep. Tillis, though he was, indeed, defeated by the new House minority whip in that Primary, a few years back, and with the active help of the now-tattered remnants of that same Morgan-Black Group.
Rep. Tillis is very much his own man, is my assessment, and he's been an outspoken Member of the House Minority, helping with Floor strategy that, under Skip's leadership, moved bills in as effective a way as I've ever seen a minority behave since I began working for the Senate Republicans in 1999.
Yes, Thom Tillis was helped and encouraged and donated money for his first race, against our friend John, by an alliance of Morgan and Jim Black supporters and "Progressive" business people back in the district. And, yes, there's little doubt also that he received his first briefing on John and Skip and other, including myself from Republican Members of the House who supported the Morgan-Black "Co-Speakership" and then undoubtedly carried those briefings and misapprehensions with him to Raleigh.
But since he's been in Raleigh, I have to say he's been very impressive, especially with regard to thinking ahead about how Republicans overcome our marketing problems, and about the use of New Media to accomplish this, in particular. He's a talented person, having actually watched him work and speak over the past two years, who could be of great service in overcoming big problems we have today.
One of those problems is our invisible legislature, given the slow deterioration of Legacy Media. Even recognizing such a problem is rare among Members of the legislature. A baseline question asked by Civitas in their monthly Newsmaker Poll has been to ask which Party likely voters believe is presently in control of the legislature.
Unchanged, month after month, has been the perception that the GOP actually runs the legislature, believe it or not, and even a plurality believes Jim Black was a Republican.
Now is that stubborn fact a problem of having stupid voters? Not very likely.
At the same time, the Likely Voter Poll sampled by Tele-Opinion research has shown most likely voters know when the legislature delays the scheduled sunset of a "temporary tax" it is, in fact, a tax increase. Democrats in the Mansion and in control of the legislature stopped trying to pull that trick immediately after these poll results were released, interestingly.
Is it a problem of a Legacy Media that’s faced with diminished numbers of readers and viewers and facing marketing problems of its own?
I think overcoming the lack of any perception by voters of what's going on down on Jones Street clearly isn't a problem the voters have, it's a problem Republicans in North Carolina are responsible for fixing, because we have to. I'm pretty sure Thom Tillis would agree this should finally be of the highest priority for Republicans in the General Assembly during the 2009 Session. Beyond that, I think Thom Tillis is a whole lot closer to understanding how that might be accomplished than most of the Republicans in the House or the Senate or on Hillsborough Street.
I appreciate everyone remembering John Rhodes, as I do, for bravely calling on the felon Jim Black to resign, loudly and clearly, as well as those who remember the rest of us who've suffered personal attacks, in many ways not generally known, at the hands of some people now greatly diminished in power, in prison, or deeply medicated, who once fancied themselves pretty high and mighty on Jones Street.
But I hope you'll take time to consider today what Thom Tillis actually does these next few months, now that he's Whip in the House, and will step back, as I did while watching him work as a Member during the last two years.
Many years after he was recruited to run against John Rhodes, the Republican Party in North Carolina is in a world of hurt, and unjustly hated, and it just may be that Thom Tillis, wherever he came from, could be part of the solution.
“...but sticking to and communicating conservative principles.”
That in itself is a marketing plan...one based on the right stuff.
I know Thom Tillis well and believe he will serve us well. His family lives near mine and he’s one of the good guys. He’s enjoyed a fairly rapid rise in the NC GOP.
Yeah, he actually responded to the blog post in the comments section (assuming it wasn’t a fake) challenging that the stuff about him wasn’t true. I really don’t know much about him, which is why I included Raupe’s comment.
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