Posted on 05/22/2004 10:53:55 AM PDT by jern
GREENSBORO -- North Carolina GOP leaders moved Friday to strip the highest-profile Republican in state government -- House co-Speaker Richard Morgan -- of his party leadership post, saying he was "culpable of disloyalty."
In a closed meeting that participants said was filled with angry speeches, the state GOP's 45-member Central Committee recommended overwhelmingly that Morgan be excluded from party leadership -- the political equivalent of a papal excommunication.
The 500-member Executive Committee is expected to ratify the decision when it meets Sunday.
"I think it sends a strong signal that Republicans in this state are going to stand up for conservative values ... and will seek after the best interests of the party, as opposed to self-serving individuals," said Nelson Dollar, a GOP delegate from Cary.
Morgan, a veteran lawmaker from Moore County, was not present as the three-day state Republican Convention opened at a convention hotel Friday. But in a telephone interview, he said he was being attacked because he was trying to broaden the party, rather than make it ideologically narrow.
"Actions like that are two steps backwards for the Hillsborough Street Republicans," he said, referring to the party's state headquarters on Raleigh's Hillsborough Street, "and one step forward for what I am trying to do to reach out and be more inclusive and bring a vision to our party.
"I'm tired of people who just want to toss grenades and see what they can blow up."
What prompted this feud was the 2002 election, when voters elected a 61-59 Republican majority in the House. The House became deadlocked 60-60 when a Republican legislator switched to the Democratic Party.
Morgan led a group of five Republican House members to form a governing coalition with the Democrats. Morgan shared the speakership last year with Democrat Jim Black of Mecklenburg County and is doing so again in the legislative session that started this month.
The co-speakers decide which proposals come up for votes -- and which bills go nowhere. They also play a key role in deciding how to spend the $15 billion-plus in the annual state budget.
Beyond bridge-building
Republican delegates said their anger at Morgan goes beyond his forming a coalition with House Democrats. They complain that he backed a tax increase during a 2003 budget shortfall, sided with Democrats on legislative redistricting decisions last year that will make it more difficult to elect Republicans and has recruited opponents to run against several of his most vocal House critics in the July 20 Republican primary.
They chose to expel Morgan from membership on the state Republican Executive Committee to express their displeasure. No one could remember that happening before to any elected official.
Party leaders said there was just one dissenting vote Friday on the Central Committee to expel Morgan from his party post.
"It was pretty passionate in there," said Chris Farr, a Republican activist from Raleigh who helped lead the effort to oust Morgan. "This is a very sober, very sad fight."
Farr said she hoped the action could be used by Morgan's Republican primary opponent to unseat him. His challenger, Peggy Crutchfield, president of United Way of Moore County, calls him a Benedict Arnold who betrayed conservative voters.
Morgan and his allies aren't sitting still. They created the N.C. Republican Main Street Committee, a new kind of nonprofit advocacy group that can accept anonymous donations. It has already started running radio ads praising Morgan's leadership.
GOP activists said they thought the party warfare would not damage Republicans in this big election year, when a U.S. Senate seat, governor, other statewide offices and all 170 legislative seats are on the ballot. Instead they said booting Morgan would help impose party discipline and energize the party.
North Carolina Republicans have a long history of factional fights -- mainly between traditional business and mountain Republicans and more conservative Jesse Helms Republicans -- that seem not to have hurt the party's growth.
Morgan said he doesn't have to defend his record of party loyalty, noting that his work for Republicans dates to the 1970s when he served in the administration of Gov. Jim Holshouser.
Morgan speaks out
He said the opposition is being led by his critics in Wake County, singling out former state Rep. Art Pope, a Raleigh businessman whose family has been a financial patron of Republican and conservative causes.
Morgan likened his own efforts of working with Democrats to those by two fellow Republicans -- President Bush and North Carolina Sen. Elizabeth Dole -- to broaden the party among women and other groups of voters. Morgan expressed concern that North Carolina Republicans are having a difficult time winning the support of moderate suburban voters.
"I'm tired of an extreme point of view holding the rest of the party hostage," he said.
Peggy Crutchfield is challenging Morgan (in the primaries) and
Larry Brown is challenging Decker (in the primaries).
I thought the NCGOP was the cause of all bad things in NC?
For example?
just going be some of the posts on this board. I mean to put in the </sarcasm> tag.
The decision will be meaningful only if Morgan is defeated in the primaries or if he switches to the RATS.
Mebbe we need to find a way to support his primary opponent, Peggy Crutchfield.
2cool was at the meeting, too!
Outstanding!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I would sure like to see much more of this kind of thing across this Nation.
It's time to do something meaningful, and time's wasting. Please support Peggy Crutchfield.
WE
BTW, I heard there was one vote in support of Morgan at the Central Committee meeting. Anybody know who it was? I've got a suspicion but haven't confirmed it yet...
I assumed that it was Richard Morgan himself.
Did he have the guts to even show up?
Morgan was not at the convention, and when his staff was questioned about that, one of them responded with "He doesn't have time for this; He's out making jobs for the citizens of North Carolina!" [Barf]
He may well have been at the first Central Committee meeting, however. I don't know. Kidd was his only outspoken supporter otherwise. Maybe there is some relevance to the fact that Martha Spiegel was the one who made the motion for secret ballot. So who knows who the dissenting voter could have been?
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