Yeah, he does.
I wasn't too thrilled about Cobey, a party hack, running for Gov, and this makes me even less so.
Dear Grassroots,
Forwarded to us for distribution (cc: NCGOP Mr. Chairman Ferrell Blount, Pol Dir Mr. Bill Peaslee
To the Editor,
In your Under the Dome of June 3, Bill Peaslee, political director for the NCGOP, is quoted "I have not used my office and position in an inappropriate way...." I'm afraid that my wife and I would have to disagree with Bill in that we believe that he did use his office inappropriately on several occasions. (Before explaining further, I will tell you that we are supporters of Sen. Fern Shubert for Governor.)
Republican State Party officials and staff cannot use their positions to influence voters, but are permitted to privately participate. However, the reality is that for high level officials and staff it is nigh to impossible to separate the office from the person. Therefore the decorum for Party officials and staff is to practice neutrality and impartiality to prevent misunderstandings or misrepresentations.
Now, while we personally have knowledge and seriously concerned about the email list access, we are more concerned with phone calls Mr. Peaslee made discouraging gubernatorial candidates from running and offering them other positions if they would withdraw from the race. We have first hand knowledge of this and perceive this act as a de facto endorsement of a candidate and an expression of partiality; and we believe his communications were made in no other way than in his official capacity.
We have additional reasons to believe this. Phone calls were made by other Party officials on behalf of Bill Cobey and in an effort to "fix" straw polls and encourage candidates to concede the primaries; calls made by no other than Chairman Ferrell Blount and Vice Chairman Linda Daves. Ask them. They may not initially admit to it, but if you can provide them specific contacts made, they will tell you that these calls were personal and made as common Republicans. It would also be telling to know why it is that Bill Cobey possesses the Party email volunteer, activist and contributor data base while the other candidates are denied access?
One final note, as loyal Republicans on several occassions, we carried our concerns to the proper Party authorities, but our concerns were dismissed or denied.
Josie Gilbert
(NCGOP Headquarters ph# 828-6423)