Posted on 07/13/2004 8:34:01 AM PDT by Constitution Day
GOP feud playing out in primaries
Many of the contests pit supporters of state House Speaker Richard Morgan against his critics
By LYNN BONNER, Staff Writer
PINEHURST -- Peggy Crutchfield left a deli in this quaint village to a chorus of customers and employees calling her "a wonderful person." She built her reputation raising money for charities as head of the Moore County United Way, but the refined 64-year-old is now on the front lines of a nasty fight between factions of the state Republican Party.
A first-time political candidate, she is challenging one of the most powerful Republicans in the state, House Speaker Richard Morgan. Their contest is the biggest one in the war for their party's future.
Morgan's allies call him a pragmatist; his foes call him a turncoat. They don't agree on much but this: The primaries July 20 will be a turning point for state Republicans and will decide who shapes future budgets and laws on social issues.
"You've got one group that is attempting to focus on ideology and one group that wants to focus on solving problems," said Paul Shumaker, Morgan's political consultant.
While Shumaker emphasizes making the party attractive to Republicans new to the state, Art Pope, a former state representative from Raleigh, says the party's strength depends on adhering to core principles such as lower taxes and limited government.
"You see these moderate Republicans making common cause with Democrats, opposing the conservatives," said Pope, who is opposing Morgan and some of his supporters.
Morgan and his allies are targets because of a power-sharing agreement forged with Democrats last year in which he and Democrat Jim Black share the top job in the divided House. Republicans who voted in favor of last year's budget, which extended tax increases that had been scheduled to end, are also on the hit list.
At the same time, Morgan, 51, a 14-year representative, has recruited candidates to challenge some of his harshest critics.
The Crutchfield-Morgan contest is one of 22 primaries featuring at least one of the 60 House Republicans. At least half pit Morgan supporters against dissenters. Four of them are in Wake County.
By contrast, only nine of the 60 House Democrats have primaries.
Morgan and his team have advantages that come with incumbency, which include a fund-raising edge. For example, Morgan has more than $600,000 to spend, while Crutchfield says she'll raise less than $100,000.
In House District 36, Republican Rep. David Miner of Cary says he has already spent more than $100,000 on radio and television ads that started running in April and May, and GOP challenger Nelson Dollar hasn't put a penny into political commercials.
But the row is fertile ground for spending by tax-exempt advocacy groups that help neutralize the incumbents' advantage.
The Republican Legislative Majority of North Carolina is covering targeted counties, including Wake and Moore, with mail and tough radio ads. Pope provided the start-up money, and Rep. John Blust and former Sen. Bob Shaw, both of Greensboro, are directors.
Americans for Prosperity, which counts Pope among its directors, has run ads criticizing Republicans who signed a pledge not to raise taxes, yet voted for last year's budget. Though the budget kept existing tax rates, staff member Andy Lancaster of Raleigh said the votes count as broken promises. (Lancaster is a former News & Observer advertising employee.)
To Morgan, these activities are proof that Republicans outside his House District 52, Pope in particular, are trying to influence voters in Moore County.
"I think folks like that and the people that they try to control inside the General Assembly, they set our party back 50 years," Morgan said.
Ted Shebs, a retired Moore resident who is helping coordinate Morgan volunteers, said voters will resist outside influences.
"The state has gotten their act together as far as the legislature is concerned," he said. "People are working in harmony. They're getting things done."
Crutchfield said she can be a responsive representative while working with other Republicans.
"He didn't play on the team with Republicans," she said of Morgan. "He did things behind his teammates' back to promote himself."
Moore County voters have received mailings from the Republican Legislative Majority saying Morgan is disloyal to the party.
Morgan is saturating the district with his own brochures bragging about eliminating the marriage penalty and expanding the child tax credit. He also has run a radio ad about Crutchfield's husband's no contest plea in the 1980s to a charge of conspiracy to commit malfeasance by a corporate officer; her husband was pardoned in 1994 by Democratic Gov. Jim Hunt.
The conflict has pulled in Republicans throughout the state, including U.S. Rep. Walter Jones of Farmville, who endorsed Dollar and another Wake challenger, David Robinson, who is trying to oust Morgan ally Rick Eddins.
The endorsement drew an angry response from Miner, who didn't take kindly to criticism from Jones, a former Democrat who changed parties in the early 1990s.
"Who is he to question my credentials when my background goes back to leading the teenage Republicans in high school?" Miner asked. "For Walter Jones to attack me for not being a real Republican, does he have the standing to do that?" Miner is running a radio ad criticizing Jones.
Dollar, who demanded an apology from Miner on Jones' behalf, said he would push issues such as abortion limits and a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage.
"He should be standing up and speaking out on it," Dollar said of Miner. "I would be and will be."
Well, isn't it only fair, since what HE does directly influences what happens in MY district?
Well, I disagree on that. I think a continued standoff is most likely.
I believe you're right.
Republican cannibals - they're everywhere! You would not beieve what goes on here in the Valley (California). The Republicans spent over a MILLION GOP DOLLARS to defeat a SITTING CONSERVATIVE REPUBLICAN in the Assembly.
05/22/2004: N.C. GOP to oust Richard Morgan as leader (Leaders he has worked against the party's interests)
01/04/2004: State GOP Chair Swipes At Morgan [NC traitor]
06/04/2003: Morgan [NC RINO] says he approved attack fliers against GOP foes
06/02/2003: N.C. GOP criticizes speaker Morgan and his allies
05/28/2003: Co-speaker Morgan faces angry peers [NC traitor]
02/05/2003: House elects co-speakers (NC: Black & Morgan)
This is merely agitprop on behalf of the Kerry-Edwards campaign.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1170350/posts
This guy is bad news, Saundra. And believe me, he doesn't give a crap about the Republican Party, only himself and his little power base.
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