Posted on 12/15/2005 8:59:29 PM PST by hnorris
Biggest Bonehead Political Move of 2005
Chris Mintz’ defection to the Democrat Party
by Frank Williams -- December 14, 2005
Last week, someone I have known for quite some time made one of the most bizarre political moves I have seen during my more than ten years as a Republican activist. Chris Mintz, a Raleigh resident who was Chairman of the Wake County Republican Men’s Club for part of this year, earns my nod for the Biggest Bonehead Political Move of 2005.
The fact that I served as Vice Chairman of the Wake County Republican Men’s Club until Chris’ abrupt resignation as our Chairman enables me to offer a unique perspective of this wild and wacky chain of events. For the Star Wars fans out there, I now know how Obi Wan Kenobi must have felt when his promising Jedi apprentice (Anakin Skywalker) joined the dark side, betrayed those who trusted him and became the evil Sith Lord, Darth Vader.
Let’s take a look at why this is the Biggest Bonehead Political Move of 2005.
On December 4th I received an email from Chris Mintz stating that he was resigning as Chairman of the Republican Men’s Club, effective immediately. The email gave no reason for his resignation. Imagine my shock the next morning when I opened my newspaper to find an article announcing that Chris was not only resigning as Chairman, but leaving the Republican Party and planning to run for N.C. House as a Democrat.
According to an article in The News & Observer, Chris said he decided to leave the Republican Party because he thinks it is too focused on social issues rather than on economic issues (12/5/05). When I consider many of the views Chris has professed to hold over the past few years, his statements to the newspaper simply don’t add up. I have a difficult time believing that anyone who truly stands for the principles for which he has always claimed to stand can ever feel at home in the Democratic Party. In hindsight, this begs the question of whether he ever truly believed in those principles, or whether he was simply saying what he thought would win favor with those who could help him achieve his dream of being elected to public office.
Prior to his defection, Chris Mintz consistently told me he was pro-life. Now, he is joining a party whose platform says that abortion should be “accessible to all North Carolina women.” Where do you stand, Chris?
Prior to his defection, Chris Mintz consistently told me he supported a constitutional amendment defining marriage as a union of one man and one woman. Now, he is joining a party whose legislative leaders in our state refuse to even allow the marriage amendment to be brought up for debate. Where do you stand, Chris?
Chris Mintz once took public stands on these social issues. He invited a representative of the N.C. Family Policy Council to speak to our club on key social issues facing our state. When I suggested he sponsor a table at the N.C. Family Policy Council’s annual dinner, he did so without the slightest bit of hesitation. He attended events sponsored by a non-partisan Christian group (Called2Action) and publicly spoke of the importance of getting more conservative Christians involved in the political process.
Now, he says he has left the Republican Party because it is too focused on the very same social issues he once publicly supported. According to SPIN Cycle, Chris Mintz said “the GOP has become dominated with discussions over social issues, specifically homosexuality and abortion.” (12/7/2005) In addition to changing his story on which issues are most important, Chris is now apparently changing his own positions on these issues. According to statements posted by an officer in the Wake County Democratic Party, Chris is now staking out positions that are diametrically opposed to those he claimed to hold while he was a Republican. In a blog comment posted on December 7, 2005, this officer said they had met Chris and that he “said all the right things on choice and the marriage amendment.” Interestingly enough, he also said all of the “right things” on the sanctity of life and the marriage amendment when he was a Republican – and we all know that our parties’ views on these two issues could not be further apart. Where do you stand, Chris?
The Chris Mintz who was elected Chairman of the Republican Men’s Club in April 2005 held himself out to be a “dedicated conservative Republican.” (CarolinaNewsWire, 4/12/2005). Now, the Chris Mintz who left the Republican Party in December 2005 says “that some of the social outlooks of the Party have changed from that of mine,” (Press Release, 12/7/2005) citing this as one of his reasons for leaving the GOP.
With all due respect, Chris, I don’t buy it. You ran for Chairman of the Wake County Republican Men’s Club eight months ago. Eight whole months. Did the party’s views really change that much in those eight months? I think not!
Let’s look at the history of this debacle. According to a June 30 article in The News & Observer, Chris said that he would run for the State House if Representative Russell Capps decides to step down. Privately, he promised many Republicans that he would support Capps if he sought re-election. In a November 5, 2005 email to the Wake County Republican Men’s Club in which Chris announced that he was not seeking re-election as Chairman, he said “I look forward to seeing you all at our coming meetings as I will continue to be a faithful member of the club.” Exactly one month later, an article in The News & Observer (12/5/2005) stated that Capps “has indicated he will likely seek another term to the 41st District seat that includes northwestern Wake County.” Not coincidentally, this is the same article in which Chris announced his decision to defect from the Republican Party.
Based upon the available evidence and with the benefit of hindsight, I can only conclude that Chris Mintz’ decision to leave the Republican Party was not driven by principle, but rather by out-of-control political ambition and a consuming desire to be elected to office as soon as possible, whatever the cost, in whichever party provides the easiest path, and without regard for principle. This conclusion is evidenced by the fact that when he was seeking support among Republicans, he said he was pro-life and that he supported the marriage amendment. Now that he is seeking support from Democrats, he seems to be claiming that he is pro-choice and that he opposes the marriage amendment. Let’s see…. he supported the marriage amendment before he opposed it. Sadly, it appears that Chris Mintz has said whatever he thinks will win him favor with the people he’s talking to at the moment. Where do you stand, Chris?
Let’s do the math. Representative Russell Capps now says he is likely to seek re-election. This presents a problem for Chris Mintz, who wants to run NOW but doesn’t want to challenge an incumbent who is popular among Republican Party faithful and who easily dispatched a primary opponent in 2004. However, Chris apparently does think he can win a Democrat primary against Ty Harrell. Likely with prodding from Democrat friends, Chris Mintz switches parties to and announces his plans to run for State House as a Democrat, choosing what he views as the path of least political resistance. Unfortunately, that DOES add up; it adds up to a decision based on pure opportunism – nothing more, nothing less.
The bottom line is this: Chris Mintz changed left the Republican Party because he wants to run for office immediately and lacks the patience to wait for Rep. Russell Capps to retire. Because he thinks he can defeat Ty Harrell in the Democrats’ primary, he switched parties to pursue what he believes is the quick and easy path of least political resistance. Because the issue positions he staked out as a Republican will not help him as a Democrat, he is now changing his story on key issues such as abortion and marriage.
In closing, I offer another analogy for the Star Wars fans reading this column. A consuming lust for power and control was one of the many factors that led Anakin Skywalker to succumb to the dark side. When the Jedi Council didn’t offer Anakin what he wanted, when he wanted it, the future evil emperor stepped in and promised him the world. Anakin gave in to his greed, bought into the future emperor’s baseless promises, succumbed to his lust for power, and became Darth Vader.
In this case, the lust for power appears to be an all-consuming desire to be elected to office. In my view, this desire seduced the former Chairman of the Wake County Republican Men’s club to become the very thing he had long worked to defeat. While it saddens me to now work against someone I have known for many years, I will do what I must.
Chris Mintz’ defection from the Republican Party wins my nod for the Biggest Bonehead Political Move of 2005 – hands down.
Frank Williams is Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of NCRepublicans.com, an independent web site and weekly email newsletter covering Republican politics in North Carolina. He is currently serving as Acting Chairman of the Wake County Republican Men's Club. He is a former State Chairman of the North Carolina Federation of Young Republicans and served as a national officer with the Young Republicans.
Wonder how he feels about the success in Iraq now that the third election has been held?
Usually Rats leave a sinking ship.
What a sad, sorry, silly little man.
This guy probably just decided it was time to come out of the closet - something a good number of those who live lifestyles representative of democrat traits have been doing for years.
I find it hard to believe ANYONE would defect to the rats' side. They must have "something on him".
I could hardly get to my computer for tripping over the lines of hundreds of thousands of hungry people in soup kitchen lines, which Mintz must think exist across America now, what with the "ailing" economy.
/Sarc LOL
Sounds like a topless bar.
Can't stand closet libs in Pub clothing.
(got that mccain).
Wow, this is a political tsunami. Oh, btw, what is a Chris Mintz?
Answer: waffling, untrustworthy weasel
Question: what is a Chris Mintz?
Answer: One who Mintzes words,
Question: what is a Chris Mintz?
Answer: it depends on what the meaning of Mintz is.
NEVER heard of him.
Maybe Howlin has?
More weight to a sinking ship
The author's "Star Wars" analogy is inappropriate. The Sith believe in small government - two men to run the Galaxy. Don't get much smaller than that.
Head of the "mens club" switched to the sodomy party? That is shocking!
Doesn't sound to me like he's conservative or liberal. Sounds like he'll adopt any views and join any party that advance his political career. He's an unprincipled cameleon. Problem is, the democrats know exactly what they're getting and that he'll dump them too whenever it suits his convenience. Only a complete fool will ever trust him.
From reading the article, it still sounds like Rats leaving a sinking ship. Being that I left NC when Ford was president, I don't know any of the particular individuals named in the article, but the circumstances are a national epidemic in the GOP. NC is the epitome of Big Government socialism run amuck. Just driving though the state, you can see that about one of every ten vehicles on the highway has government plates. Republican wins there were just a passing fad, and with the rate of immigration to the tarheel state the fad will soon be a brief historical footnote.
Reagan pulled the southern states to the Republican party with his pro-American message and policies. The neo-cons running the RNC and most state Republican parties today were the formerly liberal yuppies who jumped from the Democrat party during the Reagan years and got comfortable with the idea of investment income. Some of them saw an opportunity to gain political power, and they seized the opportunity. They are still Democrats and liberals at heart, and having control of both political parties is a no-lose situation.
Oh, they really know how to play up those hot-button issues like gays, guns, and abortion, just to fire up the vocal minority of the Republican party that is stuck on legislating morality. And the free-traitor economics fits right in with their dreams of global communism, where the political elites of the two-faced duopoly share the power, while the impoverished masses of both parties blindly argue over "social issues" and pretend there is a difference.
The Democrats want to use Socialism as a stepping stone to global communism. The neo-cons are too impatient with the incrementalism, and would rather skip directly to the Real Deal in just a couple of election cycles.
There is still a Republican majority out here who are pro-American (like Reagan, Ike, and McKinley were), who believe the United States deserves better than the globalist traitors we see in both parties.
NC has a Republican party???????
Oops. You beat me to it! ;>
Another "thank God and Grayhound you're gone" moment.
Don't let the door hit you in your KerryDean on the way out,Chris.
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