Posted on 11/01/2007 8:55:18 AM PDT by saganite
The 11th Congressional District Republican field has gotten a bit more crowded.
John Armor, a Highlands lawyer who challenged incumbent Charles Taylor in the 2006 Republican primary, says he is gearing up for another run, this time against two others, but so far not Taylor.
"We are going to have a knock-down, drag-down fight all the way to the general election," Armor said.
Former Henderson County Republican Party Chairman Spence Campbell and Asheville City Councilman Carl Mumpower are also seeking the Republican nomination. Former NFL player Heath Shuler, D-Waynesville, beat Taylor in 2006 and has already announced his intention to seek re-election.
Campaign issues
Armor said employment is the most pressing issue in Western North Carolina. He said the area has lost large numbers of agriculture and manufacturing jobs. Armor said manufacturing jobs are moving overseas and he vowed to protect them. He said the main problem with agriculture jobs is illegal immigration.
Armor said he wants to improve tourism in Western North Carolina. He said visitors can come to the area, but he wants to reduce the number of cars on the roads. Armor said people in Highlands stay away from stores and roads in the summer because of all the visitors on the road. "It is the problem of them getting to Western North Carolina without bringing their own private automobile," Armor said.
He said reducing traffic will take cooperation between local, state and federal agencies in Western North Carolina and Eastern Tennessee.
Qualifications
Armor said he is the most qualified candidate in the field. He practiced constitutional law in Washington before retiring to Highlands. Unlike the other Republican nominees, Armor said he has worked at all levels of government, including state and federal.
"I have been involved with politics for forty years, but always as an outsider," he said.
Armor said he has filed 18 briefs to the U.S. Supreme Court. He is most proud of a brief he filed in the Bush v. Gore case arising from the contested 2000 election, which sent Bush to the White House.
"The U.S. Supreme Court voted the way I wanted it to go," Armor said.
Eying the race
Armor said he ran against Taylor in 2006 because he thought the district was ready for a change. He said Taylor's ego made him run again.
"He should have picked up his marbles and gone home," Armor said.
He knows Taylor could still run this time -- the Brevard banker has made no an announcement. But Armor said Taylor's time in the political spotlight is over.
"I don't know if Charles Taylor -- being it is Halloween -- can rise from the dead," Armor said. "The sad thing is he would probably win (the nomination) in a crowded field ... (but) he would get his hat handed to him in the general election."
Armor said Shuler is vulnerable. Shuler ran as a moderate Democrat, but has voted with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi most of the time, Armor said. He said the 11th Congressional District is a Republican district, so the nominee has a good chance of defeating the congressman.
"I think there is extreme dissatisfaction with Shuler," Armor said.
Besides his career as an attorney, Armor has also run a pizza restaurant in Highlands and is a published author. Armor said he had good intentions with the pizza restaurant, but eventually closed the place. The experience, Armor said, gave him a sense of appreciation for small business owners.
"Running a small business is like getting pecked to death by ducks," Armor said.
ping to your own thread. Good luck. I’ll be happy to contribute to your campaign.
Break a leg.
Bump!
Thanks for the post. John, we will be sending a donation.
I have been pleasantly surprised with both the factual accuracy and total lack of bias in the articles to date. There have been minor factual problems in every article, but too few and too small to object over.
Thanks for posting this.
Congressman Billybob
Happy to post it. Here’s hoping Taylor stays out of the race.
So, please, take all comments or discussions about “donations” to e-mail or freepmail.
Cordially,
John
I don’t know if I can support a candidate who posts to Free Republic. I have heard from Bill O’Reilly and others that those who read and post to Free Republic is extremists and I wouldn’t want to be associated with such a group.
LOL! Well, if Bill O’Reilly says so. /s/
Go Billybob!
GO BILLYBOB GO!
lol, I c wat u did thar.
Look for John’s opponents to label FR a “right-wing extremist hate site”. I’m sure they’ll be poring over his posting history looking for something to parse, spin, or quote out of context.
Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)
All of John’s postings here are very professional and I’m sure he’s totally aware that anything he says here will be pored over by the opposition. The best they will be able to do is cite replies to his posts which might be less than professional.
Personally I'd be in favor of a platform including state ownership of the means of production and a dictatorship of the proletariat, but if you want to concentrate on boring stuff like employment, well, OK... ;-)
This one district we should be gunning hard for.
The problem is that if John gets the nomination, it will be guilt by association all the way. There will be actual TV ads that say “He posts to a hate board where people say blah, blah, blah.”
It’s one of the reasons I’m not shy about hitting the abuse button. The phraseology used here reflects on all of us, whether we like it or not.
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