N.C. Rep. Michael Decker Switches to Democrat Party (Switches Control to Democrats)

NCGOP ^ | NGOP

[jern]

N.C. Representative Michael Decker Switches to Democrat Party

NORTH CAROLINA REPUBLICAN PARTY 1506 Hillsborough St., Raleigh, North Carolina 27605 Tele. (919) 828-6423 • Fax (919) 899-3815 • www.NCGOP.org For immediate release January 24, 2003 ........................................................................................................

Decker To Go Down As “North Carolina’s Own Jim Jeffords”

(RALEIGH) – In a call today to N.C. Representative Mike Decker of Forsyth County, North Carolina Republican Party Chairman Bill Cobey was informed that Rep. Decker has switched to the Democrat Party, changed his registration, and will be voting for Jim Black for Speaker. No reason was given.

“Given Mike Decker’s conservative voting record in the General Assembly, I find this to be irrational and bizarre behavior,” said Cobey. “I wish he had discussed this situation before taking any kind of action, but today is the first I have heard anything of this truly perplexing decision.”

“Mike Decker will unfortunately go down in history as North Carolina’s own Jim Jeffords, switching a closely divided State House from the party that was elected to the majority – the Republican Party – to the party that lost the majority in the November elections – the Democrat Party,” said Cobey.

“I wonder, does all of this mean that Jim Black or Mike Easley have made some type of promise to Decker?” asked Cobey. “Could that promise involve the Speaker pro tem position, which pays 50% more than a rank-and-file member receives, or some promise of a job in the Easley administration?”

-NCGOP-

If you would like to personally express your disappointment to Rep. Decker, his legislative office phone number is (919) 733-5988 and his email is Miked@ncleg.net. His home number is (336) 595-3008.

[Overtaxed]

Well my company is leaving here for Kansas sometime this summer.

[mykdsmom]

Are you going with them?

[defeat_the_dem_igods]

I've never been able to figure out why the sheep in this state allow our state legislature to tax us to DEATH

Easily answered with a question.

"How many state employees does it take to change a lightbulb?

[Overtaxed]

I'm waiting for the official offer to come through but they want me there.

[mykdsmom]

Are you happy about it?

We will miss you : (

[Constitution Day]

Oh, no! I will miss you too, OT. :(

[Overtaxed]

Kind of mixed. But if the money's good, I'll probably be outta here.

[Overtaxed]

The problem is what to do with the house....not too sure about the real estate market here.

[JohnnyZ]

1) I admit I used a sarchastic phrase in my response, but I didn't call you names.

Oh, give me a break, you appear to get off on calling others hypocrites.

2) If the democratic party in Mississippi is so liberal, and the republicans are so conservative, why did democrats vote for a democratic candidate if they wanted him to really be a republican? And why did he run as a democrat if he was so ideologically out-of-step with his party?

There hasn't hardly been a Republican Party in Mississippi until recently: liberals and conservatives were all in the Democrat Party. Party identification has said nothing about ideology until recently, and Mississippi votes for legislators every 4 years, which means a lot has changed in the last one or two cycles. Since back then, when a lot of these folks were getting started in politics, the Republican Party has appeared, and has unequivocally been the party of conservatives, while the MISS Rat Party has become closer and closer to the national liberals. When given the choice between conservative Rep Ronnie Shows and conservative Rep Chip Pickering, folks who would have voted for Shows as an incumbent went in droves for Pickering, the Republican, who won 2-1, clear evidence that folks will acquiesce if their conservative wants to be a Rat but would prefer him to be a Pub.

Which means that it really has nothing to do with a conservative leaving the Republican party in NC.

Now that you've been educated, you can take back everything you said, and plead ignorance. C'mon:

[defeat_the_dem_igods]

and from Carolina Journal

Government – NC's Growth Industry Daily Journal for April 18, 2002 By JOHN HOOD RALEIGH – Yesterday I observed that North Carolina has more public employees per capita than any other state in the region – and, indeed, exceeds the national average in this regard.

But I left out the "flow" in this "stock and flow" equation. That is, not only are our governments overstaffed by regional and national standards, but they have posted some of the most rapid growth rates in the country in recent years.

From 1996 to 2001, the number of state employees in North Carolina grew by 12.5 percent, ranking us 8th in the nation in workforce expansion. Our local governments added 22.3 percent more employees during the same period, the 3rd highest growth rate in the nation. These data are reported by the U.S. Census Bureau.

My colleague Greg Kaza at the Arkansas Policy Foundation pointed me to some recent employment data that show how this trend has extended into 2002.

From September 2001 to February 2002, North Carolina's private sector lost 22,100 jobs. Particularly hard hit were manufacturing (12,100 net reduction in jobs) and services (7,600 jobs). But government in North Carolina added 7,600 jobs during the same period.

Remember, September 2001 was also the month that Gov. Mike Easley and the North Carolina General Assembly enacted one of the largest tax increases in state history. So at the same time that government was imposing new costs on a weakening economy – you can't blame the tax hike for the entire 22,100 job loss, of course, but it likely was a contributing factor – it was adding thousands of new employees.

Whatever words you choose to describe state and local government in North Carolina, "austerity" should not be on the list. While the private sector really is downsizing and adjusting to changing conditions, the public sector is taking even more money away from the people who earned it in order to continue its seemingly unstoppable growth.

[F.J. Mitchell]

I don't imagine the present weather has done much to warm up your opinion of the Peoples Republic of NC either. I truly believe though, that someday,maybe when pigs fly and liberals don't lie, water flows up hill, and country ham and red eye gravy are good for the heart-Conservists will rule North Carolina.

Unfortunately the weather will always vary somewhere between Key West Florida in the summertime and Antartica in the wintertime-not neccessarily in the respective seasons.

In my opinion the unpredictable weather can be adjusted to, but there is no adjusting to unpredictable politicians.

[F.J. Mitchell]

Depends on the watts of the bulb.

[JohnnyZ]

Fine, if you live in Mississippi and are so tuned into the politics there. Why haven't these voters all switched their party affiliations yet? I assume next election cycle we'll see everything sorted out properly in Mississippi, with republicans properly elected across the board.

Hopefully that will be the case. While it will take time to overcome the incumbency factor I mentioned, Republicans have a decent shot of winning the governorship, state treasurer, keeping Lt Gov and state auditor, winning the state senate, and picking a dozen or more seats in the House in 2003. FYI, I live in Charlotte, and I have been following Mississippi politics, but you were posting about Mississippi without knowing anything about it.

[F.J. Mitchell]

My E-mail to this critter read as follows:

Judas sold out for thirty pieces of silver-hope the demonRATS paid that much for your soul.
Judas couldn't live with his guilty conscience-can you?
It's not too late to switch back.

F.J. Mitchell

[writmeister]

I'm not from Mississippi, but waht I have gleaned from the newspaper articles are that these Democrat legislators are announcing that they will be running as Republicans in this years' Mississippi legislative elections. [please correct me if I am wrong]

I think that is a far different cry than switching parties just after you have been elected or re-elected.

[mykdsmom]

The weather doesn't bother me that much since I was born and lived in MI for 28 years. Don't get me wrong, I'd gladly live the rest of my life never seeing another snowflake but it's not THAT big of a deal.

My husband OTOH absolutely freaks out during cold weather, if it gets below 70 he thinks he's dying. I'm sure it has something to do with living in S FL for his first 26 years of life : )

The thing that does get to me is the fact that everything shuts down with just a couple of inches of snow. I know, I know, we can't invest in snow removal equipment blah blah blah. I'd rather see the state spend some $$ on snow plows than the worthless state funded pre-school they're running these days. We've had some pretty significant snow falls since I've lived here for the past 7 1/2 years. Seems like justification to me.

MKM

[mykdsmom]

I just heard your call on the Jerry Agar show. Good job!!

MKM

[Deport Billary]

If this guy was a 9 term Republican (and therefore well-liked by Freepers), presumably he should be given the benefit of letting him state his case before he is tarred and feathered. Nothing he can say will excuse this move. Nothing. He represents a very conservative district, but has now betrayed everyone who voted for him or sent him money. We should do everything we can to make sure he is sent home, whether it be a recall or by not letting him redraw the map to his liking.

[KQQL]

RATS WIN IN NC AGAIN ....AT THE STATE LEVEL...