Author: pyeager

From The Daily Haymaker:

Executive committee member Jim Womack put his latest set of concerns in writing to NCGOP executive director Dallas Woodhouse and head mutineer Joyce Cotten:

Dallas & Joyce;

Imagine my disgust at receiving a 5-page “open letter” today from our NCGOP General Counsel providing a very one-sided, incomplete, and questionable account of the activities of our Chairman over the past few weeks. I want to know just how much it cost the NCGOP to publish and mail this open letter to NCGOP members statewide? And I want to know who authorized this to be sent at a cost to our depleted NCGOP bank account?

I serve on the NCGOP Executive Committee and I did not vote to authorize this kind of quill driving for any purpose. As with previous mailings and web postings, there is nothing of substance; but rather innuendo and half-truths in the letter. The missive merely serves to confuse and upset the party base, rather than to inform. Whoever authorized the mailing by our General Counsel should be disciplined, along with Mr. Stark, himself, for sending this useless diatribe. In fact, the letter wasn’t even timely- it was dated March 31st. It contained inaccurate information that was contradicted by the calendar of District Conventions also enclosed.

I am sickened at the sustained onslaught against our Chairman. I demand that we cease and desist in sending this kind of correspondence. These distractions are harming the party’s reputation, eroding support from rank and file GOP activists, and diminishing the chances we can elect or re-elect our Council of State candidates this fall.

Please communicate this immediately to the Central Committee.

Sincerely/

Jim Womack

That note prompted this response from Woodhouse:

Jim: a couple of points. I believe the decision to release the materials came in part because of the Chairmans call for everything to be released.

As far as costs go, I believe it was minimal because the notice of cancellation of the April 9th meeting.

And then THIS from Womack:

Dallas;

I do not recall the Chairman calling for the release of half-truths, which certainly isn’t a release of “everything,” and I know he didn’t ask for this to be mailed out at expense to the NCGOP. Please tell me why the NCGOP didn’t enclose his written rebuttal to this propaganda? Isn’t that a part of “everything?”

Please assure us this will be the last of these unsolicited mailings that we are all sick of receiving from the Central Committee.

Hasan canceled his call for an April 9th Executive Committee meeting. We were notified of that meeting electronically and we it had already been canceled electronically. I eagerly await (electronic) notification of the Central Committee’s cancellation of the April 30th called meeting that, to date, still hasn’t been authorized according to our Plan of Organization.

Jim

James K. (Jim) Womack is a 1977 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point where he received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Engineering.

Jim also holds a Master of Science Degree from American Technological University and a Master of Military Arts & Science Degree from the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College.

Jim has served North Carolina state government as Director for North Carolina’s Public Health Information Systems in the state’s Department of Health & Human Services, as a member of the North Carolina Mining & Energy Commission and currently serves as member of the North Carolina Oil and Gas Commission.

Jim has served his local community as a member of the Lee County Commission from 2010 to 2104 and continues to serve as Vice Chairman of the Lee County Republican Party and a member of the NCGOP Executive Committee.

From The Daily Haymaker:

Email is a wonderful thing.  Especially in the world of politics, where lies and double-talk are, unfortunately, the norm instead of the exception. Anyway, I digress. 

The state GOP’s resolutions committee was hard at work last night trying to meet a deadline for the upcoming convention.  Here’s our friend Jim Womack conversing with State Rep. John Blust, his committee colleagues and other interested parties:

John;

Attached to this email are three resolutions. The first two were brought to the Resolutions Committee separately to correct problems with openness and transparency by the Central Committee. The third resolution was one prepared internal to the Resolutions Committee to merge the two (at the request of one of the members). We voted all three resolutions. The first two had at least seven committee votes each, which was near unanimous of those participating (only one dissenting vote by my count). Only three people voted to submit the merged resolution, falling well short of plurality. Last night, at 11:30PM I forwarded the seven resolutions that passed our committee up to the Central Committee. After you stopped communicating with the committee members around 9PM last night we all thought you were going to miss his deadline for filing the report, so I filed it in your absence.[…]

Here are the three resolutions  ( ONE) , (TWO), and (THREE)  he refers to.   MORE:

[…] Today, the NCGOP Convention website reflects six resolutions, not the seven I sent up before the deadline. It instead reflects the merged resolution on the transparency and openness issues (which had failed in committee)- but omitted the two standalone resolutions that virtually all of the committee wanted to be forwarded.

We all recognize the purpose of this deviation from the rules is to “kill” any attempts at disciplining the Central Committee. Everyone knows the rank and file will have a much harder time voting for the merged resolution, even though they would CERTAINLY have voted for the standalone resolution that eliminates the NDA.

Additionally, I question why these resolutions are ordered differently than they were submitted- moving the Due Process resolution to the last of the six. We all recognize that resolutions sometimes take a while to get to and that time can run out before the final ones are voted at convention- causing some of them to be delayed to a later meeting. The Due Process resolution ought to be front loaded in the bundle of resolutions as it is very important to the rank and file membership of the GOP and our Executive Committee.

Word of this will get around the state GOP rank and file very quickly if these mistakes aren’t corrected immediately. Several of the Resolutions Committee members, myself included, are shocked at what has transpired. Need your assurance the above corrections will be forthcoming immediately and that the two separate resolutions are published as submitted. I await your response.

Warm Regards/

Jim Womack
Resolutions Committee Member
Lee County

Here is committee member Catherine Stash throwing in her two cents:

Just looked at the NCGOP Convention website. There were six resolutions submitted on there. Although the Merged resolution only received three (3) out of eight votes it’s on there in place of the two separate ones which received seven (7) votes each.
I don’t understand. What was the point of voting then? Eight is still over 50% of 15 people on the committee… I’d just like some clarification.

Cat

Ms. Stash wasn’t done — making one more attempt at reaching Blust:

John and my fellow committee members,
I’m sending this out one last time so everyone has all eight resolutions together in one email. I’ve also removed the highlighted areas off #8 and attached them in the order they are listed below.

1. Resolution to Close the Republican Party Primaries in NC –
2. Resolution on Refugees from Terrorist Nations –
3. Resolution on the Proposed Light Rail System –
4. Resolution on Due Process –
5. Resolution on Elimination NDA used by the CC –
6. Resolution to Guarantee Credible and Transparent Performance of CC –
7. Merged Resolution – #5 and #6 –
8. Resolution Opposing Article V Convention –
This is where we are now with the votes I’ve managed to count as of 10:18pm:
1. Resolution to Close the Republican Party Primaries in NC – (Fremont) 8 votes
2. Resolution on Refugees from Terrorist Nations – (Cat) 8 votes
3. Resolution on the Proposed Light Rail System – (Pam) 8 votes
4. Resolution on Due Process – (Jim) 8 votes
5. Resolution on Elimination NDA used by the CC – (Jim) 7 votes
6. Resolution to Guarantee Credible and Transparent Performance of CC – (Fremont) 7 votes
7. Merged Resolution – #5 and #6 – (Fremont & Jim) 3 votes
8. Resolution Opposing Article V Convention – (Rick) 8 votes
And the eight (8) people who have voted:
Pam S.
Jim W.
Denise R.
Jacque E.
Fremont B. III
Rick W.
Richard S.
Cat S.

James K. (Jim) Womack is a 1977 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point where he received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Engineering.

Jim also holds a Master of Science Degree from American Technological University and a Master of Military Arts & Science Degree from the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College.

Jim has served North Carolina state government as Director for North Carolina’s Public Health Information Systems in the state’s Department of Health & Human Services, as a member of the North Carolina Mining & Energy Commission and currently serves as member of the North Carolina Oil and Gas Commission.

Jim has served his local community as a member of the Lee County Commission from 2010 to 2104 and continues to serve as Vice Chairman of the Lee County Republican Party and a member of the NCGOP Executive Committee.

From The Daily Haymaker:

Jim Womack is at it again.  He’s asked some tough questions of the plotters seeking to oust party chairman Hasan Harnett.

Now, the Lee County Republican — an Army veteran, former county commissioner, and current NCGOP executive committee and resolutions committtee member — senses there is something really rotten in DenmarkRaleigh:

All;

In reviewing the Rules Committee report for our upcoming NCGOP Convention tonight, I couldn’t help but notice what I think is a major change in rules on voting our resolutions and a VIOLATION of our State Plan of Organization:

http://ncgopconvention.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/2016-FINAL-RULES-APPROVED-03_28_2016.pdf

“Rule 10 H. A resolution shall require a two-thirds vote of the Delegates in the affirmative in order to pass.”

Now, I recall from past conventions that a simple majority was all that was needed to pass a resolution. Plus, our Plan of Organization makes no mention of having a super majority of votes to do anything except to amend the plan of organization, to consider resolutions not presented until the day of the convention, to suspend convention rules, to address matters for which proper notice had not been given, to take on debt, to declare someone ineligible to hold office, or to remove someone from office.

I can only surmise that this new rule is being cleverly inserted to prevent resolutions that are unpopular with certain party elites from passing. Goodness knows the party elites were not happy last year with the passage of a few conservative resolutions that passed muster with the GOP rank and file- even though the resolutions were seriously delayed through cheap parliamentary tricks until well after the convention.

Please join me in asking the NCGOP leadership to leave the voting requirement at a simple majority for resolutions that were reported out of the Resolutions Committee. To do otherwise is a slap in the face of our faithful conference attendees.

Warm Regards/

Jim Womack
Lee County
Resolutions Committee Member from District 2

Monkey Business Report: NCGOP convention edition

The more I hear about Jim Womack, the more I like him! – Editor

Despite the ongoing controversy, NCGOP Chairman Hasan Harnett continues to work for ALL the Republicans of North Carolina.  On Monday he traveled to Raleigh to do just that.

At the Legislative Office Building

Visiting the nice young ladies at the information desk.

Sharing a smile with Linda P. Johnson (R), District 83, Cabarrus

Discussing politics with Lee Teague, Executive Director of NC Public Charter Schools Association

And, as much as we might wish it wasn’t so, the current controversy undeniably remains an item of Party business.  Chairman Harnett visited WRAL for an interview with Laura Leslie, Capitol Bureau Chief.

From The Daily Haymaker:
Remember that crowd at NCGOP HQ belly-aching about chairman Hasan Harnett taking party business public?  Well, that same crew that has been beating on Harnett about THAT has issued yet another press release.   The drivebys this morning are painting it as “new” allegations.  But, after perusing it, it appears to me to be simply the SoS.  Judge for yourself: 

[…] The North Carolina Republican Party (NCGOP) today released new details on a planned website attack that would have resulted in NCGOP party funds being diverted into non-Party accounts controlled by Chairman Harnett. These results include sworn testimony implicating the elected volunteer Chairman of the State Republican Party.

The Party commended and thanked the eastern North Carolina computer professional who blew the whistle on apparent unethical and potentially illegal behavior by NCGOP Chairman Hasan Harnett.

According to sworn statements, multiple interviews, text messages and phone records obtained by the NCGOP, Mr. Harnett took initial steps to damage and crash the NCGOP’s 2016 State Convention website and replace it with a new website.

Additionally, the sworn testimony indicated the new website would have altered convention prices set by the Central Committee to prices the Chairman wanted. The most concerning revelation from the sworn testimony showed the new website would have collected funds outside of the Party’s controls. The scheme, if fully implemented, would violate a wide range of state, federal and elections laws. […]

Okay, we’ve BEEN getting this from you.  Is there any evidence or substantiation yet — from something more credible than Dallas Woodhouse-engineered leaks?  I have people bringing me stuff all the time alleging criminal misconduct against THIS or THAT person.  I always tell people — if you HAVE evidence of a crime, take it to law enforcement.  MORE: 

Dr. Ken Robol of Greenville, North Carolina contacted a fellow Republican asking for assistance in making contact with the NCGOP, after Robol’s offer to help access the administrative functions of NCGOP websites turned into a request for illegal conduct by Mr. Harnett. Sworn testimony from Dr. Robol indicates Mr. Harnett asked and encouraged Robol to sabotage the party’s 2016 convention website and replace it with a new website with an alternative and unapproved fundraising system.

To be clear, our evidence indicates Dr. Robol was the first to make contact with Mr. Harnett. He did make an offer to help access the administrative functions of the website because he believed the Party and the Chairman had a technical problem that needed to be resolved.

Our evidence indicates it was Mr. Harnett that turned the conversation from “accessing” the website to using “brute force” to crash it. The evidence also indicates Harnett asked Dr. Robol to create a separate website with alternative fundraising mechanisms.[…]

Really?  Well, how does THAT mesh with this screenshot from a discussion between Harnett and Robol?

“Mr. Chairman …. I can help you to hack your website to get into the site.”  Hmmm.  The mutineers are admitting that Robol made the first contact with Harnett.  If THAT is true, and the screenshot is accurate, you may have a case of a party activist (Robol) initiating a conspiracy to commit criminal activity.   MORE: 

We also know from phone and text records that the Chairman aggressively continued to contact Dr. Robol, which is believed to be in an effort to advance these problematic actions. There is no evidence in the messages that Mr. Harnett thought better of the scheme and tried to call it off.

It should be noted, that if Mr. Harnett believed Dr. Robol was up to something he should not have been, he had a duty to warn Party staff and officers, something he did not do.

The investigation also revealed that Mr. Harnett’s official Party e-mail address, hasan.harnett@ncgop.org, had been used to create an alternative “EVENTBRITE” account/page. EVENTBRITE is the system the Party uses to sell tickets to its convention and other events. The steps taken to set up the new EVENTBRITE account were made several weeks before the convention price issue arose. This is one of the reasons the Central Committee ordered the closure of this email account.

“Dr. Robol contacted other members of the Party because he was made extremely uncomfortable by the Chairman’s request. He was aware that if he did nothing, others might be contacted who did not share his scruples. Dr. Robol was very courageous in coming forward,” said Thomas A. Stark, General Counsel of the North Carolina Republican Party

STILL looking for a crime on Harnett’s part.  Setting up an Eventbrite account is NOT a crime.  (At least it wasn’t the last time I checked.)

[…] On March 8, 2016, Dr. Robol reached out to Chairman Harnett about accessing the administrative functions of the Party website. Dr. Robol read conversations on social media claiming Chairman Harnett had been wrongfully locked out of the Party’s website. At the time, Dr. Robol believed he would be helping the Party by restoring the control of its website to the authorized person. In Facebook messages, Dr. Robol used the term “hack” to describe accessing the administrative functions of the website. Testimony from Dr. Robol makes clear he used the term “hack” to refer to regaining access to the administrative functions of the website.

Sections 9-14 of Dr. Kenneth Robol’s Affidavit:

9. Mr. Harnett requested that I look at the security of the website; I informed him that I had done so. I advised him that the website was set up on Go-Daddy.com. I told him there were three ways to get in.
10. The first was through the password, which we did not have access to.
11. The second, was through the File Manager. My SQL open source database. I told Mr. Harnett that if he could get the Accounting Manager on the phone to designate me as authorized to deal with the website, I could get in and restore access. Mr. Harnett then told me that “Accounting is against me.” I then suggested we call the Executive Director. Mr. Harnett also said no because the Executive Director was also against him.
12. The third method possible that I told him about was a brute force attack. I told Mr. Harnett that, while I had never done one personally, this could crash or damage the website. It would destabilize the site and likely crash it.

Sooooooo.  Robol introduced the concept of a “brute force” attack on the site.  Again, this is looking like the wrong person is being investigated for possible criminal activity. MORE: 

[…]
13. Mr. Harnett then told me that he preferred to do a brute force attack. He then turned the conversation to his campaign promise that he would lower the $90.00 fee and asked me to help him set up an alternative website.The purpose of this website would be to sell tickets to the North Carolina State Party Convention directly from that website for $45.00, raise the money from the sale of these tickets, and then go back to the Party.
14. At this point I told him to let me know what he wanted me to do, and the conversation concluded.

“Despite insinuations otherwise, Dr. Robol called Chairman Harnett entirely on his own accord. He was responding in good faith to statements made by Chairman Harnett and his supporters,” said Mr. Stark. “It was entirely Chairman Harnett’s own initiative to ask Dr. Robol to crash the Party website and set up a competing website to divert funds away from the Party. Further, it was entirely Chairman Harnett’s own initiative to place follow up phone calls and text messages to Dr. Robol, including while the sworn statement was being obtained.”

Dr. Robol’s sworn statement concluded:

“I am concerned that if I do not assist Mr. Harnett in breaching the North Carolina Republican Party website, and setting up an alternative website, he will find another IT professional to do so.”

STILL not seeing a crime on Harnett’s part.  So Hasan was going to use this alternate web site to raise money to give back to the party?   WHERE. IS.THE.CRIME?

Stark’s participation in group texts with anti-Harnett plotters, and Robol’s close personal relationship with the woman who introduced the censure resolution against Harnett, AND the serious discrepancies between the documented evidence and the claims of the plotters, make this whole thing highly suspect.

How much does a signed affadavit mean outside of a formal judicial proceeding or law enforcement probe?  What is the penalty for lying? People lie under oath all the time. (I’ve encountered more than my fair share of those types.)  There’s no judge here to throw anyone in jail for perjury.

Again, if you have evidence of a crime — take it to law enforcement. Right  now, these people are setting the state party up for further embarrassment and a big-time slander suit from Harnett against the party and plotters.

#SSDD: NCGOP mutineers STILL beating that dead horse

From The Daily Haymaker:

Leaders of two of the largest, most active Tea Party organizations have issued releases announcing their intention to protest at the NCGOP 2nd congressional district meeting in Sanford on Saturday, April 9.  Moore Tea Citizens and the Asheville Tea Party issued the following statement:

[…] It has been very obvious from the moment of Mr. Harnett’s election at the 2015 State Convention, that the Central Committee has been highly displeased that their establishment insider candidate, endorsed by Governor McCrory, Senators Richard Burr and Thom Tillis, was not the choice of the GOP base.

Conversely, The GOP party members who elected Mr. Harnett are not at all pleased with the NCGOP Central Committee for their non-transparent, secretive tactics thwarting Chairman Harnett attempts to be successful. These tactics include: denying him access to NCGOP headquarters, his email account, and false accusations of hacking the website.

The grassroots support for Chairman Harnett is based in his Conservative credentials and relationship with his GOP constituents. The grassroots contend that neither has been embraced by the party establishment elites.

The NCGOP war on the grassroots has also gained much media attention in both state and national news outlets such as The Wall Street Journal. This ‘rift’ has even caught the attention of talk show host Rush Limbaugh. If this is not resolved, it has the potential of damaging the outcome of our general elections in November.

 

[…]Liberty loving citizens who refuse to sit down, and shut up, please join us to support NCGOP Chairman Hasan Harnett. Chairman Harnett is a fine man and Patriot. He does not deserve this treatment from NCGOP party elites whose only interest is to protect their power, not represent WE THE PEOPLE.

Come and join the many so together we make a difference.

*GOP District Convention 2 check-in starts at noon and the Convention begins at 2 pm. If you belong to District 2 and are attending the Convention: The cost for attending the Convention is $20 for those who pre-register and $25 for anyone who registers on the day of the Convention. In order to pre-register, go to http://ncgop2.com. Click on the “Register here” box appearing on the left side of the screen. At the next screen click on the green “get tickets” box. Pre-registration ends on April 4th.[…]

The 2nd congressional district is chaired by Joyce “Ma” Cotten, who —with the aid of her daughter Kim Cotten-West, chairman of the 3rd congressional district GOP — has led the attack on NCGOP chairman Hasan Harnett.

Sources tell us that, in addition to activists from the Asheville area and Moore County,  we can expect to see participants in the protest from the Triad, The Triangle, and coastal region of North Carolina.

Tea Party groups targeting Ma Cotten

We have quoted NCGOP Executive Committee member and former Lee County Commissioner Jim Womack before in this article.  We’re glad to hear that he’s still with us.

I wanted you all to know I am TOTALLY opposed to signing any such petitions and that I still completely support our Chairman.  If any of you have any reservations about Hasan, please let me know.  I’d like the opportunity to explain why I think it is imperative we give him the most vigorous assistance we can muster.  No one, including Hasan Harnett himself, is claiming that Hasan hasn’t made some errors of omission and commission- we all do from time to time.  But, it is patently clear from Cumbie’s letter that the Central Committee has been colluding and plotting to disenfranchise and get rid of Hasan for many weeks.   

If anyone needs to be let go, then it should be the Central Committee members who are overstepping their authority as laid out in the Plan of Organization, without first getting a nod of approval from the Executive Committee that put them where they are.  We elected Hasan Harnett as Chairman and now the Central Committee is plotting and conspiring to oust him.  I take that as a direct affront and insult to the Executive Committee and all active Republicans, statewide.     

 

Until someone produces hard evidence Hasan has broken the laws of the state of North Carolina, or until he is indicted for breaking the law, we shouldtreat him with the dignity and support he so desperately needs in doing his job for all of us.  I will continue to ask for the resignation from the Central Committee for anyone who colluded, conspired, or secretly coordinated to suspend Hasan’s email accounts, to prevent Hasan from having access to state GOP files and data, or to remove Hasan from his elected office.

Warm Regards

Jim Womack