Category: News

By Paul Yeager

Short answer:  Probably not.

In August of 2014, the NCGOP Arbitration Committee met to consider the legitimacy of the July 30 2014 Thirteenth Congressional District Executive Committee meeting, and of elections held at that meeting.

The Arbitration Committee ruled that the July 30th meeting was not properly noticed to all 13th CD ExCom members, elections held at that meeting were not valid, and those elected were not eligible to be seated or vote at the August 2, 2014 NCGOP ExCom meeting.

Images (we apologize for the quality) of the Arbitration Committee’s report are available at the end of this article.

What does this establish?  That votes taken at an improperly-noticed meeting are not valid.

The March 20, 2016 meeting of the NCGOP Central Committee was not properly noticed.  Meeting notice was not delivered within the required timeframe, and the notice failed to specify the business of the meeting.  The meeting notice was postmarked March 11, 2016, just nine days in advance of the meeting,  thus a clear violation of Article VII.J.1 of the NCGOP Plan of Organization.

During this improperly noticed meeting, the Central Committee was informed by members it was out of order, yet still deliberated and approved sending to the Executive Committee a petition seeking removal of the Chairman. The NCGOP Plan of Organization is silent on the consequences of conducting an improperly called meeting; however, Robert’s Rules of Order, Newly Revised (RONR), §23 page 251 clearly establishes that the continuing breach renders the resulting actions during the March 20, 2016 meeting out of order, regardless of when the point of order was called. All votes taken – including the votes to approve and forward the petition for the Chairman’s removal – are null and void.

Therefore, the call for the meeting of April 30, originated at the March 20 meeting, is null and void.  The April 30 meeting is ‘fruit of that poison tree’ and represents a continuing breach of RONR, meaning that any votes taken at the April 30, 2016 meeting will also be null and void. (This opinion has been verified with a nationally credentialed and registered Parliamentarian.)

So, let’s recap in simpler terms:

1. March 20 meeting was not properly noticed, therefore votes taken there are null and void.
2. Since the petition calling the April 30 meeting originated at the March 20 meeting, the petition calling the April 30 meeting is null and void.
3. Since the April 30 meeting is null and void, so are the votes to remove Chairman Hasan Harnett and elect Robin Hayes in his place.

So, how did they remove Chairman Harnett and elect Robin Hayes at the April 30 meeting?

Simple, they bent, broke, and invented rules.  A hired gun parliamentarian was brought in to ensure not that justice was done, but that a desired result was achieved.  I wonder how much THAT cost NCGOP (us)?

Our apologies for the quality of the images below.  It may help that if you click them, they should open in a new browser window or tab.

ALEXANDER COUNTY REPUBLICAN PARTY
RESOLUTION – Due Process for NCGOP Chairman

WHEREAS, Hasan Harnett was duly elected by the rank and file members of the North Carolina Republican Party at the 2015 State Convention; and

WHEREAS, Hasan Harnett continues to serve the State GOP with a special regard for the concerns and Opinions of the grass roots activists of the party; and

WHEREAS, by the State GOP Plan of Organization, Hasan Harnett’s term of elected office extends until The State GOP convention of 2017; and

WHEREAS, no criminal or civil charges have preferred against Hasan Harnett for any alleged Malfeasance he may have committed in his capacity as NCGOP Chairman; and

BE IT RESOLVED by the Alexander County Republican Party that Hasan Harnett is to be sustained as the NCGOP Chairman with the full powers and authority as prescribed by the Plan of Organization until any criminal or civil charges for any misconduct are proven against Chairman Hasan Harnett and whereas that Chairman Hasan Harnett will work in full cooperation with the Executive Committee and NCGOP Central Committee members to resolve all issues.

WHEREAS, all focus be turned to defeating Democrats in the fall, instead of fighting among fellow members of the Republican Party.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED; that the NCGOP Central Committee is directed to work collaboratively with The Chairman in a positive and productive manner, to afford the Chairman all the rights, privileges And courtesies associated with the position of NCGOP Chairman.

Darrell Seaford
ACRP Chairman

Passed on Tuesday April 26, 2016 by the Alexander County Republican Party Executive Committee.

By Paul Yeager

It seems to me that the NCGOP 2015 Plan of Organization is pretty clear on this:

7. Vacancies and Removals
a. Any Member of a Committee organized under this Plan may be removed either:
1. By a 2/3’s vote of the respective Committee after being furnished with notice of the charges against him, signed by the lesser of (i) 50 Members or (i) one-third of the Members of the respective Committee.

Astute readers will note that it says “2/3’s vote of the respective Committee”, not a 2/3’s vote of those present and voting, or 2/3’s of the quorum present.  The latter phrase occurs in Article VI paragraph C.2:

When monies are raised and expenditures authorized by other than the State Central Committee or the State Executive Committee on behalf of any candidate for state or national
office, the Party shall not be held liable; except, however, that the State Executive Committee, by 2/3 vote of a quorum present, may assume any portion of such debts it deems advisable.

It would seem that if they used the phrase “of a quorum present” as they did above, and did not use the same phrase when describing the procedure for removal of a committee member, they intended for removal to require a 2/3 vote of the entire committee.

Why should you care?  While it seems that the PoO is pretty clear on this, it appears that rules are being proposed for the 4/30 meeting requiring as little as 2/3 of the Executive Committee members present and voting to remove the Chairman.  There may be a huge difference between 2/3 of the entire NCGOP Executive Committee and 2/3 of the quorum present.

What other evidence is available?  Well…

When Haywood County had an effort to remove their Chairwoman in 2014, the question of how many must vote to remove a Chairperson was apparently evaluated by the NCGOP General Counsel, The NCGOP Executive Director, and two different NCGOP officials sent to moderate meetings on the issue of removing the Chairwoman.  They all apparently concluded that a 2/3 vote of the entire Haywood County GOP Executive Committee was required to remove the Chairwoman, not merely 2/3 of the quorum present.

Leo Phillips, who was at the time Cherokee County GOP Vice Chairman, was one of those sent to moderate.  He said:

…according to the North Carolina Republican State Plan, it says… you need a quorum to have this meeting of twenty five percent, which clearly we have at this point.  Twenty five percent of 29 is what number we’re looking at.  Because when you go further on that rule, it will say that it requires… 2/3… to remove someone of the total Executive Committee.  You have 29 members in your Executive Committee

This message was reiterated a few seconds later.

Now of course I don’t expect you to take my word for it.  You can hear the audio (which is more than I transcribed above) and hear for yourself.  https://youtu.be/rSAVXQcU4vM

A later version includes more audio reiterating that 20 votes, or 2/3 of the entire HCGOP Executive Committe, is required to remove the Chairwoman is here: https://youtu.be/pjo4sFt3ngI

CRAVEN COUNTY REPUBLICAN PARTY
A RESOLUTION IN SUPPORT OF NORTH CAROLINA REPUBLICAN PARTY CHAIRMAN HASAN HARNETT

Whereas, the Craven County Republican Party delegation did join with a vast majority of grassroots conservatives from across this state to elect Hasan Harnett as Chairman of the North Carolina Republican Party in June 2015, and;

Whereas, we have observed that since our Chairman’s election there has been continual resistance and antipathy from our NCGOP Central Committee and our General Assembly Republican Caucuses as to the installation, tenure, and strategic goals of Chairman Harnett, many of which, according to our State Plan of Organization, Article VI, State Executive Committee, Section C.4., Duties of Officers, are vague at best, and;

Whereas, our Central Committee has called for a meeting to remove our duly elected Chairman, Hasan Harnett, from office at a time when they know our Chairman’s calendar schedule revealed in January, 2016, that he could not be present to defend himself, which is against Robert’s Rules of Order, and;

Whereas, that the time and date set by our Central Committee was intentionally established only days before our North Carolina Republican Party commences its annual Convention, which would be the appropriate time and place to present our Central Committee’s case before the full governing body of our North Carolina Republican Party, and;

Whereas, we regard the case for removal of Chairman Harnett from office to have the appearance of being contrived, politically motivated, and based on highly questionable evidence, which is likely to inflict significant harm to our North Carolina Republican Party; Therefore,

Be it Resolved, that the Craven County Republican Party does hereby declare its full support for our Chairman, Hasan Harnett, unless and until we are presented with a preponderance of evidence proving that grounds for his removal exist, and object to the 30 April meeting as inappropriate for reasons including its strategic timing by our Central Committee and probable parliamentary procedural error, and;

Be it Resolved, that the Craven County Republican Party calls for our State Executive Committee meeting on 30 April 2016 to be cancelled, and that any further actions taken by our Central Committee, Executive Director, or our North Carolina Republican Party staff concerning investigations and a possible case for our Chairman’s removal cease and desist immediately, or until such a time as they and their witnesses can coordinate and present their case, if they have one, with that of our Chairman, Hasan Harnett, and any witnesses he may bring forth, at a time when both sides shall present said evidence to the full assembly of delegates at the 2016 North Carolina Republican Party for their consideration and disposal.

Be it Further Resolved, that upon passage our Craven County Chair forwards for dissemination this Resolution to members of the North Carolina Executive Committee.

Passed on the 28th day of April, 2016, by the Craven County Republican Executive Committee and its Precinct Officers.

________________________________
Carl Mischka
Chairman, Craven County GOP

By Paul Yeager

It was my pleasure this evening to serve as a delegate to the Eleventh District Republican Party Convention.  The highlight of the evening for me was making a motion to approve the resolution shown below.  I am pleased to report that the resolution passed with an overwhelming majority.  I suspect that if more people were better informed on the issue, it may well have been unanimous.

RESOLUTION- Due Process for NCGOP Chairman

WHEREAS, Hasan Harnett was duly elected by the rank and file members of the North Carolina Republican Party at the 2015 State Convention; and

WHEREAS, Hasan Harnett continues to serve the State GOP with a special regard for the concerns and opinions of the grass roots activists of the party; and

WHEREAS, by the State GOP Plan of Organization, Hasan Harnett’s term of elected office extends until the State GOP convention of 2017; and

WHEREAS, no criminal or civil charges have preferred against Hasan Harnett for any alleged malfeasance he may have committed in his capacity as NCGOP Chairman; and

WHEREAS, certain members of the State GOP Central Committee have sought to deny Hasan Harnett access to email, party databases, office space and other resources and technology he needs to perform his duties as prescribed by the Plan of Organization; and

WHEREAS, certain members of the State GOP interpret the Plan of Organization in such manner as to construe it to give them the powers to over-ride Hasan Harnett in the routine execution of his duties; and

WHEREAS, certain members of the Central Committee have sought to usurp powers of the Executive Committee as prescribed by the Plan of Organization in controlling or disciplining Hasan Harnett in his capacity as NCGOP Chairman; now, therefore

BE IT RESOLVED by the North Carolina Republican Party Eleventh District that Hasan Harnett is to be sustained as the NCGOP Chairman with the full powers and authority as prescribed by the Plan of Organization until his term of elected office is completed; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the NCGOP Central Committee is directed to work collaboratively with the Chairman in a positive and productive manner, to afford the Chairman all the rights, privileges and courtesies associated with the position, and to refrain from denying him access to his email, party databases, office space, or any resources afforded the previous Chairmen, without due process and the expressed permission of the Executive Committee.

Paul Yeager
Haywood County

Note: Many people at the convention thanked me and complimented me on the resolution.  As I tried to be sure to tell each of them, I did not write it.  It was taken almost verbatim from the NCGOP 2016 Convention Resolution Committee’s report.  I would like to acknowledge their good work, as well as that of Lynette Crump Ramsey, who provided the required copies for distribution, and the handful of folks who sat with me writing my name and county on the bottom of each copy.

The Granville County Republican Party unanimously passed the following resolution at their meeting on April 21, 2016:

GRANVILLE COUNTY REPUBLICAN PARTY

A RESOLUTION IN SUPPORT OF NORTH CAROLINA REPUBLICAN PARTY CHAIRMAN HASAN HARNETT

Whereas, the Granville County Republican Party delegation did join with other grassroots conservatives to elect Hasan Harnett as Chairman of the North Carolina Republican Party in June 2015, and;

Whereas, we have observed continual resistance and antipathy from the NCGOP Central Committee, the General Assembly Republican Caucuses, and the Office of the Governor to the installation, tenure, and strategic goals of Chairman Harnett, and;

Whereas, the Central Committee has called for a meeting to remove Chairman Harnett from office at a time when the Chairman’s calendar revealed months in advance that he could not be present to defend, and;

Whereas, that time and date set by the Central Committee is established only days before the North Carolina Republican Party commences its annual convention, where it would be more appropriate to present the Central Committee’s case before the full governing body of the North Carolina Republican Party, and;

Whereas, we regard the case for removal of Chairman Harnett from office to have the appearance of being contrived, politically motivated, and based on highly questionable evidence, and likely to inflict significant harm to the North Carolina Republican Party,

The Granville County Republican Party does hereby declare its full support for Chairman Harnett until presented with a reasonable preponderance of evidence that such grounds for removal exists, we reject as inappropriate for reasons of scheduling and possible parliamentary procedural error, the called State Executive Committee meeting on 30 April 2016 to consider the case for the Chairman’s removal, and we call upon the Central Committee to cancel the called meeting and present its case, if it has one, to the full assembly of delegates at the 2016 North Carolina Republican Party for their consideration and disposal.

Signed this 21^st day of April, 2016 by the Granville County Republican Executive Committee, Precinct Officers and Party Members.

The above resolution is available in PDF form here.

Note: Readers who are privy to the email from the Chairman on April 19, and the email from Scott Cumbie allegedly on behalf of the NCGOP Central Committee on the same day, are encourged to read the commentary following both emails as presented here in their entirety.

The following message was sent by Chairman Harnett to the NCGOP Central Committee Tuesday morning April 19:

Dear Members of the NCGOP Central Committee;

Like many of you, I have grown weary of wrangling over our differing interpretations of the state Plan of Organization and our diverging views on the role of the State Party Chairman.

We are well past the point of intellectual discourse and now approaching the point where irreparable damage could be done to our party’s competitiveness in this pivotal Presidential election year.

We simply must unite before the NCGOP May Convention and put forth a collaborative effort to motivate and inspire all Republicans to support our candidates this fall.

We must work collectively to raise the funds needed to keep the party apparatus fully operational.  And we must resolve to set aside our differences to give every state and local candidate the very best support we can this summer and fall.

I am returning the revised draft of the reconciliation document that was discussed on April 12th, 2016 with a few suggested clarifications and a couple of additional actions we both need to take.  I pray you will give favorable consideration to these suggestions and immediately signal your support so we can move forward together.

Have a blessed day.

With warm regards,

Hasan Harnett
Chairman

Edit: As originally published, this article omitted an attachment to the Chairman’s email message above that detailed proposed actions for those on both sides of the dispute. We apologize for the oversight. The attachment can be downloaded at this link.

And then just after 6 PM the same day, Scott Cumbie responded with the following message to NCGOP Executive Committee members:

Dear Executive Committee,

It is with great regret that we must inform you that the email you received today from Chairman Harnett is patently false.

We are not currently discussing any proposals with Chairman Harnett. Over 200 members of the Executive Committee have signed petitions accusing the Chairman of gross inefficiency and major violations of the plan of organisation. These are serious charges that must and will be heard on April 30th by the Executive Committee.

Several weeks of outreach to resolve these matters were met with silence by the Chairman. He declined to participate in three recent Central Committee meetings.

In the first sentence of his email, he states:

“After many weeks of intensive debate and deliberation on the appropriate roles and responsibilities of the Party Chairman and Central Committee, and after a number of unfortunate allegations of illegal behavior by both parties, I am pleased to report the members of the NCGOP Central Committee and I are in the final stages of consummating a reconciliation document.”

At the urging of 4 District Chairmen who met unofficially with Chairman Harnett on April 10th, Chairman Harnett agreed to meet informally with members of the Central Committee. With less than 12 hours notice, approximately 30 members of the Central Committee from all over the state, met with the Chairman on Tuesday evening, April 12th. This was the first and only meeting that the Chairman has had with the Central Committee or any representative of the Central Committee since Feb 28th (over 7 weeks).

The meeting was not productive. Chairman Harnett offered no explanation for violating our party rules or attacking Republicans in the press. He offered no plans to move forward and improve relations with the Central Committee members, elected officials, donors and Party staff. He did not hold himself accountable for his actions.

We are not clear with whom he has had “many weeks of intensive debate and deliberation;” it has certainly not been the Central Committee or anyone acting on behalf of the Central Committee. We are stunned that the Chairman would make a statement like this that is so easily refuted. Many individuals have tried to have productive deliberations with him, but he has rebuffed, refused, and avoided discussions to address these matters.

He has failed time and time again to address the serious allegations against him.

The document that the Chairman attached to the email was a proposal from a 3rd party to be used as a starting point for working towards a resolution. There was no discussion on the items in this document with the Central Committee as a body and there has been no agreement with anyone acting on behalf of the Central Committee. The Chairman rejected all offers that were proposed to him at the April 12th meeting, including discussing the items in the document he references. By releasing this document publicly and stating that we are “in the final stages,” the Chairman is demonstrating that he is unwilling to act in good faith.

We are also shocked that the Chairman released a video today attacking the Central Committee, several of our former NCGOP Chairmen, Republican elected officials and the NCGOP staff. It is unclear how the Chairman can be serious about any resolution while he continues to publicly fight against the Republican Party.

We do not see a path forward with Chairman Harnett. We fully expect there to be a vote for the removal of Chairman Harnett on April 30th. It is the only path forward we see for the North Carolina Republican Party.

Please make every effort to be at the April 30th Executive Committee meeting (McKimmon Center, 1101 Gorman St, Raleigh, NC at 10:00 AM).

Sincerely,

Scott Cumbie, NCGOP Assistant Secretary, speaking for the vast majority of the Central Committee including but not limited to:

Garry Terry, 1st District Chair
Joyce Cotten, 2nd District Chair
Kim Cotten-West, 3rd District Chair
Matthew Arnold, 4th District Chair
Kevin Austin, 5th District Chair
Don Webb, 6th District Chair
Helen Pannullo, 7th District Chair
Kelsey Brown, 8th District Chair
John Steward, 9th District Chair
Ted Alexander, 10th District Chair
David Sawyer, 11th District Chair
Zan Bunn, 13th District Chair

Now we at NC4Hasan.com are not privy to the thoughts of all the Executive Committee members.  However, we have spoken with one who did not sign the petition to remove the Chairman for “gross inefficiency and major violations of the plan of organization”, but signed it to see the charges against the Chairman get a fair and open hearing, as the NCGOP Plan of Organization requires.

Further, Cumbie alleges that the video released today (and then made unavailable at the Chairman’s request in the interest of possible reconciliation) attacked “several of our former NCGOP Chairmen”.  Viewers of the video (which we expect to make available again soon – Editor) know that no one was attacked, they were simply used as objects of comparison for the performance of the Chairman.

Readers might also notice that while Cumbie complains that the Chairman “offered no explanation for violating our party rules or attacking Republicans in the press”, Cumbie offers no explanation for his actions or those of the Central Committee doing exactly the same thing.