Category: News

From Brant Clifton at The Daily Haymaker:

I actually got an email today from someone (1) attacking me for NOT covering the ”internal lunacy” at NCGOP, and (2) wondering where The Haymaker’s coverage has been on all of this.  Seriously. 

Well, we were the first and – I think — only media source to tell you about the gathering of the lynch mob on Palm Sunday.    The conspirators leaked a crazy story to state-run media about Hasan “The Hacker”.   They couldn’t possibly move forward with that crazy story, could they?  Well, they DID:

From: North Carolina Republican Party
To: Interested Parties
Date: 3/20/16
RE: No Confidence, Censure and Restriction of NCGOP Chairman

_____________________________________________________________

The North Carolina Republican Party (NCGOP) Central Committee, in its duties to oversee the day to day management of the Party and to protect the Party’s integrity, passed a formal resolution of no confidence in NCGOP Chairman Hasan Harnett. Further, the Central Committee censured him forrecent actions and placed severe emergency restrictions on his duties, pending a full review of charges of gross inefficiency by the NCGOP Executive Committee.

The Central Committee expressed extreme concerns about Mr. Harnett’s actions to change prices to the upcoming convention without regard to the financial health of the party, which according to the Central Committee, has suffered greatly under Mr. Harnett’s tenure because he has fallen well short of his own fundraising goals and promises.

Harnett was censured for actions deemed harmful to the North Carolina Republican Party including making false and malicious statements about other Republicans and staff.

In adopting A Resolution of No Confidence, Censure and Restriction, the committee reviewed what it believes to be gross violations of the Party’s rules (Plan of Organization), including the following:

1. The refusal to timely authorize the staff to send an official Call to the NCGOP Convention even after assuring NCGOP General Counsel he would do so, thereby requiring a duplication of the notice, a “gross inefficiency.”
2. The usurpation of the power vested in the Central Committee of the NCGOP by unilaterally announcing an unapproved fee structure for the 2016 NCGOP Convention causing great confusion and consternation among delegates concerning the price of the convention.
3. The sending of a Call to Convention to various Republicans, including to some members of the NCGOP Executive Committee, that stated fees at variance with the action of the Central and Executive Committees of the NCGOP, which undermined the authority of these Committees and created confusion among delegates to the 2016 NCGOP Convention.
4. The wasting of staff and volunteer time by prolonged inaction and unilateral action at variance with the Plan of Organization of the NCGOP and in opposition to the decisions of the Executive and Central Committees of the NCGOP.
5. The posting or allowing to be posted on public blogs articles regarding the internal affairs of the NCGOP in a way that discredits the NCGOP and misrepresents facts and the NCGOP Plan of Organization.
6. The scheduling for hearing of Petitions before the Executive Committee to remove the Party leaders without following the clear process outlined in the NCGOP Plan or Organization. The Petitions were never properly vetted to determine that they could be placed on an agenda.
7. The taking of action which caused concern and expense regarding the security of the NCGOP computer systems and fundraising apparatus. These actions are not only “gross inefficiency,” but also have very serious implications.
8. The unilateral taking of personnel actions not delegated to the Chairman under the Plan of Organization. The creation of an uncertain and disrespectful environment which resulted in the loss of staff and morale.

The Central Committee passed this resolution with overwhelming support with only two members in opposition.

— end memo —

Has pettiness ever been so blatant and in-your-face?  (Probably not since junior high.) 

I know.  “Central Committee” harkens back to a similarly named body in the Soviet Communist Party.  What THIS group did to Hasan Harnett harkens back to the kangaroo court trials that were so common in the Soviet era. 

What is this really all about?  You know, there is always an ulterior motive to everything done by political types in the big city of Raleigh.

Let’s take the lynch mob’s numbered points one-by-one:

1.  The story I got about the convention call was that Dallas Woodhouse — as per SOP — refused to comply with the chairman’s directives, so the chairman went forward with it himself.
2.  I spoke to one NCGOP muckety-muck who has been part of the anti-Hasan cabal.  His brain was stuck on the whole lowering-of-the-convention-fees thing.  “If he lowers the fees, more people will come!” this imbecile sputtered to me. Really?  Isn’t that what we’re told the GOP wants?  No, not this group.  They’ve been Republicans since the days when the NC House GOP caucus wastwo-members strong and the GOP’s congressional representation was restricted to Greensboro and Charlotte. They’ve been the go-to people for the RNC and the presidential campaigns for decades.  They are NOT interested in giving that up to this grassroots rabble trying to breach the fortress walls and “make changes.”
3. See my take on #2.
4. “The wasting of time” ???? Seriously?   If we’re punishing people for THAT, then the casualty list will pile up and include many past convention leaders and inhabitants of the legislative complex.  Give me a freakin’ break. 
5. Posting or allowing the posting of stuff about the internal affairs of the NCGOP?  I guess that stuff you guys leaked to state-run mediadoesn’t count, huh? 
6. THIS is about the efforts to remove David Lewis and Dallas Woodhouse from their positions.  Lewis has backed ObamaCare and solar subsidies — in direct violation of the party platform.  And he is our rep to the national party.  He’s also facing allegations he took money from folks with direct interest in legislation passing through his committee.  *And here we are in a huff about what Hasan has said on Facebook.*   Dallas had the notorious TV interview where he appeared to be under the influence of adult beverages.  Go ahead.  Google “Dallas Woodhouse drunk” and see what you get.)   He failed to live up to fundraising promises made during his job interview.  He has been the subject of questions regarding his stewardship of Carolina Rising, and got caught telling bald-faced lies about a TV reporter who had the gumption to tell the truth on Tim Moore.  *And we’re worried about Hasan on Facebook.*
7. See #1. This was really about more of the same described there.
8. The chairman creating a “disrespectful environment”?  How can someone function when they get hired as boss, but are saddled with employees who can, with impunity, go over the boss’s head and tell said boss to POUND SAND?  

Overshadowing this is some complaining about Harnett not meeting fundraising goals — after only NINE MONTHS.  Well, the legislature created those affiliated committees which take “donations” without involving the party.

Insiders tell me that Robin Hayes and Claude Pope regularly had to go to big donors to get help paying the light bills at HQ and meeting payroll. I am told the last decent fundraiser to hold the job was Tom Fetzer.

And the fundraising Dallas Woodhouse is credited with?  It had more to dowith a half dozen legislators taking money out of the party account a few months after Harnett was elected, and returning it a few months into Dallas’s term as executive director.

Here is the list of the lynch mob members.   There are more grounds to fire THEM and Dallas Woodhouse than there are against Hasan Harnett.  (Watch out vice-chairman Nix.  You’re next.) 

I stopped giving a flip about the GOP a looooooooong time ago.  I am all about freedom from government tyranny and the preservation of what is so good about this state and this country. If you still care about the NCGOP,  you need to storm the barricades and get rid of all of these lowlifes.  These parasites are aiding and abetting the corruption and bureaucratic over-step that are  making it harder and harder to make a living and raise a family in this great state and country.

I don’t know Hasan Harnett. He seems like a pretty good guy.  He may not have been the perfect choice for the job.  But the establishment, who backed his opponent Craig Collins, has had the long knives out since the last votes were counted in June.  Hasan was elected by the people. And he doesn’t deserve the harassment he’s been subjected to since Day One. 

View the original article here.

(from The Daily Haymaker)
It appears that several members of the NCGOP Central Committee and various other muckety-mucks got together for a group text session:

The content of the text screenshots we received indicate that executive director Dallas Woodhouse is much more than an innocent bystander in the whole effort to fire party chairman Hasan Harnett:

I did too.  It’s pretty accurate.  It looks like Dallas’s co-conspirator, 9th district GOP chairman John Steward, is being manhandled by auto-correct.  “Dance” — I am going to wager — should be “Dallas.” “State” — I think — should be “date”.  Or perhaps Steward could be functionally illiterate.  (I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt.) 

Read more here