From Brant Clifton at The Daily Haymaker:
2nd district GOP chairman — for now— Joyce Cotten , a/k/a Ma Cotten, a/k/a (in some quarters) ‘The Mother-In-Law-From-Hell’ , was busy last night rallying the troops to join her in her personal jihad against NCGOP chairman Hasan Harnett. Ma Cotten presided over a conference call with members of the Moore County GOP executive committee.
I spoke with some sources who participated in the call. They told me she repeated the same refrain she and Dallas Woodhouse have already circulated in the press: Hasan can’t raise money, Hasan can’t run a meeting, *Hasan can’t walk on water. He can’t juggle chainsaws.* (No mention, however, of repeatedly locking him out of the HQ, his email, and the party databases.)
Ma Cotten circulated this screed from NCGOP official Scott Cumbie. What was the general consensus about the Cumbie offering among call participants? Said one source:
“Most people were like ‘huh’? They weren’t seeing any justification for the rabid reaction from Joyce and her minions. At least one participant in the call, who has a legal background, said the Cumbie piece and a lot of the other anti-Hasan tactics were red meat for an enterprising attorney seeking to sue the pants off of the North Carolina Republican Party. It’s like begging to be sued.”
Ma Cotten expressed her frustration and anger at Lee County GOPer Jim Womack and Chatham County GOP chairman Brian Bock over her belief that the pair were leading an effort to depose her as chairman at the April 9 2nd district convention.
I asked how the meeting ended and what the general feeling was, among the group, at the end of Cotten’s pitch. Said one of my sources:
“There were one or two in the group who were gung-ho about firing Harnett before the call even began. They still felt that way after it was over. Everyone else left the call with more questions than they went into it with. I don’t think she won anybody over or changed any minds.”
Oh, almost forgot. Ma Cotten promised that the big move on Hasan will occur April 30th. She also said the party is NOT BOUND to selecting vice-chairman Michele Nix as Harnett’s replacement.
(I’ve also been told to expect a nice-sized grassroots protest against Cotten at the 2nd district meeting — featuring activists from across the state.)
Earlier, Ma Cotten sent out this in a note plugging the April 9 2nd district GOP convention in Sanford:
[…] The NCGOP2.com website has been hacked and has been taken down. The Eventbrite link is safe and should be used to pre-register for the convention.
Please use the link below that will take you directly to the Eventbrite page to register.<https://ncgop2-2016.eventbrite.com/>I urge you to register and attend the Second District Convention and keep our party alive and well. It is unfortunately that there are those out there that are attempting to destroy our party-I urge you NOT to allow this to happen. Register today and let’s get on with the business of electing Republicans and delegates to the National Convention and an elector.[…]