NC GOP Fact and Rumor | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Publisher's note: We often get an number of letters from folks involved in politics here at BCN. Considering the muddled mess that is the NC GOP, this one is especially interesting, and informative.

    Dear Members of the NC GOP Executive Committee,

    This is an "open letter" in that I intend to send it to other parties who will find its contents interesting in addition to our Committee's members.

    Yesterday, Hal and I each got another letter and packet of enclosures including copies of 2 petitions, one petitioning to call a meeting of the Executive Committee on Saturday, April 30, and the second petitioning to consider removal of Hasan Harnett as Chairman of the NC GOP sent by Scott Cumbie.

    The packet also included a press release from communications@ncgop.org entitled, "NCGOP Releases Results of Preliminary Investigation, Sworn Statements From Planned Website Attack & Other Gross Violations of Party Rules."

    Finally, the packet included a copy of the "AFFIDAVIT OF DR. KENNETH ROBOL."

    I expect you got the whole sordid mess, too, right?

    As I've shared with you previously, I do not intend to sign either petition, and I hope you won't either.

    However, we received an email late yesterday afternoon stating that enough signed petitions had been received and that a meeting of the Executive Committee will be held at 10 a.m. (registration at 9 a.m.) on Saturday, April 30 at the McKimmon Center, 1101 Gorman Street, Raleigh, 27606.

    The stated purpose of the meeting is consider the petition for the removal of Hasan, and if it passes, to elect a new Chairman.

    You got that, too, right?

    Although this is a travesty, Hal and I will be there. We hope that all of you who look at these attacks on Hasan through a lens similar to ours will be there, too.

    I want to share some thoughts and information with you. Then I want to share a theory with you about WHY this is going on. It's similar to what we thought before, but much more refined. I wish I had thought of it myself, but it took folks more experienced than I to come up with this. In fact, this is so intriguing I think I'll go there first, okay?

    The rumor is flying around hot and heavy that Art Pope wants to hold one of the uncommitted delegate seats from North Carolina at the National Convention. There are 3 such seats. They are to be held by the NC GOP National Committeeman, the NC GOP National Committeewoman, and (you guessed it) our beleaguered NC GOP Chairman, Hasan Harnett.

    Does Art Pope really want to chair the NC GOP? No. Of course not. He has bigger fish to fry. He can leave the daily running of the party to Dallas Woodhouse. He wants to be a figurehead when it comes to the nitty-gritty, but he wants to pull strings for the establishment to avoid having Donald Trump or Ted Cruz be our nominee.

    According to the March 17th issue of The Daily Haymaker, "Also, in 2016, Pope was an unabashed backer of Marco Rubio for President - to the tune of $250,000. *Never mind that Rubio was singing the praises of amnesty for illegals while the GOP base was screaming 'Hell No' to that prospect.*"

    The Haymaker went on to clarify that the $250,000 had actually been given to the Conservative Solutions PAC which backed Marco Rubio, not to the candidate himself.

    So that's the plot according to the experienced among us. Hasan Harnett is to be removed so that Art Pope can help the establishment ensconce Marco Rubio, or John Kasich, or someone of their ilk as our GOP Presidential nominee. It doesn't matter what we the people of the Republican Party want. The establishment knows best, and will pull all kinds of dirty tricks to get its way. Doesn't that idea make you feel warm and fuzzy?

    Now, let's look at a couple of factual reasons we should refuse to remove Hasan at the meeting on April 30.

    First, there's the idea of fairness. Second, there's the idea of right and wrong.

    If memory serves, Hasan published his calendar weeks ago showing that he will be out of the country on business on April 30. How is scheduling an Executive Committee meeting to remove him when he is out of the country in keeping with the requirement of the Plan of Organization that he be given an opportunity to defend himself?

    Is that fair to Hasan?

    The NC GOP Convention convenes on Friday, May 6, only 6 days later than the scheduled Executive Committee meeting. The 2015 Convention elected Hasan. If it is to be done at all, why not let the 2016 Convention consider whether to remove Hasan? After all, the Convention is the most numerous body and best arbiter of the will of the North Carolina Republican Party. The Executive and Central Committees are interim caretakers between Conventions. Why have an interim caretaker make such a momentous decision days before the main body meets?

    Is that fair to the Party?

    Finally, I believe the charges are trumped up. About 10 minutes after he was elected, the establishment starting plotting how to get rid of him.

    Hasan has made logical arguments backed by persuasive evidence against some of the charges.

    I don't have first-hand knowledge of most of the charges. I do have first-hand knowledge of charge # 10 in the petition to remove Hasan, and I can say categorically that it is incorrect and wrong.

    Charge # 10 says that Hasan scheduled a hearing of a petition before the Executive Committee to remove the National Committeeman without following the clear process outlined in the NC GOP Plan of Organization. Nothing could be further from the truth. Hal spearheaded that effort, and I helped him. The proper signatures were secured. Many of the signatures were acquired in the hall at Executive Committee meetings near a sign reading, "What About HB 373?" Hal and I and others helping us got signatures while working openly in the hall. We made no attempt to keep what we were doing secret.

    The Plan of Organization has no requirement that the Secretary "validate" the signatures prior to the Executive Committee meeting at which a petition is heard. Copies of the petitions went to each person to whom they should have gone in a timely manner. This includes David Lewis. David Lewis' copy was sent to him at the address he used on his voter registration which is posted on the NC Board of Elections website, and was sent first class mail with return receipt requested. Since Mr. Lewis spoke against his own removal at two Executive Committee meetings and had others speak for him at one of them, it is disingenuous to claim he didn't know what was afoot and had not been given notice, but that's beside the point. Proper notice was given in accordance with the Plan of Organization.

    We did not reveal the signers' names ahead of the Executive Committee meeting at which the petition was heard because an experienced person told us that, if we did, "they" would pick off the signers one at a time with a mixture of bribes and threats. Once the meeting was underway, Hal provided the documents with the signatures.

    If, as I suspect, other charges are misrepresented as badly as item # 10, the whole charade should be trashed. I want nothing to do with it, nor do I want anything to do with any effort to remove the Chairman who was the delegates' choice at the 2015 NC GOP Convention. I sincerely hope others feel as I do in the matter!

    Most sincerely,

    Raynor James

    Raynor James raynor@cctaxpayers.com via auth.ccsend.com