Raleigh political boss Berger tries to muscle in on our state senate seat | Eastern North Carolina Now

Ever wonder why a candidate who files at the last minute suddenly has the funds to churn out a blizzard of campaign postcards? It comes from being the front man for a powerful Raleigh political machine with access to lots of money.  The issue in the 3rd District State Senate race is who should control our legislative seat - the people of Craven, Beaufort, and Lenoir Counties or the political bosses in Raleigh?

There has been an unfortunate pattern in recent election cycles of Raleigh political operatives trying to dictate who will represent various districts instead of the people living in those districts.  Candidates are recruited out of Raleigh and often largely funded from Raleigh.  Power obsessed state senate boss Phil Berger, nominally a Republican but mainly just trying to maximize his own power, is one fo the very worst.  Candidates recruited and backed by the Berger machine are expected to toe Berger's line in Raleigh, regardless of what the folks back home think or want.

Phil Berger is the same sort of '"Republican" as a Mitt Romney, Mitch McConnell, or Liz Cheney.  He often fails to act much like a Republican, muscling through the legislature most of liberal governor Roy Cooper's key agenda items including letting biological men into womens restrooms (repeal of HB2), NC's Green New Deal (HB951), the Obamacare Medicaid expansion, and a new Cooper-inspired slush fund called NCInnovaton.  Berger even publicly endorsed a liberal Democrat judge running against a conservative Republican in the 2022 election.

Berger's candidate in the 3rd district primary is first term New Bern Alderman Bob Brinson.  Berger and his allies have been twisting arms of state senators aligned with him to contribute to Brinson. He is likely doing so with special interest groups he has done favors for as well.

A political group aligned with Berger, called Restore NC, Inc. has been churning out postcards for Brinson, including a recent very nasty one that rehashes a hit piece done some years ago by the liberal Raleigh News and Observer against conservative grassroots candidate former State Representative Mike Speciale.  Although actually based in Raleigh, this groups rents a box at a private mail box firm in Carteret County to create a false illusion of being local.  

Restore NC is run by a longtime Berger political operative named Knight who is based in Raleigh.  It is a dark money group, and does not appear on the NC Board of Elections or national political money site Open Secrets.  Before working with Berger, Knight was a political operative for establishment US Senate leader Mitch McConnell on campaigns.

If Brinson were to ever get to Raleigh, he would be owned, lock, stock, and barrel by Boss Berger.  Thus some of Brinson's campaign promises would almost certainly be worthless.  Brinson says he wants to support gun rights, but would owe his political soul to the man who killed Constitutional Carry in NC last session.  Brinson claims he opposes illegal immigration but would owe his political soul to the man who stopped the legislation against sanctuary counties for illegal aliens a few years ago.  And those are just the begining.

Brinson also claims to be much more conservative than incumbent liberal "Republican" state senator Jim Perry, but according to sources in Lenoir County, Perry is, in fact, backing Brinson.  One remembers the old saying about birds of a feather.

The real question in this election is should we have a state senator who represents the people of these three counties to Raleigh or a senator who represents Raleigh to these three counties, a senator who is the voice of the people, or a senator who is in Boss Berger's hip pocket.