Who are the outside groups behind the postcards in our Senate race? | Eastern North Carolina Now

There has been a blizzard of postcards in the 3rd district senate race, heavier on one side, but many paid for by outside organizations from outside the district.  Who are they and what are their agendas?

For Michael Speciale, a seasoned and proven conservative, it has been two groups, Grassroots North Carolina PVF, a state-based gun rights PAC and Make Liberty Win, a national conservative PAC that backs the most important conservative state legislative candidates around the country who can make a real difference to the overall conservative agenda in their legislative bodies.

For Bob Brinson, who tries to proclaim himself a conservative, it is two dark money groups tied to state senate boss Phil Berger, Restore NC and Neighbors Helping North Carolina.  They push Berger-aligned candidates in primaries.  Brinson also has some mailings from his own campaign, prepared by a Raleigh political consultant, and largely paid for with money Berger has pried from establishment GOP Senators and other special interest PACs.

Grassroots North Carolina PVF is the most important pro-gun rights organization operating in the NC General Assembly.  Although Brinson claims to be pro-gun, too, Speciale's long record in the House as a key leader and sponsor of pro-gun legislation led to their endorsement of Speciale over Brinson.  They are an open and above board PAC, which files reports with the NC Board of Elections and has a website.  https://www.grnc.org/grnc-pvf/what-is-grnc-pvf

Make Liberty Win is a national conservative PAC that focuses on the very key races that will have maximum impact on conservative influence in state legislatures.  They have chosen ten of what they consider the most important races in the country to move the agenda to the right in legislative bodies.  One of those ten key races in the country is electing Mike Speciale to the NC Senate.  The other nine are four State House races in Ohio and five State House races in Texas. They are an open and above board PAC that files campaign reports and have a website, which is  https://www.makelibertywin.com/candidates/

Restore NC and Neighbors Helping North Carolina are secretive dark money groups that do not maintain websites or file campaign reports.  They are run by a Phil Berger political operative named Knight.  Their goal is to elect candidates they beleive will "follow the leader" in Raleigh as Berger wants to exercise total control of the NC Senate.  They will say whatever they have to say to make their candidates appeal to voters.  While Berger enraged gun rights activists by killing Constitutional Carry in the last legislative session, and those senators who stand with him will have to follow that position, these groups have no shame in mailing postcards saying their candidates like Brinson support gun rights.  While Berger was the one who killed the attempt to crack down on sanctuary counties for illegal aliens a few years ago, and their aligned candidates will have to stand with Berger's soft position on immigration, these groups have no shame in churning out postcards proclaiming their candidates oppose illegal immigration.  In short, any issue positions on these dark money postcards should be taken with a big grain of salt.


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Comments

Bubba said:
( February 28th, 2024 @ 7:59 am )
 
I am just sick of this Brinson constantly filling up my mailbox with repetitive crap, and the more I find out about it, it is also mostly lies.
( February 27th, 2024 @ 1:47 pm )
 
One has to understand the dynamics of the legislature to see why this race is viewed as so critical. There is a lot more at stake than just one seat out of fifty. That is because Mike Speciale is an experienced legislative strategist who has natural allies in the Senate while Brinson, even if he dared stand up to Berger, which is unlikely, would be an inexperienced freshman with no natural allies, so that even if inclined to do something, would not have the background to be effective.

Right now the "leadership" in both House and Senate - Tim Moore and Phil Berger - focus more on pleasing the special interests than on the wishes of Republican voters, and this all too often leads to them pushing through liberal legislation that the special interests want, which happen to also be key agenda items for Roy Cooper.

Speciale organized the Freedom Caucus in the House which put the brakes on the level of control that the Speaker could exert. By standing together under Speciale's leadership, they forced Speaker Moore to back down on a number of key issues, once saving taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars in the state budget. Keith Kidwell took over as chairman and has also worked the same way to block bad legislation, most recently Berger's push for casinos.

The situation for conservatives in the Senate is bad. Berger has iron fisted control and individual conservatives have been beaten down so badly that nobody wants to put their head up to lead. The election of Speciale provides that leader, someone who knows the ropes and how to fight and also is already known and respected by serving conservative senators, some of whom worked in the House with the Freedom Caucus under Speciale.

Speciale's election to the Senate would create a whole new ball game to level the playing field with the special interest oriented establishment. That is what state and national conservatives want to see and what Berger is fearful of. That is why everyone is so interested in this race, and why all conservatives should rally around Speciale. Grassroots North Carolina specifically cited being willing to stand up to "leadership" as one of the reasons they have endorsed Speciale.

We know Speciale's record and what he is capable of. Brinson is a big question mark, but clearly without the legislative experience or contacts to be a real factor in Raleigh. Berger also has his hooks into Brinson very deeply with all the support provided, and would not let Brinson ever be able to forget that.

THere are times that one man (or woman) can make a big difference, and this election that one man is Mike Speciale.
( February 27th, 2024 @ 12:22 pm )
 
I have received two of those postcards claiming Brinson is for cutting taxes, but as a New Bern alderman, Brinson's actual political record is of RAISING taxes, and he has already done that in the part of a term he has actually served. It seems that the postcards put out on his behalf are full of outright lies. Who would believe a word of any of them?



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