What happened in Charlotte does no bode well for the Republican Elite | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Publisher's Note: This article originally appeared in the Beaufort Observer.

    It's looking more and more like the U. S. Senate race in 2014 is not going to be so much about Kay Hagan hanging with Barack Obama, but about a major schism in the North Carolina Republican Party. That divide has been growing steadily for several years now but in this session of the Legislature has taken a major turn.

    Before the GOP took control of North Carolina government there was a groundswell of frustration with Democrat corruption in state government. That is what led to the Republican gains in both houses and ultimately to the defeat of Democrat control of the Governorship. We have contended often that the voters in 2010 and 2012 did not vote "for" Republicans nearly as much as they voted against Democrat incompetence and corruption.

    But with the current legislative session, the hope has turned to frustration. And much of that frustration is focused on the leadership, particularly in the House. It is not so much what they have done as it is what they have not done and the way in which they have operated. There is an oft-heard criticism of "different faces, same ole shannigans."
The beleaguered Speaker, Thom Tillis, speaks to county commissioners in May, 2013: Above.     photo by Stan Deatherage
    Within the Republican party, the issue comes down to a dichotomy of Establishment vs. Grassroots.

    Politics is always about power. And in this case the issue is whether power will be wielded more by a small group of Elites or whether it will be decentralized with the major direction of the party determined by the people who do the work to turn out the vote that elected the legislative majorities and gave Pat McCrory the governor's mansion, or more appropriately put - took it way from the Black/Basnight/Easley/Perdue/Hunt syndicate.

    Don't be confused by the issues. The schism plays out in the nitty-gritty issues like ferry tolls, which fish can be caught by whom, voter photo ID, Second Amendment rights, taxing and spending and the list goes on and on. But the underlying issue is who makes the decisions about how those policy issues will be settled.

    The Elites feel strongly they should determine how the decisions are made and thus what the decisions will be. The grassroots believe that is exactly how the decisions should NOT be made. The grassroots believe the process should be open and transparent. The Elites believe they know best and everyone else should just fall in line once they have called the shots. They call that "unity."

    We suggest that the only way the Republican Party in North Carolina is going be become "unified" is around basic principles. We would suggest it will not be unified behind any person.

    For perceptive, it was obvious at last weekend's state GOP Convention that there is much disagreement between the grassroots and the Elites. And the vehicles that is hauling that disagreement is the person of House Speaker Thom Tillis, who has announced that he will run against Kay Hagan for the U. S. Senate in 2014. The designer of the Convention Program called him "our candidate." But judging from delegate response, the favorite candidate now is Greg Brannon, as a grassroots/TEA party/Liberty candidate running on traditional conservative principles.

    One of the dominant issues in Charlotte was toll roads. Tillis is viewed as the primary mover on toll roads. For some insight into that issue, and indeed a prime exhibit of the "grassroots vs. Elites" division one need only review the blog Widen I-77 which is subtitled: "A Citizen's Group Dedicated to Widening I-77 with General Purpose Lanes." As you read the debate about how to renovate the interstate running north out of Charlotte, remember the Grassroots vs Elites dichotomy.

    At this weekend's North Carolina GOP convention, some Widen I-77 supporters introduced an amendment to the party platform and a resolution opposing toll lanes. What happened over the course of the last couple of days was nothing short of high political theater. First some background.

    The current GOP platform states:

    We oppose government-sanctioned tracking of drivers to enforce occupancy rates on our highways.

    This is squarely in opposition to the proposed HOT lane scheme, which requires vehicles with fewer than three occupants to pay a toll. Even so, we wanted the GOP to be more emphatic on their stance regarding toll lanes. We proposed an additional plank in the platform:

    We oppose any plans for or legislation in favor of HOT Lanes.

    The entire platform was not adopted during the business session on Friday, and they did not get to that part of the business Saturday. So it was left to the Executive Committee meeting on Sunday to get the plank approved.

    I am pleased to report, due to the efforts of some of our incredible volunteers, and despite powerful opposition, the plank was approved. This is a tremendous development as we take our fight to Raleigh because, as one party official put it, "the amendment to the platform is much stronger than the resolution. The platform is a much higher order document which should guide how the party acts. So you [the toll opponents] actually achieved a huge victory."

    To put an exclamation point on this we introduced a Resolution Concerning HOT Lanes in North Carolina.

    We passed out the required 1000 copies on Friday and Saturday, but were unable to present it from the floor Friday because the meeting was closed due to lack of a quorum. On Saturday the meeting ended before resolutions were considered.

    That left Sunday when the Executive Committee met. After a long and complicated process we were able to pass out copies of the resolution and it was proposed by a committee member.

    A "quorum call" was immediately made. This procedure is sometimes used when someone does not want to debate/discuss the topic ahead. If there is no quorum, the subject cannot be addressed. With the doors locked and the quorum count complete, a quorum was indeed established... by a single person over the required number.

    Thom Tillis led off the debate against our resolution, saying HOT Lanes are not planned to go across our state.

    This is not true. North Carolina statute G.S. 136 89.183(a)(2)a authorizes the North Carolina Turnpike Authority to build eight turnpike (toll) projects across the state. Tillis have known this because this past Tuesday he signed an amendment, HB 10, to that very law. (HB 10 allows further expansion of the Triangle Expressway, currently NC's only toll road.) In the narrowest legal sense, a "toll road" is not the same as a "toll lane," but surely the Party Faithful assumed the Speaker was not resorting to a lawyerly parsing of words when addressing his own folks.

    Tillis also mentioned we should work through our local towns and governing boards to stop toll lanes. But time and again our local leaders have said either it's an NCDOT problem or a state issue. Indeed, the impact of Tillis' words can be found in Cornelius Mayor Lynette Rinker's support for toll lanes. After a meeting with Tillis she echoed his words saying HOT lanes are "our one shot to get this done. This is it. That was underscored with bold type and exclamation points." Rinker, you may recall, cast the deciding vote for Cornelius in favor of HOT lanes.

    Suffice it to say our friends were not swayed by Tillis' rhetoric.

    Party Chairman Robin Hayes then spoke against our resolution, saying we should not comment regarding items currently under consideration by the legislature. We think the opposite is true. The party should make absolutely clear where it stands on pending legislation.

    Again our friends were not swayed. In fact, after Tillis and Hayes spoke eight people had lined up at the mic to speak in favor of our resolution. None had stood up to oppose.

    What happened next can only be described as shocking. When it became obvious the resolution could very well pass, Tillis got up and spoke with several people along his aisle.

    And then he walked out of the meeting.

    A few people followed in tow. Without a quorum no further party business could be conducted, and the meeting abruptly ended.

    Remember, this was not a group of hecklers or even disinterested middle schoolers he walked out on. This was the Executive Committee of the NC Republican Party, the Most Faithful of the Faithful. The Establishment witnessed the bizarre spectacle of the Establishment Candidate walking out on the Establishment.

    Tillis' behavior is especially puzzling in light his recent calls for party unity, both on Saturday and at his own district's convention.

    What we witnessed today was what Widen I-77 has long suspected: Tillis not only favors I-77 toll lanes, but is willing to go to the mat to make sure we're stuck with them. He wants to drop a 50 year, half-billion dollar burden on his constituency.

    Why this is we can only speculate, but for now Tillis faces a ticklish question: what does an establishment candidate do when the establishment disagrees with him?

    Thus far the answer appears to be: avoid the question.

    Click here to go to the original source. Because it is a "rolling" blog you may need to search for the article you're looking for.

    North Carolina is one of a half dozen battleground states that will determine whether Obama controls the Senate through the remainder of his term or whether the Republicans will gain control of both houses of Congress and put a stop to what is going on in Washington. Without control of both houses, the Republicans cannot overturn Obama's executive orders.

    Kay Hagan has been one of Obama's "sure votes." She has supported just about everything he's done or tried to do. Obama is sure to unleash his powerful ground machine to turn out the Democrat vote for Hagan. Thus, the outcome will likely be close and ultimately the winner determined by who turns out the vote. The numbers tell the story. There are not enough Democrats or Republicans to choose who will be our next senator. The outcome will be determined at the margin. That is, by who turns out to vote and that will be determined by whether most of the segments of the party turn out or whether some sit it out.

    Most Republicans are not going to vote for Kay Hagan. But many will not vote at all if they do not see that the Republican nominee offers a significant alternative to Hagan/Obama. And it is the grassroots party workers who turn out the vote that will more than likely determine the outcome of this election.

    And what we saw in Charlotte does not bode well for the Elites.

    So the issue becomes, for both the Elites and Tillis: How can they convince the grassroots to jump in and work the ground game to turn out the vote? Common sense would suggest that is not going to be done by calling quorum calls or a lawyer throwing his law degree around in a policy debate. Or by hard-working Republicans being kicked out of meetings. And they will learn it is a mistake to try to marginalize any candidate.

    We would suggest that what it will take is the opposite of what the Elites have been doing thus far. What they will have to do is open up the party's systems and processes rather than clamp down on them. They will need to give the conservatives/grassroots individuals and groups a place at the table and meaningful participation in the decision-making process. It will take the Elite leadership being willing to sit at a round table and listen to the grassroots. And when the choices must be made about whether to compromise with the left the choices will have to be to compromise only on those things that are not issues involving important principles. On the principles, the Elites must act strongly and assertively, not with reticence and hesitation. The trick is not whether to compromise with the left, but rather on which issues will there be compromise and on which issues will there be no compromise.

    Unity will come from allegiance to principles, not from speeches, and certainly not from shutting down meetings, shutting out activists or marginalizing candidates .

    Click here to read more about the convention.