Archive for the ‘NC Republican Party State Convention’ Category

The National Republican Party (RNC) has been a popular whipping post lately, after losing the Presidential election.  Indeed heads will probably roll at their annual meeting in Charlotte, which KCC will cover for you.    KCC enjoyed covering the RNC convention in Tampa hopes to bring you more such action.

Meanwhile, here in North Carolina, the state Republican Party certainly did its job and more during the last election cycle.

The Party helped elect, another Republican General Assembly and this time added on a Republican Governor.  Good times have returned to Raleigh for the GOP.

There will be the old battles between the moderate and conservative wings of the Party as the libertarian wing, the tea party, moves along.   No one knows if they will join their own, more fitting Libertarian Party, or continue to try to win (and fail) as a branch of NC Republicans.

Robin Hayes, chairman of the NCGOP, is up for re-election at this Spring’s state party convention.  That three-day-event, will be held in Charlotte and KCC will have the dates for you soon.

Meanwhile, consider these accomplishments of the Republicans and other groups, as presented by the NCGOP:

• Historic dominance of all three branches of state government
• Landslide Republican gubernatorial win: McCrory 55%; Dalton 43%; Howe 2%
• Enabled Pat McCrory to be only the second statewide Republican to win Early Voting in NCSuper majorities in NC Senate (33/17) and NC House (77/43)
• Republican Lt. Governor to preside over GOP Senate (Dan Forest)
• Gained 3 US House seats to make a Republican majority congressional delegation (9/4)
• Landslide passage of Marriage Amendment in May
• Maintained Conservative Republican majority on NC Supreme Court
• Progress in County Commissioners: 54 GOP County Boards; 44 Democratic; 2 Non-Partisan
• Only “Swing” state not carried by President Obama in 2012 Presidential race.   Yes, North Carolina did its party as the state voted for Mitt Romney in November.  There was nothing else it could have done.

Editor’s Note:   Conservatives, please make plans to attend the State Republican Convention in Charlotte and vote to keep Robin Hayes  your state Chairman.

With the man ABC news calls the “Godfather of the (Conservative) Movement” moving on to take the head post at the Heritage Foundation, who will take his U. S. Senate seat?  As KCC reported earlier, U.S. Senator Jim DeMint will leave that body in January to lead what many call the top conservative think tank in the nation.

It appears that popular Congressman Tim Scott, a Republican from Myrtle Beach would be the first choice of conservatives.  If you attended the North Carolina Republican Party state convention in 2011, you heard Scott speak.

South Carolina blogger Earl Capps called the situation a “feeding frenzy”. Capps also notes that Scott and fellow Congressman Mick Mulvaney have been considered in the running for the job in 2014.

According to the Washington Wire, disgraced former Governor Mark Sanford, is rumored to be interested in a comeback.  It may be hard to believe that the man who lied to his staff and family about his whereabouts, would consider a comeback.  He eventually came clean that he was having an affair with a woman in Argentina.

UPDATE :  According to Katie Pavlich, writing for Townhall’s Tipsheet,  Sen. DeMint has announced that HE wants to be replaced by Tim Scott.  She references The Hill:

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) has made it known in South Carolina that he wants Rep. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) to replace him in the Senate, two state Republican sources tell The Hill.

The sources, requesting anonymity to speak candidly, say Scott is DeMint’s preference for the seat, though the final decision will be Gov. Nikki Haley’s (R). She will appoint someone to serve in DeMint’s place after he officially resigns from the Senate to take over the conservative Heritage Foundation in January. An election for the seat will then be held in 2014 for the remaining two years of the term.

The fine College Republicans at Campbell University win Katy’s Conservative Corner‘s Post of the day with a great note about our nation’s founding:

The CRs write:

As Americans, we live in a world in which our opportunities are limitless and our freedoms are abundant. Our Founders established this institution when framing our independence by concluding, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

Check out their entire post here. Bravo, Campbell CRs. Also, be sure to follow them on Twitter!

This blogger is a big fan of the College Republicans. She spent four years with the Meredith College CRs, working on other campuses and even helping the East Carolina Univ. CRs take over their student government. She has many stories to share with current CRs and would love to share “the water balloon incident” with them, as well. She had “good college fun” as well as cutting her teeth in statewide politics.

After four years at Meredith, she joined the Wake County Young Republicans (now Young “Professional Republicans), where she held every office, except Treasurer. To this day, she is the longest serving YR in county history.

She left the club when she aged out at 40. She hopes the statewide YRs will grow to their former strength and wishes them all the luck in the world. The current chairman reported at the NC GOP State Convention that there were only five federated clubs at that time.

Happily, the North Carolina College Republicans remain strong! KCC offers her expertise to any CR group in the state. Congrats again to the Campbell group for reaching out to KCC and for their success in blogging and on Twitter!

During last weekend’s North Carolina State Republican Convention in Wilmington, former chairman Tom Fetzer appeared with his wife Kate, as guest of honor at a fundraiser for the American Cancer Society.  Fetzer spoke at the closing dinner on Saturday night as he updated the attendees on his private life, and how his cancer treatments are progressing.  While he spoke,  Kate appeared to hang on every word, clearly in showing true love for her husband.

This blogger wishes them the very best and asks for your continued prayers for the couple and for their 11-month-old son, Thomas.

Despite his sufferings, Fetzer then managed to bring his usual fire for the cause.  He urged the group to continue supporting current Chairman Robin Hayes, the Republican party, and the conservative cause.  He also asked for the crowd to support newly elected Republican legislators.  They can’t do everything, not all at once, he said and they will continue to take flak from Democrats and liberals.

See his short talk below, recorded by this blogger, at the convention in Wilmington. Godspeed, Tom Fetzer.  Get well soon!

 

WILMINGTON Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann (R-Minn), a 2012 presidential candidate, was scheduled to speak to the North Carolina Republican convention.  After being held up in Washington to vote, she sent along this video instead.

In case you missed it, or wish to see it again, here she is:

 

WILMINGTON, NC – Today, 1161 delegates from 90 North Carolina counties voted to elect the Chairman and Vice Chairman to lead the North Carolina Republican Party for a two-year term at the 2011 North Carolina Republican State Convention.  The vote took place in the Exhibit Hall at the Wilmington Convention Center in Wilmington, NC.

Robin Hayes was re-elected by acclamation as Chairman of the North Carolina Republican Party.  Chairman Hayes has been serving as Chairman of the North Carolina Republican Party since his election on January 15, 2011.   He is a former United States Congressman from the 8th Congressional district and a resident of Concord.

Wayne King was elected to Vice-Chairman of the North Carolina Republican Party.  King is the 10th District Republican Chairman, former Chairman of the Cleveland County Republican Party and a resident of Kings Mountain.

This event was being live blogged so please scroll down for the latest updates.

3:39 p.m.  Eve Carr - Moore County has approached the podium to speak.  She is nominating Tim Johnson for another term as Vice Chairman by discussing his many accomplishments, including his 21 years in the Army.

First black American to hold position since party’s inception in March 1867, she says.  She calls him remarkable for founding the Fredrick Douglas Foundation.  She says he’s not perfect and he’s had his challenges but feels that he is worthy of election.

Rules allow for three seconds to the nomination. Don Yelton (Buncombe), Mike Roll (Cherokee) and a third person whose name your blogger missed were those seconding Mr. Johnson’s nomination.

Next, Wayne King, chairman of the 10th Congressional District is being nominated by Neil Moore.  Moore, 9th District Chairman from Gaston County, is giving a humerous speech telling the convention of King’s qualifications for the position.  He discussed the speakers King has brought into the district and his dedication to the conservative cause.

Seconding the nomination were David Sawyer (Swain), Frank Williams (Brunswick), and Nathan Tabor (Forsyth).

Now for the candidates speeches:

First, by random drawing is Tim Johnson.  Johnson says he did not choose this position.  He says that God chose him, “like he chose Moses…”

Johnson admitted making a mistake by passing out a flier stating that Congressman Allen West supported him for Vice Chairman.  He said he later came to understand that West doesn’t support candidates in primary races.  He thanked the Tea Party for their support.

Now, candidate Wayne King is speaking.  Says we Republicans have much work to do.  We have the right message, the right voters.  We support lower taxes and less government.  But we must get serious about cleaning up the mess …the mess made by the Democrats.

King continued, “We have a great record.  Look at the job that Speaker Tillis and Phil Berger are doing.  We have great ideas.”  We must stay focused.

“I know how to raise the necessary funds to pick up more seats in 2012.  We don’t just talk about it.  Talk is cheap.    We were successful, because we met the voters where they were.”

King also stated that he had the Tea Party support and concluded that he was “tea party before there WAS a tea party”.

3:50 p.m. Now it’s time for the voting to begin. Your blogger must quickly join the Wake County delegation so that she may cast her secret ballot.  Back in a minute with the results.

4:16 p.m.  The voting by secret ballot has concluded.  Each county’s delegation caucused and collected the ballots.

4:17 p.m.  A roll call vote is about to begin where each county chairman will report that county’s vote total.

4:29 Roll Call Continues. Your blogger’s helper and beloved husband, Rob Benningfield, is working on the vote totals now.

4:44  The vote is coming down to the wire.  Johnson is clearly ahead on the raw vote total but King could still win it on the weighted total.

4:45  Now roll call for counties that did not vote earlier.

4:46 p.m. Wayne King wins! Congratulations to both Mr. King and to Mr. Johnson.  Johnson won the raw vote total but with the formula that has been in place for decades, Wayne King clearly came out on top.

We appreciate the service of Tim Johnson and thank him for his dedication to our party!

This ends the live blogging portion of the Vice Chairmans Race.

Here it is, Allen West‘s speech to a packed ballroom at the Wilmington Hilton on Friday evening, June 3, 2011.  The talk runs about 30 minutes, but every minute is well worth it.

 

WILMINGTON – A Salute to Troops dinnner featuring popular Congressman Allen West (R-FL) was held at the North Carolina Republican Convention Friday evening.

The event kicked off with the presentation of the colors by the New Hanover County Sheriff’s Department.

During dinner, Rep West took photos with a line of well wishers during dinner.  This was not a short line. The poor man must be used to not being able to have dinner as the long line seemed to stretch down the ballroom.

After dinner, Vice Chairman Tim Johnson took over emcee duties.  He introduced Lt. Col (Ret) John Falkenbury, director of the USO in North Carolina and its Chief Operating Officer.

Falkenbury told the crowd that the oldest USO is located in Fayetteville NC while the oldest continuously operated USO is located in Jacksonville NC.  North Carolina is the fourth largest military state in the nation and he explained the vital role that his group plays in the life of the deployed military service member.

With suicides at an all-time high in the U.S. military, the USO’s care packages can mean everything to a lonely, sad soldier, stuck out in the desert.  Missing his family and thinking of home, the gift of a video game system or books gives them something else to focus on.    With the Marines deploying five and six times each, PTSD is at an all-time high.

He asked for donations to help that organization, and to stop by a Kangaroo Gas Station and drop any  amount of money in the bucket for the USO.  Or “google” their website and donate money online.  They and a number of veterans organizations need all the help they can get.

“That organization gets it,” Falkenbury concluded.

Next up on the bill was 2nd Lt. Ilario Pantano, USMCR.   He ran in ’10 against Congressman Mike McIntyre (D-NC7) and narrowly lost.  McIntyre knows to watch his back, as Pantano is coming for him in ’12.  If tonight was any indication, Pantano has a huge following.  When this blogger was at CPAC this year, Pantano was a speaker.   He’s extremely dedicated and he truly feels what he says.  He’s not just another fake politician.

During the West speech, this blogger could tell that Pantano deeply holds his beliefs.  He constantly nodded his head whenever West made a great point.  We must elect Pantano to Congress next time.  This man has a future and your blogger would love to see him run against Sen. Kay Hagan in ’14.  Of course, we must ask Pantano, first!

Pantano gave a “shout  out” to Benjamin Netanyu. He joked that we should reset the American borders to 1959 before Hawaii’ was a state and so Obama could not be a citizen.

He next mentioned Frank Rouse, a friend of your blogger and the late former Chairman of the NCGOP.  Today would have been his birthday and he asked the crowd to remember his wife, Jane Rouse, his daughter Mary Catherine, and his son, Franklin.  May God continue to bless them all.  Frank Rouse played a key role in getting Jesse Helms elected to Congress in 1972, among his other achievements.

Pantano then mentioned how the liberals and socialists are trying to deny God and the existence of God to our society.  This hurts our troops and their psyche.  We  must  stand up for these principles.

We must honor these men and women with the leadership they deserve.

Next up, Chairman Hayes introduced Congressman West.

As the evening’s main speaker, Col. West kept the crowd on its feet, cheering and clapping.  He mademore points than can be presented here, thus your blogger video taped his speech.

Amazingly, he tossed in a number of North Carolina angles, specifically for this audience.  Most speakers that come to these events, stick to national happenings, but the Congressman really brought it home to this audience of NC Republican faithful. KCC lost count of the standing ovations Congressman West received.

Presently, we are uploading the West speech and we hope to have it online for you by Saturday morning.  Watch for it!

Please keep refreshing your browser to keep up with the latest posts.

3:47 p.m.  Chairman Billy Miller is calling the convention back to order.   He’s asked the convention to refrain from excessive talking.  The mic system is not very loud, and the delegates toward the rear of the convention center are having difficulty hearing.

3:51 Chairman Robin Hayes is reporting that Andrew Breitbart has a terrible case of pneumonia.  But with the glory of technlogy, after the luncheon on Saturday, the convention will reconvene a bit early and hold a “town hall” style meeting with Mr. Breitbart  live and online here in the convention center.

3:53 Credentials Committee Report – Jason Lemons

Lemons reports that things didn’t go quite as smoothly as “we thought”.  However, they did get everything straight, and he thanked his numerous volunteers who helped him get everything straight.

The convention is now going through a roll call of all 100 counties to get an accurate delegate count to ensure that the credentials committee report is in accordance with report of each county.  There is quite a bit of misunderstanding of the parliamentary procedure involved.

In this blogger’s opinion, at least 30% of the delegates on the floor Friday have never attended a State Convention and thus may be unfamiliar with the process.  Chairman Miller is kindly walking them through the process, along with handling proposed amendments to the credentials committee report.

4:13 Stand by.  Credentials Committee is briefly discussing a matter.

4:25 p.m.  The report is in. There are a total of 693 delegates credentialed for Friday. The convention added the 11 alternates were added as voting delegates for Friday, bringing the delegate count to 704.  Quorum for the day is 353.   If it appears that a quorum is not on the floor, any delegate can call for a quorum and business is suspended or concluded until a quorum is reached.

4:34  Many, many more delegates are expected on Saturday, when the elections of the State Chairman and State Vice Chairman will be held.  The credentials committee will again issue a report for those who have arrived for Saturday  and the bulk of the convention action will occur then.

4:36  There has been a lengthy discussion for at least the last hour over the timing when one had to be registered Republican to be able to register and be a delegate to this convention.   Apparently, this affects only one person here today.  We are not providing details as we value a living readership.

4:39 p.m. Quorum has become 354 rather than 353 because  of the lengthy debate over the seating of one individual.    On to the rule committee chaired by former State GOP Chairman Linda Daves of Mecklenburg County.

Mrs. Daves suggested several changes to the rules of the 2011 North Carolina State Republican Convention due largely to typos.   She also advised the delegates how to make motions, propose rules changes, etc.  During debate, if a delegate stands up to speak, that delegate may not debate again until everyone else who wishes to debate has been heard.  This assures that everyone is freely heard.

Mrs. Daves’ committee further suggested that wording be changed to indicate that there are two credentials reports, one Friday and one Saturday.  Everything else is basic grammar changes.

Today has been mostly procedural and not all that exciting to first time convention attendees.  This blogger believes that a few delegates and their children may have slipped out to enjoy the afternoon on nearby Wrightsville Beach.

As a veteran of over 20 annual North Carolina State Party conventions, KCC promises all political junkies that Saturday’s event will be much more exciting.

5:09 p.m. After a lengthy debate, again, the rules have been adopted.

5:11 p.m Now debate is moving into the Platform and Resolutions.  Usually this is exciting and takes a lot of time.  However, with dinner due to begin and your blogger’s hotel some distance away,  we sadly won’t be able to cover this for you today.

KCC ends this blogging session and will be back online at 7 p.m. when Rep. Allen West (R-Fla) speaks to a “Salute Our Troops” Tribute Evening Banquet.    Our next post will come to you from Hilton-Wilmington Grand Ballroom on North Water Street.  Until then…