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Support AFP, especially in North Carolina!

This week, the North Carolina Chapter of Americans for Prosperity (AFP-North Carolina) announced its Legislative Goals for the 2013-14 legislative biennium. The Regular Session convened briefly on January 9th to adopt rules and organize the session but will reconvene on Wednesday, January 30th.

When it comes to advancing the free market agenda, no state has a better opportunity this year than North Carolina. We believe that we have a genuine opportunity to unleash the entrepreneurial spirit in North Carolina with lower taxes and regulations to make government less entangling and burdensome to North Carolinians. We will aggressively promote the opportunities of cheaper energy, quality educational choices, leaner and less burdensome government, and lower taxes.

Please remember that AFP deals only with issues of economic freedom, school choice, and property rights. There are other important issues that face North Carolinians which fall outside of our mission.

We hope you will stand with us once again to promote the following goals:

• Passage of the state budget without tax increases;
• Lower overall tax burden in North Carolina;
• Support for Constitutional Spending Limits that could include: Taxpayers Bill of Rights (TABOR) that would limit government spending to the increase in population and inflation and/or legislative supermajority requirement to raise taxes;
• Keeping North Carolina as a “Right-to-work State,” by implementing it into the state constitution along with the state’s ban on public employee collective bargaining;
• Dedicating all North Carolina Education Lottery revenue to school construction; or support ending all state-run gambling;
• Elimination of North Carolina’s Estate Tax – also called the “Death Tax”;
• Promotion of legislation that allows for the exploration and production of North Carolina’s energy resources;
• Advocating a “rollback” of North Carolina’s Renewable Portfolio Standard;
• Blocking the creation of a North Carolina Healthcare Exchange;
• Allowing the purchase of health insurance from any state;
• Passage of legislation to get the state of North Carolina out of the liquor business;
• Ending all “welfare for politicians,” known as taxpayer-funded elections;
• Protecting free and political speech rights by deregulating campaign speech;
• Ending the Golden Leaf Foundation;
• Converting the Tax Credit for Children with Disabilities into a refundable tax credit;
• Increasing the number of non-public school choice options available to parents;
• Repeal of the corporate income tax and elimination of all corporate welfare;
• Simplifying and lowering individual income taxes;
• Promoting the elimination of redundant committees and commissions in order to shrink the size of government in North Carolina;
• Expanding recently passed tort reforms, including “loser pays”; and
• In general, greatly reducing the regulatory burden on businesses and citizens.

Chairman Priebus delivers remarks immediately following his re-election as Chairman of the RNC

1:00 p.m. The Republican National Committee has reconvened and only one candidate has qualified to run, Reince Piebus.  He is being nominated and seconded.

You may follow the proceedings live on C-SPAN.

Since no other nominations qualify, rule 5-B says that they close nominations and stand for voting.  Only three people voted against him, assuring him of re-election.  Congratulations to Chairman Priebus.

In his acceptance speech, he called this overwhelming support, “a great honor.”

Renew, Grow, Win is the theme of the meeting and is his agenda for the next two years.

National Media captured the events live.

1:16  We must train activists and volunteers with modern tools.  (We will have more details of the speech soon.

1:33  Sharon Day is being nominated for a second term as Co-Chairman of the RNC.

1:40  After four seconding speech, Sharon Day was elected, un-opposed, as Co-Chairman of the Republican National Committee.  She wants to lead a principled path to reach every single voter.  Lead a path that every single American knows is right.

The convention next elected Treasurer, Tony Parker, and Secretary Demetra DeMonte, unanimously, as was Sharon Day.

NC National Committeewoman Ada Fisher thanked everyone for coming down to North Carolina.

2:00  After a few final announcements, the meeting was adjourned.

Renew, Grow, Win was the theme of the Winter Meeting

CHARLOTTE: Friday, January, 25, 2013

PLEASE SCROLL DOWN & REFRESH BROWSER FOR THE LATEST UPDATES

11:00 After a series of morning meetings and regional breakfasts, the meeting has been called to order by Republican National Committee Chairman (RNC) Reince Priebus.

Committeeman David Lewis of NC gave the Invocation.  Committeewoman Ada Fisher lead the Pledge of Allegiance.

This writer spoke with NC  Chairman, Robin Hayes this morning before the meeting.  Unfortunately, he had to leave and gave his voting proxy to Dr. Fisher.

The roll call is currently being conducted.

At 1:00 today, C-SPAN will broadcast live from this event.

Possible controversies:  Chairman Reince Priebus could be challenged by a Ron Paul follower from Maine.  NC Committeewoman Ada Fisher stated in an interview that she would support the re-election of Chairman Priebus.

NC Chairman Hayes mention that he did not have enough states to qualify to run in this race, will may hamper the Maine candidate’s chances.

Protesters:

Currently, there are about 8 people protesting outside the Westin Hotel.  Perhaps the extreme cold has kept their numbers down.  Meanwhile, there are a number of  college students in the audience who, instead of going to class this week, have chosen to follow the proceedings, here.  They appear to be interested in learning how the party works.

The Meeting has adjourned for lunch.  The election of officers, will take place after they reconvene at 1:00.

This concludes this post.  See Part II after lunch.

With the beginning of the new year, more of the provisions of Democrats’ massive, unpopular health care law are going into effect and news reports are, again, popping up illustrating all the negative impacts on health care this ill-conceived law will have.

The New York Times reported last week, “Health insurance companies across the country are seeking and winning double-digit increases in premiums for some customers, even though one of the biggest objectives of the Obama administration’s health care law was to stem the rapid rise in insurance costs for consumers. Particularly vulnerable to the high rates are small businesses and people who do not have employer-provided insurance and must buy it on their own. In California, Aetna is proposing rate increases of as much as 22 percent, Anthem Blue Cross 26 percent and Blue Shield of California 20 percent for some of those policy holders, according to the insurers’ filings with the state for 2013.”

Politico adds today, “If you work for a small business, your next health insurance premium may give you sticker shock. Many of the small-business and individual insurance policies are working the health reform law’s 2014 fees into their 2013 bills, contributing to double-digit premium increases for some people. All those new consumer benefits packed into the health reform law — birth control without a co-pay, free preventive care and limits on when insurers can turn down a customer — had to be paid for somehow.”

“Insurers say they have no choice but to increase premiums to cover those costs,” Politico writes. “But it’s hitting pocketbooks sooner than some people expected, and that’s causing controversy. Everyone, even many of the law’s supporters, admit premiums are going to go up under the health law — although many people will get subsidies to help pay for coverage. Many of the costs — and the priciest benefits — were pushed beyond the 2012 election to 2014. But if the public revolts when they see 10 percent,15 percent or 20 percent rate hikes, already shaky support for the health law could suffer. . . . Now, insurers are being proactive, arguing the health law is driving the increase in prices. ‘There’s a massive new health insurance tax that starts in 2014,’ said Robert Zirkelbach, a spokesman for industry group America’s Health Insurance Plans. ‘For policies that are sold in 2013 and extend into next year, there’s going to be taxes imposed. … As a result, like all taxes, they will be reflected in premiums charged.’”

Meanwhile, the health care law is already resulting in cutbacks at health providers and is likely to hurt job creation in the years to come. In a story titled, “Delaware Hospice lays off 52 workers amid federal changes,” the Delaware News Journalwrites, “Delaware Hospice’s Chief Executive Officer Susan Lloyd said Wednesday the nonprofit healthcare provider has laid off 52 workers in a restructuring necessitated by shrinking federal reimbursements. The job cuts, which carve significantly into the organizations 400-member staff, impact jobs in all departments in Delaware, and in Delaware and Chester counties in Pennsylvania, Lloyd said. . . . . Lloyd said the cuts were unavoidable and represent a national trend of providers adapting to changes in health care reimbursement. . . . ‘The decision was not made lightly and it is a direct result of a consequential decline in census and the need to position the organization to meet additional changes and challenges that the hospice industry anticipates with health care reform.’”

And USA Today reported recently, “Many businesses plan to bring on more part-time workers next year, trim the hours of full-time employees or curtail hiring because of the new health care law, human resource firms say. Their actions could further dampen job growth, which already is threatened by possible federal budget cutbacks resulting from the tax increases and spending cuts known as the fiscal cliff. ‘It will have a negative impact on job creation’ in 2013, says Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Analytics. Under the Affordable Care Act, businesses that employ at least 50 full-time workers — or the equivalent, including part-time workers — must offer health insurance to staffers who work at least 30 hours a week. Employers that don’t provide coverage must pay a $2,000-per-worker penalty, excluding the first 30 employees.”

Republicans warned about all these consequences as Obamacare was being debated, but Democrats and President Obama ignored them and the disapproval of the American people. In December 2009, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said, “It’s abundantly clear that the more Americans learn about this bill, the more they oppose it. And now we know the same goes for businesses. Businesses that can’t insure workers face stiff fines, resulting in lost wages and jobs, according to the independent Congressional Budget Office. What’s more, studies suggest that this so-called employer mandate would have a disproportionate impact on low-income, entry-level workers. At a time of [high] unemployment, we should be doing everything we can to create jobs. This bill would only lead to more lost jobs.”

And the night Democrats jammed the bill through the Senate, Leader McConnell said “[H]ere’s the reality: the Democrat bill we’re voting on tonight raises health care costs.  That’s not me talking — that’s the administration’s own budget scorekeeper. It raises premiums — that’s the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office talking.  It raises taxes on tens of millions of middle class Americans. . . . It forces people off the plans they have — including millions of seniors.”

This terrible legislation still needs to be repealed and replaced, but until then it will unfortunately continue to raise premiums, raise health care costs, hurt care, and hurt jobs.

Remember all that work you did last Spring, Summer, and Fall?  Today is pay off time as North Carolina’s new Governor, Pat McCrory, is inaugurated.   The activities will take place in the old Senate Chambers at Capitol Square in downtown Raleigh.  The details follow, below.

Find out how you can watch the entire event on your computer, via Livestream and scroll down to see the activities of the noon hour.  Katy’s Conservative Corner  will also be there to bring you photos and interviews.

We listed a viewing guide beneath the video box, to assist you.

ACTIVITIES OF NOON HOUR 

DETAILS:

12:00pm – Gov. Elect McCrory enters chamber
12:02pm – Pledge of Allegiance and National Anthem
12:05pm – Invocation by Minister David Chadwick
12:07pm – Transfer of the seal w/ Gov. Elect McCrory & Gov. Perdue
12:11pm – Gov. Elect McCrory takes the oath of office, administered by Chief Justice Parker
12:17pm – Gov. McCrory exits chamber

OPEN TO FAMILY and media only

Swearing in of Cabinet Secretaries  

You may also watch the proceedings on North Carolina Public Television.

Gov. Pat McCrory

Thursday,  North Carolina Governor-Elect Pat McCrory appointed Brigadier General Anthony J. Tata (U.S. Army, Retired) as Secretary of the Department of Transportation, Sharon Decker as Secretary of the Department of Commerce and Bill Daughtridge as Secretary of the Department of Administration. Additionally, the Governor-Elect announced Neal Alexander will serve as Director of the State Office of Personnel.

With these appointments, Governor-Elect McCrory has filled all eight of his cabinet secretary positions with a diverse, bi-partisan group of people representing all portions of the state. Half of Governor-Elect McCrory’s cabinet secretaries are Republican and half are either Democrat or Independent.

“I am incredibly proud of the strong team we’ve assembled,” said Governor-Elect McCrory. “These individuals are pragmatic problem solvers and leaders that will help me run the government in the most effective way possible while seeking long-term solutions for our state.”

DOT Secretary Tony Tata

Brigadier General Anthony J. Tata (U.S. Army, Retired) joins Governor-Elect McCrory’s cabinet after most recently serving as Superintendent of the Wake County Public School System, leading the state’s largest school district of 18,000 employees, 150,000 students and a $1.25 billion budget.

Prior to serving as Superintendent, General Tata was in Afghanistan where he served as the Deputy Commanding General of U.S. forces from 2006-2007. Throughout his career, General Tata has planned and implemented multiple operations involving complex transportation and infrastructure challenges ranging from multi-mode operations involving ports, airfields, rail, and highways to designing and implementing extensive infrastructure plans in developing countries. Among his many military assignments, General Tata served two tours of duty in the 82^nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg.
He also served as a brigade commander in the 101st Airborne Division and as the Deputy Commanding General of the 10th Mountain Division. General Tata graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1981.

Sharon Decker enters the McCrory Administration with extensive private sector experience. She was the CEO of the Tanner Company, a large textile company based in Rutherfordton, North Carolina. In 2004, Decker created the Tapestry Group, a non-profit that helps individuals lead healthy lives in body, mind and spirit. Decker has served on the boards of three Fortune 500 companies. She also has more than 17 years of experience with Duke Power Company, now Duke Energy. She began working with the company in consumer services and moved rapidly through the ranks to become the youngest and first female vice president in Duke Power’s history. Her work at Duke Power led to the creation of its 24-hour customer service center, an organization that still serves as a model for the industry.

Tata, McCrory, and Bill Daughtridge at Thursday’s announcement

Bill Daughtridge is the President of Daughtridge Gas & Oil Company based in Rocky Mount and currently is on the UNC Board of Governors, where he serves on the Budget Committee. From 2002-2008, Daughtridge served in the North Carolina House of Representatives, where he chaired the Commerce Committee and focused his efforts on promoting economic growth and development in North Carolina.

Daughtridge is also a former President Area Seven (VA and NC) on the Southern Region Board of Directors for the Boy Scouts of America and is a former member of the North Carolina Travel and Tourism Board, the Nash County Board of Travel & Tourism, Carolinas Gateway Partnership and the Rocky Mount Community Foundation. Daughtridge also held other statewide and local leadership positions including President of the North Carolina Petroleum Marketers Association, Rocky Mount Area United Way and Rocky Mount Area Chamber of Commerce.

In addition to three Cabinet appointments, McCrory also announced that Neal Alexander will serve as the Director of the State Office of Personnel.

Alexander joins Governor-Elect McCrory’s leadership team with 40 years of experience in various Human Resources roles at Duke Energy. Most recently, he served as Vice President for Human Resources for Duke Energy’s US Franchised Electric and Gas Service, and has won awards for excellence in Human Resources such as the Duke Power William S. Lee Leadership Award and The Employers Association Babcock Award. He also currently serves as chair of the Gardner-Webb University Board of Trustees and The Employers Association, which provides human resources and training services to organizations.

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

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.

ACU Chairman Al Cardenas welcomed in the 2013 New Year with a bold statement on the latest”Fiscal Cliff” proposal:

“The American Conservative Union simply cannot accept or support the Senate Bill as passed this morning, which does nothing to reign in out of control spending. Given the dire financial situation our country faces,

ACU would have supported, albeit reluctantly, the Bush era tax cut extensions for those with incomes under $400,000 to $450,000 and supported the Death Tax provisions that maintain the current exemptions and are indexed for inflation.

This is vital for our family farms and family-owned businesses.

Our nation has a spending problem, not a revenue problem.

Rather than do the essential work of cutting spending, the current bill actually adds even more deficit spending. Congress needs to make the hard decisions now for the future of our children and grandchildren. Therefore, ACU recommends that the House take the non-tax provisions out of the Senate Bill and pass it. They should then go back to the drawing board and put together a comprehensive plan to responsibly deal with unemployment insurance, the Farm Bill, special interest tax subsidies and replacing the sequester with targeted spending cuts in a way that would be in line with our conservative values.”

The American Conservative Union holds CPAC, the largest national gathering of conservatives.  In the past few years, the organization has expanded into the midwest and Florida.

KCC has been to many CPAC events and enjoys being an official blogger.

Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC)

The Heritage Foundation announced Thursday that U.S. Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) will become the next president of the organization.  He takes over for Edwin J. Feulner, the man who first envisioned the think tank in 1973 and has led it as president for the past 36 years.

According to the Heritage Foundation’s own website,

Under his leadership, Heritage helped launch missile defense under President Ronald Reagan and welfare reform under President Bill Clinton and Speaker Newt Gingrich. During the past four years, Heritage has led a principled fight against Obamacare and has taken a lead in advancing the case for entitlement reform.

The American Conservative Union’s Al  Al Cardenas congratulated Senator DeMint:

With a lifetime ACU Rating of over 97%, Senator Jim DeMint  has been an indispensable conservative leader in the Senate and we look forward to continuing to work with him to advance the important cause of liberty and limited government.

Whether the issue has been preserving our economic freedom, standing up for the rights of the unborn or preserving American exceptionalism and protecting our national security, Jim DeMint has been there for conservatives and the American people.

I also congratulate and thank Dr. Ed Feulner who has spent a lifetime as a giant in the conservative movement and wish him well as he remains an important intellectual leader at Heritage.”

Ann Romney suffers from MS and beat cancer. She’s her husband’s biggest cheerleader.

TAMPA         High atop the Republican National Convention on a Wednesday evening, this blogger has a fantastic view of everything. The delegates are milling about on the floor, media rushes about to get interviews, and speakers struggle to keep the attention of the audience.

Again, Wednesday evening, the Texas delegation is dressed alike, this time, with light blue shirts and cowboy hats. The North Carolina delegation, for photo day, chose to wear seersucker suits to stand out on the floor. This blogger has loaned her jacket out to a cold neighbor, here in the Tampa Times Forum. The Forum is the home of the Tampa Bay Lightning NHL team.

This convention has been as fun as advertised, though a bad back has slowed your blogger. She rented a scooter for the week and the RNC sent over a special Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) van that travels back and forth to the convention each day.

As regular readers may know, this blogger travels quite often to hear political speakers and has been active in politics since the age of six. After becoming seriously involved in the GOP and in the conservative movement at age 18, this 45-year-old no longer gets too excited at political speeches. It seems like after nearly 30 years in politics, we’ve seen and heard it all. KCC just doesn’t get too excited about it anymore.

However, something remarkable happened last night. Ann Romney happened.

She spoke about her life as a a wife, as a daughter of a Welsh coal miner, and the mother of five sons. Mrs. Romney discussed how it all started. How she went to a dance with Mitt. How they dated and fell in love.

They were married way too young because they were “crazy in love”, and at 22 she found herself the mother of their first son. She had no clue what to do.  We’ve heard that story before.

Delegates love Ann Romney

Mrs. Romney told the crowd that things weren’t always easy, but she and Mitt could depend on one another and they knew they could clear every obstacle.  She talked about how her husband, despite the demands of his work, always made time for his family. Mostly she showed his human side.  If there were any doubts in this blogger’s mind about Mitt, Ann Romney’s speech took care of them.

Wednesday night’s theme was “We Can Change It”.  Your blogger thinks a better theme would be “We Can Change It BACK” or “We Can Change if FORWARD”.  Change is now a scary word after Mr. Obama came into office and raped & pillaged our nation.

The liberal media keeps writing about Romney’s “problem with women”.  Polls are showing however, that among married women, Romney has a huge lead!  Romney does not have a “women problem”.

He has a “liberal women problem” and there is simply nothing that can be done about that!

More to come….