New NCGOP Chairman and Vice Chair are liberty Constitutionalists!!

[devil21]

I'm thrilled to inform RPF that at North Carolina's state GOP convention today, two strong advocates for the Constitution were elected! And the demographics of the new leadership favor Rand's candidacy in the suddenly 'early primary state' of North Carolina. Rand should get a fair shake in our state.

Elected Chairman is Hasan Harnett, who won on the strength of grassroots activism by Paulites, Liberty supporters and Constitutionalists. He is the first African-American to hold the NCGOP chair. His opponent was endorsed by the ENTIRE GOP establishment. Harnett won with 52% of the convention's vote.

Elected Vice Chairman is Michele Nix, a long time Paul supporter and Tea Party activist. She is a bona fide 'one of us' and has committed to building a bridge between the Liberty movement and the establishment.

Congrats to everyone that worked to win today's elections! I've never seen such energy from our wing of the party as I did at this convention. It proves that the grassroots is who wins elections. The establishment will sit up and take notice of what happened today.

http://www.newsobserver.com/news/po...mns-blogs/under-the-dome/article23296143.html

RALEIGH

The N.C. Republican Party has elected Hasan Harnett as its new chairman Saturday, naming a successor to Claude Pope.

Harnett, a businessman and author from Concord, served as campaign manager for GOP congressional candidate Vince Coakley last year. Coakley lost to Democrat Alma Adams in a strongly Democratic district.

Harnett, who will be the state party’s first black chairman, says he can expand the GOP’s appeal to minorities.

“If you can raise money in that district, you can raise money anywhere,” Harnett said. “We need a bold, reinvigorated Republican Party who listens to the grass roots. Together we will win in 2016 because teamwork makes the dream work.”

The election of Harnett appears to be a rebuke of the party leadership’s choice, Gastonia attorney Craig Collins.

Collins had the endorsement of nearly all major Republican state leaders: Gov. Pat McCrory, U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis, Senate leader Phil Berger and House Speaker Tim Moore.

Collins was nominated by the House Rules chairman, David Lewis of Dunn.

“We cannot afford to hand the keys to the GOP headquarters to someone who is inexperienced and untested,” Lewis said. “We simply must elect a chairman who has the most grass-roots experience. Craig Collins is a lifelong conservative. Craig has spent the last 30 years in the trenches fighting for our conservative values.”

A third candidate, A.J. Daoud, withdrew from the race shortly before the vote. He is a former candidate for N.C. secretary of state.

Harnett says he made 4,000 phone calls to fellow Republicans since he began his campaign in April. When he entered the convention hall Saturday, he was accompanied by a drum line.

“I am living the American dream, and the Republican Party is the only party that can keep that dream alive,” he said.

While they hadn’t initially supported Harnett, both McCrory and Berger issued statements late Saturday congratulating him. Berger called it a “history-making election” because Harnett is the party’s first black chairman.

“I look forward to working with Chairman Harnett to protect our majority and elect Republicans up and down the ticket in 2016,” Berger said.

The party also elected a new vice chair, Michele Nix of Lenoir County. Harnett and Nix were backed by the Republican Liberty Caucus, a group representing the Tea Party and Libertarian wings of the party.

 

[William Tell]

That's awesome! And Randy Brogdon won the Chairmanship of the Oklahoma GOP a month or 2 ago.

 

[georgiaboy]

way cool!

 

[dntrpltt]

This was a great convention! Several people I talked with afterwards were calling it a coup of the establishment.

 

[Bastiat's The Law]

Any Brannon supporters?

 

[devil21]

Any Brannon supporters?

Do you mean in attendance or the elected chairs?

I particularly enjoyed seeing new supporters, old and young, attending their first convention. I ribbed a few of them about winning the highest state party offices on their first try! Piece of cake, eh? Nothin to it! Just show up and win

 

[phill4paul]

I thought I read that the GOP was going to primary Walter Jones? If the NCGOP chairman and vice chair have any power that idea should be stopped.

 

[devil21]

I thought I read that the GOP was going to primary Walter Jones? If the NCGOP chairman and vice chair have any power that idea should be stopped.

Yeah, I met his declared opponent. A 4'11 guy named Phil Law. Another AIPAC lackey being put up against Jones. I'm sure he will still run since his backing will come from the usual Beltway suspects but his chances should be somewhat lessened.

Anybody considering running for office in NC under the Liberty/Tea Party umbrella (and on Rand's coattails) in 2016 should start putting their gears in motion sooner than later.

 

[William Tell]

I thought I read that the GOP was going to primary Walter Jones? If the NCGOP chairman and vice chair have any power that idea should be stopped.

The GOP chair can't directly stop a primary challenge. It isn't the GOP itself primarying him.

 

[Bastiat's The Law]

Do you mean in attendance or the elected chairs?

Both.

 

[Bastiat's The Law]

This was interesting.

Nobody, and I mean NOBODY, foresaw the events that transpired at the NCGOP convention in Raleigh today. Cabarrus County Tea Party activist Hasan Harnett decisively defeated the establishment choice — somebody named Craig Collins — in the race for state Republican Party chairman. Collins had big name consultants in his corner, and had been endorsed by a veritable who's who of the NCGOP. Many old political hands I talked to today laid blame for Collins' defeat on the early bandwagon endorsements from the governor, lieutenant governor, US senators and right on down the line.

Gov. Pat has got to be feeling a bit punch-drunk. The legislature has slapped him around over his vetoes. Now, party activists put the kibosh on his choice for state party chairman. If it's not yet clear that the governor has no clothes — IT SHOULD BE.

The day started off with the chairman's race as a three-way between Harnett, Collins, and 6th district chairman A.J. Daoud. Those three spoke to the delegates before voting began. Daoud surprised everyone by withdrawing from the race — leaving it a Collins v. Harnett affair. Why did A.J. withdraw? A well-placed mole in the convention hall gave me their take:

"Daoud was approached by Collins's team who told him 'Hey, you can't win.' They then made him an offer he couldn't refuse — one that could be quite lucrative — contingent on dropping out of the race and endorsing Collins. Daoud went back to his team — trying to lobby them to move over to Collins. And a freaking riot just about broke out. A.J.'s team was devoutly anti-establishment. They weren't about to go over to the establishment camp after all of the work they put in. With A.J. out of the race, his supporters only had one place to go. Harnett."

Ok, let's review the winners and losers in the aftermath of today's events:

WINNERS: Obviously Harnett and grassroots / Tea Party-friendly activists. Folks long locked out of the Raleigh clique now have the keys to the palace. During the campaign, Harnett actually spoke out against some of the less-than-conservative moves by the legislative leadership. This could signal a dramatic departure from the Pope era — where the chairman was the governor's yes-man — to a new era of a state party that defends the platform, gives voice to limited government ideals, and speaks for the folks outside the beltline who don't have lobbyists or inside connections.

LOSERS: Of course, Craig Collins. And let's not forget all of those people who threw out their endorsements for a political unknown when Collins officially announced. How do you call yourself a party leader when the activists throw their support behind YOUR GUY'S opponent? The consultants and groupies who have hung out in party headquarters for years could also be in for a rude awakening.

I swear, I think it's going to be great to watch Hasan go head-to-head with Bill Barber and his bunch at the NAACP.

I do see the potential out here for sore loser-ism among the Collins camp. Much like what happened when Randy Voller won the Democrat Party chairmanship. A lot of folks in that case took their marbles and went home. Super PACs were set up to circumvent the state party. Voller was bad-mouthed to donors and potential candidates. Let's see if the Collins camp gives Harnett a chance to formulate a team and get up and running.

I'm going to try to be optimistic, but I won't hold my breath. There are a lot of people who have gotten filthy rich over the years via the NCGOP cookie jar, who are now going to be a LOT further away from said cookie jar.

 

[TaftFan]

Yeah, I met his declared opponent. A 4'11 guy named Phil Law. Another AIPAC lackey being put up against Jones. I'm sure he will still run since his backing will come from the usual Beltway suspects but his chances should be somewhat lessened.

Anybody considering running for office in NC under the Liberty/Tea Party umbrella (and on Rand's coattails) in 2016 should start putting their gears in motion sooner than later.

4'11? Here he is next to Cruz, who is 6'0 I believe.

 

[devil21]

4'11? Here he is next to Cruz, who is 6'0 I believe.

I may be off by a few inches (I'm 6'4 so pretty much everyone is shorter than I) but he's a tiny little man regardless. Many of them wear elevator shoes btw.

Both.

Yeah definitely Brannon supporters were in attendance. I do not know of the new chair's feelings on him specifically.

 

[CPUd]

 

[devil21]

eta: Harnett's campaign manager told me this article content below is "all lies". I assume he would know better than the author.

--------------------------------
Here's the rest of Bastiat's post above. We've already seen that the establishment can't handle losing even though they constantly accuse liberty types of "taking their ball and going home."

http://www.beaufortobserver.net/Art...eigh-shaken-by-a-GOP-earthquake-Saturday.html

Nonetheless, the battle has only just begun. Again, as Brant reports it:

I am really starting to look like a psychic. In a previous post about Hasan Harnett's upset win in the NCGOP chairman's race, I talked about the possibility of sore loser-ism setting in with the party establishment. I predicted tactics similar to what the Dems did to Randy Voller would be put into motion. It sure didn't take long.

A cabal of the current powers-that-be is already looking to shift fundraising AWAY from the party and to Super PACs and other independent expenditures. What's really bothersome is that plans are being formulated RIGHT NOW to bleed the existing state party treasury dry BEFORE Harnett can take office.

The money raised by the state House and Senate caucuses flows through what is essentially a pass-through account controlled by the NCGOP headquarters. (Go to the state board of elections web site, do a search for "NC REC," — which stands for North Carolina Republican Executive Committee — and you can see all the details for yourself.) That money flows pretty easily to consultants and legislators and candidates who come in and express a "need" for it.

I know vice chairman elect Michele Nix and chairman-elect Harnett, as well as people close to them, read this site religiously. You folks and your supporters need to move right now to freeze the funds in the state party accounts so this sabotage cannot go down.

Also, plans are in the works to block Harnett from hiring or firing ANYONE within the state party staff.

Today was only half the battle for the grassroots. Serious monkey business is in the works. Folks need to step up and say HELL NO, or the Harnett-Nix era at NCGOP will be over before it even begins.

Commentary

We don't doubt that there will be a heck of a fight on Hillsborough St. as Brant predicts. That is inevitable, although it will be interesting to see all those who suggested that Greg Brannon's supporters should rally behind Thom Tillis and what they will do now. If I were Harnett/Nix I would not count on it.

But that's not nearly as important as whether Pat McCrory, Tim Moore, David Lewis et. al. get the message. The people who went to Raleigh this weekend are not nearly as important as those who did not go. They are legion. And what the revolt at the Raleigh Civic Center was, was actually only a faint reflection of a growing movement all across this state that many people are simply fed up with "politics as usual, just different faces" in Raleigh. People are sick and tired of politicians running on one set of principles and then voting/acting on an entirely different set of principles once they are in office. That sentiment was manifested in Raleigh, but those in the Civic Center Saturday were only the reflection of a much broader and intense dissatisfaction with the Republican leadership in Raleigh, on Blount Street, and Jones Street as well as Hillsborough St.

Let's hope the Powers That Think They Be learned something Saturday. It is time the GOP returned to fundamental Republican values.

 

[Mr.NoSmile]

We've seen something similar like this many times. AJ Spiker in Iowa comes to mind where the Party rebelled against him. My hope is that the winners here manage to hold onto what they have with dignity, but also not just roll over and let sore losers try and shot them down or hold funds.

 

[devil21]

We've seen something similar like this many times. AJ Spiker in Iowa comes to mind where the Party rebelled against him. My hope is that the winners here manage to hold onto what they have with dignity, but also not just roll over and let sore losers try and shot them down or hold funds.

FWIW, the campaign manager of the new chair told me the article content I posted above describing the NCGOP already planning on running away with the funds and other sabotage moves is "all lies". I'll defer to him.

 

[William Tell]

 

[tsai3904]

He wrote in Ron Paul in the 08 primary:

Harnett was a Democrat when he voted in the 2008 presidential primary. He said he bypassed Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton and wrote in Ron Paul, a libertarian Republican.

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/politics-government/article23972302.html

 

[devil21]

He wrote in Ron Paul in the 08 primary:

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/politics-government/article23972302.html

Good article! Thanks for posting.