Carolina Politics Online

On Saturday, D’Annunzio got into a flap with officials at the Cumberland County Republican Convention in Fayetteville.

During a forum, candidates drew cards with random questions. When rival Lou Huddleston of Fayetteville was asked if he supports eliminating federal agencies, he replied without mentioning D’Annunzio.

When D’Annunzio tried to respond, organizers told him according to their ground rules, he couldn’t. Party chair Suzanne Rucker took his microphone. He walked off the stage.

On his blog, D’Annunzio said the forum was “put together to enable the home town candidate to attack me while not giving me any opportunity to respond with the truth.”

Charlotte Observer

If the rules were followed consistently throughout the forum then I have to call bullshit on this accusation of there being some kind of conspiracy theory in favor of Lou Huddleston, which is who D’Annunzio is referring to.  The rules are the rules.  They drew questions at random.  Nobody can control who got what question and if they weren’t allowed to opine on the questions of other candidates then that’s the way it is.  It’s not the way I would conduct a debate, but the rules should have been understood before it started.  On the other hand, if they were allowing other candidates to do follow ups and not D’Annunzio then he has a point to be upset.  All of that aside, I think he conducted himself poorly by walking off the stage and it’s more negative press that he doesn’t need.  He’s already been getting poked pretty hard by the alternative media.

Lou Huddleston, of course, is taking advantage of this and calling for D’Annunzio to drop out of the race.  That’s not necessary.  The voters are perfectly capable of making that decision on election day.

This incident is one of two obstacles to put a rut in the D’Annunzio campaign just this week.  His top political adviser Jack Hawke resigned from the campaign regarding a dispute over a blog that D’Annunzio has been writing called “Christ’s War” which according to the Charlotte Observer “combines politics with Biblical references and end-times theology.”

Hawke said he advised the candidate to take it down after a February Observer story quoted passages from it.

It disappeared from public view for a while but then reappeared. Another news story about the blog ran Thursday in Raleigh’s News & Observer.

“He took it down, told me it was down and down to stay,” said Hawke, who advised former Gov. Jim Martin and gubernatorial candidate Pat McCrory. “Next I knew it was in the N&O telling me it was back up. … I don’t think any candidate should get up at 3 or 4 in the morning, sit down in front of a computer and pour your heart out. It’s just not a smart thing to do.”

Charlotte Observer

For Release March 8, 2010

Keadle Asks for FEC Investigation

Scott Keadle takes issue with Congressman Patrick McHenry’s abuse of the franking privilege in a recent mailer to residents of North Carolina’s 10th Congressional District.

“Mr. McHenry has spent hundreds of thousands of taxpayers’ dollars sending thinly-disguised campaign mail to voters. All of them have pretty pictures and explain what a great guy he is. All of them cost a lot of money, and add to the mountain of bills that McHenry and the Washington politicians have piled on the struggling taxpayers in this district,” said Keadle.

“This is an abuse of his office and McHenry should charge all costs to his campaign fund and not taxpayers,” said Keadle. “This is just one more example of how out of touch this Congressman is with the struggling citizens of North Carolina.”

“I’m calling for the Federal Elections Commission to investigate the printing and mailing of this slick color brochure,” added Keadle.

In anticipation of McHenry’s denial of adding to the size of government, Keadle said: “Mr. McHenry, please do not insult us further by denying that you voted for bigger government when you were in the majority under the Bush administration. In FY2006, for instance, you voted to increase taxation of North Carolina families by more than 5% of their paycheck. Saying a Republican President made you do it doesn’t make it right or ‘conservative’.”

—30—

Contact:
Garry Ballard
Keadle for Congress
press@keadle.com
704-775-8037

Surely you’ve heard of the infamous “naked body scanners” that the TSA has just been licking its chops over for years to deploy at airports across our country.  There are already a few out there actually, but they will be making a debut at 11 more airports, including Charlotte Douglas International.

The effort, being spearheaded by Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano (D), is in response to the near tragedy involving the Fruit-of-Kaboom bomber on Christmas Day in Detroit.  This is despite the fact that had these scanners already been in place in Amsterdam where the would be bomber boarded the plane, they would not have detected nor prevented him from bringing his explosive syringe on with him.  In typical authoritarian form however, the Federal government never misses the opportunity to exploit a tragedy in order to push through their oppressive agenda.  Naturally, the ACLU and other privacy advocates are outraged over the deployment of these machine, as am I.

These scanners are optional (for now).  Nobody will be forced to walk through them, but if you are singled out in line to go through the scanner and you refuse, you’ll be subject to a pat down, so there is a slight intimidation factor present.

I will not at any time or any place walk through one of these machines as I am reminded by the words of Ben Franklin who reminded us in 1775 that, “They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.”

President Obama is sinking all of his remaining political capital into destroying the American health care system and the question to be asked here in the Charlotte area is will Larry Kissell capitulate or buck his party again and vote against ObamaCare?  Kissell represents a swing district that leans slightly Republican and although a Public Policy Polling poll taken a couple of months ago showed him hovering over 50% in hypothetical November match ups, this issue will make or break that.

As reported today in the Charlotte Observer, Kissell insists that his position has not changed and that he has no intention of supporting the current proposal in Congress and that is probably a good thing.  The American people are not seeing eye to with this administration.  Over half the country opposes the bill and almost two-thirds of Americans think it would be better to pass smaller incremental bills that address specific individual flaws in the system.

If Kissell were to change his mind and vote for the bill it will mark the end of his very short political tenure.  Hell, even if he doesn’t vote for it and it still passes it could seal his defeat.  The original House bill only passed by five votes so it’s hard to predict how this is going to turn out if the Democrats decide to proceed with reconciliation, but the word is the White House is putting on the pressure.

Every now and then I like to do a shout out to Vilma Leake (D) in the form of helping to expose her feeble-mindedness for all to see.  Yes, I enjoy picking on an old woman, but this isn’t your typical sweet grandmother smothering you with kisses and baking ginger bread cookies at Christmas.  She is a nasty, vindictive individual who can never keep her mouth shut and despises white people from the very core of her miserable being.  In short, she deserves the criticism at every opportunity.

The following is an exchange from last night’s Mecklenburg County Commissioners meeting that was recorded by Pundit House, a watchdog group of reporters in Charlotte.  As you are reading this bear in mind that this woman helps control a billion dollar plus budget for the entire county and yet has no idea how the county operates.

It was equal parts amazing and amusing watching Commissioner Vilma Leake in action Tuesday night, but mostly it was flat-out scary. At issue was a vote by the Mecklenburg Board of County Commissioners to approve a change in the structure of the Fire Commission and receive an update on the county’s fire service assessment. The following is fairly close to a verbatim discussion of what ensued when Leake jumped into the mix:

“Why are they called volunteer if they don’t get paid?” Leake asked.

“I’m sorry, can you repeat the question, please,” replied an understandably confused Fire Marshal Mark Auten.

“Why are you called volunteer firefighters?” Leake asked.

“We have a number of firefighters in the county that volunteer their time to conduct this service,” Auten ventured.

“But why are you called volunteer and you’re asking for funding?” Leake pressed. “Do we have another agency that’s called firefighters under the auspices of the county?”

At which point County Manager Harry Jones tried to provide some clarification, explaining that the county’s funding helped offset VFD expenses for equipment, fuel, fire trucks and maintenance.

“Does this conflict with our own fire department?” Leake asked.

“The county does not have one,” said Commissioners Chairman Jennifer Roberts.

“We don’t have a fire department?” Leake asked.

“The city has one,” Roberts said.

“The city has one,” Leake said. “So the county is supporting the volunteers and the city is supporting its own fire department.”

“Correct,” Roberts said. “In the city limits of Charlotte they have a fully funded fire department.”

“I’m just still not clear,” Leake said.

Pundit House

Unfortunately, in a representative republic even the meager and the stupid deserve representation and well, Ms Leake is doing a fine job of that.

Congressman Patrick McHenry has sponsored H.R. 4705, a bill that would redesign the $50 bill with the likeness of the late President Ronald Reagan.  According to a press release from McHenry’s office he had the following to say regarding the bill:

“Every generation needs its own heroes,” said Congressman McHenry.  “One decade into the 21st century, it’s time to honor the last great president of the 20th and give President Reagan a place beside Presidents Roosevelt and Kennedy.”

It’s an interesting proposal and I certainly don’t have an issue with it, but the timing is questionable in my mind.  McHenry has two primary opponents facing him in the May election and I just wonder if he his invoking Reagan to appeal to the tea party demographic.

The campaign of Scott Keadle, one of McHenry’s primary opponents, had the following comments:

“While President Reagan certainly deserves to be memorialized, I doubt whether he would have focused on this issue when we have such urgent problems facing North Carolina’s workers and families.”

Scott Keadle, a candidate for the Republican nomination for North Carolina’s 10th Congressional District, will speak at the Catawba County Candidates’ Forum Thursday, March 4.

Keadle will speak about issues important to the people of the 10th District at 6:30 p.m. at Bennett’s BBQ Restaurant, 1819 Fairgrove Church Road SE, Conover.

A 45-year-old Mooresville dentist, Keadle is currently an Iredell County commissioner.

North Carolina’s 10th Congressional District currently includes all of Avery, Burke, Caldwell, Catawba, Cleveland, Lincoln and Mitchell counties, along with parts of Gaston, Iredell and Rutherford counties. The Republican primary is May 4.

Garry Ballard
Keadle for Congress Campaign
press@keadle.com
704-775-8037

It always gives me a warm and fuzzy when the people defeat the political elite.  For those of you unfamiliar with Charlotte, Ballantyne is a very affluent neighborhood in the south part of the city near the South Carolina border.  It’s a safe neighborhood with good schools and nice homes, but for some reason Mayor Anthony Foxx (D) and some others on the city council were in favor of flushing it down the crapper.  The proposal was to build a low income public housing apartment complex right smack dab in the middle of suburbia in the city and well, that didn’t fly too well with the residents.

From what is reported at the public hearing last night there were fireworks being thrown by the residents.  The Charlotte Observer was keeping a live update of the meeting on their Web site and of all the comments spoken, they naturally chose this one to put up for all to see.

6:25 p.m.: Said one speaker: “My house is over $1 million. I don’t want that crap next to me.”

Why Steve Harrison chose that comment is quite obvious, to paint this as some struggle between “poor impoverished victims” and those “evil country club snobs” who don’t want them in their backyard.  Well you know what?  I’m on the millionaire’s side.  I wouldn’t want that crap in my neighborhood either and he and every other affluent person in Ballantyne who worked hard their entire lives to reach that standard of living has the right to feel the same way.  Public housing destroys neighborhoods and I’ve seen it first hand.

Years ago I lived in a neighborhood of Pittsburgh called Sheraden.  At one time Sheraden was one of the safest, nicest middle class neighborhoods in the city.  That all started changing in the mid 1990s when a public housing complex over the hill was shut down and all the drug addicts and welfare trash started infiltrating Sheraden with their Section 8 vouchers.  Within ten years the neighborhood went through a complete metamorphosis.  Crime shot up, property values declined and blight was everywhere.  I was fortunate enough to live in the one part of Sheraden that hadn’t decayed like the rest, but the effect was in its infancy of taking hold just as I sold my home and moved down here to South Carolina.  Public housing destroyed Sheraden and it would do the same thing to Ballantyne if Mayor Foxx had his way.

The developers who were working with the public housing authority decided today to abandon the proposal.  Hey, I don’t blame people for not wanting to live in the ghetto and they don’t have to if they get their asses in gear and set their lives straight.  I work for a living and I can’t afford to live in Ballantyne.  There is no way those people deserve to live there on my tax dollars.

A few weeks back I wrote about how Change the Congress in 2010 came out against Patrick McHenry’s reelection bid and instead endorsed one of his primary opponents, Iredell County Commissioner Scott Keadle. Keadle’s endorsement was based on the idea that he will not be a career politician and has experience as the average working man, something sorely lacking in the halls of D.C.

Keadle’s campaign have responded to the endorsement.

“Scott is always pleased to have the endorsement of true conservatives who want to take our government back from career politicians. It takes guts to challenge the powerful Washington establishment, and Scott shares that quality with Mrs. Wellborn. Obviously she recognizes that before we can clean out the Democrats in the fall elections, we must first nominate authentic Republicans. Scott is the real deal–no politics, no bull, just a dentist and a family man who has had enough of the same lousy people getting the same lousy results. He’s tired of watching his team lose and he thinks we need new players on the field.”

“Conservatives across the country are demanding a return to citizen-legislators who truly represent the intent of our Founding Fathers. It is time for an end to Washington insiders ruining our country. Change The Congress 2010 members from here in Western North Carolina have given Scott financial and volunteer support, and are excited about his candidacy.”

I like how the protester walked through the food line and ate. LOL!

Join Tim D’Annunzio for a machine gun social

Thursday, February 11
6:30pm, until the ammo runs out (10pm)

Jim’s Guns
4632 Yadkin Road
Fayetteville

MP5s and Uzis will be available to shoot
Cost: $25 per magazine

Includes Carolina BBQ dinner and refreshments

FREE GUN GIVEAWAY
All attendees will be eligible to win a gift certificate redeemable for an AR-15 from Jim’s, and other door prizes

Click here to RSVP, or call 910-848-0200

You must be 18 or older to attend.

Tim D’Annunzio for Congress
PO Box 489
Raeford, North Carolina 28376

The woman who chaired Democratic U.S. Rep. Larry Kissell’s two congressional campaigns has turned against him.

Dannie Montgomery, a teacher from Anson County who served as first vice chair of the N.C. Democratic Party, said in a news release that Kissell “has turned his back on the grassroots supporters who propelled him to office,” Jim Morrill of The Charlotte Observer reports.

Under the Dome

Most of the bitching coming from the far left concerning Kissell is over his vote against the lack-of-health care bill.  Kissell did the right thing in opposing the bill because it is a complete and utter train wreck, but this is the problem when you are dealing with ideologues.  They don’t actually take the time to analyze the whole situation.  People like Dannie Montgomery are just peeved that Kissell didn’t tow the party line regardless of the harm it would have caused.  Apparently Montgomery and others expect Larry Kissell to walk through Congress with blinders on and be a rubber stamp for every single disaster that comes out of Congress just because it is the president’s idea.  Ironically, these are the same people that attacked Robin Hayes and other Republican Congressmen around the country for doing exactly that with George Bush.

The North Carolina FreeEnterprise Foundation has compiled a list of the top ten most competitive State Senate races in North Carolina this year.  It’s pretty much on par with what I have written about as well.  They list the most likely seat to flip being District 43 currently held by Senator David Hoyle (D).  This is a very heavily Republican district and Hoyle has hung on over the years due to his more conservative and pro-business voting record, but he has decided to retire from the Senate this year leaving it an open race.  Two other open seats, Districts 8 and 9 held by Democrats R.C Soles and Julia Boseman are also open seats this year.  Both have decided not to seek reelection and both are Republican leaning districts.

The Foundation also has the following on their radar:

I don’t agree with all of the above. In what is looking like to be a Republican wave year, I don’t see any of the first term Republicans they list as being in trouble unless one of them is a real jag off.

Personally, I would include Marc Basnight as being potentially vulnerable this year. He represents a district that is just barely Democratic and in a year in which voters may throw his party overboard on top of him orchestrating a huge tax increase on the people of this state. The state Republicans would be wasting a colossal opportunity to not recruit a decent candidate against him. They have plenty to beat him over the head with.

So as I’ve said before North Carolina Republicans have an opportunity to capture the State Senate this year for the first time in, well, ever, providing their organization is competent enough to do so. Redistricting will begin next year and the Republicans will want to take control so they can undo the gerrymandering done by the Democrats and turn around and gerrymander it all over again in their favor instead. We really need an independent commission drawing districts in this state.

Former Mecklenburg County Sheriff Jim Pendergraph (R) has announced today that he will seek one of the at-large seats in this year’s Mecklenburg County commissioners race.  Pendergraph was elected Sheriff four times as a Democrat before accepting a position with the Department of Homeland Security under the Bush Administration in 2007.  He switched parties afterward.  Pendergraph’s resignation from the office of Sheriff is what sparked off a several month controversy over who would replace him, a controversy that made the notorious Nick Mackey a household political name around the Charlotte metropolitan area.

Pendergraph was a highly admired and respected Sheriff from Mecklenburg County residents on both sides of the political aisle and even outside the region as he was appointed to a Republican administration while still a Democrat.  He stated today on the radio that one of his biggest concerns is the county’s fiscal budget which he feels is going to worsen in the coming year.  Pendergraph is also extremely worried about the constant rise in property taxes throughout the county and even said that he and his wife have speculated that they themselves may have to move out of the county down the road if the problem is not reined in due to their own financial state as a retired couple.

I can’t think of a better man for the job.

A few months back I wrote about an organization that sprouted up out of Charleston called Change the Congress in 2010, the brain child of a Ms Catherine Welborn with the explicit intent of removing as many incumbents from Congress as possible.  The group has crossed the border into North Carolina and now has their eyes set on Republican Congressman Patrick McHenry.

Late last week, the group came out and publicly endorsed one of McHenry’s Republican primary opponents, Iredell County Commissioner Scott Keadle.  I exchanged emails with Ms Welborn and she cited her motivation being a great many grievances with the current sitting Congressman.  Among them were several improprieties that have shown up in the media over the past few years.  These include the 2007 indictment of one of McHenry’s campaign aids, his 2005 appearance on “ABC World News Tonight” in which he defended then House Majority Leader Tom DeLay’s Congressional ethics violations, and a voting scandal in which McHenry claimed a owner occupied tax deduction on a Washington D.C. home, while still voting in North Carolina.

What seems to be the straw that broke the camel’s back, however, was the recent release of an article by the John Locke Foundation.

Fighting the pay raise

A few lawmakers have consistently fought automatic pay raises. Among them is Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, who, according a recent Deseret News article, has tried vainly every year since he was first elected to Congress in 2000 to force a straight up-or-down vote. With the economic downturn, Matheson predicted lawmakers in the new 111th Congress might be more interested in forcing the issue to a vote.

Early in 2009, three bills were introduced in the House and one in the Senate to deal with this issue. All members of the N.C. delegation were contacted. Of those who responded, most added they would likely support any bill to stop pay raises, should one come up for a vote.

The first bill, H.R. 156, would prevent members of Congress from receiving any automatic pay adjustment in 2010. N.C. delegation cosponsors are Reps. Walter Jones, R-3rd, Howard Coble, R-6th; Sue Myrick, R-9; Larry Kissell, D-8th; and Heath Shuler, D-11th. Rep. David Price, D-4th, plans to cosponsor the bill, according to his spokesperson, and added the decision was made prior to being contacted about his position on this issue.

Rep. Virginia Foxx , R-5th, is a cosponsor of H.R. 346, which would repeal the law that provides automatic pay adjustments for members of Congress.

Coble is also a cosponsor of H.R. 201, which would prevent automatic pay raises for members of Congress in the year following a fiscal year in which there was a federal budget deficit.

S.B. 102 would repeal the law that provides automatic pay adjustments for members of Congress. Deputy Press Secretary David Ward said Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., has voted against automatic pay increases in the past and would do so again. Colleen Flanagan, a spokesperson for Sen. Kay Hagan, D-N.C., said Hagan is opposed to any automatic pay adjustments, given these economic times.

Something is glaringly missing here.  Patrick McHenry.  Every member of the North Carolina Republican Congressional delegation has co-sponsored one of these bills, including a few Democrats, seemingly except for Patrick McHenry whose name is no where to be found.  I too found this somewhat curious and I emailed his press secretary last evening, whom I get frequent press releases from each week, asking about this.  At this point I have not received a response regarding my question, although I did receive a new press release this afternoon.

Regarding Mr. Keadle’s candidacy and her endorsement of him over McHenry, Welborn based her support upon Keadle’s promise to not be a career politician, but to serve no more than three terms in the House.  He has also pledged to oppose Congressional pay raises and to not accept the Congressional pension upon leaving Congress.

Welborn also stated, “Scott Keadle is not a career politician.  He is not in anyone’s debt, not beholden to any group or organization except the people of NC-10.  He believes that it’s time to take back our country.  He believes that it’s time to replace career politicians with people who have real experience working at real jobs.  He believes that it’s time to send real people to Washington, people with real experience dealing with families and the emergencies involved with families.”

I have to say, it’s difficult to argue with her logic.

Republican candidate for North Carolina’s Eighth Congressional District, Lou Huddleston is holding some meet and greets in the coming week.  He will be speaking at the following locations:

Monday, January 25th 6:30-8:00pm
Stanly County GOP Headquarters
102 Second Street in Albemarle

Monday, February 1st 7:00-8:30pm
Concord Fire Station #8
1485 Old Charlotte Rd in Concord

For more information, please contact Andy Yates at (704) 467-0795

I agree with the following press release from Congressman McHenry’s office, however, I think there is more than just dissatisfaction with the health care bill that drove what we saw last night.  This Congress, which Nancy Pelosi said would be the most open and ethical in history, has been the most sneaky and underhanded I think we’ve ever had in my lifetime.  They are supposed to be representatives of the people, not aristocrats, and they have shown nothing but a snobbish contempt for the American people.  I would like to think what happened in Massachusetts last night will serve as a warning shot over the bough of the Democrats’ sinking ship, but I’m not holding my breath.

“If you’d told me a month ago that a Republican running against President Obama’s health care plan would win Ted Kennedy’s former Senate seat, I’d have said you were crazy.

“If the Obama health care bill has sparked such a massive backlash in Massachusetts, I can’t imagine what Democrats in red and purple districts are hearing back home. Democrats should take the hint and stop pushing their unpopular plan on the American people.”

Tim D’Annunzio, candidate for the Republican nomination for North Carolina’s 8th House District, is holding a series of town halls to talk about the issues facing our nation and his plans for addressing them if elected to Congress.  The schedule is below:

Charlotte
Date: Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Time: 6:30pm
Location: Holiday Inn UNC Charlotte
8520 University Executive Park, Charlotte

Monroe
Date: Thursday, January 21, 2010
Time: 6:30pm
Location: Monroe Country Club
1680 Pageland Highway, Monroe

Albemarle
Date: Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Time: 6:30pm
Location: Stanly County Public Library
133 East Main Street, Albemarle

John Lassiter has announced that he will not run for District Attorney for Mecklenburg County this year.  I repeat he will not run, just in case you were wondering.

On that same note, I, Bane Windlow, will also not be running for District Attorney for Mecklenburg County this year, just in case you were wondering.

“Get Out of Our House” or GOOOH (pronounced Go) is a movement started up by Texas business Tim Cox which aims to replace every member of Congress with a true citizen legislature.  The group’s goal is to get 500,000 people to sign up and answer a candidate questionnaire.  Based on these questionnaires people in each Congressional district will vote multiple times and gradually whittle down the pool until they ultimately select a nominee to run for Congress in each district.  When the nominees are picked, the group is requesting that each member who signed up donate $100 to the GOOOH campaign that can be used to help elect the selected members.  Here is a more detailed explanation from the GOOOH Web site:

Members will have until some time in March to declare their candidacy by completing the six Candidate Selection Session registration steps. Once the deadline has been reached, all candidates will follow the process summarized below, with one person in each of the 435 congressional districts ultimately bubbling to the top of the system as their district’s nominee.

1. Candidates will be randomly assigned into pools of 10 participants within their congressional district. There will be as many pools as are needed in each district.

2. Pools will meet simultaneously at predetermined locations across the country on consecutive Saturday mornings. Sessions start at 9 AM and will last approximately 5 hours.

3. Each pool of participants will select two candidates to advance to the next round, via the GOOOH Selection Session process outlined in the book.

4. Advancing candidates will be randomly assigned into a new pool within their district. Steps 2 and 3 will repeat until there are only ten candidates remaining in each district.

5. If there are 1,250 participants, there will be four rounds. The actual number will be determined based upon the number of participants in each district. There will be a maximum of eight rounds, though four to six are more likely.

6. Before the final round, we are considering having the 4,350 finalists participate in a weekend retreat to ensure they fully understand how the final selection round will work and to ensure they are committed to representing their district if selected. Details will be determined as the time nears.

7. The final ten candidates in each of the districts will select a single nominee to represent their district.

8. The 435 nominees will be placed on the November ballot, in their respective districts, to compete against the Republican and Democratic politicians.

9. The campaign for each of the candidates will be orchestrated by the system, which will provide all necessary funding.

I give them props for coming up with a pretty clever system to do this.  I’ve been hoping for years to have a third party break through in the Federal Government.  I’d consider filling out one of these questionnaires myself, but I actually like the Republican candidate that is running against my Congressman this year so I don’t intend on supporting a third party in this year’s House race as I normally have in the past.

Here is the information regarding the meeting in Charlotte tomorrow evening, courtesy of the Charlotte Observer:

The group GOOOH will hold a rally and mock selection event at 6:30 p.m. Monday at the Palmer Building, 2601 E. Seventh St.

To register, Google “GOOOH Charlotte.” Registration is free but space is limited.

For information, go to www.goooh.com or contact Don Rosenberg at donrosenberg@gmail.com or 704-910-6498.