Carolina Politics Online

The Office of Congressional Ethics is investigating eight lawmakers who held fundraisers within 48 hours of a major House vote on a Wall Street reform bill or received substantial donations from business people with a financial stake in the bill, according to congressional sources and letters.

Watt held a Dec. 9 fundraiser and soon after withdrew a proposal he had introduced to subject auto dealers to tougher regulations, according to congressional records. The fundraiser generated checks largely from finance groups, including Goldman Sachs and the Investment Company Institute. In an interview, Watt said he will answer the OCE’s questions and declined to comment on the investigation.

The House ethics manual instructs members to steer away from accepting campaign donations if the timing creates an unacceptable appearance of a conflict of interest.

The Washington Post

It doesn’t sound to me like Watt has done anything wrong here.  I don’t see how a proposal for tougher auto standards is really related to financial “reform,” but maybe I’m just missing something.  Does Goldman Sachs have a significant stake in the auto companies?

A few days ago I posted a video of a tea party protester getting punched in the face by someone presumably on the left in front of Mel Watt’s Congressional office in Greensboro.  The tea party protester has been identified as Forsyth County GOP Chairman Nathan Tabor.  The man who hit him has been identified as Govenor Spencer.  Both men are claiming the other assaulted him first and both are pressing charges.

Tabor says they were protesting a proposed amendment that would give companies money to help with rising credit card fees. He says he was videotaping the event when Govenor Spencer, of Greensboro, approached the protest.

“About that time a gentleman walks around the corner and walks into the middle of the crowd saying it’s all George W. Bush’s fault. It’s all Dick Cheney’s fault.” Tabor said.

The video shows Spencer and at least one protester arguing. Tabor says he stopped recording as the protest began to conclude and walked over to the sidewalk where his wife and 5-year-old daughter were standing.

“As I walked around the corner this gentleman pushed me. And when he pushed me the first time I turned my camera on and brought my camera up. I said please don’t push me. And when I said that he slapped my camera.” Tabor said. “He pushes me again. In the video you can see my body fall back. And I did not say anything to him, I didn’t engage him. I was going to, until he touched me wife.”

Tabor says Spencer pushed his wife and he pushed Spencer back. The video shows Spencer then punching Tabor in the face.

FOX

The council is considering two changes to the city’s existing ordinance that deals with graffiti. One change would prevent minors from possessing spray paint; another would prevent stores from selling spray paint to minors.

Minors, according to the proposal, are anyone ages 11 to 18.

The city has, since 2008, had an ordinance that defines graffiti and requires property owners to clean graffiti from their buildings. City Attorney Angela Carmon said the city has been exploring the possibility of adding to that ordinance for the last six months. The proposed changes debated last night are modeled after ordinances in Statesville, Chicago Heights, Ill., and Los Angeles County in California.

Winston-Salem Journal

Does anybody think this will actually work?  Other cities have imposed these bans, but what were the results?  One London, Ontario business owner says his city’s ban was completely ineffective.  I would tend to agree with that.  Nothing is stopping a 17 year old kid with a car to drive outside Winston-Salem and buy some spray paint if he and his friends want to graffiti some buildings that badly.  I understand the frustration of  the people having to constantly clean it up off of their businesses, but I don’t think going this route will change anything.  Is the City of Winston-Salem expecting clerks at The Home Depot to check IDs of spray paint purchasers like we do with alcohol?  It sounds a bit ridiculous.

If I were a business owner that was having this problem I’d install security cameras, even if it doesn’t actually work.  Hell, use a fake camera.  The mere presence of it alone might be a deterrent.  If not, actually set it up to record and take the tape to the police and hopefully they can find the perpetrator, fine his parents, and then make the kid clean it up and send him to juvy for a week.  Start a coordinated effort between the community and the police to stop it.  What this really comes down to is a parenting problem.

I know, congressional ethics is an oxymoron.  And Mel Watt?  He’s just a moron.

Stung by a series of inquiries, nearly half the members of the Congressional Black Caucus want to rein in an independent ethics office that Democrats trumpeted after gaining control of Congress.

Rep. Marcia Fudge, D-Ohio, and 19 fellow black lawmakers in the all-Democratic caucus quietly introduced a resolution last week that would restrict the powers of the Office of Congressional Ethics to open new investigations and make its findings public. The office, formed by Congress in 2008, is run by a panel of private citizens.

Charlotte Observer

See, the panel has actually been effective and well, we just can’t allow that.  12th District Congressman Mel Watt of Charlotte is a cosponsor

But actually, here is the real beef of the Congressional Black Caucus.

Since its inception, the ethics office has investigated at least eight black caucus members, including veteran Rep. Charlie Rangel, D-N.Y., and five others in that group over privately funded trips to the Caribbean. Many of them are among the co-sponsors of Fudge’s resolution, although Rangel is not.

In a statement, Fudge argued that the new office – which can initiate investigations and refer findings but doesn’t have the power to sanction lawmakers – is too powerful. She said her changes would prevent “trials in the court of public opinion.”

“The processes must be fair to all people involved,” Fudge said in a statement. “OCE is currently the accuser, judge, and jury.”

So basically, the crux of the matter here is that too many black Congressmen have been caught with their dirty laundry by this citizen panel so they’re obviously racist.  The behavior and guilt of these Congressmen is completely irrelevant.  It doesn’t matter if they’re guilty or not.  Too many of them are black and so we’re way over the quota here.

The bottom line is that if more white Congressmen weren’t doing as good of a job hiding their malfeasance, the Congressional Black Caucus would not have drawn up their resolution.  Hence, the Congressional Black Caucus has zero credibility.  They are just a hateful, racist organization and our very own Mel Watt is a proud member.

America Speaking Out is the 2010’s version of the 1990’s Contract With America. The idea is to provide a forum both in person and online to allow the American public to propose their policy ideas to the GOP.  Allegedly, the GOP will adopt some of these ideas as their platform for this election year.  I say allegedly because I know the party establishment sends out surveys every year asking their supporters what they should be doing in D.C.  and they apparently don’t pay much attention to them because nothing in the party has changed much over the years.

While I can understand their wanting to reach out to the people and think that is a logical move, I also have to think that if they don’t already know what the public wants then they are way behind the eight ball.  Have they not been paying attention to the polls?  Have they ignored the protests that have been going on for the past year against the current administration’s agenda?  Are they not alarmed by their incumbents and establishment backed candidates getting trounced by the tea party folks?  Seriously, how insulated are these people in D.C. from what is going on in this country?

Anyway, my cynicism isn’t meant to disparage Congresswoman Foxx in anyway because we like her here at CPO, so if you live in North Carolina’s Fifth Congressional District and want to call into her telephone town hall on June 8th, it will begin at 5:30pm.  The number to dial in is 1-877-850-4133 Passcode FOXX (3699). Foxx will post the list of ideas submitted on her Web site www.foxx.house.gov for participants to review after the call.

Update: The time has been changed to 5:00pm

For a state that has been harshly demonized over the past month for stepping up where the Feds have miserably failed, Arizona sure has become the shining beacon on the top of the hill for other states that have been struggling with illegal immigrants.  North Carolina is now one of 20 states joining the fray where legislation has been introduced requiring resident aliens to carry proof of citizenship on them.

Senator Don East, a Surry Republican, introduced his resolution, S1349, this week to consider legislation that requires immigrants carry identification that proves they’re in the country legally. Twelve Republican senators, including Senator Bob Rucho of Matthews and Austin M. Allran of Hickory, have signed on to co-sponsor the resolution.

Charlotte Observer

Republicans Bill Randall and Bernie Reeves are heading into a run off election to decide which one of them will take on Congressman Brad Miller (D) for the 13th Congressional District seat in November.  A debate was held a few days ago, the whole thing of which can be watched on YouTube.  Below are the closing arguments of both candidates.  I have no horse in this race, but I will note that I was not the least bit impressed by Mr. Reeves.  In this clip in particular I don’t like the fact that Reeves spends his time name dropping whereas Randall told the audience why he was qualified to be the next Congressman for District 13.

Bill Randall is an old friend to CPO, having also turned in a set of answers to our NCGOP Chairman questionnaire when he ran for that last year. He’s running in the 13th Congressional District against two other Republicans. The winner of Tuesday’s primary will take on Brad Miller, another socialist masquerading as a moderate.

Randall served in the U.S. Navy and retired as a Command Master Chief. As I mentioned, last year he ran for NCGOOP chairman and had a respectable showing against other, more well-known candidates. If you’d like to learn more about him, visit www.randallforcongress.com.

Continue Reading »

So my mailbox has been the recipient of an onslaught of press releases from angry Republican Congressmen and candidates over the passage of health care deform last night.  I am not going to post every single one of them so I am just going to put up snippets of each one and whose office they were sent from.

Congresswoman Virginia Foxx (North Carolina’s 5th Congressional District)

“Now more than ever we need sensible health care reform,” Foxx said. “That’s why it’s so sad that the Democratic majority forced this overhaul through. This bill is bad medicine, plain and simple. It’s chock full of government mandates, $569 billion in job-killing tax hikes and $1.2 trillion in new government spending.”

In addition to increasing taxes by $569 billion, the final health overhaul slashes Medicare by $523.5 billion. It also includes nearly $200 billion in cuts to Medicare Advantage. There are more than 40,000 seniors in North Carolina’s 5th Congressional District who enjoy the benefits of Medicare Advantage.

Katherine Jenerette (Candidate for South Carolina’s 1st Congressional District)

It’s a set up guys. Obama and his brain trust are out in front on this one. They put the ‘thou-shalt-purchase’ clause in the bill deliberately knowing every freedom-loving, red-blooded Republican AG would charge. They intend to have the Republican’s object to this in bit-and-pieces instead of a full frontal attack that the ENTIRE Bill is unconstitutional.

We Republicans bit the bait real good, but, it was a Trojans horse covered with shiny stuff like the abortion debate; deliberately set to get our attention. While all along, ‘Obamanistas’ fully expect that the Supreme Court will strike down the parts that mandate a person will buy insurance or they will pay through the nose to BigFed one way or another. There are bigger problems ahead, so save some ammo.

We had a saying when I was in the desert in the first Gulf War, ‘It’s not just the mouse that ran through the tent you need to worry about – it’s the viper that’s chasing the mouse you better be afraid of.’

When the Supreme Court decision is finally made – with the anticipated ruling, the bumper sticker “I Heart Socialized Medicine” liberal crowd will pull out the already prepared Round Three plan: Public Option in tandem with the Federal Government picking up the tab incrementally to offset the loss.

Scott Keadle (Candidate for North Carolina’s 10th Congressional District)

Congressional candidate Scott Keadle today called on North Carolina’s Attorney General Roy Cooper to join other states’ attorney generals in a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the health care reform bill passed by Congress late last night.

Currently, Attorney Generals from Nebraska, North and South Dakota, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, and Washington have announced plans to do so. Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum announced this morning that he would file suit on behalf of Floridians.

Keadle said, “The health care reform legislation passed by the U. S. House of Representatives last night violates the U.S. Constitution and infringes on each state’s sovereignty. North Carolina should join the other states and file a lawsuit to protect the rights and the interests of its citizens.”

“The 10th District citizens overwhelmly are opposed to this legislation, and they deserve legal representation from our state’s top lawyer to fight on their behalf,” he said.

State Representative Jeff Duncan (Candidate for South Carolina’s 3rd Congressional District)

As I watched the health care debate, it was my hope that Congress would have considered legislation that would lower costs and improve access by offering free market solutions. I hoped Congress would have remembered the Constitution of the United States and realized they were leading our nation away from our founding principles

Instead, we witnessed a 2,700 page bill rammed through Congress by using a mixture of backroom bribes and procedural tricks. Instead of passing a transparent bill that would help rejuvenate our economy, thousands of small business owners are left wondering if this health care bill will be the straw that broke the camel’s back.

With the passage of this flawed health care bill we witnessed free market ideals substituted for more government bureaucracy. The federal government will be hiring approximately 16,000 new IRS agents just to enforce the new tax element of this legislation. In addition, this bill will make major cuts to Medicaid and Medicare and ask private citizens and doctors to pick up the tab. Ultimately, I believe this health care legislation is too expensive and is clearly unconstitutional.

Congressman Patrick McHenry (North Carolina’s 10th Congressional District)

“Today’s vote means the President will sign federal funding of abortions, the Cornhusker Kickback, the Louisiana Purchase, 19 tax increases and $500 billion in Medicare cuts into law. His so-called health care ‘reform’ plan raises premiums, ignores lawsuit abuse and adds billions to the federal deficit.

“This is an anti-jobs bill. Instead of helping businesses create jobs it will increase federal spending, raise taxes and slow economic growth.

Meet Susie — the poster dog for animal rights in North Carolina.

You might remember her as the badly burned and beaten puppy found in a south Greensboro park last summer. The pit bull-shepherd mix captured the hearts of many, and they rallied to save her.

Now Susie’s supporters will gather Sunday to rally again — this time to advocate for tougher animal cruelty laws in North Carolina. They’re going door-to-door in Guilford County with information on the state’s laws, which allowed Susie’s abuser to get off with what they say is a light sentence.

Earlier this month, a judge sentenced Lashawn Whitehead to probation for felony animal cruelty, a judgment that followed the state’s structured sentencing laws. Whitehead, 21 , also received six to eight months in prison for setting personal property on fire. That personal property was Susie.

The News-Record

I’m in favor of a little “eye-for-an-eye” in cases like this. Forget the six-to-eight months in the clink; let’s pour some gasoline on this son of a bitch and light a match. Let’s see how he likes it. Maybe we’ll add a little something extra and douse the fire with vinegar instead of water.

“We want everybody to understand how minimal the penalties are for cruelty to animals,” said Roberta Wall , a Greensboro real estate agent who fostered Susie until she was placed in a permanent home with Donna Lawrence .

Under structured sentencing, the judge did not have the option to give Whitehead prison time on the cruelty charge, which is a Class I felony, the lowest level.

Under what has been dubbed “Susie’s Law,” that charge would be bumped up to a Class F felony, which allows a judge to hand out an active prison sentence.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

February 24, 2010

Contact: Aaron Groen

202-225-2071

WASHINGTON—The National Taxpayers Union (NTU) today awarded Foxx an “A” grade for her record of consistently voting to reduce spending and keep taxes low.  In NTU’s detailed rating of more than 300 House votes in 2009 Foxx scored a 94 percent, giving her the highest score out of North Carolina’s congressional delegation.

“Working hard to keep federal government spending in check and to keep North Carolina families’ taxes low is one of my top priorities,” Foxx said.  “So I’m pleased that NTU recognized my commitment to fiscal responsibility and limited government in their 2009 vote ratings.”

NTU’s rating of members of Congress’ votes covers 333 House votes in 2009 that had a significant affect on taxes, spending or debt.  Foxx’s “A” grade reflects her voting record on these 333 votes and also earns her the NTU’s “Taxpayers’ Friend Award”.

For more information on NTU’s congressional ratings, how the ratings are calculated and what roll call votes are used please visit www.ntu.org.

Yes, you read that correctly.  Wake Forest University was given a grant for $71,623 to “study the effects of self-administering cocaine on the glutamate system on monkeys.” Ah, but that’s not all.  Wake Forest also received a grant in the amount of $147,694 to study “preliminary data on the efficacy of integral yoga for reducing menopausal hot flashes.”  Wake Forest lies in Congressman Mel Watt’s (D) district.  I wonder who appropriated those earmarks.

There is also $50,000 for the American Dance Festival, Inc. and $250k to preserve an insect collection.

Can anybody tell me how any of this is supposed to stimulate the economy?  That was the purpose of the stimulus bill after all, hence the reason it was referred to as the stimulus bill, or more appropriately, the Porkulus bill.  Perhaps this is why after spending billions of dollars it hasn’t done jack.

Many months ago when I was expressing my dismay about the Porkulus bill and referred to it as such, our dear friend Lynn told me I was sounding too much like Rush Limbaugh.  Well Lynn, you haven’t commented in a while, but in case you are still popping by, I told ya so.

All I have to say is thank God for John Pope and the Civitas Institute for taking the time to expose this kind of crap because Lord knows I certainly don’t have the resources to.  Maybe some day.

Join us for a hometown campaign jump start for

Cal Cunningham
Candidate for U.S. Senate

Barbecue Dinner

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

6:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.

Richard Childress Racing Auditorium
425 Industrial Drive
Welcome, NC

Individual Tickets
$25

TO RSVP, please visit www.calfornc.com/events/jumpstart.

To sponsor the event or for more information, please contact Crystal Perkins, 336-248-2010 or crystal@calfornc.com.

The Forsyth County Board of Commissioners will have a moment of silence during its Monday meeting instead of a public prayer.

Judge James A. Beaty Jr. of U.S. District Court recently ruled that the county cannot allow prayers with sectarian content before meetings. Beaty said that the county could choose to have no prayer or a nonsectarian prayer instead.

“I will ask for a moment of silence and then ask a member of the board of commissioners to proceed with the Pledge of Allegiance,” said Commissioner Dave Plyler, the chairman of the board. “That would be in keeping with the judge’s order.”

The W-S Journal

Eh. I wrote about this last year. I don’t like the ruling because it’s absurdist hysteria to think that the Board of Commissioners is “respecting an establishment of religion” by starting meetings with a prayer. If you don’t want to pray with them… don’t. Don’t want your commissioner to pray? Vote for someone who won’t.

That said, why do we have to pray before a meeting? If prayer is that important to you, then pray yourself. Or get together with friends before the meeting and pray. Ain’t nothing wrong with that. I just can’t get worked up about this one way or another.

Authorities lifted curfew and alcohol restrictions in King on Sunday, but said a state of emergency declaration remained in effect until Monday.

Authorities said the state of emergency declaration would continue until Monday 9 a.m., barring any unforeseen circumstances or severe changes.

Effective Sunday afternoon, alcohol restrictions and a curfew were lifted. All other remaining restrictions would continue until Monday, said Paula May, King police chief.

Other restrictions included a ban on the sale or purchase of any type of firearm, ammunition, explosive or any possession of such items off a person’s own premises.

WXII

Oh really?  I’d like to see “Chief Eichmann” hold her little martial law display up in a court of law.  The Chief of Police of King, North Carolina has no right to violate the Constitutional rights of the residents of that community just because a damn storm passed through, or really any reason for that matter.  Her actions were nothing less than tyrannical and AG Roy Cooper needs to do an investigation into this.

Update: It sounds like these orders may have originated from higher up.

You may recall that President Obama promised several times during his 2008 presidential campaign that if elected he would push for an overhaul of the health care system and that he would make the talks and negotiations publicly accessible by the media.  This of course has turned out to be another one of the many lies he fed the American people in the run up to the 2008 elections.  The health care legislation has been a rotting stew of secrecy, back room deals, and flat out bribery among our elected representatives on the left side of the aisle.

A few days ago C-SPAN finally got up the nerve to push House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) to allow them access to cover the talks of the final legislation being reconciled by both Houses of Congress.  In what is more or less a mockery of their request, the Great O has bestowed upon them a one hour window to cover the talks.  The fact that they even have to ask permission in a “government for the people, by the people” is rather striking to begin with.

Understandably outraged by the behavior of the majority party, Congresswoman Virginia Foxx (R-NC-05) has co-authored a letter with a few fellow Republican Congressmen to Pelosi demanding that they live up to the promise  of “a new era of openness in our country” made by the President early last year.  It will more than likely be ignored because this administration and Congressional leadership have demonstrated time and time again that they don’t give a damn about what the people of this country want, but hey, at least Foxx has tried.

You can read the text of her letter here.

A federal district court magistrate judge has recommended that the federal court for the Middle District of North Carolina bar Forsyth County from allowing prayers with sectarian content before meetings of the board of county commissioners.

The county has a policy that allows clergy from any religious group to volunteer to give the invocation. While the prayer-givers are asked to be respectful of other faiths, the board doesn’t otherwise monitor the content of the prayers.

W-J Journal

Meh. I’m not really sure what to think about this.  Why do we have to say a prayer every time someone convenes a meeting? Religion, to me, is a private and personal thing. People who show up to a government meeting to protest some zoning decision or something shouldn’t be asked to join everyone in a prayer, especially if they don’t feel comfortable doing so. If you really want to pray before a meeting, invite people to do so privately.

On the other hand, is this really a big deal? I mean… really? I don’t mind pre-meeting prayers, and I fail to see how this is “respecting an establishment of religion”. I hate it when some random crank with a stick up their ass regarding religion files these complaints.

Nothing like making the whole world bend over because you’re upset about something, right?