Carolina Politics Online

The national Democratic Party began broadcasting radio commercials this week that use high gas prices to criticize U.S. Reps. Robin Hayes and Patrick McHenry of North Carolina, along with 11 other Republicans nationwide.

The ads, which feature a President Bush impersonator thanking the two lawmakers for oil company tax breaks, effectively place Hayes and McHenry in the top ranks of the Democratic Party’s targets this year. Both face challenges from well-funded opponents.

Charlotte Observer

This ad is farcicle.  Are they trying to imply that the tax breaks given to oil companies is what is causing the high prices?  So if Congress removed them the price of gas would drop?  LOL  Actually, it would do the opposite because they would pass on their additional costs to the consumer.  That’s the way the market works.  Furthermore, McHenry has supported overturning the drilling bans and Hayes is pushing legislation to build more refineries.  In fact, Hayes has put out a press release today touting his introducing of the Alternative Energy Advancement Act.

WASHINGTON, DC - Congressman Robin Hayes (NC-8) recently introduced The Alternative Energy Advancement Act (H.R. 6383), which seeks to use proceeds from domestic oil and gas production to increase the development of new alternative energy technologies by diverting all federal proceeds from future oil and gas leases, on and off shore, into a newly created Alternative Energy Trust Fund.

It would seem to me the two Congressmen are on the right side of the issue here.

Both Hayes and McHenry voted for the 2005 legislation that included tax breaks for fossil fuel production, as well as a variety of incentives to encourage new energy and fuel alternatives. More than 70 House Democrats also supported the bill, including Reps. Bob Etheridge, G.K. Butterfield and Mike McIntyre, all of North Carolina.

Democrats, though, had difficulty explaining how they were implicitly criticizing the Republicans for their vote on a 2005 energy bill when U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, the presumed Democratic nominee for president, voted for the same legislation.

Uh-huh.  Hypocrites.  This ad is nothing more than a sleazy cheap shot at both Congressmen trying to capitalize on the anger and frustration people have over higher gas prices.  McHenry and Hayes are hardly responsible for that.

A teenager was decapitated by a roller coaster after he hopped a pair of fences and entered a restricted area Saturday at Six Flags Over Georgia, authorities said.

Six Flags officials are uncertain why the unidentified 17-year-old from Columbia, S.C. scaled two six-foot fences and passed signs that said the restricted area was both off-limits and dangerous to visitors, spokeswoman Hela Sheth said in a news release.

Authorities were investigating reports from witnesses who said the teenager jumped the fences to retrieve a hat he lost while riding the Batman roller coaster, said Cobb County police Sgt. Dana Pierce. Police have declined to release the teenager’s name until an autopsy is completed.

The teen was struck and killed by the roller coaster “while it was in operation,” according to the park’s news release. Police said the ride was going full-speed when the teen was struck.

WBT

I’ve read about this on a few different message forums and have seen some pretty harsh comments regarding this kid’s fatal lack of judgment.  I’ve seen accusations of this incident being “Darwinism in action,” or “thinning the herd.”  I’m not going to say anything that crass.  Sure, those comments may be true.  What the kid did was totally stupid, but let’s all remember how much common sense we had back at that age.  Anyone who never took a stupid and/or dangerous risk when they were young raise your hand.  (Anyone who raises their hand is a liar) When you’re that age you have a false confidence that you are somehow “bullet proof.”  Generally, you wise up as you get older, though some never do.  It’s a sad tragedy and the family deserves everyone’s deepest sympathies….

For now.

This is where I become polically incorrect.  I guarantee that somewhere right now there is a filthy, blood sucking lawyer who is salivating at the opportunity of calling up this kid’s parents and encouraging them go after Six Flags for tens of millions, all for his own greed.  It doesn’t matter that there were fences up and the kid jumped both of them.  It doesn’t matter that there were signs on these fences noting the danger and indicating the area was a restricted zone.  None of that matters because these are the components of your modern day frivolous lawsuit.  If these parents sue Six Flags, they lose all of my sympathy and deserve to be shredded to pieces up and down the blogosphere and throughout the media.

Dole said in an interview Thursday that when she first supported the moratorium on drilling in 2002 that gas was $1.40 per gallon, and now it’s more than $4.

“People’s opinions have evolved based on their circumstances,” she said. “Folks are really hurting, there’s no question about it.”

The campaign of Dole’s election challenger, state Sen. Kay Hagan, D-Guilford, labeled Dole as a flip-flopper.

The News & Observer

Yes, Dole has changed her position on this, though I don’t know that this really qualifies as a true “flip-flop.”  I think the current circumstances of energy prices allow members of Congress to modify their position on this issue without being accused of pandering or flip-flopping.  Undoubtedly, many Americans who may have opposed this at one point are changing their tune.

“The plan to drill off North Carolina’s coast is just another in a long line of bright ideas concocted and supported by the Bush-Dole team to pad the profits and the pockets of their oil-producing friends,” said Hagan’s spokeswoman, Colleen Flanagan.

I think this is a very foolish statement by Flanagan.  People aren’t happy about paying $4.00 a gallon per gas.  It may very well be $5 by November.  They are going to want Congress to act and resisting the push to drill offshore is going to cost Hagan votes, not win her any.

Others are also reconsidering. Last week, Rep. Mike McIntyre, a Democrat from Lumberton who represents the southern end of the N.C. coast, said skyrocketing gas prices are driving folks like him to take a second look at oil exploration if there can be enough assurances that it won’t harm the environment.

Will Hagan now accuse McIntyre of flip-flopping?  I wouldn’t bet on it.

With an unemployment office as a backdrop, Democrat Harry Taylor Thursday ripped Republican U.S. Rep. Sue Myrick for voting this month against extending jobless benefits by three months.

“Either she doesn’t know what’s going on or she doesn’t care,” Taylor said at news conference at a south Charlotte unemployment office.

Myrick was among 137 members, all Republican, who voted against the Democratic-sponsored bill.

Charlotte Observer

Myrick made the right vote.  Taylor evidently would have voted for bigger government.  The government isn’t there to take care of you and shouldn’t pay you because you lose your job.  Our entitlement spending is already way out of control.

Mumpower has said he would support the impeachment of President Bush because of his failure to address illegal immigration and that he will not accept any funding from the Republican National Committee or be beholden to that group in any way.

Yeakley said he doesn’t think Mumpower would’ve defeated fellow Republicans Spence Campbell, a Henderson County resident, or John Armor, of Macon County, in the primary had he made his bold proclamations before that election.

“I’m not sure I can trust him,” Yeakley said.

Asheville Citizen-Times

I think Mumpower is right on the money.  Bush has intentionally left our southern border vulnerable to appease the Mexican government.  Three of our border guards are in jail for doing their jobs at the hands of U.S. attorney Johnny Sutton who I have no doubt went after these guys under the direction of the Bush Administration.  Sutton even a gave a criminal drug smuggler immunity to testify against our own border guards!  I remember watching a hearing between a panel of Senators and Sutton and even the far leftist Dianne Feinstein was disturbed by Sutton’s practices.

As for Mumpower not taking money from the RNC, that’s his decision, but I think it’s a fool hearty one for him to make.  Shuler will be well funded and he won’t be easy to beat.  On the other hand, I don’t know that the RNC would have much money to give Mumpower anyway.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Aaron Groen

June 26, 2008
202-225-2071

Foxx praises Supreme Court’s Second Amendment ruling

High Court strikes down D.C.’s longstanding ban on gun ownership

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Representative Virginia Foxx made the following statement today after the Supreme Court ruled that Washington, D.C.’s gun ownership ban was unconstitutional and in violation of the Second
Amendment:

“The Supreme Court’s decision today restores the constitutional rights of the thousands of law-abiding citizens in Washington, D.C. who for decades have seen their second amendment rights stripped away by an unconstitutional gun ban,” Foxx said.

“Law-abiding Americans have the constitutional right to own guns and it is high time that D.C. residents are given the right to purchase legal guns for legitimate purposes like sport shooting or self-defense. Today’s Supreme Court ruling is a victory for individual rights and for the fundamental personal liberties every American enjoys each day.”

Note: Last year Rep Foxx signed an amicus brief that was submitted to the Supreme Court urging the Court to overturn the District of Columbia’s unconstitutional gun ban.  Rep. Foxx is also a member of the Congressional Second Amendment Caucus, a group of Members of Congress dedicated to protecting the right of law-abiding individuals to own firearms as granted by the Constitution’s Second Amendment.  Foxx has co-sponsored H.R. 1399, a bipartisan bill to repeal the District of Columbia’s gun ban.

###

The system, called E-Verify, is part of a larger immigration act sponsored by the Waynesville Democrat emphasizing border security, employment verification and domestic enforcement of immigration law. If passed, the legislation would cost $17.3 billion over 10 years.

Shuler had planned to meet with Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce members and the public at the Crest Center on Monday but could not do so because of unexpected business in Washington, his staff said. Jonathan Scharfen, acting director of U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services under the Department of Homeland Security, and N.C. Rep. Charles Thomas, who is sponsoring state-level E-Verify legislation, spoke about the system.

Jimmy Cowan, a district field representative for Farm Bureau Insurance, said the

E-Verify system looked like it could work, but he was concerned it could be tough on farmers who needed to hire quickly, and could leave immigrants unemployed and more dependent on social aid programs.

“You’re going to have farmers over here looking for employees … and also you’re going to have another pool of folks that don’t have the income that they currently have,” Cowan said.

Asheville Citizen-Times

Cowan is making excuses.  Having to go through E-Verify is not going to cause any significant delay to a farmer who has an immediate need for workers.  Regarding social aid programs, the unemployed illegals won’t be dependent on them if they aren’t made available to them.  The result will be they will have to go back to where they came from and go through the system like everyone else.

The bottom line is Cowan is defending farmers wanting to hire illegal aliens so that they can pay them slave wages rather than hiring an American worker and paying him an acceptable market wage.

Well, with taxpayers’ help, he drives an energy-saving hybrid vehicle when he travels around his lightning-bolt shaped district, which stretches from Mecklenburg to Guilford counties.

More than a dozen years ago he was leasing a “great big” sport utility vehicle, and then he went to a van. These days, he’s leasing a Toyota Prius.

“It gets 50 miles per gallon – people find that hard to believe,” he says.

Charlotte Observer

From the first sound of it, Mel Watt appears to be setting a shining example for his district.  He is not just preaching conservation to people, he is practicing it.  It would seem admirable of him, but are things exactly what they seem?

Of course, it does come at a price. According to House spending records, the taxpayers are spending $742.80 a month for him to lease that 2007 Prius from Wilmar Inc., a vehicle leasing company in Charlotte.

Aha!  That’s an awful lot of money for a car lease.  You can lease a BMW for a lot less than that and I guarantee you that this Wilmar Inc. is grossly overcharging on the lease of this vehicle because they know it’s being paid for by all of us.  So when you dig into the details it kind of sours on Watt’s intentions.  I don’t think his vehicle switch was a very economical decision.

Voting 268 for and 155 against, the House on Thursday approved an amendment to HR 2642 that would appropriate $162.5 billion to pay for Iraq-Afghanistan war costs well into 2009.

Why did these Democrats vote against funding the troops? Their earlier attempts at passing a law to force a removal of troops from those two countries failed. I guess we know who supports the military and who doesn’t in North Carolina.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Aaron Groen

June 19, 2008
202-225-2071

Foxx votes for troop funding, veterans’ education benefits

Legislation funds troops through June 2009, extends education benefits

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Representative Virginia Foxx today praised the
passage of a long-delayed troop funding bill (H.R. 2642
<http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d110:h.r.02642:> ).  Foxx voted in favor of the troop funding legislation last night, which includes approximately $165 billion for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan through June 2009 and also includes $52 billion for veterans’ education benefits.

“After months of negotiations we finally have a bill that funds the troops without billions in wasteful Washington pork and political strings attached,” Foxx said.  “Commonsense prevailed and our men and women in uniform will have the funding they need for the next year.”

The final compromise version of the troop funding bill cut more than $8 billion in wasteful, unrelated Washington spending inserted by Senate Democrats and did not include tax increases sought by House Democrats.

“Not only does this legislation get our troops the funding they need when they need it, but our military commanders will be free to make strategic decisions without unnecessary and politically motivated
meddling,” Foxx said.

The provisions of the compromise version of H.R. 2642, the Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2008 are:

*        Provides Troop Funding for fiscal year 2008-2009.  H.R. 2642 ensures that American troops have the resources they need, rejecting demands from Democrats to stop funding our troops as they make significant progress in Iraq and Afghanistan.

*        Eliminates ALL War Restrictions.  This bill gets our troops the funding they need for success without any politically-motivated restrictions.

*        Includes NO Tax Increases.  The legislation includes no tax increases of any kind sought by House Democrats.

*        Provides New Education Resources for American Veterans.  This new education program will help our veterans (or their families) get a better education after they return from Iraq and Afghanistan.

*        Maintains Work Requirements for Unemployment Insurance.  At GOP insistence, H.R. 2642 protects taxpayers by maintaining the 20-week work requirement in order for a worker to receive extended unemployment benefits.  The agreement also limits the extension of benefits to 13 additional weeks.

*        Cuts Wasteful Pork.  The compromise bill cuts $8 billion in wasteful Washington spending added by Senate Democrats.

*        Rejects Funding for Planned Parenthood.  The legislation eliminates funding sought by Democrats for Planned Parenthood.

###

The Republican challenging U.S. Rep. Mike McIntyre this fall owes his ex-wife thousands of dollars in child support, court records show.

According to documents filed in Bladen County Superior Court, Will Breazeale is in arrears by more than $37,000 — a figure that he disputes. He also says that the legal action taken against him is politically motivated.

Fayetteville Observer

I’m not exactly certain how Breazeale can explain away $37 grand in back payments.  That’s a staggering amount and it doesn’t happen by accident.  You’d think he would have thought over this a little more closely before entering this race.  This only helps his opponent more.

Breazeale, who is representing himself in court, said he and his ex-wife divorced in 1994 in Georgia. They share custody of their daughter, and they live about a mile apart, he said.

He said his deployments to Iraq and his job as an airline pilot boosted his income, which affected his child support obligations. He returned from Iraq in April 2007, he said.

“I’ve been back for a year, and we have been in negotiation the whole the time,” he said.

Court records say he is supposed to pay $600 a month in child support while he is deployed. When not deployed, he is supposed to pay 20 percent of his gross monthly income.

I do want to add, however, that the amount he has to pay his ex-wife is ridiculous.  20% of his gross monthly income when they share custody and she lives a mile away?  I could maybe see if she had the kid the whole time, but I would still think that is excessive.  Child support is supposed to be exactly that.  It’s not supposed to prop up the lifestyle of the other parent, which is what this amount sounds like to me.

Breazeale said Womble has trumped up the issue and overstated the back child support for political reasons.

Womble, a Democrat, called the charge absurd.

“I know Mike McIntyre, but my representation of (Trivette) has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with the political process.”

According to Federal Election Commission records, Womble gave McIntyre’s campaign $1,000 on Oct. 2.

Womble’s relationship to McIntyre is certainly suspect, but Breazeale is also engaging in a campaign tactic by blaming Womble for this negative news rather than himself.  If Breazeale had paid this money on time then there would be no case for Womble to bring.

Breazeale is already facing an uphill battle in taking on McIntyre.  He hasn’t done himself any favors here.  How much impact this has on the race will be determined by how much of a deal the McIntyre Campaign, the Democratic Party, and the media make of this.  McIntyre says he won’t make this race about personal issues.  He really doesn’t have to.  I don’t think he is worried about losing his seat.

This year’s budget includes at least four earmarks that could benefit people close to Clyburn.

The veteran lawmaker helped secure $784,000 for the planning and design of the International African-American Museum in Charleston. Clyburn’s nephew, Derrick Ballard, is one of the lead architects on that project.

Similarly, in 2005, Clyburn earmarked $145,500 for a community center to be designed by Ballard.

He also set aside $229,000 in this year’s budget to the Charles R. Drew Wellness Center in Columbia — a facility he helped construct with a 2003 earmark of $990,000. His daughter, Angela, is the marketing and membership director there.

He got $282,000 appropriated for The South Sumter Resource Center, where his sister-in- law, Gwendolyn, is housing coordinator for the center’s community development division. He’s secured $670,000 for the resource center in past budgets.

The Post and Courier

Along with the cost of earmarks, this is the other main reason why they need to be eliminated.  What you have here is pure, unadulterated corruption.  James Clyburn is using his power in the Federal Government to steer our tax dollars into the pockets of his family.  The man should be removed from Congress for this immediately, but that’s about as likely as Bush getting impeached.  So, that leaves it up to his constituents to decide in November and they’ll most certainly keep him.  Clyburn’s district has been drawn especially for him and partisans love a corrupt politician as long as he is of the same stripe.

Democratic Congressional candidate Larry Kissell pumped up his campaign Sunday by selling gas for $1.22 a gallon, highlighting the energy votes of Republican incumbent Rep. Robin Hayes.

Kissell spent almost three hours selling the cheap gas to a few hundred motorists in downtown Biscoe. He used a similar campaign tactic in his narrow loss to Hayes two years ago.

“The people were very appreciative, very patient and appeared very quickly,” Kissell said.

The Herald-Sun

Kissell gets credit for thinking outside the box and being creative.  However, I still see this as vote buying and any voter who would throw their support to any candidate based on that candidate giving them discounted gasoline is a bonehead.  Kissell’s party has been mostly responsible for the high prices of gasoline in this country by their refusal to allow more domestic drilling and their catering to extremists environmentalist groups which has caused higher energy prices.

There is no one solution to energy costs.  There are several.  Alternative fuels are part of the solution as is nuclear power, but so is increasing today’s current supply of oil.  Unless Kissell is prepared to support these solutions, his recent campaign stunt is nothing more than hypocritical.

WASHINGTON – Rep. Heath Shuler’s immigration bill got another hearing Tuesday, but time is running out on his plan to require employers to use a government database to screen out unauthorized workers.

Lawmakers acknowledged they needed to do something about the millions of illegal immigrants working in the U.S. But many at a House immigration subcommittee hearing cited numerous problems with mandating that employers use E-Verify, the Department of Homeland Security’s screening database, which currently is voluntary.

Asheville Citizen-Times

No surprise there.  The Federal Government has no interest in actually solving this problem.  If they did they would have done it years ago.  The only reason it is even being discussed is because the American people have forced their hand on it.  All those years of Republican control didn’t get the issue resolved and there is no way in Hell the Pelosi Congress will pay the needed attention to it.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: KATHERINE JENERETTE’S 75-Day Whirlwind Campaign for US CONGRESS

SUBJECT: Republican Congressional Candidate Katherine Jenerette thanks All-Volunteer Campaign Team - Congratulates U.S. Rep. Henry Brown, Jr. and remarks on the November Election

DATE: June 10, 2008

FOR MORE INFORMATION: www.jenerette.org

PHOTOS at: www.jenerette.org/photos

I want to take this opportunity to congratulate U.S. Rep. Henry Brown, Jr. and offer my support to both him and to all the members of the Republican slate of candidates for the November 2008 general elections. With the primary election behind us it is time to ‘bury the hatchet’ and to come together in order to best serve our District and our State of South Carolina in anyway we each can as a party with an agenda for the future.

Two and a half months ago I was an Army Lieutenant at Ft Benning, Georgia, serving alongside some of the best young men and women this nation has to offer and upon returning home to South Carolina I changed back into civilian clothes and along with a great all-volunteer team of supporters from Charleston, Dorchester, Georgetown, Berkeley and Horry Counties I started my campaign for the U.S. Congress.

In a 75-day whirlwind congressional campaign these great team members worked tirelessly and pulled together thousands of voters throughout the district who recognized that times have changed and that a new vision for the future is needed for everything from national security, taxes, energy, the economy, education and illegal immigration. Their efforts were successful in getting out a clear message and we finished the primary election in a solid second place in a three-man race. I am indebted to them all for their hard work in our uphill fight against a four-term incumbent and to each of them individually for their dedication and loyalty to our conservative principles and objectives.

But for now, the real race will be in November’s elections. The battleground is the Presidency and the Congress. And, whether we like it or not, four hundred and thirty five elected representatives set the budget and policy agenda for this entire country. The reality of the unavoidable ‘Obama Factor’ on the voter turn-out cannot be underestimated and our focus must be on Republican results not divisiveness.

The Democrats have successfully painted themselves as the party with a vision for the future and a party with ideas while we Republican’s have had great difficulty in articulating our ‘old’ but principled ideas of limited government, less taxation, national interest, etc. let alone come up with new ideas to deal with our nations future.

These are trying times and Novembers’ election is going to prove itself a historical moment in our nations history. There should be no doubt in any ones mind either Democrat or Republican: This Election 2008 is a fight for the soul of our nation.

We must do a better job reaching a conservative public that has seemed to have lost faith in both politics and politicians with not much more than a status-quo agenda to offer the voters. Boring messages from boring messengers do not bring out the voters.

However, I do know Congressman Brown to be a dedicated and hard worker and I am certain that he recognizes that Washington is a far different place today than it was with a Republican majority in both Houses. The first fight for all of us then is to help Rep. Brown to defeat the challenge from the Democrats candidate for Congress Linda Ketner so he can take the next fight to Democrat Speaker Nancy Pelosi and somehow slow down her liberal agenda while aggressively carrying the ball for our conservative agenda.

This is no small task.

Anyway, I’ve been active in local, state and national politics since I was old enough to vote and I knew this primary election was going to be an uphill fight. I want everyone who supported me and voted for me to know that I am both humbled and proud of my grassroots organization and the team network that kept us on the playing field through the final minutes of play left on the clock. Thank you.

For me, it’s now time to move forward and look to the future; I’m still pretty young and I’m not planning on going anywhere. South Carolina is my home, my children go to school here, my family goes to church here and we have neighbors, friends and relatives here. And, like many other parents whose children are growing up way too fast, I’m trying to get my son who is in High School to pick a college here in Carolina to attend. Even after this election, the future looks real promising from where I’m standing.

Again, my sincere appreciation to my supporters and to those voters who went to the polls and cast their votes on election day even if they did not vote for me. Our elections are for all the people, which is why I still serve in uniform alongside so many others in the military - so we all could be free to vote our choices and our conscience.

Thank you all and God Bless!

Katherine Jenerette
Email: uscongress@msn.com

06/10/08

Daniel Johnson, Democratic nominee for the 10th Congressional District, is opening his campaign office tomorrow, June 12th at 1333 1st Ave SW in Hickory.  Festivities will be from 5:30 PM to 7:30 PM.

My “esteemed” Congressman Jack Spratt (D-SC-05) who most certainly has had his share of fat, is running around bragging about the record $3.1 trillion budget that the Democrat Controlled Congress has passed in Washington. This is a reckless and irresponsible budget for a great many reasons.

One, it eliminates cuts to Medicare and Medicaid which are both a huge drain on our tax dollars and becoming more of a financial burden on the Federal government with each passing year. These entitlement programs need to be drastically cut back or they are going to consume a piece of the pie far too large for us to sustain in the not so distant future. The budget also expands SCHIP, another Socialist entitlement program that addicts our newborn citizens to the government nanny state the moment they exit the womb.

Spratt claims that we will have a balanced budget by 2012 with a large surplus, but that is also a flawed assessment. This balance will only be achieved if the Bush tax cuts are allowed to expire which will result in the largest tax increase in American history, heavily hitting the middle class and if the are no further military expenses regarding operations in Iraq and Afghanistan after 2009. If John McCain becomes President that is out the window and if Barack Obama becomes President it’s not likely to happen despite what he says.

This is a feckless spending plan that throws the baby out with the bath water.