So Election 2008 is now over and your friendly admin of CPO can slack off for a little while now. We saw some big changes last night around the country and also right here in the Carolinas.
North Carolina has turned blue. By a fraction of a hair it went to Obama last night. He earned it. His campaign had the ground game to make it happen.
Kay Hagan predictably ousted Elizabeth Dole by a handy margin. Dole got slaughtered with outside 527 ads and I think the “Godless” ad she ran against Hagan sealed her fate.
One Congressional seat changed hands and that was the 8th Congressional District held by Republican Robin Hayes. This was expected to happen, but I was hoping Hayes would pull it out only because I think Larry Kissell is the wrong man for that seat. His energy policies are an infantile fantasy that will hurt his constituents which are mostly low income. Virginia Foxx, Heath Shuler, and Patrick McHenry easily won reelection.
In statewide races, Bev Perdue (D) narrowly defeated Pat McCrory (R) for the gubernatorial race. This made me very angry. It could not have been more obvious who the candidate of change was in this race. Bev Perdue will continue the same status quo culture of corruption that has plagued Raleigh for years. I think straight party voting caused this victory. Likewise, State Senator Walter Dalton (D) defeated State Senator Robert Pittenger (R) in the Lieutenant Governor’s race by a slightly larger margin.
Democrat Beth Wood defeated Republican incumbent Les Merritt in the Auditor’s race which is another blow to the state. Merritt was the only firewall defending the people from the corruption in the state legislature and now that is gone. Roy Cooper (D), Steve Troxler (R), Cherie Berry (R), Elaine Marshall (D), and June Atkinson (D) all got reelected to their posts. State Senator Janet Cowell (D) is now the new State Treasurer and Democrat Wayne Goodwin won the Insurance Commissioner’s race.
The Republican Party in North Carolina is extremely incompetent.
In the State Legislature Debbie Ann Clary won the race in Senate District 46 flipping that from Democrat to Republican. In State House District 86 Republican Hugh Blackwell defeated Democratic incumbent Walter Church and in State House District 90 Republican Sarah Stevens ousted incumbent Democrat Jim Harrell.
South Carolina gave our electoral votes to John McCain last night and we were the only Atlantic coast state to do so. Lindsey Graham easily won reelection to the U.S. Senate. All six Congressmen won reelections to their seats as well.
In the state legislature there weren’t many changes. Republican Kris Crawford did win reelection in House District 63. I said last night that he lost. Anton Gunn picked up House District 79 for the Democrats. The District 115 race between Republican incumbent Wallace Scarborough and Democrat Anne Peterson Hutto is too close to call at this time, althought Scarborough has claimed victory.
The ballot amendment to change the Constitution to allow the state legislature to set the age of consent passed.
If you live in the Appalachian region of North Carolina, you’re going to have three choices on the ballot Tuesday when you vote for who your Congressman will be. Heath Shuler (D) is the incumbent Congressman who won the seat just two years ago when he ousted Republican Charles Taylor. Asheville City Councilman Carl Mumpower (R) and Keith Smith (L) are challenging to take the seat from him.
Shuler has had a fairly centrist voting record over the past two years. He voted against the $700 billion bailout and he was a vocal co-sponsor of Secure America through Verification and Enforcement Act. Shuler received an A rating from the NRA and is also a pro-life Democrat. He is also a member of the Blue Dog Caucus which is a moderate to conservative Democratic caucus in Congress.
Carl Mumpower is a staunch conservative supporting ideas like the Fair Tax, smaller government, continuing our presence in Iraq, eliminating earmarks, strong support of the Second Amendment as well as pro-life choices. Mumpower has stood firmly behind his convictions throughout this race and has even rankled those in his own party throughout this campaign when he has felt they have not lived up to the principles that define the Republican Party.
In June, he said he would support the impeachment of President Bush over his failure to stem illegal immigration. In July he “suspended†his campaign for nearly a week (though he continued to send out press releases) until the majority of the 15 counties in the 11th Congressional District recommitted themselves to the Republican Party’s core principles.
Mumpower has raised very little money in this race partly in due to a pledge he took not to accept money from special interest groups. While his position is admirable, I don’t think it was a wise one. He already faced an uphill battle in defeating Shuler. By taking this position he handicapped himself even further because he has made it more difficult to get his message out. Additionally, there has been a lot of conflict between his campaign and local Republican organizations which has fractured the unity behind him.
Keith Smith takes the idea of limited government all the way home. He advocates more parental responsibility in education with a possible combination of on campus and home schooling. He also understands the need for developing several alternative energy sources, including wind, solar, and nuclear in addition to expanded oil drilling off of our coast. Overall, he is in favor of repealing most nanny state laws as he gives several examples here and there on his campaign site. I don’t disagree.
My opinion of this race is that Shuler will win handily. Overall, he has been a decent fit to the district and I have been saying since early last year that it will be next to impossible to knock him off in an election. The atmosphere isn’t ripe for picking this year and Mumpower has not run the necessary campaign to do so.
Republican congressional candidate Carl Mumpower says he’s going off the airwaves.
The Asheville city councilman who is trying to unseat freshman Democratic Rep. Heath Shuler said Thursday that his campaign will not run any television or radio ads in the remaining weeks before Election Day.
Mumpower said he thinks most campaign commercials aim to manipulate voters and that he doesn’t need paid messages to get his name out.
Recent campaign finance reports show Mumpower’s campaign is almost broke.
The Senate as you are well aware by now passed a sweetened version of the bailout Tuesday evening. The House voted again today and complied, as I suspected they would. So the dirty deed is now done. Bear in mind that this bill was rife with waist added by the Senate on Tuesday night that had nothing to do with the economical turmoil.
$2 million tax benefit for makers of wooden arrows for children
$100 million tax break to benefit auto racetrack owners
$192 million in rebates on excise taxes for the Puerto Rican and Virgin Islands rum industry
$148 million in tax relief for U.S. wool fabric producers
$49 million tax benefit for fishermen and other plaintiffs who sued over the 1989 tanker Exxon Valdez spill.
People, are you not outraged? If so, ask yourself why you might be going to the voting booth in November to return the same people to office who just voted for one of the largest Federal power grabs in American history and threw almost a trillion dollars of money we don’t have down the toilet. Are those of you in South Carolina prepared to give Lindsey Graham another six years? Think twice. He’s one of the culprits. Richard Burr also voted for it on behalf of North Carolina. Senators Jim DeMint (R-SC) and Elizabeth Dole (R-NC) opposed the measure. Additionally, both Presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama voted for the bailout as did VP candidate Joe Biden.
I can’t get the vote information from the House yet. The Web site must be getting swamped with traffic because it’s timing out on me, but I’ll post it as soon as I have it available.
Update: I now have the House roll. Sue Myrick and Gresham Barrett flipped on this, voting for the bailout today, whereas they voted against it before.
As I’m sure you have heard by now, the $700 billion bailout failed to pass the House of Representatives today by a mere 13 votes. I was opposed to this bailout, so I am rather pleased, for now. They’ll try something again. I just have a huge issue with this theory that corporations can privatize all of their gains but socialize their losses. That just doesn’t seem quite right to me.
This video pretty much sums up my thoughts.
So how did your representative vote? Did they vote to use your tax dollars to bail out Wall Street fat cats or did they vote to save your tax dollars?
Voting for the bailout were:
Bob Etheridge (D-NC-02)
David Price (D-NC-04)
Mel Watt (D-NC-12)
Brad Miller (D-NC-13)
Henry Brown (R-SC-01)
Joe Wilson (R-SC-02)
Bob Inglis (R-SC-04)
John Spratt (D-SC-05)
Jim Clyburn (D-SC-06)
Voting against the heinous bailout were:
G.K. Butterfield (D-NC-01)
Walter Jones (R-NC-03)
Virginia Foxx (R-NC-05)
Howard Coble (R-NC-06)
Mike McIntyre (D-NC-07)
Robin Hayes (R-NC-08)
Sue Myrick (R-NC-09)
Patrick McHenry (R-NC-10)
Heath Shuler (D-NC-11)
Gresham Barrett (R-SC-03)
Boy, the South Carolina delegation sure sucks a nut. David Price is no surprise. He loves using your money to give special favors to all of his corporate friends. Same with Henry Brown. I expected Watt to be on the yea list as well because he is a Socialist. Overall it looks to be just about split down the middle. Now you know who is on your side and who is pining for the Rockefellers.
The U.S. Senate today overwhelmingly sent President Bush a spending bill of $634 billion to keep the government “operating beyond the current budget year.” If only that were the case. This budget passage, as every other, consisted of a hogfest of a Congressional pen of pigs in starched white shirts feeding from the trough that you and I provided. This thing is stuffed with thousands of earmarks in addition to $25 billion of taxpayer funded loans to help bailout the automakers. The bill was presented in its final form from the House to the Senate as H.R. 2638, Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2008, sponsored by none other than our very own Representative David Price (D-NC-04).
How did our representatives vote? As usual, in the Senate Jim DeMint stood up and vocally opposed the legislation. Lindsey Graham joined him in voting against it. Richard Burr made a rare and unusual move, voting Present, Giving Live Pair. What this means is that somebody else who not present at the vote and knew they wouldn’t be who planned on voting the opposite way Burr was made a deal with him to vote present so that the outcome wouldn’t be altered by their absence. In other words, for the sake of argument, let’s say Burr was hypothetically going to vote No, but John McCain was absent and was planning to vote Yes which would cancel out Burr’s vote anyway. McCain would ask Burr to vote Present then so that the same result is produced. As I said, this is just a hypothetical. Burr may have intended to vote Yes and made a deal with an absent Senator who wanted to vote against it. And we can’t forget Liddy Dole who as usual voted for her pork.
In the House we had the following voting for the waste:
The House passed H.R. 6899 last night, otherwise known as the Comprehensive American Energy Security and Consumer Protection Act. As I touched on yesterday, this is the House version of Lindsey Graham’s “Gang of 10″ bill that will do absolutely nothing to open up oil reserves off of our shores and lower gas prices. This bill is nothing more than political cover so that politicians can go into the November election lying to their constituents that they voted for offshore drilling, when they didn’t. Most of the coastal oil reserves will remain untapped under this bill and will have no effect. Furthermore, the states will get no royalties from the drilling, so which state is going to okay this and take the slight risk of an oil spill without any revenue from it? None of them will and Nancy Pelosi knows that. Let’s not forget the tax increase the oil companies will receive as well which will get passed on to you and me when we’re buying our gas.
So who in the Carolinas voted for this hoax? Who will lie to you between now and Election Day and claim they voted to lower your prices at the pump? A lot of them.
Democracy Corps is James Carville’s organization. This poll was taken from August 20th through August 26th.
NC-01
Party
% of Vote
G.K. Butterfield
D
76%
Dean Stephens
R
18%
NC-02
Party
% of Vote
Bob Etheridge
D
55%
Dan Mansell
R
38%
NC-03
Party
% of Vote
Walter Jones
R
67%
Craig Weber
D
21%
NC-04
Party
% of Vote
David Price
D
70%
BJ Lawson
R
25%
NC-05
Party
% of Vote
Virginia Foxx
R
48%
Roy Carter
D
46%
NC-06
Party
% of Vote
Howard Coble
R
71%
Teresa Sue Bratton
D
23%
NC-07
Party
% of Vote
Mike McIntyre
D
56%
Will Breazeale
R
35%
NC-08
Party
% of Vote
Robin Hayes
R
50%
Larry Kissell
D
42%
NC-09
Party
% of Vote
Sue Myrick
R
58%
Harry Taylor
D
31%
NC-10
Party
% of Vote
Patrick McHenry
R
54%
Daniel Johnson
D
39%
NC-11
Party
% of Vote
Heath Shuler
D
66%
Carl Mumpower
R
27%
Now you should bear in mind that the samples were very small, less than 100 people in each Congressional district, so there is going to be a larger margin of error than in most polls. However, most of these percentages seem fairly accurate to me. The only two I question is NC-05 and NC-08. I don’t think that Virginia Foxx is in a statistical tie with Roy Carter, though I don’t doubt he isn’t close to her. I also think the gap between Robin Hayes and Larry Kissell is smaller than the eight point spread shown in this poll. Shuler is crushing Mumpower which I have been saying since the birth of this blog would be the case no matter which Republican Heath runs against. Plus, the fact that Mumpower’s race has been akin to a Barnum & Bailey juggling act only makes it more so. I don’t know why NC-12 and NC-13 were not included on this poll, but I think the conventional wisdom is that neither Mel Watt nor Brad Miller have much to worry about this year.
All and all, I don’t see any of the Congressional districts in North Carolina switching parties this year. I think all of the incumbents are going to be retained. If Kissell loses, I’m afraid my friends at BlueNC will become suicidal.
Update: I mistakenly had the Fifth District Democratic candidate listed as Roy Cooper instead of Roy Carter. That has been corrected.
Citizens Against Government Waste is a taxpayer watchdog group that ranks our Congressmen on their effectiveness of responsibly managing our tax dollars and not spending it on frivolous pork barrell spending. Overall, the current Congress sucks the toejam off a homeless man’s foot in this regard, but our representatives from both North and South Carolina were a little better than most. A rating of 100% is a taxpayer hero and a rating of 0% is a government elected thief stealing your money in order to pander to his constituents at reelection time. Our two states received no 100s or zeros, but came close on both ends.
Our four Senators did a pretty good job. Both Burr and DeMint received an honorable mention by the CAGW, each scoring a 97%. Graham came in with an 87% and Dole with 73%. Overall, these scores are acceptable. The House? Not so much….
The Republicans did decently for the most part, which surprised me because southern Republicans typically are some of the worst abusers for earmarking in Congress. The Democrats all performed abysmally and Henry Brown, Robin Hayes, and Walter Jones could use some work themselves.
WASHINGTON - The Tennessee Valley Authority approved a deal that will make it easier for a real estate company, partly owned by Rep. Heath Shuler, to build a marina on a Tennessee reservoir.Shuler sits on a congressional committee that oversees the federal electric authority.
Under the deal, The Highlands Development Group will receive access to 145 feet of Tennessee Valley Authority shoreline at Watts Bar Reservoir outside Knoxville so it can build a marina.
Shuler serves on a subcommittee of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, which oversees TVA.
The project started in 2005 before Shuler decided to run for Congress, the Waynesville Democrat said Thursday. He had no contact with TVA about the project, and his name didn’t appear on the proposed swap because it was filed under the name of a limited liability company.
“We had no contact with the congressman,” Francis said.
I’ll take Shuler at his word, but at the very least he shouldn’t be on the committee that oversees the TVA. Even the appearance of impropriety is too much. I don’t expect my elected officials to be purer than new-fallen snow, but I expect them to avoid stories like this. Shuler seems like a good guy, so I hope he keeps his nose clean.
And by the way… why the hell do we still have the Imperial Federal Nanny working on the TVA???
Republican Congressional candidate Carl Mumpower has suspended his campaign to unseat incumbent Heath Shuler, saying he’ll eliminate about 80 percent of formal campaigning until at least half of the Republican leaders in the 15 counties in the 11th Congressional District commit to core party principles.
“I’m not going to be doing any fundraising or advertising—there won’t be any active campaigning for the Republican Party,†Mumpower said this morning. “I’ll put things on hold until I get party officials to commit to the principles and to the process of holding elected officials accountable.â€
Mumpower, an Asheville City Councilman, said he was particularly troubled by a recent vote in Congress to override President Bush’s veto of the Farm Bill. U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole, R-N.C., and Shuler, a Waynesville Democrat, both voted in favor of the override to move forward a bill that Mumpower says is laden with “pork and special interests.â€
I’m troubled by the way things are run in Washington too, but isn’t that the reason Mumpower is running for office? How does he plan to help fix these things if he isn’t there to vote against them and take some leadership in the House? If you want to change things you need to step up and get involved. You don’t just quit and cry and say you’re taking your ball and going home unless the rules change.
I’ve been saying for a year that I doubt Shuler would be beaten anyway and now I am certain of it. Heath can relax and look forward to another two years in Washington. The Republicans’ train has stopped and reached the end of the line. This campaign is a joke.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
WASHINGTON – U.S. Rep. Heath Shuler, a former professional quarterback, formed his own political action committee called 3rd and Long that allows the Waynesville House member to contribute to fellow Democrats.
The freshman formed the PAC last month but hasn’t collected any money yet, according to Federal Election Commission records.
I hope the kind of Democrats that Shuler will help out with this will be centrists like himself and not extreme left wingers with the wrong ideas in mind as to which direction to move this state or country in.
U.S. Rep. Heath Shuler’s vote as a superdelegate at the Democratic convention will go to Sen. Hillary Clinton, who claimed 57 percent of the vote in Shuler’s 15-county mountain district.
Sen. Barack Obama claimed 43 percent of the vote in the 11th Congressional District.
Shuler, of Waynesville, had pledged Monday to support the candidate who won his district. He had previously endorsed former Sen. John Edwards, who dropped out of the race.
Shuler’s is sticking to his pledge, but I am having a harder time seeing any way Hillary Clinton can grab this nomination. I have been for months now, ever since Obama won Iowa, not wanting to underestimate the Clinton machine and I am still a little reluctant to do so, but I just don’t see how she can pull this off after Tuesday. Even if the Florida and Michigan delegates get seated she still needs the super delegates to go in her favor and if Obama won the popular vote with the supers going to Hillary that would be absolute chaos in the Democratic Party. They know that.
Asheville City Councilman Carl Mumpower won a solid victory Tuesday night over Henderson County’s Spence Campbell in the 11th Congressional District Republican Primary.
With all 15 counties reporting, Mumpower had garnered 48.6 percent of the vote, compared with 41.8 percent for Campbell, a 30-year Army veteran and former chair of the Henderson County Republican Party, according to unofficial results.
I really wanted Armor, but I predicted a Mumpower victory. It’s a long way to foresee November yet, but he’s going to have an uphill battle against Shuler.
• John Armor, 65, an attorney and author who lives in Highlands in Macon County. Armor cites the Constitution as a guiding force and wants to reform Medicare and Medicaid. He opposes universal health care and congressional earmarks, and he favors a continued presence in Iraq but not “actively fighting for a long period of time.â€
• Spence Campbell, 64, a retired 30-year Army veteran who lives in Hendersonville. Campbell ran an insurance agency after retiring and is a former chairman of the Henderson County Republican Party. He believes in stronger enforcement of immigration laws, reforming federal programs such as Social Security and making earmarks transparent. On Iraq, he says American soldiers will have to keep a presence there for many years.
• Carl Mumpower, 55, an Asheville City Council member since 2001 and a practicing private psychologist. Mumpower wants to fight wasteful government spending, including earmarks, and come down hard on illegal immigration. Iraq may have been a mistake, he says, but now we must honor our commitment there, if the Iraqi people want us to stay.
Taking back the 11 Congressional District is going to be a tough challenge for the Republicans this year. I think the results of the last two Congressional special elections in heavily Republican districts in Illinois and Louisiana in which the Democrats were victorious only prove my point. While the 11th is a conservative district there are about 30,000 more registered Democrats than Republicans and Shuler fits a good portion of the bill when it comes to social conservatism.
I don’t like to really pick candidates because I try to keep my opinions unbiased so that I can be more honest in what I write, but I am going to give my opinion here. I think the best candidate for Republicans to nominate to run against Shuler is John Armor. The reason I say that is because of Armor’s unbridled allegiance to the Constitution, something we just don’t see anymore in Congress. It was dedication to the principles of small government and personal freedom that catapulted the GOP to a Congressional sweep in 1994 and Armor represents that type of candidate. The American people have lost faith in the Republican Party and conservatism thanks to the way George W Bush has bastardized the word.
Having said that, while it is my opinion that Armor is the best candidate to take on Shuler, it is not my belief that he will be victorious on Tuesday. I think Carl Mumpower is going to win the nomination. My prediction is based on his name recognition in the greater Asheville area and his lead in fund raising.
Update: Hat tip to Chad for sending me this great article on Armor from BlueRidgeNow.com
Armor wants to reform Medicare and Medicaid, and he opposes universal health care and congressional earmarks. In Iraq, he favors a continued presence in the country but not “actively fighting for a long period of time.†On the infamous “Road to Nowhere†in Swain County, he favors following the lead of county officials, who’ve opted for a cash settlement from the federal government rather than having the road built.
He said he believes the major issues facing Western North Carolina come down to four words: “That’s jobs, jobs, jobs and education.†Tourism is relatively healthy, he said, but agriculture and manufacturing need attention, partly through better enforcement of international trade relations.
Armor bristles at the notion that the economy is in recession, saying we may be “in a rough patch,†but the media is inaccurately portraying it. While he approves of the recent federal bailout of investment banking firm Bear Stearns because its collapse could have triggered a larger problem, in general Armor says he believes “the markets have their own solutions.â€
That goes for gasoline, too, which has skyrocketed in price recently.
“Whether we like it or not, gas prices at this level or slightly higher are stuck with us, unless the government decides to start subsidizing gasoline for private cars or cut its taxes, and the highways depend on those taxes,†Armor said.
John Armor is a great candidate and the kind that the Republican Party is lacking at all levels. We need people in Washington that are going to actually read and abide by the Constitution’s limit of Federal powers. I approve of Armor’s positions on reforming Medicare and Medicaid. Entitlement spending is growing rapidly and will balloon out of control with the retirement of the Baby Boomers. Spending on Medicare and Social Security is expected to reach 25% of the Federal budget by 2050. This has to be dealt with now and we need members in Congress who won’t be afraid to get out there and tackle them.
I disagree with Armor on the “Road to Nowhere” and I made that clear in a post a few weeks ago. It is an enormous waste of money, but other than that he is opposed to earmark spending. He has by far more positives than negatives and would be a quality challenger to Shuler in November.
FLAT ROCK — The $600 million “Road to Nowhere†could be back if the Republicans running for the 11th congressional district have their way.
At a debate at Flat Rock today, Highlands attorney John Armor, retired Army Col. Spence Campbell of Hendersonville and Asheville City Councilman Carl Mumpower described the 34-mile road through the Great Smoky Mountains National Park as a broken promise. Campbell and Mumpower said it should be built.
Well, that’s just wonderful. Right out of the gate you have your stunning example of today’s “conservatism,” a $600 million crap on the taxpayers of the United States of America.
“That’s a hard question,†Campbell said. “It’s a hard question because it’s two different issues for a conservative to deal with.â€
The road would add to the federal deficit, “which a lot of us conservatives think is the principal economic issue we need to deal with,†he said.
“On the other hand, the government made a promise in 1942 I think it was that they were going to build that road. They didn’t do it. In this case I think the government’s promise trumps what the county commission wants to do†by taking the settlement.
It’s not a hard question for a fiscally responsible conservative to deal with, Mr. Campbell. The country is over $9 trillion in debt. You don’t go and spend $600 million on a useless road that will not yield a positive economic return from the initial investment, promise be damned. Who from 1942 is still alive that this promise was even made to? I think the statute of limitations has passed. Move on.
These guys know better. They are avoiding the truth because they don’t want to alienate any voters. Being a leader means having to tell people what they don’t want to hear sometimes.
