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.

The Democrat challenging Republican U.S. Rep. Patrick McHenry said Thursday that a string of recent GOP defeats could mean North Carolina’s 10th District is in play this fall.

“Districts that have long been Republican strongholds are coming into play,” Daniel Johnson told Charlotte’s Uptown Democratic Forum. “We’ve got the right opponent in the right year.”

Charlotte Observer

He is correct. The Republican brand is tarnished all across the country right now. No Republican held seat is safe this year and these last three special elections in strong Republicans district have proven that.

For immediate release: May 7, 2008

As we all know the North Carolina primary is coming up on Tuesday and there are lots of races across the state for voters to decide. I am going to weigh in on a few here. Note, I am giving my opinion on who I think will win, not necessarily who I think is the best candidate or would like to see win.

I have already given my opinion on how I think the 11th Congressional Republican Primary will turn out.

In the Lieutenant Governor’s race there are primaries on both sides of the aisle. The Republican race is easy to call. Robert Pittenger has it locked up, end of story. The Democratic race is going to be a little more tight, but I think Walter Dalton is going to prevail by about 7 points, with Dellinger finishing second.

There are primaries on both sides in the 10th Congressional District as well. On the Democratic side I believe that Daniel Johnson will prevail over Ivester quite handily. On the GOP side, I think McHenry will win by a large margin. I think Sigmon’s ad about the Iraq attack after McHenry ran his video was a bit much for people to swallow and may have backfired on him. I think people viewed it as a cheap and dirty shot. I guess we’ll see on Tuesday. McHenry’s internals show him winning in a landslide. I don’t foresee as bad of a bloodbath as McHenry says it will be, but it won’t be a close race.

The Third Congressional District is going to be closer than people think, in my opinion. I predict that Walter Jones will triumph in the end, but not by a landslide margin. I think most Republicans in the district hold him in decent to high regards. I don’t feel that McLaughlin hitting Jones on his reversal of the war is a winning issue. The majority of Americans have grown tired of Iraq and that includes Republicans. Despite the high proportion of military families in the district, I don’t see Jones in much danger. People are also assuming that military families are automatically dedicated to the continued job in Iraq and that’s not a horse I would bet my money on.

In the U.S. Senate race Kay Hagan is going to trounce Jim Neal. That’s all I have to say about that.

Regarding the Presidential race, Barack Obama is going to win, but I don’t think he’ll break a ten point spread against Clinton. She has been gaining ground on him due to two things: her win in Pennsylvania and the continued media focus on Jeremiah Wright.

And now for the big one, the gubernatorial race. Bev Perdue wins the Democratic nomination hands down. Throughout the campaign she has generally lead Richard Moore, but there have been a few times that he has caught up with her in the polls. However, I think his sleazy attack ad about her husband selling Confederate memorabilia in his stores hasn’t played well with the public and it’s going to cost any chance he may have had.

On the Republican side, this is going to be close. While it’s technically a four man race, only Fred Smith and Pat McCrory are viable contenders on Tuesday. I think McCrory is going to pull this out, but not by much. It may not be enough for him to avoid a runoff and if that’s the case I think the following runoff election will favor Smith.

So there you have it. Tuesday awaits!

WASHINGTON — Rep. Patrick McHenry says the candidates who want his seat in Congress don’t want to talk about his voting record.

Unfortunately for the Cherryville Republican, there’s plenty of other material to work with.

The two-term lawmaker enters the N.C. primary May 6 trying to shake off recent headlines from his first trip to Iraq, when he referred to a man protecting a U.S. embassy gym as a “two-bit security guard” and then filmed himself talking about the buildings hit by enemy fire.

It’s the kind of episode fueling campaigns of three other people vying for the 10th District seat.

One, the challenger from his own party, has even accused McHenry of putting American lives at risk by giving away battle damage coordinates in Baghdad.

Attorney Lance Sigmon of Newton acknowledged he and McHenry probably agree on most policy matters. But he says McHenry has shown he’s not suitable to hold public office.

“I don’t know if he doesn’t have the seasoning or life experiences to understand what things he should or shouldn’t be doing,” Sigmon said of McHenry, who at 32 is the youngest member of Congress. “I have differences with the other party as well, but I’m mature enough to understand that the system is set up so there has to be compromise.”

Charlotte Observer

McHenry has taken a barrage of hits over the past few weeks.  With the primary a little more than a week away it remains to stand whether or not the negative press will be enough for the voters to topple him and put Sigmon in his place.  Beating incumbents are a rarity in Congress, more so in a primary, although it has happened twice already this year.

WASHINGTON — An N.C. congressman has threatened legal action against his Republican primary challenger over a television ad he claims is defamatory.

The 30-second ad about Rep. Patrick McHenry’s recent trip to Iraq — being aired on Charlotte-area cable channels and the Internet by attorney Lance Sigmon of Newton — accuses the Republican from Cherryville of “revealing troop positions, and just two days later, two Americans died.”

The ad also says McHenry could face 10 years in prison, citing an espionage act that prohibits aiding the enemy.

The controversy began last month when McHenry, a two-term lawmaker, returned from his first trip to Iraq.

Charlotte Observer

So is the ad fair or slanderous? The ad clearly infers that McHenry is responsible for the deaths of two soldiers following the airing of his video in Iraq, however a chief investigator for the House has said that it is implausible that McHenry’s video could have anything to do with that. Personally, I feel the ad goes overboard and is misleading, but here it is for you to decide:

HICKORY — Republican congressional candidate Lance Sigmon is calling for a congressional investigation to find out if a video shot of U.S. Rep. Patrick McHenry while on a trip to Iraq aided the enemy.

The military has given no indication McHenry’s video helped the enemy or led to a more accurate attack on April 6, which killed two officers. No other groups or politicians are calling for an investigation.

Hickory Daily Record

The video in question was pulled from McHenry’s Web site by his staff and I haven’t been able to find any other instances of it, but below is a video of Sigmon speaking to a group of Republicans about the incident.

A North Carolina congressman has apologized for calling a contract employee in Baghdad a “two-bit security guard.”

Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., used that term when talking about a visit to Iraq where he was denied access to a gymnasium. “It was a poor choice of words to describe a foreign contractor,” McHenry said in a statement.

McHenry was recorded at a local Republican fundraising dinner talking about his visit and being annoyed when he was denied gym privileges while staying in VIP quarters in the pool house of a palace once used by Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. A copy of the video is available on YouTube.

While some reports have said McHenry was referring to a U.S. service member, McHenry and his staff said the person was a contractor providing security at the embassy.

Army Times

McHenry’s “Two Bit Security Guard” Comment Not Directed Towards American Soldier

It was a poor choice of words to describe the foreign contractor, but anyone who was there knows that I delivered a speech praising the heroism and sacrifice of those who are serving our country in harm’s way.

It’s still certainly debatable as to whether or not his comments towards the man were any less inappropriate, but the issue at hand seems resolved and the story of McHenry’s alleged disrespect to our armed forces is not true.

The comment is about 40 seconds into the video. Lance Sigmon, McHenry’s primary challenger, had released the following press release:

LINCOLNTON- In a moment eerily akin to a Hillary Clinton “misspeak,” 10th District Rep. Patrick McHenry called a sentry protecting U.S. personnel in Iraq a “two-bit security guard” in a brief appearance Saturday night at a Lincoln County Republican Party event.

McHenry’s gaffe occurred in his telling of a story about his recent two-day visit to Iraq. He said he was stopped by a military guard in the area known as the Green Zone, when he was going “to the gym” in the early morning hours on Easter after being unable to sleep.

The congressman belittled the sentry- referring to him as a “two-bit security guard”- for following his orders by not allowing him to enter the gym without “proper credentials,” according to McHenry’s own telling of the story to an audience of some 160 Republicans.Even after demanding to see the guard’s superiors, by McHenry’s own account, he still was refused entry into the gym and was told he had to return to his room, in a pool house at one of Saddam Hussein’s former palaces in the Baghdad area.

McHenry’s tale at the Lincoln County GOP’s annual Lincoln Day Dinner also included a death that supposedly occurred during insurgent rocket attacks, which did occur in the Green Zone shortly after he returned to his quarters.

However, official U.S. Embassy spokesman Philip T. Reeker said the facts were somewhat different, emphasizing that there were no fatalities from that rocket attack.

Similarly, Democrat presidential candidate Hillary Clinton is under fire from the media and political opponents for her gaffe regarding her now-famous 1996 visit to Bosnia as First Lady. Contrary to her account, TV video showed Mrs. Clinton was never in any danger.

“The more McHenry talks, the more I like it,” said Sigmon, McHenry’s opponent in the May 6 Republican primary for Congress. “When he belittles others publicly and attempts to bolster his image through these kinds of exaggerations, voters can see his true character.”

“Besides his obvious contempt for a guard’s assigned duties, his belief that being a congressman makes him immune to the rules and his exaggerated claim of exposure to hostile fire, what really bothers me is the Iraq trip itself,” Sigmon added.

“According to McHenry’s own quotes in the media,” the challenger observed, “he only spent a few hours with the soldiers and, suddenly, he now understands their deep commitment to their mission.”

“I don’t have to spend thousands of taxpayer dollars traveling to Iraq to understand our troops’ sacrifice and commitment. I spent 21 years on active-duty; I know from personal experience the sacrifices my comrades-in-arms and their families make both at home and abroad.”

“This level of understanding cannot be acquired while staying in Saddam’s former palace within a fortified 10-square mile area during a two day ‘photo-op’ tour,” he said.

Sigmon missed the Lincoln County GOP event, instead speaking at both the Catawba County Reagan Day Dinner in Hickory and the Caldwell County Republican Party’s Lincoln-Reagan Day Dinner in Lenoir.

At both events, the candidate’s remarks focused on the problem of illegal aliens committing serious crimes in America, as well as illegal immigration itself. Sigmon’s wife, Melissa, spoke on his behalf at the Lincoln County dinner, receiving applause several times.

The senior partner of a 96-year-old Lincoln County law firm that produced two Republican members of the U.S. Congress last week endorsed the candidacy of Lance Sigmon in the 10th District congressional race.

Harvey A. Jonas Jr., 88, who practiced law for many years with the late Congressman Charles R. Jonas in Lincolnton, sized up Sigmon with a broad smile: “I like the way you look; yes sir, you look like a Congressman.”

Harvey Jonas’ first cousin, Charles Raper Jonas, represented Lincoln County in the U.S. Congress for 20 years, 1953-1973, and was only the second Republican elected to represent North Carolina. His father, Charles Andrew Jonas, was the first, elected in 1928.

Charles R. Jonas, who died at age 84 in 1988 and lived in Denver after his retirement, became known in North Carolina as “Mr. Republican.” A staunch conservative in Congress on both social and fiscal matters, he was known for slashing the budgets of four U.S. presidents—Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon.

The N.C. General Assembly in 1991 honored “the life and memory” of Charles R. Jonas, who also served in the Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps in World War II, with a joint resolution. The City of Lincolnton also has named its public library in his honor.

“I am proud to seek the office of U.S. congressman in the same conservative Republican tradition of Charles R. Jonas,” said Sigmon. “When elected, I will work hard to earn the same reputation of respect and integrity.”

Sigmon is challenging incumbent Patrick McHenry in the May 6 Republican primary.

News@Norman

This marked the Cherryville Republican’s first trip to Iraq, something McHenry had been hoping to do for a while.

“It’s important to see this one-on-one rather than rely on others’ reporting,” McHenry said. “I wanted to ask questions myself.”

McHenry said he’d had a full day traveling around Baghdad, talking with soldiers and meeting with both U.S. and Iraqi officials.

McHenry spent almost two hours speaking with Gen. David Petraeus about the surge strategy.

“He was very candid. He didn’t sugarcoat anything, that’s not his style.” McHenry said. “My conclusion is it appears to be working. Attacks are down substantially over the last year.”

Another thing that surprised McHenry was the attitude of the Iraqi people, he said.

“Until I was here on the ground it did not feel as if the Iraqis wanted to pull themselves up. I had doubts about that,” McHenry said. “But meeting with local officials, they really want to take their country back.”

“Two years ago they wouldn’t have been able to do that at all,” McHenry said. “The market was closed.”

The Star

It’s nice to hear good news out of Iraq. I suspected there have been improvement over there for the simple reason that the media barely mentions it anymore. When the news was grim and there was day to day chaos you couldn’t turn on the television without hearing about it. Now, you have to actually take the time to look for news on Iraq. When the bad news dries up, the media disappears.

Daniel Johnson says he’s not a “natural-born politician,” but he is committed to public service and honest, efficient government.

A conservative Democrat who believes in a balanced federal budget and wants to end wasteful spending by Washington politicians, Johnson hopes to get his chance to make a difference.

He’s running for the U.S. Congress, a seat currently held by Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-Cherryville. A Democrat, Johnson will face Steve Ivester of Cleveland County in the May 6 primary.

News@Norman

I would love to see Johnson pull this off. I can’t stand McHenry and would like for nothing more than to see him bounced out of Washington. Johnson sounds like he’d be a no nonsense guy in D.C. and he’s right; I think people are tired of all of the bullshit in the Beltway. And don’t forget, he’s a real American hero:

In 1988. Ensign Johnson’s ship, the U.S.S. Blue Ridge, was being pulled from port by a tugboat in Pusan, South Korea, when he spotted one of his men in trouble.

Seaman Steven Wright was working the large cables that connected the tugboat to the ship and had become entangled. The tug began pulling Wright toward the ship’s side, something that would have ripped him apart.

Seven other personnel were on the scene, but only Johnson jumped to the seaman’s aid. As he worked to free the cable from Wright’s leg, his own legs got caught. Both men survived, but Johnson lost one finger and both legs below the knee.

This district tilts so heavily Republican, though. It’s going to be quite an uphill battle. Come on 10th District, do the right thing! Give this guy a chance.

You can donate to Johnson’s campaign here.

Steve Ivester, Democratic candidate for North Carolina’s Tenth Congressional District made a blog post concerning the illegal immigration problem over at BlueNC:

Many Republicans, following the style of Carl Rove, claim that Democrats are soft on illegal immigration. In fact the owners of our larger farms and factories (many but not all Republican) are the real beneficiaries of this illegitimate labor force. It can be manipulated and exploited through careless direct hires or contrived sub-contract arrangements. However, working people (many, but not all, Democrat) are the ones who have been most hurt. As I have traveled the district during the last twelve months meeting and talking to thousands of people, I am finding many Democrats who are angry and vocal about this issue. I am also finding businessmen, farmers, and others who fear over-reaction. Democrats are not soft on Illegal Immigration, and Republicans are not the only defenders of our liberty.

Most politicians either dodge this issue entirely or take over-blown, un-realistic, but popular, hard-line stands such as the one Mr. McHenry laid out in his mailer. They agitate people’s concerns but do little to find realistic solutions.

We do not need a Congressman in Washington who panders to our whims or exploit our fears. We need someone who knows the District and leads by a combination of consensus and vision (the art of the possible). I am such a person and invite you to check out my ideas, involvement in the life of my District and related experience on many issues at www.steveivester.com

BlueNC

I recommend you check out his Web site. He is a centrist Democrat and seems to have a fairly common sense approach to the issues. He has a primary battle first with Daniel Johnson, if he wins that election he’ll presumably go on to battle McHenry for his seat in November. I say presumably because McHenry also has a primary challenger. This is a very Republican district so I don’t know what the odds are of either Democrat defeating McHenry, but McHenry is a sleaze so maybe with their centrist stances it’s possible. I would be quite pleased to see McHenry replaced.

There is going to be a lot of excitement to keep watch over in the Tenth this year.

Daniel Johnson says he’s gone where no Democrat has gone before.

The former prosecutor from Hickory has raised $120,000 to run against Rep. Patrick McHenry, a Republican from Cherryville.

In McHenry’s two earlier congressional bids, his Democratic challengers raised $23,000 and $11,000 for the entire year, according to Federal Election Commission reports.

Johnson plans to file his two-month tally with the FEC today, said his campaign manager, Lauren Moore.

Moore said all the money was raised from individual donors, most of it in North Carolina, at small gatherings hosted by friends.

The Charlotte Observer

I said when he first announced that this guy was good and he has a serious shot at unseating McHenry. While running as a Democrat, he is molding his campaign more into an independent bid. His race reminds me much of Jim Ogonowski’s race last year in a special election to fill the vacancy of the Fifth Congressional District in Massachusetts. Ogonowski is a Republican who ran against Democrat Niki Tsongas. Despite the district’s heavy Democratic tilt, Ogonowski still managed to get 45% of the vote and just narrowly lost to Tsongas by running on a platform making him independent of the party apparatus and a message that Washington was broke. It resonated.

A large spike in donations like that over previous challengers certainly signals Johnson’s growing popularity among the electorate. I have a feeling this will continue and McHenry is going to have to bust his ass to keep this seat, if that’s even possible. If I lived in the 10th, I’d have no problem giving Johnson my vote.

U.S. Rep. Patrick McHenry’s Republican primary opponent said he plans to ask district GOP leaders to sponsor a debate between the two.Military attorney Lance Sigmon of Newton is challenging the second-term congressman from Cherryville for the Republican nomination in the 10th Congressional District.

The Charlotte Observer

A retired military trial judge now in private law practice announced Thursday he will challenge U.S. Rep. Patrick McHenry for the 10th Congressional seat in the May Republican primary.

Lance Sigmon, 49, announced his bid at several stops in the district, including one in the Catawba County seat of Newton, where he criticized McHenry for being out of touch with constituents.

The Charlotte Observer

McHenry doesn’t seem to be too popular this year with a lot folks this election season. It will be interesting to see how this challenge pans out and whether McHenry can survive the general if he emerges the winner in the primary.

On the issues Sigmon has some fairly solid viewpoints:

• He is an advocate for getting the Federal government out of education, which would be a big step forward to improving public education all across this country. He also supports school choice.
• He is opposed to universal health care which ups him a notch in my book. He very accurately states. “Looking at similar “socialized” health care systems such as in England, France, and Canada, tax-funded health care systems typically fail to deliver the level of quality care that most Americans currently receive and expect. In addition, with such a system, bureaucrats would dictate which doctors and hospitals to use and what services we “qualify for”. That is something that many advocates of the socialized system continue to gloss over.
• Sigmon supports enforcing our borders and punishing employers that knowingly hire illegal aliens for cheap labor.
• He believes in a strong national defense, but does not give a position on Iraq.
• He acknowledges that Social Security is in a lot of trouble and that it must be reexamined, but he does not go into detail as to what changes are needed to improve it.
• Supports lower tax, less Federal spending, and the complete elimination of the Death Tax and Capital Gains taxes.
• Regarding abortion he personally is pro-life, but also acknowledges that abortion has been a part of our society for 35 years. That’s a vague statement as to where he would stand on Roe.

I would need to hear more details on some of the issues brought up on his campaign site, but so far he doesn’t sound like a bad alternative to McHenry.

Still more than a year away, the race for the 10th Congressional District seat is getting crowded.

Lance Sigmon of Conover, a retired military trial judge now in private law practice, said he’s exploring a possible bid for the seat. The Republican said he plans to make a formal announcement soon.

Sigmon, 48, said he’s concerned that the 10th District doesn’t have adequate representation. He said incumbent U.S. Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., has a contentious relationship with Democratic leadership in Congress.

Charlotte Observer

I don’t think guy will have much of a chance in a primary fight. Generally incumbents are pretty well safe from succumbing to primary challengers unless they have committed some kind of offense that really irks the voting populace in their party. That simply isn’t the case with McHenry.

Pledging to represent the values of North Carolina with character and integrity, Daniel Johnson announced today that he is running to represent North Carolina’s 10th Congressional District in the United States Congress.

“Running for Congress is a continuation of my service to America and the people of North Carolina,” said Johnson. “I look around the area I grew up in, and see people struggling with keeping their jobs, affording their health care and just making ends meet. It is time for a new brand of leadership – one that the people of this district can be proud of. I have the character and the experience needed to be an effective representative for my state.”

Daniel Johnson served in the United States Navy from 1998-2000, receiving the Navy Marine Corps Medal, the Navy’s highest peacetime award for heroism. For the past three years, Daniel Johnson served as an assistant district attorney in North Carolina. As a prosecutor, he began by prosecuting charges of DWI and other misdemeanors and rose to prosecute a wide range of felony cases that included drug trafficking, robbery, and murder.

North Carolina Democratic Party

Johnson is a true hero in that in 1999 he saved a crewmate’s life. As a result of that incident both of his legs had to be amputated from the knee down. He could be a strong challenger to McHenry

McHenry had offered an amendment to an amendment, essentially doubling to $100,000 the savings another lawmaker hoped to get out of a bill.

“I would like to see if we can actually go a little bit further in cutting government spending,” McHenry explained.

Tempers were frayed by the time the conversation had turned to cutting off certain benefits to illegal immigrants and the controversial procedural vote, which would have sent the bill to committee.

The GOP thought they had enough votes when the gavel came down. But in the seconds before the final tally was actually locked in electronically, some members switched sides and the party ended up down by a few votes. Republicans cried foul, and many walked out in protest.

The next day, McHenry took to the floor to berate the House leadership.

“The issue before us is whether or not illegal immigrants can get government benefits, and the Democrat majority in this House has shown that they are willing to cheat in order to win a vote,” he said, repeating himself for emphasis, “Cheat in order to win a vote. And …”

Charlotte Observer

It’s uncertain as to what exactly happened on the floor of the House last week, but it definitely looked like something shady was pulled by the Democrats.