Down East Republicans Get Report From Raleigh

Article and photo by Bill Tarpenning - September 28th, 2007

Washington, NC - The Down East Republican Club met Thursday, Sept. 27, in Washington. The featured speaker was Jeff Mixon, legislative analyst for the John William Pope Civitas Institute, a public policy organization that offers conservative solutions to the state’s pressing issues.




Mixon refers to himself as “a spy at the legislature along with conservative cousins the John Locke Foundation and Americans for Prosperity.” Mixing humor, irony and disgust he detailed instances in which the will of the majority of the legislature was thwarted by the actions of an “oligopoly of liberal leaders who are, in fact, dictators over the legislature.”

“The death penalty is a prime example,” he said. “The people of North Carolina overwhelmingly support the death penalty as do most members of the legislature. Unfortunately, the leadership opposes the death penalty, but were afraid to bring it before the legislature. Enter the Medical Society, whose leadership also opposes the death penalty and proposed to revoke the license of any doctor attending an execution. The governor and the leadership used this as a pretext for stopping all pending executions, calling it an issue for the courts. Fortunately the courts will soon decide and end the road block. Statistics show that murders rise at an alarming rate in states that abolish or set aside the death penalty.

“The Defense of Marriage Amendment had 90 sponsors in the House. It finally got out of committee and reached the floor where it was sure to pass overwhelmingly, Except that it was sent to another committee where it died.

“The Private Property Amendment that would prohibit the taking of private property and giving it to another non-government entity somehow got out of committee and passed the House with a sure majority in the Senate. That was before it was sent to the Ways and Means Committee of the Senate which hasn’t met for four or five years. Ways and Means is referred to as the ‘Bill Prison’ and its warden is Senator Mark Basnight.

“The Senate is the center for prodigious fund raising, so there’s lots of cash to dump into the election coffers of members who toe the line. The next election will see a big change in the Senate’s membership. A number of liberals are leaving and we don’t know yet who will replace them. There could be a flip in 2008. With only 50 senators it’s easier to make a change in majority. In the past, the Senate had a geographic make-up - that is one senator for every two counties. That was the way until the ‘one-man-one-vote’ court case in which demographics determined district boundaries. Somehow the court failed to take into consideration the U.S. Senate which still has geographic, i.e., state boundaries with two senators per state.”

Mixon spoke of the “parade of convicts” out of the legislature led by former Speaker Jim Black, “You hear the defense that he didn’t take the money for himself, to fatten his pocket book, just used it to keep his party in power. Well, that’s no defense. What he did was stage a coup. No guns, but a coup no less.

“There are a number of pressure groups at the legislature, not the least of which is the business lobby. When the land transfer tax idea came up, they went along with the wishes of the home builders and realtors, and pushed for a sales tax increase instead, figuring that would spread the burden and also get some tax money from illegal aliens. The leadership, liberals all, fought the hard ‘anti-business, punish the rich’ fight.

“The alliance of members of the left was never more evident than in support of the School Violence Act, known as the ‘bully bill’. No one likes a bully, but it seemed a kind of silly thing to turn into state law. The minority agreed to go along, and then, at the last minute, the liberals decided they needed to define just who might not be bullied. Sure enough the list had to include anything that had to do with sexual preference, sexual orientation or anything of that ilk. The gay community touted this as a tremendous achievement and the state provided an identity to a new victim group.

“Do you remember the governor’s veto of the $40 million handout to Goodyear to bribe them to stay in North Carolina? He really sounded sincere when he spoke about corporate welfare. We felt secure. No one had ever overridden a veto in North Carolina. Well, it turned out to be a three-card-monty game where the media and public were suckered in, and the $40 million turned into $60 million in a special session of the legislature, and we never knew what hit us. That sort of business is why the budget has increased 44 percent in the last five years.

Finally, Mixon outlined what was happening with elections; “We’ve gone from a time where you had to have a good reason to get an absentee ballot, to anyone could get an absentee ballot for any reason, to three weeks of early voting, to same day voting and registration. We already have public financing of judicial campaigns and now they have pushed though public financing of three Council of Government positions; Insurance Commissioner, Education Commissioner, and Auditor. These are called pilot programs. You know what pilot programs are, don’t you? They are little programs just waiting to get bigger.”

Mixon said that things look dark for conservatives because of a lack of unity: too many causes are not embraced across the conservative community. He encouraged cooperation and education of voters and community leaders. The Civitas Institute offers publications and programs for newly elected officials, community leaders, undergraduate and graduate students, and candidates. For more information, visit www.nccivitas.org.

Bill, Thanks for the article. If anyone has questions or reaction, they can reach Bill by email at btarpenning@gotricounty.com or by phone at (252) 944-5181.

As for things looking dark for conservatives, I wonder how many are listening to Fred Smith. When Super Patriot Lee Greenwood talks about what a great man Fred Smith is, and how steadfast he is in his views, I can't understand why anyone is worried about the conservative cause. It just seems to me they are not willing to believe anymore. That is sad. There are great conservative leaders out there if they would just listen.

Marcus Kindley Speaks At "Conservatives Arise"

Marcus Kindley, Chairman of North Carolinians For Legal Immigration PAC, spoke on “Illegal Immigration in North Carolina” at Conservatives, Arise! (CAPAC) on Tuesday night. The meeting was at Lee's Country Kitchen on the corner of Whichard’s Road and Old Creek Road in Greenville.



Joe Sturz (shown above) was master of cermonies for this event.




Judy Colbert (shown above) spoke of local actions for the right to life movement and their concerns about actions by Planned Parenthood.




Chairman Marcus Kindley (shown above) of North Carolinians For Legal Immigration said, “We will endeavor to move away from the xenophobic and sensational outcries fostering misunderstanding and hate speech and instead move forward in providing better education to the public along with offering solutions to our immigration problems.”

North Carolinians For Legal Immigration serves as an Immigration think tank with the goal of looking for ways to help resolve the questions surrounding illegal immigration in North Carolina and the Nation.

The NCFLI works to find legislators and community leaders who wish to work to solve this problem and not overlook it. To this end the NCFLI will support those who work toward the common goal of providing safe and legal methods to immigration in North Carolina.

Mr. Kindley spoke about the costs of the illegal immigration problem and the need to get more people to understand the consequences for our criminal justice system and our health system if something is not done soon to end the excessive nature of the problem.

You can reach the NCFLI web site by clicking on the title above or by clicking here.



CAPAC is a non-partisan political action committee that meets every fourth Tuesday to learn about and discuss the issues of the day. The public is invited to attend.

Handful Of NC Counties Asking Voters To Approve Land Transfer Tax

by Staff - September 20the, 2007 - Associated Perss (heraldsun.com)

Fast-paced growth, stress on aging infrastructure and Medicaid costs have led 16 counties across North Carolina to ask voters to approve new land transfer taxes.

The number of counties asking for the referendum is larger than the Associated Press says. As one example, they missed the local county of Washington which is asking their citizens to enact the tax. One of the jokes going around Washington County is a take off on comments by one of the County Commissioners when the referendum was authorized. The "Land Transfer Tax" is not a tax according to this commissioner.

As usual you have to wonder at the arrogance of someone who tries to pass a tax and then lies to the citizens claiming that a tax is not a tax. What does this idiot think it is?

Fred Smith Statewide BBQ Tour In Martin County

Wednesday at noon Senator Fred Smith was at Deadwood, in the community of Bear Grass in Martin County (near Williamston). This is a unique facility and you should visit their web site to see all they have to offer. It is a great recreation of the wild west.

The Fred Smith Statewide BBQ Tour is not the typical sweep through and meet VIPs tour of other Gubernatorial candidates. This is appreciated by the people who want to get to know him. Fred is personally signing his autobiography for anyone who comes out and he loves to talk to people. He will be coming to your area and if you want to meet this man so many want to see be our next governor, all you have to do is take a couple of hours from your schedule. Fred will be in your area soon.

The BBQ Wednesday was in the main restaurant at Deadwood called the Smokehouse Grill (shown below).




What brings the people out? Fred Smith's story is about the values of hard work, honesty, loyalty and the qualities that made America great. From his mother, a teacher and his father,a coach-- he learned two important lessons - If you work hard and get a good education, you can acheive the American Dream!

Fred always spends time while things are getting organized talking with the people who come out, and as noted above, signing his autobiography (shown below).




This day, Greg, from WITN TV (Greenville) was there for their coverage of the event. After he interviewed Fred, he took a few moments to get some crowd shots.




The expected crowd was about 30, however as news of these events is starting to spread the crowds are getting bigger. At Martin County over 60 people showed up to jam the restaurant.




Republican Party Chairman Dwayne Baker started the event, welcoming everyone and acting as Master of Ceremonies.




Robbie Park, minister from Memorial Baptist Church in Williamston, gave the invocation and blessed the food.




Local singer Lori Wynn gave a beautiful a cappella rendition of the national anthem.




Fred, waiting to go on, is listening to all the activities (shown below).




Patsy Miller of the Williamston Women's Club (shown below) introduced Fred to the gathered crowd.




Senator Fred Smith spoke of his love for our State of North Carolina, and his belief that government is out of touch with what the majority of people want. He talked about the things that make us great and the things that help us enjoy the freedom of our great nation America. Though I have seen him make a powerful speech in a more formal environment, these talks are always low key and personal. It is part of what makes them such a great connection between Fred and the people who come out.




Afterwards Fred always takes time to finish signing autographs and talking with those who came to meet him. Fred really lives the theme of his autobiography, "The difference between good and great is a little extra effort.





Fred's comments about the day can be found on his web site. Fred touches on some of the sights we saw in our beautiful state as the convoy went from Martin County at noon to Halifax County for dinner.

The Martin County stop on the Fred Smith Statewide BBQ was a resounding success thanks to all the great people who came out.