State Employee Union Fails To Create Third Party

A group of state employee organizations backed by the State Employees Union of North Carolina (SEUNC) has been attempting to gather enough signatures to place a third party on the November ballot. They have their panties in a wad over three NC democrats' votes against ObamaCare. The SEUNC planned to challenge Heath Schuler, Mike McIntyre and Larry Kissel with a third party choice more friendly in their eyes to the concerns of "working people." According to this story in the Raleigh News and Observer, the attempt failed, but they still plan to run a candidate against Rep. Kissel.

The group had hoped to collect 84,600 signatures, enough to get on the November ballot. But the deadline for submitting signatures to the county election boards for verification passed Monday, with the backers having failed to meet their goal.

"We are continuing the effort," said Kevin LeCount, political director for the state employees group. "We are looking at 2012."

The third party supporters coalesced in part to punish Democratic members of Congress who voted against the new health care law. The party was to be called North Carolina First.

It's a shame the attempt failed, but I wish them luck going towards 2012. Anything that further divides the votes of democrats is just fine by me.

But it always irks me to no end to hear liberals, especially unionized liberals, speaking of "working people." In the real world, the more one works, the more one makes, and the less likely one is to qualify as a "working person" under the liberal definition. Just a pet peeve of mine.

NC Voter Registration Numbers

The Civitas Institute does a spectacular job keeping up with voter registration numbers in the state of North Carolina. They publish a chart breaking down changes in voter registraions by party affiliation on a county by county basis.

I'm pleased to report that as of April, Brunswick County's Republican registration has outnumbered the Democrats. The number of Unaffiliated voters is growing fastest, though, and they make up more than 26% of the registered voters as of May 8th.

Here's a link to the Civitas chart. At the top, you can change the chart to show percentages or changes going back as far as November 2004.

Federal Law Could Allow NC Public Employees To Organize

From the Carolina Journal Online:

RALEIGH — Nearly 32,000 North Carolina state and local public safety employees could begin negotiating contracts with unions if recently introduced federal legislation becomes law. S. 3194, The Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act of 2009 (S. 3194), sponsored and introduced April 12 by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., would override North Carolina law forcing the state, municipalities, and counties to recognize and bargain collectively with unions representing police, firefighters, emergency medical responders, and others.

The bill could become law quickly and without substantive debate. Reid introduced S. 3194 under a rule that allows it to bypass committee review and proceed to the floor in as little as 48 hours.

No action had occurred as of press time.

S. 3194 would override North Carolina General Statute 95-98, which for 51 years has prohibited public sector collective bargaining. S. 3194 would let public safety employees choose to be represented by a union and have their hours, wages, and terms and conditions of employment determined by collective bargaining. Supervisors and managers would be exempt.

The North Carolina League of Municipalities estimates 28,000 municipal and county law enforcement workers and paid firefighters would fall under the bill. The State Office of Personnel puts the number of public safety positions in state government at nearly 3,800, including members of Highway Patrol, employees of the State Bureau of Investigation, and others.

Not only would this bill cost North Carolina taxpayers a fortune, it is an unconstitutional over reach by the federal government into an area of law that should be left to the states. Keep an eye on this one.

Dueling Press Conferences

Ilario Pantano, Republican candidate for the NC 7th District congressional seat, and his two primary opponents, Will Breazeale and Randy Crow, hosted dueling press conferences today. Ilario called for unity among republicans and for an end to personal attacks, while Breazeale and Crow called for Pantano to quit his campaign.

Here is a link to Pantano's press release about his press conference

Here is a link to a news story about the Breazeale/Crow press conference. I love the headline, "Breazeale Continues to Fuss About Losing."

Sorry, but that's exactly what's happening. Will Breazeale is showing all the republicans in this district that the right choice was made on primary day. As for Randy Crow, he is a complete nut case. Here's some of his platform, for your amusement:

The Omega Agency - They are who people are talking about when one says orders come from "above the President". The Omega Agency consists of a network set up much like the CIA. There are thousands world-wide who take their orders directly from the ruling council of the Omega Agency. This council consists of 10 to 12 people. George Bush and Alexander C. Haig are two names known to sit on the council of the Omega Agency. The OA is the driving force behind what is commonly called the "New World Order." The OA's office is located at Langley AFB. They plan to establish their NWO, for lack of a better term, in a time span of no less than 5 days. And they intend to do it without open war. (They are also liars, obviously. Look at how many people the NWO has already killed. 55 million WWII, Vietnam, AIDS, that is a NWO deal.)



UPDATE: Here's a link to a report from someone attending both news conferences.

A Defense of the South

I couldn't resist sharing this. Here's a liberal Muslim woman of Pakistani origin fed up with the way liberal elites think of her beloved South. Go get 'em, Seema!

Here's how she finishes her piece, which for some odd reason is in the Guardian in the UK.

Oddly, the same people who disparage us also have love affairs with our culture. They ridicule us and then profess their love for Nina Simone, Austin, Johnny Cash or Louisiana's crawfish etouffee dish when it's trendy. This brings me to my favourite specimens: cocktail party progressives. You know the type – can't converse without referencing the New Yorker. Pretentious, self-congratulatory liberals who applaud their own humanity while mocking the south. Curiously, they feign knowledge of Hank Williams when fashionable, but their intellectual elitism forgets that Truman Capote and Tennessee Williams were southern geniuses.

I adore our southern nights and the taste of authenticity in Willie Nelson's voice and Muddy Waters' blues. I love that we celebrate colossally in New Orleans: Jazz Fest, Crawfish Fest, Mardi Gras, even Jazz Funerals. I was touched when kind neighbours baked us casseroles and stood by us as we endured post-9/11 racism. I am proud that Houstonians opened their homes to 250,000 New Orleans evacuees. That's genuine southern hospitality. Southerners are not the ignorant, inbreeding, toothless rifle-owning trailer trash that my progressive colleagues paint them as. They are vibrant, passionate Americans with resolve. They have survived and flourished through the civil rights movement, disastrous hurricanes and oil spills, Enron and Halliburton scandals, the Fort Hood tragedy and their loved ones coming home in body bags.

They have epic stories. It's time our media act as their vessels.

I'm right there with most of what she has to say. I'm a transplant to the South and tell people that proves I love her. I'm here by choice, not by birth. I love the people, the culture, the food, the music and the weather. This is where I chose to live, work and play. This is where I chose to raise my son. And I consider it the best place on Earth.

No Independant/Libertarian Run For Breazeale

The Brunswick Beacon reports that NC state law prohibits Will Breazeale from running in the NC 7th District congressional election as an independent or a Libertarian.

Though no Libertarian candidate ran in the primary election, Breazeale could not run as a Libertarian, Greg Bellamy, Brunswick County Elections Director, said.

Gary Bartlett, executive director of the N.C. Board of Elections, said this week Breazeale cannot seek an independent or write-in bid for the same seat during the same election cycle, per state law.

Breazeale has scheduled a press conference for next week to discuss his political future. It sounds from what he told the Beacon that he'll just be airing his sour grapes.

Breazeale, who ran against incumbent Democrat Mike McIntyre in 2008 and lost, said he was considering “all options” about another run at Congress, and said Tuesday he was keeping his political options open.

“I’m not forbidden from running for another seat,” Breazeale said.

“This goes to show how messed up and nontransparent and user friendly the elections process is. How archaic North Carolina ballot laws are. Democrats and Republicans are in cahoots to keep people off the ballots. Is that democracy?”

Actually, Mr. Breazeale, your behavior is proving to me to that the system is working just fine. If this is how you handle a primary election defeat, we're lucky to have someone else as a candidate. Neither Ilario Pantano nor any mythical "establishment" is responsible for choosing a candidate. It's the voters who choose, and they chose wisely.

Elena Kagan, Gay or Straight, You Be The Judge

Get it? You be the judge? Sorry, couldn't resist. Mother Jones magazine has its panties in a wad over questions about Barack Obama's Supreme Court nominee's sexuality. The article is worth reading just for the entertainment value inherent in someone calling Andrew Sullivan "sane" and "smart."

I for one don't particularly care if the woman is intimate with farm animals. She seems to have very little respect for the Constitution and the intent of its writers, and that alone should disqualify her.

The Brits Have Finally Sorted Themselves Out

Well, sort of. David Cameron, Leader of the conservative Tory party, is the new Prime Minister, after accepting the Queen's invitation to form a new government. The Tories failed to win enough seats in Parliament to form a new government on their own, so they will be in a coalition with the Liberal Democratic party, which is pretty far to the left of the outgoing Labor party.

This should be interesting. I have to admit to pretty much geeking out over this whole affair over the last few days. I love our system and wouldn't trade it for the world, but the political junkie in me loves watching this.

Here's a link to a conservative blog site in the UK called ConservativeHome. They have all sorts of opinions on the recent election and the coming marriage of Right and Far Left from those actually affected by the deal.

What's Up With Will Breazeale?

This email from the Breazeale campaign arrived today. Read it for yourself, but this looks to me like a hint at a third party run.

Dear Friends,

Allow me to take a moment to say thank you for everything you have done. Not just in 2010, but for the past three years. I am so blessed to have had the support of so many kind and wonderful people during my two runs for Congress. For everyone that has helped along the way, my deepest and heartfelt thanks. Running for office is not easy. I could have never done it without you.

Over the past week there has been a lot of speculation as to my political future. I remain amazed at the innuendo people have been able to invent between their ears. Rumors in politics are like peanut butter and jelly. They just go together. Perhaps it is because our party's nominee and leadership spends so much time focusing on how to keep others from running and not on their own candidacy, that this seat has not gone Republican in more than 100 years?

Buyers remorse is a tough pill to swallow. I cannot help but think that perhaps many who voted for Ilario Pantano are now realizing their nominee's claim to fame is the execution of two unarmed Iraqis? In turn, they are already attempting to set up a scapegoat (me) in order to justify his inevitable, massive failure in November.

With that in mind, allow me to set the record straight: I will formally announce my future political intentions on Tuesday, May 18th, at 10 a.m. I will hold a press conference at the New Hanover County Government Center, 230 Government Center Drive in Wilmington. Members of the public and press are invited to attend. I am pleased to announce that I will be joined at that time by my fellow primary opponent, Randy Crow. I look forward to seeing you all then.

Will Breazeale

That would be an incredibly stupid and damaging move, both for Mr. Breazeale, who would seal the end of his politcal career, and for the people of the NC 7th Congressional District, who in Ilario Pantano have a shot at being represented by a good, solid Republican for the first time in a century.

We'll wait and see what Mr. Breazeale has to say next Tuesday, but this doesn't look good.