Category Archives: Senate 2014

#Senate2014 News (Updated)

Posted on May 30, 2013 by

This post will serve as a repository for news articles relevant to the 2014 Senate Elections. It will be linked to the sticky post The 2014 Senate Elections.

UPDATED: 5-30-13

In The News: Continue reading →

Posted in Senate 2014 | Tagged | 2 Comments

Sen. Kay Hagan (D-odge, NC)

Posted on May 20, 2013 by

Sometimes a few tweets can bring serious matters into focus:

Paging @americavotes & #BlueprintNC partners. “Operation Destroy @myncsenate Budget” meeting @ 9 am. goo.gl/1Tb93 #ncga #ncpol

— RealLiberalHack(@LiberalHack) May 20, 2013

Hey, remember BluePrint NC and America Votes? Hey, look at all the crazy demonstrations going on downtown with all these groups that are buddies with BluePrint and America Votes. It’s all coincidence, I’m sure. It seems Twitter user @LiberalHack hasn’t forgotten and sent out this tweet this morning.

By the way, the link in the tweet goes here: AJ Fletcher Foundation. It’s the little details like that which matter. To explain a bit, the AJ Fletcher Foundation is founded and run by Jim Goodmon, the owner of Capital Broadcasting group who in turn runs local news outlet WRAL. The AJ Fletcher foundation gave a wad of cash to BluePrint NC (more below). This is the same WRAL who decided to start a ‘Promise Tracker’ on McCrory, but didn’t have the ‘technology’ do set one up for Bev Perdue:

Note: WRAL responded to my public tweet with a private Direct Message.

The AJ Fletcher Foundation is the same outfit who claimed they had nothing do to with BluePrint NC’s attack memo citing the ‘evisceration’ and ‘crippling’ of the opposition. Even BluePrint NC tried to dodge ownership. Also recall that the AJ Fletcher Foundation gave over $35,000 to BluePrint NC. Via Civitas:

The WRAL reporter left out the very deep connections WRAL has with BlueprintNC through its owner Jim Goodmon, donations and former employees. The AJ Fletcher Foundation has given $35,000 to BlueprintNC and $380,000 to the NC Justice Center which initially housed BlueprintNC when it was formed (the foundations 990 IRS reports are not current so there may be more) . The Goodmon family which owns WRAL has 4 family members on the board of the Fletcher Foundation including Barbara the President and Jim the chairman of the board. The Executive Director was formerly the head of the NC center for Voter Education, one of the original members of BlueprintNC. In addition Chris Fitzsimon, former WRAL reporter, is head of the liberal NC Policy Watch, the original lead attack group in the Blueprint coalition. Fitzsimon is also provided free airtime on Goodmon owned WRAL-FM from which he launches daily attacks on political opponents. The Fletcher Foundation has been a long time funder of Policy Watch is now housed in the Justice Center.

Well, America Votes finally owned up to the memo to take the heat off of BluePrint NC, but the damage was already done and there was zero apologies made:

The leader of a political nonprofit group came forward Wednesday as the author of a leaked strategy memo on how to attack Gov. Pat McCrory and Republican leaders.

Jessica Laurenz, the North Carolina director for America Votes, said she wrote and distributed the draft memo – not Blueprint North Carolina, a Raleigh group being blamed for crafting the plan to “eviscerate the (Republican) leadership and weaken their ability to govern.”

In an interview, Laurenz defended the memo saying “America Votes has not done anything wrong or out of the ordinary” and didn’t regret “strongly urging my colleagues to fight for what we believe in.”

The memo, leaked to reporters last week as a document originating from Blueprint, was first reported by The Charlotte Observer – an article which ran in this newspaper. The story was quickly pounced upon by Republicans. McCrory called the memo shameful.” House Speaker Thom Tillis used it as a fundraising appeal. The N.C. Republican Party registered complaints with the Internal Revenue Service and the state elections board, asking both to investigate Blueprint for political activity outside its charitable status.

Who authored the memo is central to any potential inquiry. America Votes is allowed to participate in political efforts as a 501(c)4 nonprofit under federal tax law. But Blueprint North Carolina is limited to issue-advocacy and barred from political campaign activities as a 501(c)3 nonprofit. Both are tax exempt organizations but only donations to 501(c)3 groups are tax deductible.

Back to Twitter

It looks like BluePrint NC’s talking points memo pal, America Votes, is taking fire and whoops, Senator Kay Hagan is in the mix:

BREAKING: @senatorhagan starts using @americavotes talking points on @morning_joe. #winning #ncpol #ncga.I hope Rep. Luebke is proud. — RealLiberalHack(@LiberalHack) May 20, 2013

H/T to @bringastar showing that @senatorhagan “hit all the points” in her first interview using @americavotes#memogate approach #ncpol

— RealLiberalHack(@LiberalHack) May 20, 2013 Continue reading →

Posted in ladyliberty, NC Politics, Scandals, Senate, Senate 2014, The Articles | Tagged , , , ,

#Senate2014: Kay Hagan and Pigford

Posted on April 26, 2013 by

Andrew Breitbart was right about Pigford.

In a random act of real journalism, the NY Times finally got around to digging into the Pigford case, in essence vindicating Breitbart, and filed this story on April 25th, 2013:

Farm Loan Bias Claims, Often Unsupported, Cost U.S. Millions

In the winter of 2010, after a decade of defending the government against bias claims by Hispanic and female farmers, Justice Department lawyers seemed to have victory within their grasp.

Ever since the Clinton administration agreed in 1999 to make $50,000 payments to thousands of black farmers, the Hispanics and women had been clamoring in courtrooms and in Congress for the same deal. They argued, as the African-Americans had, that biased federal loan officers had systematically thwarted their attempts to borrow money to farm.

But a succession of courts — and finally the Supreme Court — had rebuffed their pleas. Instead of an army of potential claimants, the government faced just 91 plaintiffs. Those cases, the government lawyers figured, could be dispatched at limited cost.

They were wrong.

On the heels of the Supreme Court’s ruling, interviews and records show, the Obama administration’s political appointees at the Justice and Agriculture Departments engineered a stunning turnabout: they committed $1.33 billion to compensate not just the 91 plaintiffs but thousands of Hispanic and female farmers who had never claimed bias in court.

The deal, several current and former government officials said, was fashioned in White House meetings despite the vehement objections — until now undisclosed — of career lawyers and agency officials who had argued that there was no credible evidence of widespread discrimination. What is more, some protested, the template for the deal — the $50,000 payouts to black farmers — had proved a magnet for fraud.

Read the whole thing.

Breitbart.com, is naturally running a front page story on this turn of events:

NYTIMES CONFIRMS: MASSIVE FRAUD AT USDA IN PIGFORD; BREITBART VINDICATED

The New York Timesreported Friday that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has likely enabled massive fraud in the Pigford series of legal settlements, in which black, Hispanic, female and Native American farmers have claimed to be victims of past discrimination.

The cost of the settlements, which could exceed $4.4 billion, is the result of a process that “became a runaway train, driven by racial politics, pressure from influential members of Congress and law firms that stand to gain more than $130 million in fees,” the Times notes.

Among those influential members of Congress was then-Senator Barack Obama, who made Pigford payouts a priority in exchange for political support for his 2008 presidential campaign among a coveted group of black voters in the rural South, the Times reports.

As president, Obama continued to support payouts for new groups of claimants while abandoning a review process that had been used to fight fraud. The aim was “buying the support” of minorities, according to the Times, while middlemen created a “cottage industry” in defrauding the government.

A little more background on it from Breitbart himself (via Lee Stranahan on Twitter):

[youtube=http://youtu.be/z8YBXrxgOpo]

Implications in North Carolina for Kay Hagan’s 2014 Reelection

Without question, Kay Hagan has been 100% in support of Pigford. Hagan’s office from the start was on board behind President Obama in this fleecing of the taxpayer, which was in essence boiled down to buying Democrat support in rural areas.
From Hagan’s office in 2010 via Project Vote Smart: Hagan to Attend Presidential Signing Ceremony for Pigford Farmers’ Bill

Excerpt:

“Since coming to the Senate, I have worked to right this wrong for farmers in North Carolina and across the country,” said Hagan. “In North Carolina, African American farmers were discriminated against and denied just compensation for decades. This is a historic day. With this law, our farmers are finally receiving the justice they deserve.” Continue reading →

Posted in NC Politics, Scandals, Senate 2014, The Articles | Tagged , | 2 Comments

#Senate2014: In NC – Hagan, Burr and Guns

Posted on April 16, 2013 by

Gun controls measures lined up for a vote in the Senate this week have split votes from the senators in North Carolina.

Kay Hagan, a Democrat who is up for reelection in 2014, plans to vote for the bill. Hagan repeated claims that she would not support a bill that banned so-called ‘assault’ weapons or high-capacity magazines. Hagan seems to be wanting to have her cake and eat it too by supporting universal background checks with one hand and then opposing magazine and weapons restrictions with the other. Perhaps that split is tied to her past with ‘assault’ weapon style guns going back to her August 25th, 2009 visit to Camp LeJune:

The above picture was found via NC Tea Party. Story to which it was posted can be found here: Call Kay Hagan’s Office Tonight and Tomorrow

On a personal note: I sent a letter to Hagan’s office several weeks ago via my personal email account. It is worth noting, from the obvious form letter reply I received, that Hagan’s words and actions also conflict in her communications with constituents.
On the other side of the aisle

Richard Burr, a Republican who voted yes to cloture on the bill, plans to vote no. Burr cited his opposition to the bill was tied to “Safe Communities, Safe Schools Act of 2013” being attached to the Toomey/Manchin bill. Burr also responded to criticism of his vote for cloture, saying that he voted yes in order to allow debate to occur.

A vote could come as early as Thursday on the Toomey/Manchin bill. At the current time, Harry Reid has implied the bill does not have the required votes to pass. Read More: Sens. Burr, Hagan on opposite sides of gun-control bill

A look back to 2009 on Concealed Carry and the NDAA

It’s also worth noting that both Senators voted for the Thune amendment (#1618) to the NDAA (S.1309) in 2009. Summary of the amendment:

To amend chapter 44 of title 18, United States Code, to allow citizens who have concealed carry permits from the State in which they reside to carry concealed firearms in another State that grants concealed carry permits, if the individual complies with the laws of the State.

The vote on the amendment was rejected with by a vote of 58-39 with 3 not voting. Hagan’s yes vote was a little more complex, as it appeared she was doing a 180 on her previous position as an NC State Senator. Read more at NCGA: Senate Bill 33 / S.L. 2003-199 (= H131) Continue reading →

Posted in gun control, NC Politics, Senate 2014, The Articles | Tagged , ,