The evil Republicans are at it again! – #ncpol #ncga

Posted on June 12, 2016 by A.P. Dillon

There’s a new ‘attack’ on education in North Carolina.   This time it’s in the form of raiding one school fund to pad another.  The evil Republicans are at it again!

That would likely be the story synopsis for House Bill 1095 by some North Carolina media outlets.

However, HB 1095 is 100% Democrat sponsored.

What the bill does is raid the Opportunity Scholarship fund in order to shift money over to new school construction. The Opportunity Scholarship fund is only proposed to receive $24.8 million in the budget.  HB 1095 proposes to funnel $11.8 million out of the fund.

I’ve written quite a bit about Opportunity Scholarships in the past, which mainly serve low-income students across the state.

The Opportunity Scholarship program is exceedingly popular, as evidenced by the rapid growth in number of applicants. Over 20,000 students have applied since the 2014-15 school year. However, the number actually getting a scholarship due to limited funds in the program.

Democrats want to raid a fund that is already stretched? Are they using Common Core math?

The students apply are coming from all 100 of NC’s counties.  I doubt it’s coincidence that the majority of the sponsors of HB 1095 come from districts who have high or the highest number of Opportunity Scholarship applicants.

Here are the top ten paired with the bill sponsors:

Cumberland County – 893 – Lucas, Floyd
Wake County  – 807 – Gill
Mecklenburg County  – 744 – Alexander, Earle
Guilford County – 428 – Harrison
Forsyth County  – 307
Durham County  – 276 – L. Hall, Luebke, Meyer
Onslow County  – 265
Buncombe County  – 172 – Fisher
Randolph County  – 166
Gaston County  – 160

It’s also probably no coincidence that these districts have budgets that have large building funds or have issues with school funding either. Such is the case in Cumberland, where their budget is apparently a mess.

In Wake county, the board has a bloated building fund, a $16.8 million shortfall with a $1.5 billion dollar budget to work with. Their solution? Shifting the burden to parents, students and staff.

In Durham, they slashed jobs to cover their deficit.  The Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools budget is such a mess, their board floated the idea of yet another bond.  I am sure if you look at the rest of counties the sponsors are from, you’ll find a similar story.

This is a straight up attack on school choice by Democrats in some of the biggest school districts in the state, arguably to bail out their own district’s school boards.

These scholarships are being utilized heavily by minority students, in the latest data, African-American and Hispanic students make up 45% of the applicants.

Why do Democrats think it’s a good idea to steal from an education fund that is heavily patronized by low-income and minority students? Maybe because the schools these students are choosing to spend their scholarships at are overwhelmingly parochial schools.

I’m not the only one noticing this bill stinks. Civitas asks, where did the $740 million in supplemental funds from the Education Lottery  for new school construction go?

Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885), Democrats, EDUCATION, NCGA | Tagged , | 3 Comments

NC Dem Party Chair Under Fire, NC Media Blows It Off – #ncpol

Posted on June 10, 2016 by A.P. Dillon

A petition to remove NC Democrat Party Chair, Patsy Keever, has been filed. This filing and release apparently went out on or around May 21st.

It was filed on behalf of the African-American Caucus Forsyth County Democratic Party (AAC-FCDP), Valeria Conyers , the 2nd Vice President AAC-NCDP and Perry Graves, Member African-American Caucus Rockingham County Democratic Party AAC-NCDP.

Also, there are a slew of witnesses.

The petition states that, “There are approximately 125-250 plus petitioners and witnesses from roughly 25 to 46 NC Counties, depending on the particular allegation stated in the Petition, and the attached signatures as filed herein and as follows or thereafter before the hearing.”

The filing calls the elections in the 3rd Congressional district ‘null and void’ due to alleged improper activities by Keever as Chair.

Language like ‘manipulation’, ‘fraud’, ‘gerrymandering’, ‘disenfranchisement’ and divisiveness’ are found throughout the document.

From a 30,000 foot view, Keever is being charged  with holding unconstitutional conventions, violating the Voting Rights Act and disenfranchising African-American Voters. When you get into the details, however, the charges span much more than that.

There is a giant list of grievances in the filing , a whopping 23 in all. However, one must note that grievance number one has sub-sets that used the entire alphabet from A-Z and then some, adding section AA and BB.
Read the Grievance/Petition
Read the Press Release

Since there was a press release, which one would assume means they sent copies to the media, yet I have yet to find an outlet that has reported it.

Have you heard about these charges against Keever in the media? No? Me either. Neither has Google News. Rest assured, had this been the republican party, media would have been all over it.

The Democrat party in NC has had some real internal issue lately. Remember case of Dylan Frick? Readers might recall I wrote about him and the corruption in the 8th District after NC Democrats became frustrated with their own party leadership and came to me for help.

Well, Frick’s included in the charges. See “B”, “R” and  “S” under the first grievance in list. The media didn’t report on that one either.

In other Democrat News…

Cyber Bullying, threatening to hack people and threatening your opponent with ‘nude sex party photos’ is just fine:

David Hurst is the 1st Vice Chair of the Pitt County Democrat Party. He lost in the 3rd congressional district race.

Posted in Media Bias, NC Dems, POLITICS NC | Tagged | 5 Comments

@YoungBlkRepub Calls Out NC Democrat Party In Open Letter – #ncpol

Posted on June 10, 2016 by A.P. Dillon

Some of you might know Markeece Young as @YoungBlkRepub on Twitter and the impact he has on political conversations there.

You might know him because of this:

SO MUCH WINI know him as a man with a fire in his belly who has just as big a B.S. flag to wave as I do. I love his style, his energy and that million dollar, contagious smile.

During the special June primary in North Carolina, Young encountered a Democrat precinct chair who gave him pause. You’ll see why. Read his open letter below.

Via Facebook:

Open Letter from Markeece Young asking the North Carolina Democratic Party to condemn the behavior of Precinct Chairwoman Devereaux

Dear, North Carolina Democratic Party

Yesterday June 7, 2016, while I was volunteering at the polls for the Republican candidates that I supported, something truly disgusting and inexcusable happened.

A woman, Ms. Devereaux, who described herself as a Democratic precinct chair, racially profiled a voter who was walking up to the polling entrance. She said, “You’re a Democrat, here’s a voter guide.” The man replied, “No thank you. I’m a Republican.” She then said “Shame on you!” He replied, “What did you just say?” All of the Republicans who heard this exchange were left dumbfounded.

I personally was shocked to hear what she had said and I promptly confronted her and asked her to retract her statement. Her reply to me was, “But he’s Black and we have an amazing President and I can’t believe he would vote against him.” Hours later Devereaux reassured me that she does not regret her statement. The woman’s behavior both during and subsequent to the incident was outrageous and I have asked the county Democratic Party to ask her to apologize. They informed me that they are ‘looking into it.’

That exchange with a voter was not the only improper incident involving this precinct chair at the polls yesterday. All day long the woman used illegal practices, such as going up to the car of every Black voter, despite being asked to desist from doing so. This behavior constitutes voter intimidation, which is illegal. I consider her verbally attacking Black Republicans and approaching Black people’s cars nothing short of harassment.

This morning I received a poor excuse for an apology from Ms. Devereaux: “I do apologize. I was angry and should have kept my mouth shut. It was the third black person who was a Republican, a young man. I lost it and said, ‘Shame on you.’ It makes me angry that African Americans do not appreciate having President Obama in the White House and what the Democratic Party has done for them in terms of civil rights.” This is not an apology, this is an attempted justification.

This behavior from a precinct chair is unacceptable. Of greater concern, however, is that the Johnston County Democratic Party has officials who cannot abide the mere thought that there are Black Republicans living and voting in Johnston County.

I call on the Johnston County Democratic Party and/or North Carolina Democratic party to condemn the actions of this precinct chair, make her issue an actual sincere and formal apology, and issue a directive to its field personnel outlining proper and improper conduct at a polling place.

Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885), Democrats, ELECTIONS, EXCLUSIVE, Voting | Tagged | 1 Comment

Common Core In Trouble? Hope Street To The Rescue! – #ncga

Posted on June 9, 2016 by A.P. Dillon

Earlier today I wrote about the NC Department of Public Instruction (DPI) hitting the panic button over the legislature not buying their re-write of the Common Core Integrated math for high school.

Well, DPI wasn’t the only one swinging into action.

Continue reading →

Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885), Academic Standards Review Commission, Common Core, EDUCATION, NC Board Of Education, NCGA | Tagged , | 2 Comments

NCDPI Warns #HB657 Will Take ‘Math Backwards’, But That Would Be A GOOD Thing

Posted on June 9, 2016 by A.P. Dillon

The North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (DPI) is currently engaged in a doing re-write of Common Core.

What could possibly go wrong?

Continue reading →

Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885), Academic Standards Review Commission, Big Ed Complex, Common Core, EDUCATION, NC Board Of Education, NC DPI, NC State Standards, NCGA | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

NC Special June 2016 Primary Results – #ncpol

Posted on June 8, 2016 by A.P. Dillon

accept rejectYesterday was the special June primary. This is a winner take all primary with no run-off in the Congressional races.

There were 505,687 ballots cast out of 6,584,959 registered voters.  Full statistics and results can be viewed at the State Board of Elections website.

The Judicial races saw Bob Edmunds win the Associate  Justice race with just over 48% of the vote.  Edmunds and Moran both advance to the November ballot, but it seems likely Edmunds will prevail again due to his strong showing last night.

The Superior Court race was closer, with Rebecca Holt in the lead.

NC SUPREME COURT ASSOC JUSTICE
NAME ON BALLOT BALLOT COUNT PERCENT
Robert H. (Bob) Edmunds 234142 48.06%
Michael R. (Mike) Morgan 167221 34.32%
Sabra Jean Faires 58588 12.03%
Daniel Robertson 27220 5.59%
NC SUPERIOR COURT JUDGE DIST 10C
NAME ON BALLOT BALLOT COUNT PERCENT
Rebecca (Becky) Holt 5640 38.06%
Michael Denning 4205 28.38%
Hoyt Tessener 2589 17.47%
Karlene (K) Turrentine 1576 10.64%
Ronnie Ansley 807 5.45%

Here are the winners and losers in the Congressionals, starting with the most watched race, NC-02.  In that race, George Holding blew out Renee Ellmers. In fact, Ellmers barely stopped Dr. Greg Brannon from tossing her into last place.

Ellmers was endorsed by Donald Trump, who also made robo-calls for her. It didn’t help. Ellmers’ went down because of her back-stabbing of Pro-Life voters, shouting down of informed constituents who dared question her and her record of siding with Obama quite often.

All of that came to a head and when paired with running a nasty negative campaign against Holding, Ellmers got what she deserved: A Blow out.  Ellmers’ ‘mean girl’ election day comments to a Holding campaign volunteer about her weight and needing to  ‘lay off the BBQ’ probably didn’t help Ellmers either.

Holding now faces John McNeil in November. Turnout in the Democrat side of NC-02 was feeble and just over half  of the turn out on the Republican side (32,8146 R) (16,396 D).

That lopsided party turn out in favor of Republicans was also seen in other races. The only real exception being NC-12, which is a big Democrat area.

NC-02 REPUBLICAN
NAME ON BALLOT PARTY BALLOT COUNT PERCENT
George Holding REP 16999 53.38%
Renee Ellmers REP 7527 23.64%
Greg Brannon REP 7320 22.99%
NC-02 DEMOCRAT
NAME ON BALLOT PARTY BALLOT COUNT PERCENT
John P. McNeil DEM 7564 46.13%
Jane Watson DEM 3847 23.46%
Steven E. Hight DEM 1856 11.32%
Ron Sanyal DEM 1749 10.67%
Elton R. Brewington DEM 1380 8.42%

NC-03: Walter Jones won  handily with 15,722 votes (64.83%). He faces Earnest Reeves who only pulled in 6,402 votes, beating his opponent by only 1,079 votes. The NC-03 race saw more than twice the number of Republicans come out to vote as Democrats (24,250 R, 11,725 D).

NC-03 REPUBLICAN
NAME ON BALLOT PARTY BALLOT COUNT PERCENT
Walter B. Jones REP 15722 64.83%
Phil Law REP 4929 20.33%
Taylor Griffin REP 3599 14.84%
NC-03 DEMOCRAT
NAME ON BALLOT PARTY BALLOT COUNT PERCENT
Ernest T. Reeves DEM 6402 54.60%
David Allan Hurst DEM 5323 45.40%

NC-04: Sue Googe trounced Teiji Kimball. Good pulled in a whopping 71.37% of the vote with 10,841 votes to Kimball’s 4,349.

NC-04 REPUBLICAN
NAME ON BALLOT PARTY BALLOT COUNT PERCENT
Sue Googe REP 10841 71.37%
Teiji Kimball REP 4349 28.63%

NC-05: Virginia Foxx keeps her seat, beating Pattie Curran by over 9,000 votes.  Foxx goes on to face Democrat Josh Brannon in November.

NC-05 REPUBLICAN
NAME ON BALLOT PARTY BALLOT COUNT PERCENT
Virginia Foxx REP 17083 68.01%
Pattie Curran REP 8035 31.99%
NC-05 DEMOCRAT
NAME ON BALLOT PARTY BALLOT COUNT PERCENT
Josh Brannon DEM 7347 47.65%
Charlie Wallin DEM 4147 26.90%
Jim Roberts DEM 3925 25.46%

NC-06: Mark Walker creamed Chris Hardin.

NC-06 REPUBLICAN
NAME ON BALLOT PARTY BALLOT COUNT PERCENT
B. Mark Walker REP 16787 77.96%
Chris Hardin REP 4745 22.04%

NC-08: Richard Hudson squashed D’Annunzio with nearly double the number of votes.

NC-08 REPUBLICAN
NAME ON BALLOT PARTY BALLOT COUNT PERCENT
Richard Hudson REP 16305 64.58%
Tim D’Annunzio REP 8943 35.42%

NC-09: Pittenger came back to win it, barely,  after being shoved into 3rd place at one point. Pittenger held on by just 146 votes.

NC-09 REPUBLICAN
NAME ON BALLOT PARTY BALLOT COUNT PERCENT
Robert Pittenger REP 9268 34.96%
Mark Harris REP 9126 34.42%
Todd Johnson REP 8118 30.62%

Here are the rest of the races, including the NC-13 race that had 17 people running on the Republican side .  Ted Budd won NC-13 with close to double that of the 2nd place finisher, John Blust.  Budd will face Democrat Bruce Davis, who barely won with 112 more votes than the second place finisher. 31,529 votes were cast on the Republican side, versus 18,255 on the Democrat side.

NC-10-REPUBLICAN
NAME ON BALLOT PARTY BALLOT COUNT PERCENT
Patrick McHenry REP 14770 78.45%
Jeff Gregory REP 2268 12.05%
Jeffrey Baker REP 900 4.78%
Albert Lee Wiley, Jr. REP 889 4.72%
NC-11 DEMOCRAT
NAME ON BALLOT PARTY BALLOT COUNT PERCENT
Rick Bryson DEM 9636 50.75%
Tom Hill DEM 9351 49.25%
NC-12 REPUBLICAN
NAME ON BALLOT PARTY BALLOT COUNT PERCENT
Leon Threatt REP 3481 41.79%
Paul Wright REP 2884 34.62%
Ryan Duffie REP 1965 23.59%
NC-12 DEMOCRAT
NAME ON BALLOT PARTY BALLOT COUNT PERCENT
Alma Adams DEM 12356 42.48%
Malcolm Graham DEM 8414 28.92%
Tricia Cotham DEM 6151 21.14%
Carla D. Cunningham DEM 1250 4.30%
Gardenia Henley DEM 441 1.52%
Rodney W. Moore DEM 243 0.84%
Rick Miller DEM 235 0.81%
NC -13 REPUBLICAN
NAME ON BALLOT PARTY BALLOT COUNT PERCENT
Ted Budd REP 6308 20.01%
John Blust REP 3293 10.44%
Hank Henning REP 3270 10.37%
Julia Craven Howard REP 3230 10.24%
Matthew J. McCall REP 2859 9.07%
Andrew C. Brock REP 2788 8.84%
Jason A. Walser REP 2309 7.32%
Dan Barrett REP 2284 7.24%
Harry Warren REP 1263 4.01%
Vernon Robinson REP 955 3.03%
Mrs. Kay Daly REP 882 2.80%
George Rouco REP 768 2.44%
Jim Snyder REP 434 1.38%
Farren K. Shoaf REP 402 1.28%
Chad A. Gant REP 197 0.62%
David W. Thompson REP 146 0.46%
Kathy Feather REP 141 0.45%
NC-013 DEMOCRAT
NAME ON BALLOT PARTY BALLOT COUNT PERCENT
Bruce Davis DEM 4694 25.71%
Bob Isner DEM 4582 25.10%
Adam Coker DEM 4098 22.45%
Mazie Ferguson DEM 2943 16.12%
Kevin D. Griffin DEM 1938 10.62%
Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885), ELECTIONS | Tagged | 2 Comments