Meek's Revenge Matters More than the Party's Future

(1/16/11 Update: correction noted in red.)


David Parker's comment on BlueNC yesterday confirms what others have told us about the long-standing grudge former North Carolina Democratic Party Chair Jerry Meek holds against Parker. It's about payback, better known as revenge.

Parker noted in his posting praising Meek how the two had served together at the State level and the Democratic National Committee level before mentioning the real issue.  "I had encouraged him in 2003 when he first sought the Chairmanship and know that I disappointed him greatly when I did not back him in 2005," Parker wrote. It broke off their friendship and Meek has beensince.

Meek has actively worked against Parker's candidacy for state party chair in 2009 and again 2011.  Each time Parker announced his candidacy it sent Meek scrambling to recruit anyone to oppose Parker. Several people refused Meek's transparent "offers" until finally  David Young, a Buncombe county commissioner who lost a 2008 statewide primary to Janet Cowell for State Treasurer, agreed to run against Parker. 

Things were looking up for Meek. Once Young agreed, Meek set out to promote Young as the next "Jerry Meek" and the progressives democratic sect had their man.  Then the bomb dropped.   

Governor-elect Bev Perdue was backing Parker. So Meek, in a mafia-esque move, contacted Perdue and made her an offer she shouldn't refuse. Tell Parker to withdraw. If Parker runs and loses, Meek told Perdue, she'd get the Easley treatment for being openly defiant of the state party. A month prior to the chair's election, NC Public Policy Polling published an article describing the situation more delicately.

"It will be interesting to see how all this plays out, and how Perdue plays her cards. If the person she puts forward is not elected NCDP chair that would be an early blow to her Governorship that she can surely do without. Since the days where the Governor can just dictate the chair may have passed with the results of the 2005 election, it means she's going to have to really go to bat for her preferred choice with party activists and convince them that he or she is the person who can ensure continued success at the level North Carolina Democrats enjoyed in 2006 and 2008."

The newly elected Governor found herself between the proverbial rock and a hard place. She couldn't risk the party's wrath after seeing how they had abandoned support for her predecessor, Mike Easley.  Perdue couldn't afford to estrange herself from state party democrats and finally kowtowed to Meek's calculated bluff posing as a demand.  Perdue phoned Parker, explained Meek's threat and asked him to withdraw from the race. Realizing the governor-elect's predicament, Parker graciously withdrew. Young ran virtually* unopposed and was elected.   Score: Parker 0, Meek 1.

Flash forward to two years later. NCDP Chair David Young announces he will not seek a second-term.  A wise decision given the party's massive losses in several counties including its largest, Wake County where republicans now ruled the school board and county commission.  The following day, Parker announces his candidacy for state chair and it was deja vu all over again.

Just as he had in 2009, Meek scrambled to find someone to run against the popular Parker. Meek settled for Bill Faison after others had wisely declined Meek's transparent offer.  On paper, Faison sounded like a good candidate for party chair but in reality he's not. 

Faison is a fine individual who works hard to be a good legislator but the fact he'd be a sitting legislator while serving as head of the state party presented a money problem. According to state campaign finance laws, it is illegal for Faison to fundraise for the party while the legislature is in session each year.

Because fundraising is the state chair's primary job, this obvious handicap had to somehow be repositioned as a "positive." It also speaks volumes to just how desperate Meek was to have anyone oppose Parker.

On paper, Faison could appear as someone who knows how to win elections having won four terms to the NC House. In reality, Faison has run unopposed in 3 out of 4 elections. His  name was the only name listed on the ballot in 2004, 2006 and 2008.

On paper, Faison could appear as someone who can raise funds easily, having won four terms.  In reality, Faison was the biggest contributor to his own campaigns (45%) loaning himself over $159,000. When individual contributions didn't amount to much money (less than 17%), Faison went to the state party and special interests for the rest. 

On paper, Faison could appear as someone who would be re-elected in 2010. In reality, NC Republicans are in control of redistricting this year and Faison's heavily "blue" district is a prime target for dividing up. In Faison's District 50, democrats make up 59% of the egistered voters.  And that's the reason Meek backed the wealthy Faison. Faison could afford to advertise himself heavily to SEC voters but he needed to win the chair seat.  It's obvious  Faison will very likely be redistricted out of a legislative job in 2012.  

Faison needs to win the state party chair position to stay on the party's radar if he's going to seek higher office after 2011. Just a couple of  years ago, Faison was quoted in the news expressing his interest in running for the governorship.  Meek needs someone he can use to call the governor's bluff once again.  But this time around, the economic recession, high unemployment rate and huge budget shortfall have given Perdue much bigger problems to worry about than Meek's bruised ego.  Perdue has backed Parker before and she's reportedly backing him again.

Parker's website lists endorsements by 70 influential democrats and party officials. In comparison, Faision's website endorsement page remains blank with the same stale message "We will be releasing our lists of endorsements shortly."  

Our money's on Parker for the win.  

____________
* Correction: A reader reminded us Luke Hyde and Dannie Montgomery were also candidates in the 2009 chair race. Neither had powerful endorsers and neither had enough votes after the first round ballots to warrant staying the course. Hyde, the second place vote-getter bowed out and Young won.

Timeline of A Grudge

Jerry Meek first campaigned for Chair of the North Carolina Democratic Party in 2003 at the age of 32. Party insiders and power brokers took the young man aside and convinced him to drop out of the race so that Barbara Allen would have an uncontested race. Embarrassed publicly by this rejection, Meek turned the situation to his advantage and presented it as being doing a political favor that would pay off big.  Meek spread rumors and allowed others to believe he would be "annointed" at the end of Allen's term.

According to the blog, The Stinging Nettle he unfortunately allowed the perception to develop that he had been promised an uncontested run for the Chairmanship when he dropped his challenge to outgoing Chairwoman Barbara Allen in 2003 - a perception that was completely unwarranted."

In 2005, Meek was upset to learn Ed Turlington not only was going to run against him for NCDP Chair, but Turlington had secured the coveted and then-necessary endorsement of the Governor Mike Easley.  When Meek turned to his fellow state party officers for endorsements, he was shocked to learn many were backing Turlington instead. Among these backers was David Parker.

Meek took this hard. He viewed it as a personal rejection and a political betrayal. Meek has been bitter ever since.

Rejected by the party's senior leadership, Meek turned to the ideologically progressive wing, long frustrated by the moderates running the party. Delivering a direction that called for a grassroots focus, Meek and his group of uber-liberals (with a large younger following) worked hard at falsely messaging Turlington, 44, as old-guard. Turlington, was a tested party leader having run John Edwards Senate campaign. He was also a progressive-minded democratic. 

So, Meek promised the progressive democrats auxiliary status (ignoring the fact it would violate the party's NC Plan of Organization document) and in exchange they'd work hard to get him elected. In the end, they delivered a narrow victory of just 29 more votes( half of one-percent) for Meek over Turlington.
As the Stinging Nettle points out Meek's tight victory gave way to a festering sentiment of division among the party members rank-and-file. 

"Unfortunately, much of that sentiment seems to come from those who supported Jerry Meek. If this Party is to continue to win elections in North Carolina, it cannot be divided against itself. Our adversaries across the aisle have learned that lesson in the past few years. Democrats must unite not only around Jerry Meek, but also around our Governor, and our leaders in State office. We cannot be the Democratic Party, yet oppose our own elected officials." 

Governor Easley was quietly shunned thereafter by the NCDP for endorsing Turlington over Meek and rarely attended any state party events during Meek's term

As Tom Jensen wrote on the North Carolina Public Policy Poll blog, Meek worked hard to raise money during his first term to combat the concerns he wasn't a strong enough fundraiser, .  Success here would dictate whether Meek would be re-elected chair in 2007. 

Meek ran unopposed in 2007 as was rewarded with a second term.   The second term turned out to be far easier for Meek as the 2008 presidential election interest  escalated starting in early 2007.  News coverage of the first black candidate and first female candidate vying against NC's own John Edwards for the presidential nomination was every.  Meek just had to not screw things up.

During this second term, Meek met his future wife and began planning to settle down close to her family in Mecklenburg county.  Clearly democrats were headed for a presidential win and the timing was right to take a break from his first love, politics. Democrats won broadly in an exciting presidential election year. Just after November 2008, Meek announced he would not seek a third term as chair -- effectively exiting while he was still on top.

News of David Parker's interest in running for the vacancy delayed Meek's exit strategy and he immediately set out to find someone to oppose his former friend.  He settled for David Young, a long-time Buncombe county commissioner who had just lost a statewide primary to the Janet Cowell for NC Treasurer of State. Despite Young's election loss, his name would be familiar to active democrats voting on the next chair race. (For details, view  "Meek's Revenge Matters More than Party's Future".)


Once Young was in place and Parker had been asked to withdraw (just as Meek had been in 2005), Meek got on with his own life.  Meek  married shortly after and started a family. A new wife, a new baby and a new job at a law firm in Charlotte kept Meek busy. But when news spread of Parker's return to run for the 2011-2013 term, Meek returned to backroom politics with a vengence. 


After asking around, Meek could find only one person willing to oppose Parker: Bill Faison. 

Faison looked good on paper. Problem was he is a sitting state house legislator and that would be problematic for democratic fundraising, the lack of which was a key factor in the 2009 mid-term elections slaughter. 
But somethings are not as important as settling a personal score.  Meek needed to let Parker know who was still in charge.

 To quote from David Parker's earlier BlueNC posting concerning Meek and his endorsement of Faison:

...I would love to have his support during this campaign but am confident that he will fully support any new Chair upon election, including me.  

Different times require different types of Chairs – at the present time, we need a Chair who, like Jerry, is an independent voice, free of entanglements with Electeds but supportive of them all.
- David Parker

Parker's right. Times have changed and the pendulum has swung completely opposite from when Meek was in office and Democrats ruled the NC General Assembly.  Meek's last pick, David Young, lacked political strategy skills and fundraising savvy.  Meek's latest pick, Bill Faison, won't help the party either by giving the GOP the perfect storm of future lawsuits and future media embarrassment over alleged "play for pay" stories and campaign financing violations that will certainly be leveled at the NCDP and its candidates.
Meek's immaturity is showing. His vindictive behavior hasn't changed.  He may have grown older but he certainly hasn't grown up. Jerry, get over it all ready and butt out
----------------
** Vindictive |vinˈdiktiv| adjective: having or showing a strong or unreasoning desire for revenge : the criticism was both vindictive and personalized. ORIGIN early 17th cent.: from Latin vindicta‘vengeance’ + -ive .THE RIGHT WORDSomeone who is motivated by a desire to get even might be described as vindictive, a word that suggests harboring grudges for perceived wrongs