The truth comes out amid Faison's smoke and mirrors

David Parker and Bill Faison are no longer in a tight race for Chair of the North Carolina Democratic Party.  Parker is beating Faison 4-to1 now that Faison has finally published his list of endorsements.

According to Faison's list published this morning, the majority named are his co-workers in the State House. There's just one problem, only four of them can vote in the state chair's election on January 29th. The rest of them -- along with the 8 friends-of-Bill "activists" -- aren't actual state executive committee members and can't vote.  So, after we weeded through Faison's list and counted actual SEC members, he's only got 22 votes. Parker has 84 votes listed publicly.

Once again, Faison is trying to fool folks hoping no one looks too closely at his list of supporters (like we just did). He's dropping names of elected officials (who can't vote for him) hoping it'll influence those who actually can vote on the 29th.

As we told you earlier, former state chair Jerry Meek has been behind Faison's campaign all along since recruiting him to oppose Parker. Faison even pays homage to Meek's ego by listing Meek first on the list. But, after the weak performance of Meek's last chair recruit (David Young), it may not be the wisest campaign move for Faison to associate himself as being another Meek "pick."

Anyone else notice the governor's name is missing from Faison's endorsement list?  Faison said Governor Bev Perdue was backing him but it appears that is not the case.
Anyone else notice that Faison is still attacking Parker with lies and distortions in today's "Bridging the Gap" message:

"We have seen this gap for a long time now, and one of my opponents has offered what he thinks is a solution.

Attack. 

He believes that the State Party can gain a voice by attacking our fellow Democrats.  He believes that completely separating the Party from the business of electing candidates to the legislature, and continuing the status quo of passing resolutions and then never giving them to elected officials will bring about change."
-- Bill Faison

Faison is in the habit of making grandstanding accusations without providing any evidence or facts to support them up.  When exactly did Parker say he's going to attack fellow Democrats in the legislature or elsewhere? If Parker ever actually said this, Faison would have a link to it with triple footnotes! 

And if anyone "dropped the resolutions ball" during Faison's past six years in the General Assembly, well that happened on Jerry Meek's watch and again on David Young's watch as chairs of the party during those same past six years.

David Parker does not have the authority, duty or responsibility in the party's hierarchy to take the resolutions' "ball" from the Chair and take it to the legislators. To be fair, Faison's complaint should be aimed at those responsible and, as it turns out, that's Faison's very own recruiter, Jerry Meek.

How ironic and awk-warrrrrrrd.

Parker's message aimed at GOP, not election opponent as Faison claimed

Candidates David Parker and Bill Faison are campaigning hard to be the next Chair of the North Carolina Democratic Party. Yesterday, both men contacted the voters of the State Executive Committee with a personal message.  And what a difference there is between these message!

We posted both messages here on our blog; Faison's was posted first (at this link) and now, we're posting Parker's message below.

When you compare the two candidates' latest message, it's easy to see who's attacking whom. Everything from tone to endorsements to technique couldn't be more different. Faison is accusatory, Parker is not. See for yourself:

Email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser. In exactly seven days, the General Assembly will reconvene under Republican rule for the first time in 100 years.  No one alive-- on either side of the aisle-- has ever practiced politics in this environment before.   We are in entirely uncharted waters. They won't waste the opportunity to push their radical agenda; Democrats shouldn't waste the opportunity to push back  In my second video, I've outlined how I'll lead that effort as your Chair. It really is remarkable to think that we are the Party that built the state that we live in today.  I happen to believe that the future is our responsibility as well.  North Carolina won't stop looking to us for leadership, especially as they realize what they've really gotten with a Republican legislature fully funded by Art Pope.   Our role has never been clearer: we are here to defend education, health care and civil rights.  As our core values are repeatedly threatened this session, let's remind voters that the good guys may not be in the majority anymore, but we're still the greatest force for right, justice and equality in North Carolina. If we do so, I have faith that we'll see early results-- including wins in the 2011 municipal elections-- that will be signs of a Democratic resurgence here in North Carolina. If you agree with my video message, that we have to defend our principles in order to win back the legislature and school boards and county commissions all across the state, please consider joining my campaign as a public endorser.  We've recently passed a milestone in public support-- 100 committed SEC votes-- but this campaign is just getting started. I would be honored to serve as your Chair and I ask for your vote on January 29. Sincerely, David Parker

Bill Faison caught LYING about Chair opponent!

Bill Faison will say anything to get your vote for state party chair -- even lie, imply and impugn his opponent's good reputation -- with a blatant disregard for the truth.  Want proof? Keep reading and click the links to see the evidence.

Faison's latest message on Jan. 19th (included below) accuses David Parker of using scare tactics on voters concerned about district party funding. Horse shit. Since when is telling the truth a scare tactic?

According to his statement today, Faison "claims" if he's elected, he won't take the tax-check-off funds away from the democratic District Chairs but that claim is a bald-faced lie. Pun intended.  

On January 2, 2011, Faison clearly stated on BlueNC.com  if he's the state party chair, he will fill all 13 appointees to the Democrats' tax-check-off committee:

I believe having more people involved in the decision making process, up to the point at which it becomes too unwieldy, is better. I would anticipate making all of the Chair's appointments to this very important committee.
--Bill Faison

By doing this, Faison as chair would take control away from the party's congressional district chairs and control the entire tax-check-off fund. In 2010, it was $250,000!  Faison claims the Chair has but one vote on the committee but the reality is the chair is allowed to appoint 14 people (upto 13, plus the state party's treasurer) who will vote his way. (That's why they're appointed!) 

Again, as Faison clearly stated on BlueNC, Faison would fill all 13 new appointments and that means if he's elected chair, he plans to use all 15 votes to his advantage to outvote the 13 district chairs. By doing this, Faison takes control away from the district chairs over how the tax-check-off funds are apportioned throughout the party. This new change in finance laws and Faison's intention to take control away from the district chairs is why the majority of them are endorsing and voting for Parker, not Faison!

Faison's message today is a transparent ploy full of Smear Tactics 101.  It's just another one of Faison's attempts to discredit Parker's impressive endorsement by impugning the intelligence of the district chairs and Parker's reputation.  Faison is counting on state executive committee members' ignorance of how the tax-check-off legislation works. Truth is, Parker negotiated a solution that stopped the district chairs from petitioning to remove Chair David Young from office for double-crossing them with the last minute appointments-amendment to HB1111 (scroll to the very last paragraph for evidence) before it was signed into law.

Has Faison proved any of his allegations? Hell no, he hasn't. But the district chairs'  endorsements on Parker's website speaks volumes. Faison's own endorsement page is still embarrassingly blank.  

Here's Faison's actual statement as issued today. We've addressed each allegation by stating the facts below each item (in blue type) with links to evidence that exposes Faison's lies, distortions and efforts to mislead SEC members:

Friend -- My opponent has been trying to scare many of you into voting for him by saying that if you elect me chair I will take money from the District Chairs and prevent them from using the tax check off money.  Let me be absolutely clear. That is simply NOT true.  (Horse shit. See article's links above. Faison stated he will make all appointments and control who gets the funds and who does not.) I am running for Party Chair because we lost in November of 2010.  (No. Faison's District 50 is targeted for redistricting and he'll be out of office by 2012. He knows this and agreed to oppose Parker as a favor to Jerry Meek to settle a personal grudge against Parker.  [See full story on this blog].   One of the main reasons that I have heard from all of you is that we lost because grassroots activists lacked resources. (The other main reason according to NC Spin is because our state party leadership was "missing in action" during Chair David Young's term. Recall it was Meek chose Young to run against David Parker when it looked like Parker would win the 2009 state party chair term.) Our districts didn’t have enough money, our counties didn’t have enough money, and no one had the support they needed.  (Again, because Meek's last pick for state chair (David Young) was inexperienced in party operations and not aggressive enough at fundraising. According to NC Spin's Tom Campbell,  the state party was missing in action" under Chair Young.) If elected chair one of my top priorities will be to provide local activists with more resources, not to take it away from them.  (Horse shit. See Faison's earlier comments above on tax-check-off committee appointments to control who gets money and who doesn't.)  I believe that to be an effective Chair my role is to get you what you need to be successful.  (Well, d'uh. Notice Faison does not mention how he'll get those resources.) More resources will require more than the funding that is currently available  (And the state party chair spends every day raising money. If elected chair, it is illegal for Rep. Faison to raise funds for the party each year when the legislature is in session under NC finance laws.)  My opponent’s only fundraising plan is tax check off money. (Horse shit, again! See Parker's full plan on raising money at voteparker.com).   That is not enough to win back this state.  (That's why Parker has detailed many other means of fundraising on his website. And, Faison thinks -- like Republicans -- that cutting party HQ staff and costs is the answer according to his website.).   To provide enough resources to win elections we must increase the funds available to county and district chairs.  (Just not through tax-check-off funds.) I know that you need more resources if we are going to win because I have experience winning elections.  (Horse shit.  Faison ran unopposed 3 times out of 4. His name was the ONLY name on the ballot in 2004, 2006 and 2008! See state board of elections results here.  In 2010, Faison's first opponent Rick Smith is a republican running in a heavily democratic District 50.) This November I defeated a Tea Party opponent. (Says who? Republican Rick Smith is not identified anywhere as a Tea Party candidate. Does Faison think every republican or home-schooler or ex-marine is a Tea Party member?  There is no mention of Tea Party in Smith's bio, or in the News & Observer coverage, or in the Herald Sun, or in the ACO News, or in the IndyWeek article endorsing Faison. Faison outspent Rick Smith 14:1. Smith, a grocery-store owner, spent less than $7,000. Faison spent $99,000, most of which he loaned to himself, got from the state party and from special interest PACs.)   In similar districts to mine, other Democrats won with between 3 and 5 percent of the vote.  I won with 13 percent. (What similar districts? Faison won because his House District 50 has 59% of voters registered as democrats. He's supposed to win! That's why the GOP is going after Faison's district for redistricting.) On the other hand, my opponent lost his last campaign for school board by 12 points, and he was in charge of the only campaign that Terry Sanford lost. (Horse shit! First, Parker lost re-election by just 143 votes in 2006.  Second, Faison is lying.  Sanford lost two elections according to several sources like this article in the Raleigh News & Observer: One  in 1972, and 1 in 1992 due to health issues. Faison impugns Parker's abilities by  implying Sanford lost because of Parker. But that's not the truth at all.  According to this 1992 New York Times article, 75-year-old Sanford suffered a bacterial infection throughout the campaign and had to undergo heart valve surgery in October 1992, three weeks before the election. While initial polls showed that Sanford had a comfortable lead over his rival, he lost supporters after an operation for an infected heart valve kept him from campaigning for much of October and raised doubts as to whether Sanford was capable of serving another term [see three sources linked here, here,  here]. Sanford lost his re-election campaign by just 4%. Running a campaign that lost to Lauch Faircloth almost 20 years ago does not qualify you to lead us to victory in 2012!  (Faison has cherry-picked out one campaign to purposely distort Parker's record of accomplishments. Faison ignores how Parker raised $2.5 million dollars for Sanford's 1992 campaign. Faison ignores the fact Parker has worked on dozens of campaigns from county to state and national, is a NC Super-delegate for the past 15 years and served as a state party officer over 10 consecutive years and five terms  until 1999 (as a First Vice Chair, a Second Vice Chair & as Secretary). Parker has served the NCDP for decades at all levels including precinct and county chairs. Faison has no experience with the NCDP in any capacity or any knowledge of how to lead the state party.) If you want more resources for county and district parties, not what you had in 2010, vote for me for Party Chair. (Horse shit. Millionaire Faison does not explain how he will magically provide more resources. Finance records show Faison paid for his own campaigns in a combination of his own bank account [$156,474 click here], asking the state party for money [$42,204 click here]) and going to special interest PACs for the rest, something he can't do for months while the legislature is in session as party chair.) If you want to beat the Republicans on the ground, in the media and win back our state, vote for me for Party Chair.  (Horse shit. Faison is being redistricted out of a job in 2012 and needs this job to control who can't and can not run in 2013 so he can take over another democrat's House or Senate district. It might help democrats win if Faison would stop contributing money to Republican campaigns like Lou Burrow Wilson in 2008! See report. Thank you for your support Bill Faison

Copyright © 2011 Bill Faison for NC Democratic Party Chair, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: Bill Faison for Party Chair 305 Triple Creek Drive Efland, North Carolina 27243 You can always reach Bill by emailing Bill@BillFaison.org or on his cell at 919-606-6700 Add us to your address book