Part 1: Meek, Faison launch Smear Campaign on Parker for NCDP Chair

In his speech tonight at the Arizona memorial service for the Loughner shooting victims, President Barack Obama urged Americans to "not turn on one another" and to demand civil discourse return to politics, replacing heated debates that have digressed into smear campaigns and harsh rhetoric inside the political arena.

Here in North Carolina, few democrats expect  Bill Faison and Jerry Meek will ever proactively return to civil discourse as President Obama urged. Case in point:  Faison's  statewide teleconference on Tuesday, January 11th.  During that teleconference Faison who is  running for Chair of the North Carolina Democratic Party launched into a blanket smear campaign disparaging his opponent, front-runner David Parker.  

Meek, a former NCDP chair quickly recruited Faison upon learning of Parker's candidacy in December 2010. Meek has since taken a very active role in Faison's campaign and this blanket smear campaign has Meek's fingerprints all over it.  Faison and Meek are collaborating to discredit Parker's record and influence the state party's 800-member executive committee to elect Faison instead.  This is a prime example of the anti-social behavior that defines party in-fighting and is just another continuation of the uncivil political discourse President Obama spoke out against during Wednesday night's memorial service.

It took a little research to get the dirt on mudslinging, how it's done and why some people choose to do it. It's best defined as a....

Smear Campaign: (noun, idiom) An effort to damage or call into question somebody's reputation, by propounding negative propaganda.

Here's are the basic elements to creating your garden-variety smear campaign:

Who:  A weaker candidate will use a smear campaign to distract and confuse voters about the opponent's reputation. Smears are considered to be a low, disingenuous and unethical form of discourse.

What: A smear is a simple attempt to undermine the opponent's credibility. A smear campaign is multiple attempts to ruin another's reputation. The #1 tactic is fabricating an alternative record for the opponent and filling it with distortions, half-truths or even outright lies, and unverifiable rumours, better known as baseless gossip. 

How: In politics a "blanket smear campaign" takes multiple issues that don't really have any direct connection to each other and compiles them into talking points to blanket the opponent in negative statements. The goal is to get people to question the target's ethics, capabilities and accomplishments. 

   When the facts contradict the smears, the attacker will ignore them and shift gears to  statements that cannot be easily refuted and referencing "witnesses" or people from the target's past to sound more credible and appear to be "common knowledge." When the target disputes this alternative record, the attacker will claim "where there's smoke, there's fire" to give the impression there must be some truth among the multiple smears.
   Caveat: "Don't blink and don't blush." An attacker must stick to his guns when publicly busted for smearing his opponent. He will then need to rely on being nebulous and evasive when pushed to produce evidence or name names alluded to in the smears.

When: The best timing for using smear tactics is whenever an opponent is presenting an effective argument, case or campaign. Trial lawyers know this tactic is extremely effective in undermining a witness's credibility.

Why:  Political smear campaigns, mud slinging, whatever you want to call it, all boils down to deliberate attempts to malign another's reputation. The motives for engaging in smear tactics are usually personal, financial or revenge.

Most importantly, a smear campaign requires enlisting stupid people to support and perpetuate it. You know the type. People who enjoy besmirching others.

That brings us full-circle to Bill Faison, a trial attorney selling his soul (and integrity) to win the state party chair election on Saturday, January 29, 2011.  Now that you know how a smear campaign works, we'll detail the differences between Parker and Faison and how they're conducting their campaigns.  

Read Part 2's follow-up article here that reveals Faison's unfounded attacks and specific smears with links to irrefutable facts and evidence we located online and that anyone can veri-google. This fact-check article is a must read for anyone voting in the NCDP's January 29th party election in Raleigh.

Bookmark NCDPpolitics to find out the inside story of NCDP's back-room politics.

Is Bill Faison telling the truth?

Bill Faison is banking on Governor Bev Perdue's endorsement in his run for Chair of the North Carolina Democratic Party. In fact, Faison alludes to Perdue backing him in that sly language some politicians use all too often -- saying it in so many words without actually saying it.  The point being to get you to believe it.

On January 10, 2011, Bill Faison participated in a "live blog" between 9 and 10 pm on BlueNC.com to answer questions posted earlier by readers. One person specifically asked Faison "have you met with Governor Perdue regarding this (chair) position? If so, has she expressed her opinion about your candidacy?"

Faison's answer was incredibly unclear. Here's his response, verbatim:

"I have spoken with Governor Perdue, Commissioner Goodwin, Education Secretary Atkinson, Minority Leader Elect Senator Nesbitt, Minority Leader Elect Representative Hackney, numerous Senators and Representatives, Former Governor Hunt, and SEC members across this State. They all want the same thing. They want Democrats to win. They want a Democratic agenda both legislatively and administratively. All of these elected officials know me and have worked with me in the Legislature. They all believe that I can do the better job leading the party and helping all democrats across our State win election." 

 - Bill Faison

Is it just me or is Faison purposely sidestepping the question by being vague? I don't see a straight answer from him as to whether Perdue is or is not endorsing Faison. Instead he uses an unverifiable yet suggestive phrase claiming to know what Perdue and other elected officials "believe"-- that he's the guy to do a better job leading the party.

Well, who  couldn't do a better job in comparison to the current state party chair David Young's performance?  In case you haven't heard by now, two years ago the outgoing NCDP chair Jerry Meek worked like a rabid dog to find someone to run against David Parker who was the front runner for the state party chair seat.  Meek then blackmailed the gubernatorial candidate Perdue into backing David Young over David Parker. It worked. And then things didn't work.

Perdue sided with Young to appease Meek during a tough election while Meek was still chair. Then the state party began its sad descent into handing over most elections to republican candidates over the next two years. Sadly, David Young has done a poor job which contributed directly to our democratic candidates take a major "shellacking" across the state.  Now, Jerry Meek wants Bill Faison to chair the state democratic party.

By now you've got to ask yourself  can we really afford to have another Meek-pick in the most important job of the North Carolina Democratic Party? Yeah, I don't think so either.

Meek's reasons for backing Bill Faison have nothing to do with Faison and everything to do with scrambling again to find a challenger to David Parker who announced his chair candidacy first on the heels of Young's announcement he would not be seeking a second term. It's widely known Meek has a chip on his shoulder where Parker is concerned.

It's also widely known Bill Faison's district is likely to disappear once the Republican majority gets through redistricting this year and consolidating democratic districts to further reduce the democrats votes in the House. Faison's political career is certifiably vulnerable and Meek knows it which is why he chose Faison, like the sacrificial lamb slated for slaughter.

But folks, don't take my word for it. Just look around. Our state and our nation are in dire straits with the Republican takeover after the disastrous mid-term elections which can only blame a small part on the Tea-Party tidal wave of momentum. A big part of our losses here in NC were due to a weak effort to get democrats to the polls and an even more feeble result in raising funds to support those democratic candidates.

We can not afford to sit back and hope for the best. It's time to pay attention and think this through and make up your own mind, instead of running with the herd of sheep led by Meek promising progressives whatever it takes to keep their confidence. For what it's worth, Meek never did make good getting the Progressive Democrats that elusive auxiliary status inside the party.

Now, do you really think a sitting legislator like Bill Faison is going to have the time to run his law firm, fulfill his duties as a legislator, meet with his constituents while running the state party (a 60-hour work week, minimum) and regularly visit the 100 counties in order to raise the much needed party funds rather than for his own re-election campaign? And what happens when the legislature is in session? Who'll run the party and making the trips needed to glad-hand donors, meet activists and solicit funds from PACs? Faison says don't worry, he's a high-energy guy. Yeah, right. He's 63. And there are only so many hours in the day. Most of his are already filled.

Meek's mission is simple. Based on his own personal issues, he is working hard to rob the North Carolina Democratic Party of the solid, proven leadership of David Parker who's a full decade younger than Faison and far more experienced in party-building and party leadership. And Parker knows how to win elections, too, both as a campaign manager and as an elected official (2002-2006). Check out his bio. As for endorsements, a clear majority of the 13 congressional district chairs are solidly backing Parker and are listed along with SEC members and officials on Parker's endorsement page on his website, www.voteparker.com for some time now.

Meanwhile, the Faison website's endorsement page is completely blank and still unmarred by a single name.

Who should be the next NCDP Party Chair?

Every other year, a handful of the same old faces resurface to lay claim to the six officers (electable) seats of the North Carolina Democratic Party.

This year is not all that different.

Running for Party Chair are two well-liked democrats:

• David Parker, a Democratic National Committee member and NC super delegate 
• Bill Faison, a NC House legislator

Insiders know David Parker is the front runner since his announcement on the heels of current NCDP chair David Young's announcement not to seek re-election.  Young knew better than to run for another term after the devastating losses Democrats suffered statewide on Young's watch during the mid-term 2010 elections and the county elections.  David Parker has the support of the majority of congressional district party chairs due to the tax-check-off debacle squabble over sharing funding that David Young tried to prevent.

Insiders know who's actually responsible for picking one of the worst state party boards in the NC History.  David Young presided over the democratic party after being hand-picked by the out-going NCDP chair Jerry Meek.  Was Meek seeking to prop up a weaker chair to make himself look good?  All we know is thanks to Jerry Meek, the NCDP handed the NC Legislature over to the Republican party, giving the Republicans the upper-hand and voting majority for the FIRST TIME in 100 years!

Bill Faison seems to be a nice guy. Like David Parker, he's an attorney.  Both have held elected office. But there are differences.  Faison, recently elected to a fourth 2-year term to the NC House, has absolutely no experience running a political party which is a very different animal compared to running a campaign 1/100th in size of the party's responsibilities. Democrats have to ask themselves if Faison is going to have the time to continue running his law firm, serving in the legislature and deal with a nasty divorce that's been dragging on for nearly 2 years.

According to Lindy Creech, Faison's wife, Faison has stuck her with feeding and tending the 30 horses he bred and  half the tax bill on the family residences. In September 2010, Mrs Faison filed a post-separation document with the Orange County courts seeking recourse to his "intentional infliction of emotional distress." Until recently, the 55-year old homemaker and mother of his six kids handled Faison's law firm advertising, leaving her with no visible income since their split. In his defense, Faison issued a press release two months ago claiming his soon-to-be ex-wife believed him to be Bill Gates, not Bill Faison. Nice. Real nice.

Why would a sitting legislator want to run the state democratic party? It's known Faison's district will evaporate under the new redistricting plans Republicans are drafting.  This leaves Faison out of office and irrelevant. Running the state party would give him leverage and a way to maintain influence inside the party once he loses his legislative position. Another democrat seeking party office to stay in elected office? He wouldn't be the first one or the last to pull this sad approach. 

Bottomline, the NC GOP is quietly laying in wait for the NC Democrats to screw up again. January 29, 2011 is D-Day for Democrats. That's when State Executive Committee members, super delegates and elected officials will converge in Raleigh to vote for the next leader of the NC Democratic Party. After a spate of negative press and ugly ethics accusations, Democrats need a leader who won't make headlines for all the wrong reasons.

Democrats, wake up and smell the coffee! No more intraparty conflicts. We can't afford to stroke egos while voters elect republicans. Make your vote count on January 29th and vote for David Parker for NC Democratic Party Chair.

As long as Jerry Meek and his wife, Rep. Tricia Cotham, try to control the NC Democratic Party, the Republicans are going to control NC.