Faison won't support LGBT rights

The GOP legislative agenda will focus on redistricting and the state budget. After that is the plan to place the Defense of Marriage act on the 2012 ballot as an amendment to the state constitution. If the General Assembly can actually pass the bill by through the required super majorities, the governor has no ability to block it.

So who among the democratic state party chair candidates stands for the rights of LGBTs?

David Parker does. Bill Faison does not.  According to several sources, including Michael J. Gould's post today on BlueNC who wrote Faison didn't even recognize the acronym, LGBT whereas Parker knew it instantly and supports the cause for equal rights.  Gould wrote:

Finally, I approached Bill a few weeks ago, as I did with David, and asked him why we don't have a LGBT Caucus formerly within the state party. Bill looked at me and asked what I meant by "LGBT." Now if I had been talking with a typical registered democrat, the lack of detailed knowledge would be understandable, but not with a sitting legislator and candidate for state chair. David did understand what I was talking about and expressed enthusiasm and support for a caucus.  -- Michael J. Gould

 LGBT stands for "Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender" people who make up a significant population on the planet. Homosexuals alone are estimated at between 10 and 13% percent of the human population. The population stats on Bisexual and Transgender have yet to be confirmed. Still, the majority of this demographic supports the democratically party and votes democrat. The Daily Kos blog published well-known democratic blogger Pam Spaulding's story which referenced The IndyWeek article quoting Faison's anti-gay rights position.

Perhaps underscoring Faison's tobacco-country appeal is his position on issues relating to gay and lesbian rights. "As a general proposition, I think the concept of gay rights is a misnomer," he says. "It's not about rights at all. It's about public visibility, people wanting to make a statement. Rights are legal things and can generally be accorded without involvement of the state." When asked where he would stand on legislation banning the legal recognition of any same-sex relationships, including domestic partnerships, a bill gay rights groups fear will be introduced soon, Faison responds, "I would not support legislation to treat same-gender relationships as if they were a husband and wife."                                               --Fiona Morgan

The GOP has the votes in the state senate required to vote against the Defense of Marriage bill.  To put it on the ballot, the GOP need only convince four House democrats to vote with them. 

With Faison's anti-gay rhetoric, it's shocking to see progressive democrats supporting him over David Parker' for state party chair. We need a leader who welcomes every democrat not just those who's lifestyle is deemed politically "safe."

If you care about equal rights for the LGBT, vote Parker for NCDP Chair. It's just one of the many reasons he's a better leader for our party.

Why this blog exists

NCDPpolitics has received numerous twitter messages and comments asking about this blog and the identity of those writing it. Some of the questions and comments have been polite, others not so much, like this tweet:

dorisraleigh Doris Weaver 

Does anyone know who NCDPolitics is? Cowards!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

14 Jan Favorite Retweet Reply

What we haven't heard are complaints about this blog's reporting accuracy or demands for retractions.  We are proud of our record of correcting minor details and highlighting them (in red) as they are uncovered. We don't claim to be 100% accurate, but we're damn close.

Our intentions are to kick open the backdoor of NCDP's smoke-filled room and expose the private deals, secret decision-making and dark horse nominations designed to keep control of the party by a well-connected few with disregard for the will of the party faithful.

Call us naive, but as lifelong democrats we believe it is the people's right to chose their own leadership. One person, one vote.  It's enough that the Meek shall inherit the earth, we don't have to give him NC as well.

NCDPpolitics ...

• is written by democrats living in NC
• writers are liberals and moderates, SEC members and employees of the party
• is written anonymously because of reprisals and personal attacks aimed at taking the focus away from the truth (see tweet above)
• wants the very best leadership for our state party to regain control of the state legislature and county governments. 

Read our blog with an open mind, untainted by personal alliances and personal agendas. Open your eyes to what caused the failed state party leadership of the past two years.  And most of all, be wise to the mass mailings and messages that treat you like "sheeple" mindlessly pushing name recognition over qualifications and results. 

It's your duty as SEC members to educate yourself before you vote for state party officers. They will decide how we'll work to win back control of NC's governing bodies. Don't waste this opportunity. Do this today:   1) Bookmark us,  2) check back regularly, 3) contribute through our comment boxes* at the bottom of each article and 4) share this website address with other SEC members immediately. You may also confidentially communicate to us via Facebook and Twitter using their direct message device.

Thank you for reading.
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*The only way to communicate with site administrators is through the comment box. Your comments will not be published until a moderator has approved it --and we have approved every comment received to date.  However, if you are sending confidential information to us, please indicate your content is not to be published but only to share information.  Your anonymity is protected.

Candidates needed for 2nd Vice Chair seat

Currently there is just one announced candidate running for the Second Vice Chair office of the North Carolina Democratic Party and unless others come forward, an incumbent will win re-election.

That incumbent is 74-year-old Delmas Parker.  Unfortunately, Delmas has done little to help democratic candidates win during the disastrous 2010 midterm elections. Instead, Delmas prefers to wield power within the party, over the rank and file party members and bend the rules -- of the North Carolina Plan of Organization -- to suit his needs and his allies.

Delmas, a close ally of former chair Jerry Meek, was content to sit back and watch Meek's hand-picked successor David Young bungle the party's grassroots efforts and funding.  Like Meek, Delmas also stayed closely aligned with the Progressive Democrats of North Carolina, even acting as their unofficial spokesman within the state's executive board.

Delmas's best days are behind him. His age isn't really the issue as much as his penchant for ignoring the Plan of Organization's prescribed rules, regulations and processes.  He actively runs interference to protect party officers from disciplinary action (as long as they are members of the Progressives democrat group) for working against democratic candidates deemed not liberal enough.

Delmas rarely communicates with the party's active base because he's confident his pseudo-auxiliary club members will insure him another term.  Unfortunately, Delmas's actions cost the party time, money and other resources in order to appease a non-auxilliary club all for the  guarantee of their voting block. They keep him in office and he will protect their members despite rogue behaviors.

We can not endorse anyone who would encourage division inside the party by helping a sect of highly liberal democrats to ridicule, harass and malign the reputations of less-liberal democrats and the party's more moderate candidates. The hardcore recruiting must begin today!

It is imperative that someone step up to challenge Delmas for the Second Vice Chair office. Delmas has served on the party's state board in other positions but times have changed.  It's time for fresh ideas, energetic work ethic, integrity to treat all democrats fairly and to follow the party's organizational regulations and procedures.

It's time for a new face on the state executive board and it's time for Delmas to step aside. 

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
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** 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

Part 2: Fact Checking finds Faison leading Smear Campaign against Parker

Only about a dozen people joined in on a live statewide conference call with Bill Faison Tuesday night, January 11th,  to hear why he wants to be the next Chair for North Carolina Democratic Party. What came out was one hell of a well-rehearsed smear campaign against Faison's opponent, front-runner David Parker.

Ironically, not two days later,  Faison issued a statement claiming Parker was attacking him!  NCDPpolitics did some digging into this war of words and found some surprises.  Both Faison's accusations made during the teleconference, and our research findings are detailed below. Overall, we have found evidence disproving Faison's allegations so it does appear  Faison is conducting a smear campaign against Parker. So, is Faison simply confused and merely mistaken -- or is he lying (something Alexander Haig once defined as "tactical misrepresentations")? You decide:

  

Fact-Checking Faison's Talking Points

Raising Money

• Faison nebulously claimed "many people who know David Parker say they don't believe he can raise the money the state party will need to win elections in 2012." Result: False.

Facts: Parker

David Parker knows how to raise money. He raised $2.5 million running Terry Sanford's 1992 U.S. Senate campaign. Elected to the Iredell-Statesville County School Board in 2002, he raised money for schools. Parker hosted dozens of fundraisers in his home for local, statewide and national Democrats including Kay Hagan, Joe Biden, D.G. Martin and John Edwards. In 2010, Parker was instrumental in leading the drive to allocate $250,000 from the Tax Checkoff moneys directly through District Chairs for grassroots' and county support.  Parker has also served on several Finance Boards (YMCA, Mitchell Community College, Fort Dobbs historical site) to raise funds. 

Facts: Faison  

Faison knowns how to loan himself money. Faison supposedly "raised" a total of $347,036 for his own campaigns (2003-2010) but 45% (or $156,474) of those funds came out of his own pocket. In 2010, Faison raised only 17% of his funds from individuals -- the key donor category our state party will need to pursue aggressively over the next two years. Removing PAC's, party money and loans to himself, Faison has reported just $55,000 from individual donors over the last six years, an average of less than $10,000 a year.

Winning Elections

• Faison told listeners "I don't believe David Parker has held elected office in a great many years."  Result: Misleading.

Facts:

Parker served four years on the Iredell-Statesville School Board (2002-2006), just five years ago. Faison was elected in 2004 and has six years of public service, a two-year difference. Parker, elected in 1995 as a NC Super-Delegate, has consulted or managed "innumerable" local and Congressional campaigns.

• Faison claims he knows how to win elections because he's serving his fourth term in the state House and beat a Tea-Party candidate in 2010.  Result: Incredibly Misleading.

Facts:

Faison has been "elected" four times but he has run unopposed in 3 out of 4 general elections and all but 1 primary between 2004 and 2010. His name was the only name on the ballot in 3 of the 4 elections so he wins automatically.  Faison did beat a Tea Party opponent in 2010. However, District 50 is heavily "blue" -- 59% of voters are registered democrats -- and his opponent was significantly outspent. Republican Rick Smith challenged Faison in 2010 spending just $6,400 to Faison's $98,693.  According to a national report on the Tea Party's effect on 2010's State Elections, 98% of incumbents won their primaries, a figure unchanged from the last five elections. 

Endorsements

• Faison claimed 8 of the 13 congressional district chairs who've endorsed Parker were duped by Parker's "scare tactics" and "misinformation. Result: False.

Facts:

Faison explained in vague terms how the Campaign Finance Amendments bill (HB1111) included a last-minute amendment to provide both parties' state chairs an 11 additional appointments to the Tax-Checkoff committee. Armed with extra appointees, the state chair, his party treasurer and two existing appointees could out-vote the 13 district chairs on the committee and take control of how these funds are allocated to the party. In 2009, that fund netted NCDP $250,000. Parker was asked to intervene an settle a brewing coup to remove NCDP Chair David Young from office.  Ultimately, Parker's efforts helped district chairs to receive half the money directly to support their county parties and grassroots expenditures. Faison voted to approve the bill with this 11-appointee amendment.

• Faison claims he has the support of several key officials after talking with Governor Bev Perdue, Joe Hackney, Wayne Goodwin, June Atkinson, Jim Hunt and many others. Result: False.

Facts:

Faison carefully avoided using the word "endorsement" on this matter during the teleconference. As of this writing, the endorsement page on Faison's website is completely blank. If these political heavy-weights have actually endorsed him, wouldn't this be posted on Faison's website by now? Additionally, Faison has yet to respond to a point-blank question posted on BlueNC.com asking specifically if Faison has theses actual endorsements.

In contrast, Parker's website has more than 70 names posted on his endorsement page. The list includes everyone from county chairs to district chairs and SEC members to current state party officers and super-delegates.

Leadership 

• Faison accused Parker of not doing more to fix the state party whom Faison called "irrelevant" for failing to help get democratic state legislators elected. He then qualified his comment adding he couldn't identify a single legislator in his six years in office that would disagree. Result: Misleading.

Facts:

Six years ago, Jerry Meek became the state party chair. Meek served two, 2-year terms before stepping down in 2009. David Young, whom Meek recruited to run for chair, was elected Meek's successor.  If you do the math, Faison's concerns with the state party's failure to support state democratic legislators coincided with Meek's tenure as party chair and continued under Meek's protege, David Young. 

During these years, David Parker was a Super-Delegate, not the state party's leader. Parker performed his own duties and then some as previously stated in this article. Disparaging Parker in this manner backfired on Faison and ironically revealed Meek's own leadership short-comings as the state party chair.

• Faison claims a sitting legislator can lead the state party without issue. Result: False

Facts:

Faison refers to four previous NCDP chairs  were simultaneously sitting legislators, the most recent being Herbert Hyde in 1991-- twenty years ago. Things have changed a great deal since then including party regulations and political fundraising laws.  For example, when the state legislature is in session, a sitting legislator -- who's also chairing the state party -- would be prohibited from accepting contributions from PACs and special interest groups. This compromises the party's ability to raise money giving Republicans a financial advantage, opportunities for law suits and negative media stories. 

• Faison claims each time the state has had a sitting state legislator as party chair Democrats returned to victory and seen a resurgence. Result: Misleading.

Faison claims he can rebuild the state party and get democrats elected just as Hyde did in 1991.  Faison omits important differences between himself and Hyde. Faison readily admits he has absolutely no party experience or involvement. Hyde, however, had an illustrious 30-year long record of party involvement including service as precinct chair and county chair before seeking the state chair role. During Hyde's term as chair, Democrats controlled the State House and Senate. 2010 couldn't be more different. 

Those are the facts. Clearly, Faison's talking points are designed to win this campaign for North Carolina's Democratic Party Chair -- and to fool voters into believing anything but the truth.  


Faison has lost credibility and been exposed. It's time for Bill Faison to withdraw from this race. 

Bill Faison lashes out at Parker

Bill Faison is worried and he should be.  You can tell David Parker's answers on BlueNC's "Live Blog" last night must have blown him away based on Faison's public reaction today.  Both Parker and Faison are running for state party chair of the North Carolina Democratic Party.

Two days earlier in his "live blog" on BlueNC.com, Faison posted campaign rhetoric and hyperbole for the most part, often relying on buzzwords like "tea-party" and "grassroots" whereas Parker gave substantive answers with specifics on how to fix what's broke inside the NCDP. BlueNC moderator James Protzman even commended Parker for his "thoughtful and thorough responses" calling it "well done" and "dang impressive."  The best Protzman could say about Faison was "a darn good keyboarder." Damned by faint praise.

Today, Faison's reaction is to accuse Parker of attacking him!  Faison's latest missive actually misquotes Parker who did not state "that a sitting legislator cannot serve as party chair because of redistricting."  Faison is trying to fool you using the oldest trick in the Smear Tactics handbook, a misinformation campaign against Parker. (Stay tuned for the upcoming article, Part 2 of the Faison's Smear Campaign against Parker)

Here's what Parker actually stated verbatim on the mailer Faison referenced:

"The best prepared Chair will have that kind of experience in our Party and make this job his sole political priority. It's because of progressive ethics and transparency reforms that a sitting legislator can't serve us in this capacity, and the NCDP can't simply hand any one legislator undue power over his Democratic colleagues during the coming redistricting fight."

-David Parker

It's evident Parker is saying the best person for the job is someone who will make it a sole political priority (something not even close to possible for an effective, elected public official like, say, a state house representative.)  Parker astutely points out the pitfall of giving one public official power over other elected officials  as the "decider" of  who can and can't run for office once republicans have finished redistricting the state.

Still, Faison isn't completely wrong in today's diatribe. He is correct in reminding us here have been 4 other sitting legislators who have served as NCDP chair, the last being Herbert Hyde. What Faison fails to mention is that Hyde served both roles some twenty years ago back in 1991, when NC Democrats had majorities in both the state house and state senate.  That is the complete opposite of today.

Faison's Herbert Hyde citation is an epic fail because Hyde -- unlike Faison -- had a long history of party involvement and party experience at the precinct and county levels having served as a county chair prior to becoming state chair. Faison glides over the fact he has no party experience or involvement whatsoever. Faison even admitted it during his statewide chair-bid teleconference Tuesday night (Jan.11th) because (and we're quoting Faison verbatim) "the state party is irrelevant." Faison also stated he "doesn't know any legislator who feels the start party did anything to help get them elected." Still skeptical? Ask for a copy of his teleconference meeting and check it out for yourself.

If Faison really wants to "build up, support and elect other Democrats across this State," and is "not running to tear down another Democrat," he would withdraw from the NCDP chair's race today.  While it may sound good to the politically naive that Faison promises to "focus all my energies on helping Democrats win and beating (...) tea-party republicans," Faison was elected to serve North Carolinians in District 50 for the next two years. And that is where all his energies should be focused.

Make no mistake, Faison is running to tear down his opponent. Faison is doing this as a political favor for former party chair Jerry Meek who's own energies are soley focused on settling the score in a personal rivalry between himself and Parker. Faison is just a tool.

We all know our party needs a leader who makes things happen and understands political strategy in a way Faison has yet to master. Take a stand right now against party in-fighting like misinformation campaigns.  Call Faison today at 919-606-6700* and urge him to withdraw from the Chair's race so the party can go to work immediately on defeating the GOP instead of waiting until January 30th.

* Oddly, Bill Faison, who says he wants to hear from you, does not provide a phone number anywhere on his website or mailers. We finally located one on the NCGA website. David Parker's cell phone number is listed on all his materials and website.