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.

Update: June Mabry confirms run for NCDP First Vice Chair

June Mabry has confirmed she is running for First Vice-Chair of the North Carolina Democratic Party. Mabry, 53, is challenging Stella Adams who is seeking re-election.  Despite what has been described as a lackluster performance over the past two-years, Adams, 52, is desperate to hang onto her position on the state party's executive board.

These two candidates differ widely in their approach to serving the party, work ethic, effectiveness and, most importantly, getting results. For these reasons, NCDP Politics proudly endorses June Mabry for First Vice-Chair of the NCDP.

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.

June Mabry running for NCDP office?

The field of candidates is growing in the election races for the North Carolina Democratic Party Executive Board.  June Mabry, 53, is listed among the candidates attending the Mecklenburg County Democratic Party Candidates Forum and Meet & Greet in Charlotte on Saturday, January 22nd.

As of January 11th, Mabry is one of six candidates confirmed to attend the forum.  Insiders are betting on Mabry to challenge Stella Adams for the First Vice Chair seat. The forum will run from 4 pm to 6pm at the Carole A. Hoefener Community Center (610 E. 7th Street) in Charlotte. 

Mabry is the 8th congressional district chair and a resident of Albermarle. Check back here for confirmation and more details on Mabry's candidacy.

Kevin Smith, Delmas Parker announce state party candidacy

Two candidates announced their intentions to run for officer positions in North Carolina Democratic Party yesterday, Tuesday, January 11, 2011. After reviewing their announcements and intentions, NCDPpolitics is endorsing only one of the two.

Kevin Smith, 34, made it official in announcing his bid for party Secretary on BlueNC.com, the progressive democrats blog, Tuesday. Delmas Parker, 73,  also came forward seeking re-election as the party's Second Vice-Chair.

Smith's priority is to "move forward and build a strong Democratic Party(...) controlled by the people and not special interests," according to his announcement.  Smith says his focus will be on the issues that are of greatest concern to the people, reconnecting with the people and rebuilding the party's future through several goals:

• Information on Demand
• Streamlined Information Process
• Accurate and Expedient Distribution of Party Minutes
• Transparency of Party Activities
• Accurately archiving all Party documentation

Smith says the upcoming election of Party leadership is a referendum on giving people a say in the state party organization. Smith is not a newcomer to party leadership. He is a former member of the state executive council and the executive committee (SEC member). Smith is interested in hearing from party members and can be reached at smithforsecretary@gmail.com.

NCDPpolitics endorses Kevin A. Smith for state party secretary. Stay tuned for an upcoming article later today on Delmas Parker's candidacy.

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.