Patty's friends admit to stirring up terror fears to win elections

Thanks to the NCDP's Jerimee Richir, we now know what McHorny and his friends plan for the next decade or two: using fear of terrorism like Reagan used communism.

For all the details read Jerimee's review of the Civitas luncheon discussion with McHorny's close ally and Dole strategist Tom Fetzer.

Here's the lowlight:

Fetzer: This isn't like what we did with Reagan. Since we don't have anti-communism to unite the Republican party anymore we'll have to find new issues to agitate our political base.

An audience member then suggested, why don't we just replace fear of communism with fear of terrorism?

Fetzer: Yes, that's the plan.

On health care:

Hawke moved to the next slide which illustrated the point that many North Carolinians don't think that the government should pay for everything for everybody. Apparently not satisified with that simple point, Hawke volunteered that he personally didn't think that he should have to pay any taxes at all.

Martin started to talk but Fetzer interupted: Voters don't understand health care, they aren't intelligent enough to understand it, and that helps the Democrats.

Keep up your alliance, Patty, with these bozos. And start thinking of what you can do for income once you're political career is in the toilet. Oh, that's right. You're a realtor. And you've made a million bucks on real estate since you got elected to Congress (without even a phone number for your so-called realty bidness). So I guess you'll land on your feet in November when Daniel Johnson beats your sorry ass.

news@norman blasts McHenry

No writer named. Ken Fortenberry's photo and name accompany the piece:

McHenry Seems To Blow With The Political Wind

sycophant
SIK-uh-fuhnt\, noun:
1. A person who seeks favor by flattering people of wealth or influence; a parasite; a toady.
2. One who seeks to gain through the powerful and influential.

suck-up
suk'up' noun: Informal
A person who flatters or defers to others obsequiously; a sycophant.

U.S. Rep. Patrick McHenry gives new meaning to the words sycophant and suck-up and it's long past time for the media in the 10th Congressional District to quit giving him a free pass.

Ever since he was elected (and I use the term loosely) by the slimmest of margins in a sham election in 2004, McHenry has been oohing and aahing his way all over Washington to gain influence and build his resume, presumably to replace U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole when she decides to retire.

So far, about the only people McHenry has impressed are those who want something from him, those who have gotten something from him or those he wants something from.

It's time for the charade to end.

I've talked to a number of Republicans in recent weeks who are giving more than a second glance to his GOP opponent, Newton attorney Lance Sigmon.

What Sigmon lacks in money he more than makes up for in character, and that's a word that I think is missing from McHenry's vocabulary.

Many Republicans held their noses and voted to re-elect McHenry in 2006 because there was no one else on the GOP ballot, but this time they have a choice.

A real choice.

Every time I think of McHenry I am reminded of his coziness to now-disgraced former House leader Tom Delay who once mentioned his little buddy as a possible successor. (This was about the time he was being nailed for ethics violations which McHenry vigorously defended).

"I 'm blown away. . . I'm so excited that Tom DeLay would say that about me," McHenry said.

Pardon the play on words, but it seems to me that McHenry is the one who needs to be blown away.

Dem Candidates in Rutherford County tonight

Both Steve Ivester and fundraising leader Daniel Johnson are speaking at the Rutherford County Democratic Party tonight. If anyone sees the event and would like to report on it, email me (using link at upper left) or post your comment here

Anonymity respected if you want.

McHorny's steroid hypocrisy continues to impress

The Raleigh News & Observer's Ryan Teague Beckwith notes that Patrick missed the Clemens hearings after being so gung ho for the similar questioning of the non-Bush connected Mark McGwuire (that were then led by Republicans).

And Watauga Watch's Jerry Williamson, who is particularly interested in Virginia Foxx's own idiocies makes several points after reading the Gaston Gazette's analysis. My favorite was his first:

1. Republican House members were all over the steroids investigation in 2005, when they were in charge of running the place. Congressman Patrick McHenry, particularly, was avid in his grilling of Mark McGuire for alleged steroid use and basked in the media attention.

And coming in a close second for me was the kind of turnaround for which Patty is becoming widely reknowned:

6. With the fall-out from the hearing turning very negative for Clemens and his Republican cheerleaders, McHenry tried to distance himself by saying that steroid use by professional athletes shouldn't even be a subject for Congress to examine, hoping that no one will remember # 1 above.

If writers like Derick Moss keep getting this kind of attention, and readers of the 10th start seeing this kind of analysis and follow-up . . . perhaps concerned constituents will be able to mount some serious challenges to the ludicrous, embarrassing and two-faced hypocritical jokes we currently for representation in US Congress.

With writers like Moss, McHorny would never get away with hiding his wild life in Washington from his fundamentalist Christian constituents in North Carolina.

McHenry sacked by Gaston Gazette

Last week the Roger Clemens hearings provided our Patty one more opportunity to make an ass out of himself. And finally, a local reporter figured it out.

Kudos to Derick Moss of the Gaston Gazette . . . Never heard of him? That's because you've been reading the news. For decent coverage of a US congressman, at least in the 10th, you need to turn to the sports section.

Derick covered the Clemens hearing as well as any national press I'd read and far and away above any other local "political" reporter

Check it out:

Take the case of our local representative, Patrick McHenry, a member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform which put on the most recent dog and pony show. McHenry did not attend the hearing, and also did not respond to requests this week for an interview. But on Wednesday he issued the following statement via press release:

“This circus could only impress P.T. Barnum,” the statement said. “Apparently, Democrats think the economy and illegal immigration will solve themselves. So instead of working on that, they’re playing with baseball.”

Sounds like he's stuck with the typical McHorny grandstanding quote. But no, no, no. Derick has not been drinking 10th District Republican kool-aid.

But here’s what McHenry told The Gazette in 2005 on the afternoon after he’d just grilled Mark McGwire about his alleged steroid use (and had plenty of national TV exposure in the process):

“It’s not about the baseball players. We’re trying to bring attention to this matter because there’s been a tremendous rise in the use of steroids among young people in this country. The message professional sports is sending, especially professional baseball, is that if you want to be a professional baseball player you need to use some performance-enhancing drugs. That’s the worst message.”

Takedown!

And, still, Derick is not done. He continues to go where other local reporters dare not. Not only does he note McHorny's hypocrisy, he actually makes an attempt to analyze it!

What happened between then and now to change his mind? Plenty.

For starters, his party was in the majority in 2005 and was actually the body that called for the hearings in the first place. Now that the Dems are calling the plays, McHenry wants to stay on the sidelines.

And he even noticed that while Patty exulted in criticizing McGuire, he is actually inaccurate in this case, for criticizing Democrats. It was Clemens who asked to speak. Not the other way around.

“The only reason we held this hearing is because Roger Clemens insisted on it,” Waxman added.

Wow, a reporter who notices hypocrisy, analyzes it, and does some research.

Go ahead and follow the link to read his speculation as to why Republicans were defending Clemens when they skewered McGuire. (Yes, there are quite a few mentions of our President.) Good job, Gaston Gazette.

The Hickory Daily Record and the Shelby Star didn't quite figure it out. The Star swallowed (and regurgitated) McHorny's tired and sputtering spin.

The Record had the nerve to give McHorny a headline that makes it seem they were asking the hard questions. And they did ask him some hard questions. Problem is they just printed his answers as if they are not supposed to (or able to) factcheck.

And really, they were letting him get away with avoiding a debate scheduled by the Catawba County Republican Party.

So, now I know why so many people turn to the sports pages first. That's where you'll find the truth.

One more debate update: still no answer

Why didn't Patty agree to the Monday debate scheduled (for his convenience) by the Catawba County Democratic Party? We asked last week and got a rude reply* from Jeff Lominac, chair of the NC Christian Coalition (which I guess is endorsing McHorny without even talking to challenger Lance Sigmon).

Here's his reply to the Hickory Record:

McHenry plans to officially file for re-election within a week or two and hasn’t had much time to campaign.

He said the Republican Party’s 10th District officials will host a debate, but is unsure of the date. McHenry recently said he couldn’t make a March 18 debate hosted by the Catawba County Republican Party.

He said having 10th District officials host the debate would be the “proper venue.”
McHenry didn’t say whether he would make any other debates, saying he has “a lot of obligations to meet,” in Congress between now and July.

*Lominac's comment from last week: "The Catawba County GOP set up a debate with out asking anybody with McHenrey if the debate date was ok. If Mr. McHenrey is not in congress that day, that does not mean that he does not have something else scheduled. Evan though some leaders of the Catawba County GOP help run and schedule Mr. McHenrey's opponent's campaign, they do not run and schedule Mr. McHenrey's day to day activities."

McHorny's hypocrisies exposed by WaPo (finally)

Finally the mainstream DC press is catching on to how McHorny talks one way one day and another way the next:

At a private meeting of conservatives in the House of Representatives last month, Rep. Patrick T. McHenry (N.C.) ridiculed Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), asking why his fellow right-wing activists "shouldn't be physically ill at the prospects of a President McCain."

On Monday, McHenry -- apparently feeling fine -- joined the chorus of voices calling for conservatives to unify around McCain as the likely Republican nominee, and he accused former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee of waging a pointless nomination battle because he is "in there for himself."

Now if only the local press would figure out that he talks and acts one way in DC and the other in the district.

h/t jlgolden at BlueNC.

Could FBI finance investigation at NRCC spell trouble for McHenry?

You tell me:

FACT ONE: According to politico dot com last week:

Top House Republicans were told in recent days that a former employee of their campaign committee may have forged an official audit during the contentious 2006 election cycle and that they should brace for the possibility that an unfolding investigation could uncover financial improprieties stretching back several years, according to GOP sources briefed on the members-only discussions.
. . .
The precise details of the suspected accounting irregularities and their possible fallout are not entirely clear. NRCC officials and top GOP leaders are being tight-lipped in large part because the FBI is investigating the matter. An outside lawyer advising members and staff has warned everyone at the committee to keep quiet.

FACT TWO: From 2004 to 2006, Patrick McHenry was one of seven Republican Congressman that worked so hard to raise money for the RNCC that he was named as vice chair of NRCC fundraising in January 2007, after only one term in Congress.

FACT THREE: McHenry's 2008 campaign has retained, high-powered DC law firm, Wiley Rein, LLC for 3,000 month. (I can find no other campaign that has hired a lawyer. I'm pretty sure most people don't expect their campaign donations to pay for legal fees for legal problems that don't exist . . .)

FACTS FOUR, FIVE & SIX: Wiley Rein's Elections Law and Government Ethics Division is led by Jan Witold Baran, who has been named by the Washingtonian as one of the top 50 campaign and elections lawyers in the country. Another Wiley Rein partner, Caleb P. Burns, teaches an annual class with the more experienced Baran titled "Complying with Campaign Finance, Lobbying & Ethics Laws." Mr. Burns' bio mentions undergraduate work in North Carolina as well as

Member, Lawyers for Bush-Cheney (2000). Participated in the 2000 election recount efforts.

RUMOR and SPECULATION: A third Wiley Rein partner and elections specialist, Carol Lanham writes about flying on private planes with Senate campaigns, something McHenry has rumored to have done with a friend from Bank of America during a Dole campaign swing through Charlotte a few years ago.

Of course, Patrick McHenry also worked the 2000 Bush Florida recount where he could have met Burns.

So, maybe he's just throwing some bidness in the way of old friends? Yeah, that's the ticket.

Cross Posted at BlueNCand ScruHoo.

UPDATE: Roll Call is covering this: Here's the first three graphs and a link for subscibers

The FBI investigation into financial irregularities at the National Republican Congressional Committee was triggered when NRCC Audit Committee Chairman Mike Conaway (Texas) asked for an exit interview with the accounting firm that conducted the committee's 2006 audit, according to a source briefed on the unfolding scandal.

Conaway had been seeking an audit of the committee's books, and when former NRCC Treasurer Christopher Ward produced one, Conaway — a certified public accountant — insisted on doing an interview with the auditing firm.

After delays and more delays, it became clear that the exit interview was never going to happen and the accounting firm that supposedly conducted the audit was contacted. Officials at the firm, the name of which has not been disclosed, then confirmed to the NRCC that they had not conducted the audit and the letterhead that was used had been forged to look like it was theirs.

Wonder what the NRCC has been hiding . . .

Hey Pat, what exactly are you doing instead of debating Sigmon?

Running scared, methinks.

I saw this written by your beard girlfriend Lisa, at CharO:

McHenry declines to attend debate

Rep. Patrick McHenry says he won't attend a debate set up by Catawba County GOP leaders because of his schedule.

The Cherryville Republican says he'll continue to work with 10th Congressional District officials to set up a debate with his primary challenger, Lance Sigmon, an attorney from Newton.

"Congressman McHenry was not notified or consulted in any way before this was publicized," spokesman Wes Climer said. He declined to say where McHenry intended to be March 18.

Catawba County GOP Chairman Chip Canupp said the event, announced Friday, was scheduled after McHenry and Sigmon expressed an interest in debating. -- lisa zagaroli

Bu you know and we know that you have nothing in Congress that day. (Duh, that's why the organizers scheduled the debate then, bozo). So, what's up Pat? Don't bang the door on your way out, okay?

Not Patrick? You know what they say about turnabout

H/T Thoreau at BlueNC for a link to a new McHorny website called NotPatrick.tk

Some of you will recall, Patty got his start in national politics working on a NotHillary site. We're not sure what he did for that site but lots of people on the internets tubes write about it being his main project after graduating from Belmont Abbey. I guess they didn't want him doing anything important.

All I have to say is turnabout's fair play.

Interesting ad

FEC fines Huffman over 2004 campaign, now it's McHenry's turn

CharO reports that 2004 Republican candidate for NC's 10th received improper loans and has been fined $30,000. They refuse to comment on any ongoing investigations but you can call them and ask if a specific person has filed a complaint. Last summer I called to ask if Huffman had filed a complaint against McHenry and I thought they acted kind of weird about it.

Too bad I didn't ask the reverse! Because it was a McHenry complaint (among others) that initiated the investigation.

McHenry, Moretz and Lyons filed the complaint against Huffman with the FEC.

The FEC ruled that Huffman effectively took an excessive contribution from Proctor by accepting the loan, because candidates were only allowed to accept $2,000 from other individuals.

Huffman and Proctor told the FEC that they reversed the transaction as soon as they learned it was illegal, about a month after Proctor gave the $100,000 to Huffman.

In addition to the civil penalty against Huffman, Proctor was ordered to pay a $19,000 fine. The FEC said he voluntarily reported the violation to the agency.

The FEC said Huffman also failed to disclose that another $100,000 he contributed to his campaign was a loan from Peoples Bank, and that he didn't report that he was using real estate as collateral on a $150,000 line of credit from Branch Banking and Trust Co.

What was pretty funny for me in the CharO piece was their quote from Wes Climer, McHenry's new and sadly inexperienced mouthpiece.

"The congressman is pleased this regrettable chapter has been closed," McHenry spokesman Wes Climer said in a statement. "Now we can all put the 2004 election behind us."

Not quite yet, Wes. What about all those Young Republicans and/or College Republicans who campaigned for you then, Pat? Weren't they 527s with whom you were knowingly illegally coordinating? And you and Jason Deans and Dee Stewart knew you were breaking the law. Of course, later they figured it out, hence this blog post but weren't you the one ultimately responsible?

And what about that loan you've never paid off?

McHenry Deputy District Director convicted of DUI, surrenders license

Thanks to Miss M at BlueNC:

Today, I made the trip to the Gaston County Court House to observe the conclusion to Mr. Keeter's DWI arrest. One funny bit, one defendant blew a .21 on the breathalyzer while driving a lawn mower, lol! While waiting on attorneys in other court rooms to appear in lowly traffic court, the judge announced an early break. I went to powder my nose, and went back to court to wait on the end of the break, and court was in session!?!?!? As I walked in I heard Brett Keeter and my ears perked up. The attorney went over the charges, and stated that Brett had completed assessment, rehab, and some community service. The attorney also stated that he had letters from an officer of a MADD chapter, Gaston Co. Sheriff Cloninger and someone he's working with at UNCC. I didn't catch the name or position of the person at UNCC. The judge remarked that you know who your friends are when you get a letter from them. The judge gave Brett 30 days suspended jail sentence, 1 year unsupervised probation and told to surrender his license. The fine was $25 + court costs. After this matter was concluded the judge told the district attorney he could complete the break that had been shortened, earlier.

A couple things that seemed a bit odd to me. One the shortened break, not that I'm a conspiracy theorist, but interrupting a break in court seems like an odd thing to do. As a jury member, a break has never been cut short, but that is the extent of my court time (knock on wood). I was looking at the post on Keeter's initial arrest, and he had a Gaston Co. attorney, Craig Collins. It seems to me that I heard the judge mention Collins as Keeter's current attorney, but I'm not totally sure about that. Why is this significant? Why doesn't a Gaston Co. attorney know how to pronounce the Gaston Co. Sheriff's name?? When Keeter's attorney mentioned the Sheriff's letter, he said his last name wrong. I know how the Sheriff pronounces it, because I was giving out name tags at the county convention and I had to ask him his name. Doh! :)

And that concludes my first attempt at court reporting. Enjoy.
MissM aka Jane

McHenry Deputy Director Keeter DUI court date today

I pulled post up from two months ago.

Ground hog day three days late.

Keeter is now scheduled for court 3B in the 8:30 session Feb 5. We'll see if he gets a sweetheart deal or even shows up at all.


KEETER,JAMES,BRETT GASTONIA ,NC
28054 Court date: 12/12/2007 Courtroom: 003B Session: AM Case Number: 2007CR014558 Citation Number: C8285970

5405 Traffic DRIVING WHILE IMPAIRED 20-138.1
4477 Infraction FAIL TO DIM HEADLAMPS 20-181
9955 Traffic CIVIL REVOCATION DR LIC (30) 20-16.5

McHenry burns half a mil, out-monied by Johnson

According to his FEC filing, 10th District incumbent annoyance Pat McHenry has burned over a half million dollars in campaign cash before the primary season has even begun.

And if you count McHenry's outstanding $90,000 2004 debt against his cash on hand, he has less in campaign funds right now than challenger and political newcomer Daniel Johnson.

This cycle (since the 2006 election), McHenry has raised 610,000 and spent 571,000. And the money isn't coming in fast enough to keep up with his spending. He raised $140,000 in 2007's fourth quarter. According to the FEC reports, Daniel Johnson raised just under $124,000. Thing is, Johnson only spent $5,000 to raise that nice chunk of change and McHenry spent $135,000. Oops.

What's up Pat? Things not going so well? I’ve heard your staff and allies are deserting your sinking ship. So sad.


UPDATE: Oh and what's that nine grand for DC law firm, Wiley Rein LLC? I notice that other candidates don't keep a lawyer on retainer with campaign funds.

Crossposted at BlueNC and Scrutiny Hooligans.