General Clark is reporting for duty and you get to choose the mission. Cast your vote to send General Clark to one lucky Congressional District to do a Democrats Work community service project. Voting is easy as 1-2-3:
Republican Patrick McHenry: To Seem Rather than To BeHere's Daniel Johnson's response:
RALEIGH -- Once again, Linda Daves and the North Carolina Republican Party make laughingstocks out of themselves with false accusations.
Their letter to Democratic Congressional Candidate Daniel Johnson asking him to apologize for attending a fundraiser is riddled with inaccuracies.
Mr. Johnson is not a trial lawyer. He is a highly-decorated Navy veteran with a solid track record prosecuting criminal cases.
If it is anyone who should apologize to the people of the 10th Congressional district, it is Republican Patrick McHenry.
McHenry attends ribbon-cuttings and town hall meetings in the district and then votes against his constituents when he goes back to Washington.
During a time when many North Carolinians face losing their home, McHenry accepted $62,925 from the real estate industry and $39,500 from commercial banks during this election cycle.
While most hard-working families find saving for retirement difficult, McHenry got $34,250 from the securities and investment industry, according to OpenSecrets.org, a campaign finance watchdog.
No amount of ribbon cuttings and grin-and-grip photo ops will disguise the fact that McHenry is a part of the double-dealing, backroom, swampy culture most voters associate with the “Republican brand”.
As respected conservative columnist Peggy Noonan recently noted, today’s Republicans aren’t thinkers. They are marketers. Linda Daves’ current attempt to package Daniel Johnson, a respected naval hero, as a creature of Washington is politics at its most despicable.
Western North Carolinians deserve more than name-calling and lies. They deserve a Congressman who embodies our state’s motto,esse quam vidire, “to be rather than to seem”.
And that Congressman is Daniel Johnson.
Daniel Johnson is proud to be supported by members of North Carolina's Congressional Delegation and by people at the local and national level, who know that Daniel will work with Republicans and Democrats alike to bring down gas prices, make healthcare more affordable and accessible, and protect military men and women on the battlefield and when they come home.
The North Carolina Republican Party should be asking Congressman McHenry who he works for: Western North Carolina's families or Washington's special interests? Time and time again Congressman McHenry has shown he will vote for special interests and against the interests of his district.
It's no wonder -- Fifty-two percent of Congressman McHenry's campaign funds came from Political Action Committees so far this cycle. His top contributors include banks and insurance companies. Over his career, Congressman McHenry has raised more from PACs than from any other source, including individuals. McHenry has received $1.5 million from PACs since first being elected to Congress.
Daniel Johnson will fight for new, high-paying jobs, good schools, and a strong national defense. Congressman McHenry wastes the voters' time with name-calling instead of offering real solutions to the serious problems facing the 10th District.
H.R. 4157 . . . might more accurately be entitled the Zygote Political Enfranchisement Act or the Anti-Fertility Act. The legislation has been written by Congressman Broun in order to define a human egg created in the United States from the moment of fertilization, through its development into a fetus ready to be born, as a complete person with full legal rights and constitutional protections equal to that of any other American citizen.From the bill:
“the life of each human being begins with fertilization, cloning, or its functional equivalent, irrespective of sex, health, function or disability, defect, stage of biological development, or condition of dependency, at which time every human being shall have all the legal and constitutional attributes and privileges of personhood.”. . .
“The term ‘fertilization’ means the process of a human spermatozoan penetrating the cell membrane of a human oocyte to create a human zygote, a one-celled human embryo, which is a new unique human being.”
. . . according to Representative Broun, all fertilization requires is for a sperm to break through the cell membrane of a human oocyte (egg). Even if the sperm’s genetic material fails to unite with the egg’s, Paul Broun’s law counts the result as a human being with full constitutional rights to equal protection under the law.What do you think?
The expense of going through full fertility procedures even with fertilized eggs that could never be successfully implanted in a woman’s womb would make in vitro fertilization unattainable for all but the most wealthy American couples. Even for those couples, however, the practical cost could be too much to bear.
. . .
That makes H.R. 4157, in effect, a bill to ban in vitro fertilization.
“I’m not going to help them [Democrats] either, I’m just not going to endorse him [Patrick McHenry].McHenry has already started throwing mud at our guy. This is from his website:
But Nancy Pelosi's chosen recruit, a trial lawyer from Raleigh, already has his pockets stuffed with cash from Washington liberals, and we know there will be more to come.That didn't work next door in the eleventh in 06 but who knows, Pat, a lack of imagination never stopped you before, eh?
"This is an untrue personal attack, and exactly the kind of politics that we in the 10th District are sick and tired of," said Johnson, "I am proud of my record serving the state of North Carolina as a prosecutor and standing up for the victims of violent crimes. I was encouraged to run by leaders from our community, and I look forward to serving my friends and neighbors in Washington."And talking about cash, Johnson had raised $217,062 and had $166,188 unspent by the mid-April reporting date. McHenry raised $871,846 during the same period. He spent $679,844 and had $325,663 in cash.
The politics of division and the politics of fear are exactly what are keeping Congress from finding real solutions to the serious problems facing our community and our nation. The Johnson campaign looks forward to a campaign about the issues affecting our families in the 10th District--the rising cost of gasoline and healthcare, the need for new, high-paying jobs, and the care of our military men and women.
More on Pittenger via praha at BlueNC:How does Patrick McHenry manage to stand tall financially? His personal accumulation of assets through property deals has been a wonder. I’ve always been curious how a paper entry on a form turns into a cash windfall later. Now it seems he has a business partner in Republican State Senator and Lt Governor candidate Robert Pittenger, Lord of the LLC land deals, to help him along.
In Patrick McHenry’s financial disclosure forms filed 5/15/2007 for 2006 there was a new entry for a purchase: Locust-Highway 200 LLC (Real estate/ raw land) a “.00294%” share valued at $15-50,000. The date of the transaction was 2/2/2006. The NC Secretary of States records indicate that the LLC was formed just two days earlier 1/31/2006. The documents show that William R Culp Jr was the registered agent and Christopher E Hannum was the organizer. An annual report filed with the NC Secretary of State 3/7/2007 shows the registered agent and managing member to be Robert Pittenger.
A deed recorded 3/15/2006 in Cabarrus County, Book 6606, Page 86, shows that Locust-Highway 200 LLC purchased a 90.851% share of a parcel of land described as 379.551 acres, Highway 200, Locust. The date is more than a month after McHenry claims he acquired his interest. The stamp tax of $12,759 puts the sale price at around $6,379,500. McHenry’s share of 0.00294% comes to $188 which makes his claim of a $15-50,000 acquisition seem odd. It is possible that he made a mistake on his disclosure form and meant to state either .00294 or 0.294% but the share is very specific.
A listing on Pittenger’s website, which has since been removed, states that the land was annexed and rezoned by the City of Locust in neighboring Stanly County. The rezoning allows 2.4 lots per acre for a total of 960 lots. The other owners of the property besides Locust-Highway 200 LLC are listed in deeds as Paul A Stroup III (3.2675%) and College Street LLC (5.8815%). Annexation and rezoning is apparently a specialty of Pittenger in adding value to land. This development, just northwest of Locust, will be yet another bedroom community for Charlotte, adding to transportation needs in neighboring counties.
Since McHenry’s recorded investment in the LLC, Robert Pittenger and his wife have made $9,000 in contributions to McHenry’s campaign. One contribution of $1,000 was made 3/10/2006 just a few days before the deed was recorded. In the current election cycle Pittenger has maxed out his contribution for both the primary and general having given a total of $4,600 in Nov/Dec 2007. His wife is up to $2,400 for the current cycle.
I still haven’t put my finger on it. I have been suspicious when undocumented personal loans to a campaign get paid off as with McHenry but it’s not unusual for campaigns. To me it’s an untraceable way to siphon off money for personal use. Making property deals with campaign contributors is not unusual for McHenry but this deal is odd. It is less transparent than a deed transfer.
When the “consideration” for a transaction is unknown the asset value can be anything you or your partners claim it to be. The acquisition cost can be and sale cost are malleable. Without an audit there is no way to know how much was actually invested by a partner, how much value is arbitrarily added to the investment or if values are manipulated to avoid capital gains tax.
In this case, McHenry’s participation seems to be inconsequential to the LLC though it seems very important to Robert Pittenger. In this case McHenry could cash out big without ever having invested a penny of his own money.
This stuff comes from Village Scribe Online, which is apparently a really good local Charlotte blog. Charlotte is extremely far out of my orbit, so I'm just discovering these things as an outsider:
The good senator has been a very active land speculator in western Union County. One of the most lucrative was the satellite annexation into Waxhaw arranged by NC Legislature, so Senator Pittenger’s property would enjoy much higher home density than county zoning. That resulting ’school busting’ development is known as Lawson. There are others...
Anyway, Pittenger’s pet bill, his personal multi-million-dollar moneymaking machine, was House Bill 705 from the 2003 session: http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/gascripts/BillLookUp/BillLookUp.pl?Session=2...
A brief recap of the calendar is:
3/26/03 Bill was introduced by Jim Black, legislatively annexing some remaining parcels into the Town of Matthews
5/22/03 Bill received favorable report by house finance committee
5/28/03 Bill passed house; there was still no mention of Pittenger’s Get Rich Quicker scheme
5/29/03 PASSED house bill went to senate finance committee; I don’t know if Pittenger sat on that committe during that session, but he is listed as a member of the senate finance committee now: http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/gascripts/Committees/Committees.asp?sAction=... Standing_77
6/18/03 Senate finance committee amends passed house bill, adds language ANNEXING PITTENGER’S PROPERTY INTO WAXHAW, reports favorable…Surprise, Surprise!
6/24/03 Senate votes to pass H705 with the Pittenger annexation added…vote was 47-1 followed by 49-1 with Pittenger voting “AYE” both times on the bill that would net him millions of dollars; only “NAY” vote was by Sen. Katie Dorsett (D-Guilford)…man, we need more senators like her and fewer like Pittenger and Shubert
6/26/03 Re-voted in house on concurrence after senate passage; 3 “NAY” votes including Rep. Pryor Gibson (D-Anson,Union)
Republican voters in the 10th District, which includes a big chunk of South Iredell, should thank McHenry for his service in Congress and then force him to get a real job. They can do just that by voting for Sigmon.
