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.