The Ironic Tillis Primary History
Growing up, I had a grand vision of what a politician was. As a Reagan baby, I saw the Presidency, and by extension any elected office holder, as a true and honest leader. Politicians were men who forsook personal riches and fame to serve the betterment of society. Like our founders, the politician was a selfless beacon of what was right. A moral and philosophical leader.
My oh my how times have changed.
I’m not quite sure if it’s simply that I’ve woken up or if people have really changed so much in my short thirty (ahem) years of life.
In recent days we’ve witnessed some truly ugly politics.
You may have seen this video in which Cabarrus County Representative Larry Pittman addressed some issues before the General Assembly and points out some issues that he had with Speaker Thom Tillis.
I watched the video and nothing seemed over the top on Pittman’s behalf. The disagreements were respectful.
For whatever reason, just days later, Pittman issued an apology, but specified the apology was over the way in which the disagreement was handled, not for the substance of the disagreements.
While Tillis made sure via Facebook comments that anyone who had posted the original Pittman video was made aware of the apology, it seems the apology had little sway in deterring the wrath of challenged leadership.
Thom Tillis posted this on multiple Facebook Pages
At the Mecklenburg County GOP Executive meeting last week, recently elected vice-chair Jonathan Sink resigned his position and made it clear that his intention was to move to Cabarrus County and offer a primary challenge to Pittman.
What horrible timing, given the recent row between the legislators. There is no concrete proof that Tillis is behind this, but anyone paying attention can connect the dots.
In his phone calls to local Cabarrus GOP Party officials, Sink attempted to make it clear that his intentions were not motivated by animosity, but that residents simply “deserved a choice”.
Funny.
Conservatives are constantly berated when offering primary challenges against moderate to liberal Republicans. The calls for “unity” can be deafening. Interesting how when the other side wants to primary a conservative, suddenly it’s just “offering a choice”.
(On a personal note, I like Sink and supported his acquisition of the Vice-Chair position in Mecklenburg. However, I think this move is damaging to both his reputation and the GOP as a whole. If he wishes to comment, I will be more than happy to post in full and without commentary his response.)
Running with the assumption that this primary challenge is orchestrated by leadership against someone who dared to challenge the status quo, it’s a little like history repeating itself.
In 2006, Speaker Tillis was in a primary of his own against incumbent (and 2005 Americans for Prosperity Legislator of the Year) John Rhodes. Rhodes had made a name for himself by challenging the leadership of then Speaker Jim Black and Speaker Pro tem Richard Morgan. Tillis was “hired” to rid the state of the nuisance of Rhodes.
Now, let’s enter the wayback machine and point out what’s really funny about that race.
One of Tillis’ main targets against Rhodes was roads.
That’s right, in at least two political mail pieces, Tillis criticized Rhodes failing to “ease traffic congestion”.
You heard it.
Thom Tillis, the same elected official seemingly head over heals in love with the proposed HOT lanes on I-77 (or at least not doing a darn thing to fight them) once criticized his opponent in a GOP primary for “blocking the way to better roads”.
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Mr. Speaker, with all due respect, when you run on a platform “to ease traffic congestion”, and then stand aside and allow a private company to take over our highways via HOT lanes which are admittedly not an alleviator of congestion and more expensive than general purpose lanes…you have some explaining to do.
It’s no secret that the Speaker will be vacating his seat and running for US Senate in 2014.
The question is, does he really want to run as the candidate who was elected under false pretenses and now dishes out the same sort of “political justice” that his democrat (and felon) predecessor did?
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Christian, amazing job! And these negetaive fliers are always timed so the opponent cannot respond before the election. Actually, those photos of I-77 look very familiar, I think they are the same cars still stuck on the highway, lol.
Great article, wonderfully accurate portrayal of the frustration we are feeling with the corruption at the top of the NC legislature. He should never have been voted speaker again, after he bullied that girl at the NC-GOP convention last year over “flyer-gate.”
what was flyer-gate?
I read about that in the Daily Haymaker: do a search in DailyHaymaker.com with Tillis and it will show up.
Looks like we have gone from the Rhodes Block to the Tillis Tolls.
Tillis bullies girl over flyergate:
http://www.talkingaboutpolitics.com/CommentDiscussionForum/tabid/74/aft/458/Default.aspx
What – do you just keep a library of old campaign literature for moments like this? Personally, I think it’s GREAT to be reminded of philosophies espoused and commitments made!!!
Actually yes. 🙂 I have a box that I keep every political mail piece and flyer in. Helps for graphic design ideas, wording, and of course, finding the gems of forgotten promises.
Some other pieces in this series are terrible. Tillis even hired a lookalike actor to present Rhodes in a bumbling manner in one of the cards.
If you are on Dave Gilroy’s email list- he provides some interesting insight into last week’s HOT vote at the Corn. town board. Christian, who “hired” Tillis to run in 06? What did Rhodes do in the 4 years he served in NCGA to widen I-77? Nothing Would be interesting to see Rhodes run for the 98 seat next year- If he wins it back all he has to do is serve 1 term and he would have good health insurance for life, as he will have served 6 years and will qualify, I hate the idea of HOT lanes OBTW- If cable TV magnate John Woods if for it- it is ALWAYS a bad idea.
Tillis was recruited by Richard Morgan (an ally of Jim Black) to run against Rhodes on ’06.
As you may recall, Black was subsequently convicted of corruption and went to prison, while Morgan was run out of the party on a rail. Tillis still remains.
It is true that Morgan backed Thom Tillis 7 years ago, but it is probably not true that Morgan “recruited” Tillis. In any event, Morgan’s support for Tillis obviously wasn’t really about Tillis, it was just about Morgan taking vengeance on Rhodes. Morgan would have backed a yellow dog if the dog were running against John Rhodes.
Thom is no Morganista. Thom is his own man, and the surprising fact (at least, surprising to me) is that Thom Tillis has done a good job in the NC House.
I might seem like an odd person to be praising Thom. I love John Rhodes. Rhodes was a conservative tiger in the NCGA, blowing the whistle on the corrupt Black/Morgan leadership before anyone else in the NCGA grew enough backbone to even talk about it. I was heartbroken when Rhodes lost his primary to Tillis.
Nobody knows better than I do the damage that Richard Morgan, Paul Schumaker, Cherie Berry, and their little clique of crooks and RINOs did. I am webmaster of the http://www.mooregop.org web site, your one-stop shop for the truth about Richard Morgan’s evil deeds. I also personally filed a sworn complaint with the State Board of Elections about Morgan’s campaign finance violations (a complaint which the Democrat-controlled Board illegally ignored). You can read my sworn complaint on my web site.
I was suspicious of Thom for a long time. Stam was the conservatives’ favorite for Speaker, and when he lost that race to Tillis I feared the worst.
But my fears were misplaced. I’ve been very pleasantly surprised. Stam & Tillis work together very well, and they’ve done a remarkably good job of “herding cats” in the notoriously fractured NC House Republican Caucus. In fact, against all odds, the NC House has been more productive than the Senate.
Adam, it’s time to move on from the Morgan/Black battles w/r/t Thom Tillis. Tillis has proved himself worthy of conservative support.
Tillis and Berger are both good men, and both are better candidates and much more conservative than Dr. Greg Brannon, the nutraceutical and bioidentical hormone replacement snake oil peddler who’s backed by the Ron Paul / libertarian crowd. I’d be very happy to have either Tillis or Berger as our next U.S. Senator.
Yes, Gilroy’s email was great. He has been a great voice of common sense on the HOT lane issue.
Rick Barton, what on earth are you talking about? Former NC legislators w/ 6 yeas service don’t get health insurance.
Dave- I believe there is some health insurance benefit for people that have served 6 years. I heard this when people were lamenting that if JR had won one more term, he would have qaulified.
Nope.
Dave- Nope what? Might be wrong, but I have always heard 6 years is the magic number- I dont know if JR lives in NC98 or not. It would be cool if he ran for his old seat and won it back. I’d sure vote for him.
[h/t to Carmen Ledford for tracking down the referenced article, below.]
I thought that NCGA Members got NO health insurance, but I was wrong. According to an article that Carmen found, they get free State Health Plan coverage while they are in office.
They apparently don’t get anything special after “6 years,” though.
According to this 2008 article, if I understand it correctly, NCGA members are treated much like State Employees. If they hit age 65, and they entered the NCGA before 2007 and have 5+ years of service, or entered after 2007 and have 20+ years of service, then they qualify for some sort of free State Health Plan retirement healthcare benefit (Medicare supplement?), and if they have 10-19.9 years of service then at age 65+ they get to buy in at half-price.
But even before age 65 former legislators apparently have the right to “buy into” the State Health Plan (at full price). Here’s the article:
NC Health Report – SPECIAL EDITION – July 2008 – p.3
http://pulse.ncpolicywatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/Health-care-of-NC-elected-officials.pdf
SAYS:
“…members of the General Assembly enjoy affordable health care options that many of their constituents lack.
Like full-time state employees, part-time lawmakers get health coverage through the State Health Plan. Also like full-time state workers, legislators pay no premium for individual coverage, which is a rare benefit among state legislatures nationally.
North Carolina is one of only ten states that offer free individual health insurance to lawmakers, according to a survey conducted by the National Conference of State Legislatures. Like other full-time state employees, legislators can also get free health insurance coverage if they retire at age 65 with five years of service. That benefit changes for those who start their service after February 2007; to get free health insurance after retirement those legislators will need to retire with 20 years of service. If lawmakers retire with at least ten years of service the state will still pay half of the cost of coverage.
But legislators have an additional perk not available to other state employees.
When lawmakers leave the General Assembly they retain the right to buy affordable health coverage through the State Health Plan for the rest of their lives if they pay the full premium. The most basic plan available costs $346.38 per month with enhanced coverage costing $390.36 per month.
Legislators can buy into the State Health Plan regardless of how long they serve or under what circumstances they leave the General Assembly. There is no mechanism to bar those who resign in disgrace from enjoying the right to purchase coverage from the State Health Plan.
The governor, lieutenant governor, and members of the Council of State in North Carolina do not share this privilege extended to the General Assembly. In fact, the state’s two top executives are treated just like all state employees with regards to retirement health care benefits.
Especially for members of the General Assembly with health problems or preexisting conditions, access to a comprehensive health plan at a reasonable monthly cost is a valuable perk. …”
Caveats:
That above article is >6 years old. Things might have changed since then (or the article might be inaccurate).
I tried to verify it, and mostly succeeded. I searched the NC statutes for those provisions.
In “Definitions” I found that “members of the General Assembly” are NOT considered to be State employees. Other NCGA employees are, though, so they get the same (free) health insurance that other State employees get, even if they’re part-time:
http://ncleg.net/enactedlegislation/statutes/html/bysection/chapter_135/gs_135-1.html
However, although members of the NCGA are not defined as employees, they ARE nevertheless eligible for the State Health Plan; here’s the provision:
http://ncleg.net/enactedlegislation/statutes/html/bysection/chapter_135/gs_135-48.43.html
Also, I found the 5, 10 & 20 year retirement coverage provision, here:
http://ncleg.net/enactedlegislation/statutes/html/bysection/chapter_135/gs_135-48.40.html
The only thing I didn’t find is the provision letting all former legislators “buy into” the State Health Plan (at full cost). It’s probably true, too, but I got tired of searching the statutes. It’s getting late, and I’m getting tired.
Orange Jumpsuit Tillis are you suggesting that Tillis may be doing the Curley Shuffle in ankle cuffs in the future like his predecessor from Mecklenburg?
Ferris, I think we can safely assume that O.J.T. is nuts.
Representative Pittman’s values are God, Family, Country and Constitution, and he is going to vote on these values 10 years form now, just as he votes today. That’s what he ran on, why he was elected, and why we don’t have to worry about him changing his values over time. There are a handful like him in the General Assembly.
He is doing exactly what we elected him to do, unlike much of the rest of the NCGA. They all ran on a strong conservative platform, and we gave them a historic mandate. Yet we had to fight to force them not to implement Obamacare, we’re getting a very weak Voter ID bill, illegal immigrants may get driver’s licenses and we’re getting toll roads shoved down our throats.
Larry is working on Common Core, Second Amendment, Parental Rights, and Prolife legislation, exactly what he was asked to do.
We need more Larry Pittmans, Robert Brawleys and Carl Fords – people who keep their promises.
i would think running against Mr. Pittman in a GOP primary would be an uphill climb.
It will be, but rest assured that Jonathan Sink will receive a huge influx of cash from leadership (no doubt funneled through others intermediaries to obscure the trail) to give him a boost.
Adam- that is not the way it happened. Local pols were frustrated with Mr. Rhodes representation in the NCGA, and Tillis was the choice of many who believed he could better represent NC 98. Read the first mailer posted by Christian that quote 3 local leaders. Were these guys stooges for Morgan/Jimmy Black?
So local pols were frustrated that Rep. Rhodes refused to keep his mouth shut about Jim Black’s corruption in order to get his bills heard and thus bring money and projects to North Mecklenburg?
If that’s the case, it doesn’t really matter if they were directly working for Morgan and Black or not, they supported Tillis getting rid of an honest whistleblower so they could see a bigger chunk of the taxpayer loot brought back to their district. I see absolutely nothing admirable or understandable about that.
Rhino Times, Civitas, Tara S on WBT, and many in the media were on to the Jimmy Black scam, it wasn’t some scandal that Rep Rhodes discovered and shined a light on To whom did Rep Rhodes blow the whistle? Did he communicate his concerns of Black’s corruption to the US attorney? Rep Rhodes was a back bencher who happened to be a member of the house when there was a corrupt speaker. Does anyone who reads this really think that if it not for Rhodes, Black would not have resigned, been convicted and sent to Fed. “time out”. Rhodes did nothing regarding widening 77 in the 4 years he was in that seat. You folks saw Rep Rhodes as a whistleblower- most saw him as a blowhard.
“Rhodes was the first member of the NC House to call for the resignation of Speaker of the House Jim Black after Black was accused of ethics violations and malfeasance.” – Wikipedia.
Did you know that a grassroots effort called John Rhodes Day will be celebrated March 22 of each year? See this link for more info. on how John Rhodes brought down Jim Black. He was on a crusade to clean up government in Raleigh, and many times he was on his own.
http://www.rivettegroup.com/jr/5facts.html
Were the three local leaders corrupt too? It obvious that they all had something to hide and didn’t want Rhodes to expose them and their relationship with Jim Black and Raleigh’s corruption. I wonder if Rhodes had been able to continue his work who else would have gone to prison too? Perhaps investigations are still ongoing and there are still players yet to be indicted? If I were one of those leaders I’d be concerned.
The fliers in the story above used by Thom Tillis in the 2006 election prove that he believes it is acceptable to criticize, in fact to politically destroy, our fellow Republicans. So I’m assuming he believes it is alright for others to criticize him. Otherwise that would be a double standard. Right?
So if you donate money to help fund Speaker Tillis’ s senate campaign, how can you be sure it will not be used to take out your favorite representative? I guess we had better hold off donating . . . darn, I was just getting ready to write a big check. too. (NOT!)
typical politician.good luck getting an answer.
To show remorse, you first have to have a conscience, or one that is in working condition, not dead, deadened or annulled by long years in government office and positions of power. You have to feel something for people and their lives.You have to get the facts and assess them with objectivity or be made to realize what you have done. You cannot come to believe in the lies you have been feeding the public. You cannot keep rationalizing your decisions. You have to realize that what you did was wrong. You have to want forgiveness. You have to figure that a public airing of the wrong is a good thing. You have to have the courage to expose your decision or those of others who share power. You have to place a greater value on truth than on secrecy, power, the maintenance of power, and the imagined or misperceived good results of the acts that demand remorse. You have to be unwilling to cover up errors, cupidity, malfeasance, lies, usurpations, ambition, and other possible causes of poor decisions. You must be willing to be removed from office.To show remorse demands that you acknowledge a connection between your decisions and their results. It demands a moral accounting. These require acknowledging moral reality or what really is going on or has occurred in moral terms, not simply physical terms. A widespread failure to acknowledge moral realities is endemic in raleigh and the mass media. This is because the conditions mentioned above are lacking. Power and the maintenance of power are valued more highly than truth.
“John Rhodes has led the effort to expose corruption in the General Assembly, and his efforts have lead to the State Board of Elections’ investigation of Speaker Jim Black. Over one year ago, he began the call for Speaker Black and Speaker Pro Tem Morgan. Staging one-man picket protests outside Jim Black’s district office, Rhodes often draws a crowd with his truthful, piercing rhetoric.”
http://www.rivettegroup.com/jr/41806uncc.html
“John Rhodes was a conservative firebrand that was not afraid to call out Jim Black and his cronies. Some thought he was a bit theatrical, but he held everyone’s feet to the fire, even in his own party. He was a critic of Richard Morgan just as much as Jim Black, and Morgan was known to carry a vendetta. In 2006, Richard Morgan recruited Thom Tillis who defeated John Rhodes in the Republican primary outspending Rhodes about 3-to-1. Tillis lent himself almost $100,000 for the primary campaign.” http://publius2013.wordpress.com/2012/07/18/laroque-indicted-is-there-a-tillis-connection/
Here is a recording of John Rhodes speaking at the sentencing of Jim Black. this is from the MeckDeck. http://charlotte.johnlocke.org/blog/?p=1635
http://site-docs.s3.amazonaws.com/audio/rhodes%28mp3%29-071107.html
When the GOP took over on Jones Street in 2011, we got promise after promise about never going back to that garbage. We were going to see openness and transparency. The heavy-handedness of the old days was gone for good — or so we were told. Jim Black and Richard Morgan are long gone from their posts of power in the legislative building. But Black-Morgan protégé Thom Tillis is running the show in the lower chamber these days, and — from all appearances — he learned a lot from his old masters.
In the waning days of the 2004 session, then- SpeakerrrrrrrrRichardMorgan™ was raising eyebrows with his legislative diligence on behalf of a Virginia-based cigarette company (that just happened to dump a lot of coinage into his campaign coffers). Now, we have Speaker Thom Tillis working overtime behind the scenes to push through a very controversial toll road proposal that a huge chunk of his constituents DO NOT want. Tillis operatives in Raleigh AND in Mecklenburg have been working overtime to stymie grassroots activists simply seeking a dialogue and debate on the whole toll road matter.
http://dailyhaymaker.com/?p=5387
While it is true that Morgan backed Thom Tillis 7 years ago, it is is certainly untrue that Tillis is a “Black-Morgan protégé.” That is an outrageous slander.
Morgan’s support for Tillis obviously wasn’t really about Tillis, it was just about Morgan taking vengeance on John Rhodes. Morgan would have backed a yellow dog if the dog were running against Rhodes.
Thom is no Morganista. Thom is his own man, and the surprising fact (at least, surprising to me) is that Thom Tillis has done a good job in the NC House.
I don’t like toll roads or HOT lanes. But even if Thom does, or even if he does so strenuously, that doesn’t make him a Morganista. If he took a $100,000 bribe to buy his support, like Morgan did, that would make him a Morganista — but, of course, you know Tillis did no such thing.
If Thom is wrong on one issue (or many issues), that doesn’t make him a crook.
I might seem like an odd person to be praising Thom. I love John Rhodes, whom Tillis defeated in that Primary, 7 years ago. Rhodes was a conservative tiger in the NCGA, blowing the whistle on the corrupt Black/Morgan leadership before anyone else in the NCGA grew enough backbone to even talk about it. I was heartbroken when Rhodes lost his primary to Tillis.
Nobody knows better than I do the damage that Richard Morgan, Paul Schumaker, Cherie Berry, and their little clique of back-stabbing crooks and RINOs did. I am webmaster of the http://www.mooregop.org web site, your one-stop shop for the truth about Richard Morgan’s evil deeds. I also personally filed a sworn complaint with the State Board of Elections about Morgan’s campaign finance violations (a complaint which the Democrat-controlled Board illegally ignored). You can read my sworn complaint on my web site.
I was suspicious of Thom for a long time. Stam was the conservatives’ favorite for Speaker, and when he lost that race to Tillis I feared the worst.
But my fears were misplaced. I’ve been very pleasantly surprised. Stam & Tillis work together very well, and they’ve done a remarkably good job of “herding cats” in the notoriously fractured NC House Republican Caucus. In fact, against all odds, the NC House has been more productive than the Senate.
Adam, it’s time to move on from the Morgan/Black battles w/r/t Thom Tillis. Tillis has proved himself worthy of conservative support.
Tillis and Berger are both good men, and both are better candidates and much more conservative than Dr. Greg Brannon, the nutraceutical and bioidentical hormone replacement snake oil peddler who’s backed by the Ron Paul / libertarian crowd. I’d be very happy to have either Tillis or Berger as our next U.S. Senator.
The NC House: Seems like Old Times
In the waning days of the 2004 session, then- SpeakerrrrrrrrRichardMorgan™ was raising eyebrows with his legislative diligence on behalf of a Virginia-based cigarette company (that just happened to dump a lot of coinage into his campaign coffers). Now, we have Speaker Thom Tillis working overtime behind the scenes to push through a very controversial toll road proposal that a huge chunk of his constituents DO NOT want. Tillis operatives in Raleigh AND in Mecklenburg have been working overtime to stymie grassroots activists simply seeking a dialogue and debate on the whole toll road matter.
http://dailyhaymaker.com/?p=5387
Thom Tillis’s closest ally in the NC House Indicted Federal Trial begins. Will Tillis take the stand and testify too?
No, this is not the story about Thom Tillis’ close ally and married Chief of Staff and roomate who was caught having an affair with a married lobbyist in Tillis’ shared apartment in Raleigh. That was the other member of the leadership team chosen by Tillis.
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2012/04/27/3202513/charles-thomas-nc-speakers-top.html
No: This is not the story about the yet another member of Tillis’ leadership team who later got caught having an affair with another married lobbyist and soon thereafter departed the Tillis leadership team.
http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/05/01/2037096/second-tillis-staffer-admits.html
A little more detail about the Speaker’s closest ally in the house and his choice for the “leadership team” and the federal indictment and trial:
http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/05/20/2904735/criminal-trial-set-to-begin-for.html
The former Kinston lawmaker was set to go on trial Monday on a dozen felony charges stemming from a pair of government-funded non-profit corporations federal prosecutors allege he used as personal piggy banks.
According to a 77-page federal indictment, LaRoque scammed taxpayers to finance a lavish lifestyle that included a six-figure salary and $300,000 in interest-free personal loans used to buy a house, new cars, an ice-skating rink and a collection of jewel-encrusted Fabergé eggs.
LaRoque, 49, faces four counts of theft from programs receiving federal funds, four counts of transactions in criminally derived property, a count of cover-up by scheme or device, a count of fictitious and fraudulent representation, and two counts of making false tax returns.
LaRoque was elected to three terms representing a district that included Greene County and parts of Lenoir and Wayne counties. Rising to become the influential co-chairman of House Rules Committee.
Dave Burton will be by soon to explain all this away
especially the new cars, the ice-skating rink and the collection of jewel-encrusted Fabergé eggs that the powerful member of the Thom Tillis leadership team will explain in Federal court why and how he used public dollars to purchase these items.
What evidence do you have that LaRoque was “Tillis’s closest ally in the NC House?”
You’re just making things up, “Connect The Dots” (whoever you are). I can see why you want to be anonymous.
Let’s hope Tillis and the GOP will stop the NC HOT lane scheme. This is a “must read”. http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/dec/2/nobody-wants-toll-lanes/
Interesting site.
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[…] Campaign Committee. The interview also glosses over the fact that Tillis primaried — at the behest of Jim Black and Richard Morgan — outspoken conservative GOP legislator (and bona fide anti-establishment type) John Rhodes. […]