Archive for February 2009
As part of a nation-wide anti-stimulus demonstration, activists gathered in Asheville for a “Tea Party”. This photo is from that event.
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From the 11th District GOP and Young Republicans of Buncombe County:
Republicans all across WNC invited to participate at group’s kickoff meeting in Asheville
The 11th District Republican Party is pleased to assist the Young Republicans of Buncombe County in announcing their kickoff meeting at 8:00 pm this Monday, March 2 at The Greenlife Community Center at 70 Merrimon Avenue in downtown Asheville.
While voting membership for the Buncombe Chapter is only open to registered Republicans in the county ages 18-40, YR Chairman Kristopher Cox is encouraging Republicans of any age from across Western North Carolina to attend Monday’s meeting to “celebrate our beliefs, show your pride and dedication to the Republican Party.”
Cox and his group also want to hear from others across WNC interested in forming their own YR chapters. “We intend to re-introduce what it means to be a Republican…we want to be the party’s ambassadors to a to a whole new generation of voters.”
You may download and print a copy of the official YR flyer by clicking here.
The Young Republicans (YRs) are the oldest political youth organization in the United States. Important to the growth of the Republican Party, the YRs reach out to registered Republicans, 18 to 40 years of age, and provide them with better political knowledge and understanding of the issues of the day.
Since its creation, the YRNF has established itself as the premier Republican grassroots organization in the nation, providing essential grassroots support for Republican candidates and conservative issues on the local, state and national levels. The YRNF has a solid record of producing future Republican Party leaders – including Governors, Senators, Congressmen, nationally recognized campaign consultants, and community leaders.
For more information, contact Kristopher Cox, Regional Chair Young Republicans (828) 458-7166
The Tragedy of Fiscal Irresponsibility: Stimulate Today for Indebtedness Tomorrow?
By Michael Blackmon
We are at a tough time in American politics. We are witnessing what many believe is the worse economy since World War II. Yet it seems that we have forgotten the lessons learned from World War II. As many prudent companies are trying to remedy the losses of the recession through cutting back spending, President Obama believes that not less spending but more spending is the solution. We certainly see what he means by “Change that we can believe in”. Instead of putting down the shovel while standing in an economic ditch, He and congressional democrats feel that we should keep digging and somehow that solution will lead to economic prosperity.
The big picture is that our national debt is currently, approximately, $10.7 trillion dollars, according the Associated Press, and the 2009 deficit is forecasted to be $1.6 trillion when we consider the new economic stimulus package and the bank bail-out spending package. More so, Interest payments on our existing debt alone will cost us $500 billion this year and will be the fourth largest expenditure after Medicare-Medicaid, Social Security, and Defense spending.
How can we have a candid discussion on keeping America strong and secure when we are proactively taking steps to place us in greater need of foreign support? This administration has repeatedly harped on the need to back away from the dependence of foreign oil; however, with this stimulus package, they are forcing us to be dependent on foreign economic assistance. Today we are the strongest country in the world, yet the actions of this administration are short-sighted and will threaten the economic and military security of our great nation.
The questions that we should be asking this administration are instead of more spending, more reliance on Great Britain, Japan, China, and Saudi Arabia, and a larger increase in the size of the federal government, when are we going to take greater steps to empower the American people? When are we as a government going to get our economic house in order? When are we going to consider that the American people are spending too much of their hard earned money to grow the bureaucratic juggernaut in Washington, DC? Finally, when are we going to focus on and correct the inefficiencies in our governmental agencies instead of mortgaging our children and grandchildren’s futures to foreign aid?
Our qualm is that the real conversation of fiscal responsibility is being silenced by more talk and actions of increased inefficient government spending. President Obama, we see the “change that you believe in” and it is not change. It is the tried and true methodology of the Democratic Party: spend, spend, spend and deal with consequences in the future.
Vice-President Joe Biden has been quoted as saying, “We’re off and running, but it’s going to get worse before it gets better”. We certainly see that with a price tag of $790 billion dollars it certainly is getting worse. My question is that when the plan is estimated to add only $7.70 a week to American’s pay checks, only an extra $25 to those in unemployment, and only $250 to the elderly poor, blind, and disabled, how are we tangibly any better?
This is not change that I can believe in!
Michael Blackmon is a Financial Representative at Northwestern Mutual in downtown Asheville. He is a proud Rotarian, and a volunteer with United Way via the Highlands Circle leadership giving group. He graduated from Western Carolina University in 2005 summa cum laude with a degree in political science and is also a member of the Sigma Chi Fraternity.
BCGOP Chairman, Dr. Timothy Johnson, was interviewed for an article in UNCA’s newspaper, The Blue Banner.
Republicans, Democrats and independents stress the importance of local politics in the day-to-day lives of citizens. This fact resonates with older members of the community, but falls short with younger voters who tend to get mesmerized by the glitz and glamour of national politics.
“The problem that we have in our country is that most young people can tell you who was running for president but can’t tell you who was running for U.S. Senate, can’t tell you who was running for Congress and definitely can’t tell you who was running for House or county commissioner,” said Timothy Johnson, chairman of the Buncombe County Republican Party. “That’s sad, because at the end of the day the things that affect you and I the most are the decisions that are made at the county level.”
Johnson, 44, stressed the importance of local issues to voters. While striving to keep party members connected with national politics, real change happens at the local level, he said.
“My first and foremost responsibility is to galvanize our base, to communicate our principles to the general population and to get our candidates elected or advocate for their election,” he said.
Local and Western North Carolina Republicans are demanding that President Obama not move the authority over the United States Census from the Commerce Department to the White House and is calling on North Carolina’s congressional delegation to resist the president’s efforts by legislative and legal means, if necessary.
11th District Republican Party Chairman Stephen G. Duncan released an official resolution today on behalf of the leadership of all fifteen counties in North Carolina’s 11th Congressional District, which voted unanimously in support of the resolution at its monthly meeting on Monday, February 9.
“This is clearly a power grab by the president and his minions to change the rules of the game,” said Duncan. “Asking Rahm Emmanuel to be in charge of the Census is like trusting Bernie Madoff with your grandmother’s Social Security check. Not only is it foolish, it’s downright dangerous. In a democracy, you can’t trust partisans to fairly apply the rules; it’s an attack on the very integrity of the system.”
The U.S. Census, which is conducted every ten years by mandate of the United States Constitution, is essential in determining how congressional districts are drawn and how federal funds are allocated.
Republicans across the country have expressed outrage at the president’s actions, causing even Senator Judd Gregg to withdraw his nomination in protest to be President Obama’s new Secretary of Commerce. House Republican leaders have also threatened to take the matter to court if Obama does not reconsider.
For more information, please contact Stephen Duncan, 11th District Republican Party Chairman, at (828) 777-5718 or the 11th District Republican Party at communications@wncgop.org
North Carolina’s 11th Congressional District includes Buncombe, Cherokee, Clay, Graham, Haywood, Henderson, Jackson, Macon, Madison, McDowell, Polk, Rutherford, Swain, Transylvania, and Yancey Counties.
In just over 6 weeks, Buncombe County Republican Party will be holding our annual Lincoln Day Dinner. President Lincoln is celebrated by Republicans, not just because he happened to be the first Republican president, but because he represents the very origins of the Republican Party as the “anti-slavery” party. The Republican Party was created in 1854 in opposition to the Kansas-Nebraska Act that would have allowed the expansion of slavery into Kansas.
It is fitting that just in time for President Lincoln’s birthday, our history-making NC GOP National Committeewoman, Dr. Ada Fisher, writes in a message:
For all the vile heaped upon us, the Republicans are never given the credit due for being the party of Lincoln whom Obama seems to revere and quote at every turn, the party formed in opposition to slavery, the party which elected the first blacks to Congress, the party which brought the Equal Opportunity Act, Voting Rights for Women, the Environmental Protection Agency as well as the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments to the constitution or the party of the majority of the US Supreme Court who overturned segregation in Brown vs. the Board of Education in Topeka, KS. Democrats are given a pass, not being held accountable for initiating the Jim Crow laws, the Ku Klux Klan, and Poll Taxes designed to keep blacks from voting.
Read Dr. Fisher’s full article, entitled RNC’s Steele attacked yet Obama’s Campaign Records unexamined.
The following press release is from NC Senator Phil Berger and NC House Representative Paul Stam:
Senate Republican Leader Phil Berger (R-Rockingham) and House Republican Leader Paul Stam (R-Wake) today announced plans to pursue an aggressive education agenda in the current legislative session. Republican Leaders along with Representative Fred Steen (R-Rowan) pointed to the Report Card on American Education from the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) as a wake-up call for fundamental changes to improve the quality of educational opportunities for North Carolina students.
The ALEC report, released today, ranked North Carolina 30th in the nation based on fourth- and eighth-grade mathematics and reading scores as well as SAT and ACT scores. It was noted that despite public spending increases over the years, measured results remain disappointing.
Specific initiatives supported by these Republican lawmakers include:
• Require the use of national normed testing to provide consistency in measuring academic progress
• Reward our best teachers with merit and differential pay rather than the current system of pay based on longevity and credentials
• Enhance career, technical and vocation programs in high schools
• Eliminate the current cap on charter schools to allow families to exercise greater educational options for their children
Did you know that if even a dozen people contact an elected official about a specific topic, they consider it a hot public issue? Imagine if hundreds of people contacted Congress every time they tried to waste billions of dollars or violate our Constitution.
Right now, the Democratic majority is trying to push an ineffective, wasteful Stimulus Bill through, while most Republicans are standing firm against it. Senator Richard Burr has publicly opposed this bill, while Senator Kay Hagan supports it.
Contact Senator Hagan right now and urge her to reject this bill!
We have made it easier than ever for you to email Senator Hagan with a thoughtful message against the Stimulus Bill. It will only take a minute or two for you to fill out some basic information and have a letter sent to Senator Hagan. We encourage you to personalize the subject and message of the email. Personalizing at least the subject will make it less likely to be disregarded.
Our Stop The Stimulus email sender form is no longer active.
This is a great opportunity for those who wish to see the political process in action! See the note from the Senate Principal Clerk:
We are in need of Senate pages for February and March. The applications are coming in slowly and very few are requesting these early weeks. Please stress to those young people who inquire about the page program that we need them every week during session, not just during the summer months. Unfortunately, we will not be able to use everyone during the months of June and July. Those months are always very popular but, as you know, space is somewhat limited. The weeks during the month of June are already filling up quickly and I expect July to be the same in a few weeks.
If you can help us out by suggesting the following weeks, I will really appreciate it.
February 2 (We have four for next week.)
February 9 (We have four.)
February 16 (We have three.)
February 23 (We have six.)
March 2 (We have five.)
March 16 (We have four.)
March 30 (We have two.)The girl scouts will be coming the week of March 9, SAYSO the week of March 23, and young cadets from Oak Ridge Military Academy will be here the week of May 11. We will also be able to use a few others during each of these weeks.
Thank you so much for your help and if you have questions, please let me know. If you wish, you may also contact Michael Perdue, Page Coordinator at (919) 733-5702.
Janet Pruitt
Senate Principal Clerk
(919) 733-7761
Fax (919) 715-2880
janetpr@ncleg.net
