The Washington Times posted an exclusive story yesterday on an RNC resolution which accuses President Bush and top Congressional Republicans of using socialistic policies to bail out and nationalize our industries.

Those pushing the resolution, which will come before the Republican National Committee at its January meeting, say elected leaders need to be reminded of core principles. They said the RNC must take the dramatic step of wading into policy debates, which traditionally have been left to lawmakers.

“We can’t be a party of small government, free markets and low taxes while supporting bailouts and nationalizing industries, which lead to big government, socialism and high taxes at the expense of individual liberty and freedoms,” said Solomon Yue, an Oregon member and co-sponsor of a resolution that criticizes the U.S. government bailouts of the financial and auto industries. Republican National Committee Vice Chairman James Bopp Jr. wrote the resolution and asked the rest of the 168 voting members to sign it.

Nothing pleases us more at the BCGOP than seeing Republican leaders calling on our elected officials to return to our Party’s core principles.

Read the full story in the Washington Times.

Judge John M. Tyson is approaching the end of 8 years of fairness and dedicated service on the NC Court of Appeals. Judge Tyson has an outstanding record, as reflected on a Judicial Performance page of his website. A couple of very notable statistics include:

• Percentage of Tyson majority opinions affirmed or left undisturbed by the Supreme Court: 98.7%
• Total Supreme Court adoptions of Tyson dissenting opinions:42

Included on his website is a message of thanks and gratitude:

As I approach the end of my current term on the North Carolina Court of Appeals, please allow me to offer my wholehearted and most sincere gratitude and to Thank You for your support, encouragement and friendship during the campaign and at other times over the past eight years. To be elected and to serve on our state’s second highest court is both a rare and high honor. I am forever grateful for this opportunity and for your help in allowing me to serve.

Please take the time to vote for the Chairman you best think will help change the party for the better:
http://www.chooseyourchairman.com

You may have thought the elections were over, but there’s one more left to go!

1. All 168 members of the Republican National Committee will vote for a new Chairman at the end of January. Choose your preferred candidate and submit an optional comment. Your comment will be sent to the RNC voting members of your state through the website’s automated feature to let them know who you’d like to lead the party!

2. Attend the debate: Candidates for the chairmanship of the Republican National Committee will debate in D.C. Make your presence known and your voices heard.

RSVP to debate@atr.org

Submit and vote on questions you’d like to see asked during the debate at www.RNCdebate.org

Visit The John Langston Forum at: http://blackrepublicans.ning.com

As reported in The Hill:

Former Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell and Texas Republican Party Chairwoman Tina Benkiser have joined forces in the race to chair the Republican National Committee, uniting two candidates who were seeking votes from Christian conservative committee members.

Blackwell, who announced his run for the chairmanship in early December, will run as chairman with Benkiser running for co-chairwoman.

Read the full story in The Hill

On January 28, 2009, three people from North Carolina will represent us as they vote for the next Chairman of the Republican National Committee: NC National Committeewoman Dr. Ada Fisher, NC National Committeeman David Lewis, and NC State GOP Chair Linda Daves. Six candidates are being considered (click their names to visit their websites):

Saul Anuzis

Ken Blackwell

Katon Dawson

Mike Duncan

Chip Saltsman

Michael Steele

Our NC National Committeewoman, Dr. Ada Fisher, announced yesterday that she is endorsing Katon Dawson, South Carolina State GOP Chairman, for the position. In a letter to Mr. Dawson, Dr. Fisher writes:

As a 52 year old parent of teenagers, you are poised to effectively straddle the generation gap better than most. Your success as a small businessman is a reflection of the economic promise we must show as we climb out of a national recession and lift the personal depression being felt by so many. In taking your state’s Republican Party out of debt and raising several million dollars, you have exhibited the financial discipline required to operate effectively. Under your stewardship South Carolina Republicans won 8 of 9 seats for state wide office, elected the first African American Republican to their state house since Reconstruction, now has a Republican Governor and US Senator, and your state’s Republican National Committeeman, an African American (only one of three blacks to have such a seat during this term) had your support. I watched your interaction with your state leaders including US Senator Jim DeMint. I was impressed with the ease in which you interacted as well as appreciated the mutual respect which was there. That mutual comfort level with party leaders and members is important.

Read Dr. Fisher’s full letter of endorsement

Do you have an opinion on who the next RNC Chair should be? Let us know!

The 2009 Republican Freedom Calendar is now on sale at the Fredrick Douglas Foundation website.

Each day on this calendar features an event from the rich history of the Republican Party. Did you know that the Republican Party was founded in 1854 as the anti-slavery party, to combat the Democrats pro-slavery agenda? Did you know that the first Hispanic U.S. Senator, Octaviano Larrazolo, came to Washington from New Mexico as a Republican in 1928? Did you know that Republicans led the fight for women’s rights, and most suffragists were Republicans, including Susan B. Anthony?

As Republicans, we can be proud of our party’s principled positions on the issues. Even those that were considered quite radical at the time. Purchase your calendar today and start learning about the history of the Grand Old Party. Visit www.fredrickdouglassfoundation.org for more information.

From the website:

This calendar promises to be a keeper as we have captured numerous historical events including the 2008 elections of Dr. Ada Fisher (NC), Bishop Keith Butler (MI) and Businessman Glen McCall (SC) to the Republican National Committee. In a year when the Republican Party didn’t seem to be able to catch a break, State Representative Jennifer Carroll (R-FL) ran unopposed and immigration attorney Anh “Joseph” Cao (R-LA) was elected to Congress and became the first Vietnamese American to serve in Congress.

This calendar was created by our chairman, Dr. Timothy Johnson, produced by Leadership101, LLC, and sponsored by The Fredrick Douglas Foundation, with permission from Michael Zak, author of Back to the Basics for the Republican Party.

AmericanCivicLiteracy.org has a 33 question online quiz to test your civic literacy. According to the site, “The average score for all 2,508 Americans taking the following test was 49%; college educators scored 55%. Can you do better? Questions were drawn from past ISI surveys, as well as other nationally recognized exams.”

A couple of the questions seem a little sketchy, but it’s a fun way to test how knowledgeable you are as compared with the average American.

Click Here to Take the Quiz!

Good luck!

The election is over and the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners is now in the hands of its newly elected commissioners and chairman. We wish to thank Chairman Nathan Ramsey for the 8 years of dedicated service he gave to all the people of Buncombe County. Nathan has always made himself available to listen to citizens’ concerns and answer their questions. He has guided this county with a sincere desire to see Buncombe grow and prosper. We appreciate the challenges Nathan faced as the only Republican on a 5 person Board, and we commend him on his ability to work effectively with others while never forgetting his guiding principles.

We look forward to working with Nathan Ramsey for the betterment of our beautiful county. We know that he will continue to give back to the community, whether as an elected official or as a private citizen and we will rely on his honesty, wisdom, and perspective to help guide us through today’s challenges.

Thank you, Chairman Ramsey, for your hard work and devoted service. We appreciate you!