Katy's Conservative Corner

Democrat Mintz Sent to Federal Prison for Embezzlement

 The long, saga of Wake County's Chris Mintz (left) is over.  Mintz, a former Republican, switched to the Democrat party due to his own, sorry political ambitions. 

Your blogger first met Mintz when he was  a college student at North Carolina State University and we lived in the same precinct.  

Since Raleigh's downtown 01-06 literally had only 96 registered Republicans at the time, the eight of us who came to a precinct meeting in KCC's landlord's living room, agreed to split up precinct leadership with Mintz, taking the chairmanship and your blogger agreeing to be secretary.

Two years later, your blogger was awakened early one morning by an upset party activist and donor.  "I cannot get in touch with Chris Mintz", whaled Olga Santo-Tomas, a Cuban American, and supporter of then-Mayor Tom Fetzer.  She and her family had fled the Castro "revolution" and she has the highest respect from this blogger.  

After searching high and low, Senora Tomas and I realized that Mintz was not reliable nor reachable.  

Fast forward fifteen years.  Mintz was now president of the Wake County Republican Men's Club.  KCC thought at the time, "I wish I could have warned them."

 According to Under The Dome, the News and Observer's political blog, Mintz switched to the Democrat Party in 2005.  He wanted to run against against conservative stalwart Rep. Russell Capps (below, right) but lost in the primary to Ty Harrell, (left) who sadly defeated Capps in the general election. Harrell resigned last year due to ethics issues with his campaign expenditures.  

Capps founder of the Wake County Taxpayers Association, originally was elected in a "safe" Republican district, had been slowly been gerrymandered by the state Democrat leaders into a "swing" district and Democrats were now willing to take him on.  

 Dome reports that he was accused last July by federal prosecutors of taking more than $1 million from two elderly clients, via his position as an investment advisor.  Mintz is scheduled to serve four years. Let's hope he serves every single day of his sentence.  Your blogger does not believe in getting one day cut off of a sentence for each day of "good behavior".   

Editor's Note: Your blogger has the highest respect for former Rep. Russell Capps.  She first met him in 1992 in a parking lot in Raleigh, when he was campaigning against a convention center that was voted down by the public.  

He started a grassroots movement that stopped the wasteful spending project and gave rise to the Wake County Taxpayers Association.  He was then elected to the State House and became a champion for taxpayers statewide.  

Fetzer to Call for Resignations/Transparency

 Monday morning, North Carolina GOP Chairman, Tom Fetzer (left), will hold a press conference where he will call for the resignation for "two high profile state officials" as well as discuss details of a renewed call for transparency in state government. 

Your blogger agrees that we are not seeing it now and looks forward to the press conference.  During Mr. Fetzer's term as Raleigh mayor, he was infamous for beating on the local liberals via the press and he has continued this tradition since being elected State GOP Chairman last summer.

He will take questions following his remarks and KCC will provide the feed of the conference as soon as it is over.

In Short... NC Freedom, Blogging CPAC 2010, Pelosi's Booze

*Congratulations to the group NC Freedom on their first anniversary.   This group is not affiliated with any other group, nationally or locally, but shares related information from bloggers and associated groups with those who sign up for its mailing list.  Their newsletter editor, Sharon Sbrocco, told your blogger  that the first year has been productive and that she looks forward to their Convention of the People - Initiative I.  Check it out here.

 *KCC will be an official blogger at CPAC  in Washington, as a representative from NC.  Held every February, the meeting brings thousands of conservatives together to ignite their collective spirits and hear inspiring speakers.  

We are extremely excited to see friends that we only see at national events, and it appears that there are a number of North Carolinians going, as well.  Please say hello to us while there, if possible!    

We'll also run the proceedings live on this blog, in the event.  This may come in handy if you don't have access to a television during your workday, for example.  
 

  *Our friend over at the ARRA News Service in Arkansas, Dr. Bill Smith, has an excellent article on Nancy Pelosi's Food and Booze Tab.  Drawn from research done at Judicial Watch, this short piece will make your cry for our once great nation.  In fact, Dr. Bill's blogs are excellent and we highly recommend them all.  

On a side note, Dr. Bill told this KCC that he spends so many hours per week on his blog, that he often doesn't come out of his office for days at the time.   He works incredibly hard to keep the citizens of Arkansas, and the nation informed.  

Reader Mail by Bill Randall

Katy,
 
Good day to you.
 
I respect your endorsement of Tom Fetzer.  You and many others have gone "on the record" as you have felt led to do so.
 
But on the other hand, I am coming across more and more delegates who say "Bill, I really didn't know that much about you.  I really like what you stand for, and find it difficult to see any area where we disagree."
 
So here's what I ask, Katy: 
 
1. Please read my answers to the questions sent by Carolina Politics Online
http://www.carolinapoliticsonline.com/2009/05/21/nc-gop-chair-candidate-bill-randall/
(...same questions were sent to the other 3 candidates), and
 
2. Please click on "Multimedia" at the bottom of my candidate website to listen to the podcast of my being interviewed by Perry Woods on State Government Radio.
http://pray4ncgop.com/8.html
 
3. There are also several tabs at the top of my webpage that lay a foundation for my positions:
 
a. CCFT
b. Biography, and
c. What Bill Believes
 
Thanks, Katy.
 
/r,
Bill Randall

Editor's Note:  Bill Randall is a fellow Republican activist of your blogger and is someone whom she greatly admires and respects.  Randall is a candidate for chairman of the NC Republican Party.

Tom Fetzer for State GOP Chairman

Katy's Conservative Corner proudly Endorses Tom Fetzer for Chairman of the North Carolina Republican Party. Below, your blogger, a self-described Republican since the age of 9, offers her personal perspective:

Your blogger first met Tom Fetzer (left) in 1985, while an 18-year-old freshman at Meredith College.   He was a handsome young 34-year-old, brought in by our club chairman to help increase attendance at our College Republican meetings. 

He told of his work with Senator Jesse Helms, the Congressional Club and how he had learned from  Tom Ellis and Carter Wrenn.  Ellis was the man who saved Ronald Reagan's Presidential campaign in 1976 and paved the way for his election in 1980.

He also told us of his work on the 1984 infamous campaign between Senator Helms and Governor Jim Hunt.  Your blogger volunteered on that campaign as a senior at New Bern Senior High School that year.   She loved the line "Where do you stand, Jim",  which pointed out Governor Hunt's many inconsistencies. 

In 1988, Fetzer ran for Congress in the elusive 4th District against David Price.  He raised a record $800,000 in that race.

Tom's most remarkable achievement, in the opinion of this blogger, came in 1993.  A large group of conservatives were angry with the Raleigh City Council over their spending $52,000 of OUR tax monies for an "art tower" (left) on Capital Blvd.  The thing was ugly, at best, and no one understood what it was.  Most thought it was a cell phone tower.

Tom Fetzer made this art tower the albatross to hang around the necks of the liberals on City Council.  He lead the charge, and solidified the conservative vote (both Democrats and Republicans) in Raleigh, swept into office and brought a conservative City Council with him. 

He served three terms, before handing the job off to another great conservative, Paul Coble, the nephew of Senator Helms.  Those were heady days in Raleigh. 

Tom Fetzer has served as a board member with the John Locke Foundation for a number of years.  He believes in the principles of a smaller government, lower taxes, and  opposes government corruption on every level.  He is a true conservative as he supports socially conservative issues, too. He believes in traditional marriage, is pro-life, and backs gun rights. 

Your blogger supports Fetzer for State Chairman because he is a PROVEN FUNDRAISER, and understands the GRASSROOTS.  He has knocked on thousands of doors and has made many more phone calls.  He understands organization at that most basic level. He believes in utilizing new technologies, (just as your blogger has been preaching, for two years).

Additionally, your blogger has heard from numerous sources, that North Carolina Democrats are shaking in their boots at the prospect of a Tom Fetzer chairmanship.  He's well known, dynamic, and can take on the media, with one hand tied behind his back. 

Because Tom Fetzer has all of the critical attributes, Katy's Conservative Corner proudly endorses him for State Chairman of the North Carolina Republican Party.

Editor's Note: Learn even more about Tom here.

Can't Make It to CPAC? Watch it Live on KCC

 Your blogger gave away her CPAC tickets as she couldn't take the time away to go this year, so she's going to do the next best thing...stream it. 

You'll be able to watch it live, here on Katy's Conservative Corner.  Watch for the posting and keep coming back, all three days!  

This should be one of the more interesting conferences, as conservatives look to re-take control of the Republican party. 

Your blogger is amazed that people today do not know the difference between a conservative and a moderate.  The moderates have been in control of the state GOP for years and it's time to move towards a truly conservative party, both locally and statewide, and nationally. 

Your blogger will also be streaming this event live on Katy's Conservative Corner.

Twitter: Now Mainstream

If the New York Magazine is covering Twitter, it must be  mainstream. 

Your blogger has been preaching Twitter (and other technologies) in her attempt to drag our political party, often kicking and screaming, into the 2008 election cycle, even though it is now 2009.  She has a few allies, including fellow bloggers over at ConservativeNC.

We were beaten, soundly, not because Obama was so popular, but because we were out organized at the grassroots level. Even former Congressman Tom DeLay (R-Texas) spoke on this very topic at the Winter Board Meeting of the North Carolina Republican Women.  (More on this in another post.)

If you need more proof, check out the article.

Thankfully, new RNC chairman, Michael Steele realizes that the modern Republican party must return, literally, to its roots and has fired the entire staff.  He supports running things from the bottom up, as our party used to do.

Whether conservatives like him or dislike him, he understands the importance of technology, in conjunction with grassroots organizations such as North Carolina's Civitas Instutute or the NC Chapter of Americans for Prosperity.

Steele is one of the most popular people on Twitter, as were all of the RNC chairman candidates.  Your blogger is glad to see this happening at the national level and hopes that folks in the counties across our great state will continue to pick up on this trend.

If you are already on Twitter, I welcome you to follow me, and I'll follow you back.  Find me at http://www.twitter.com/katys

Are Liberal Bloggers Too Happy?

Think about it.

In North Carolina, their party has firm control on the Governor's office, and the the North Carolina General Assembly.  Republicans hold but a narrow one-vote-hold on the State Supreme Court.  Nationally, they have both houses of Congress and the Presidency. 

Thus, what DO they have to discuss?  Apparently, conservatives, especially conservative bloggers.

Your blogger appreciates her friends at left-wing blog Watagua Watch.  They never reduce themselves to name calling, as do other prominent NC lefty blogs.  They make solid points which are well-written. 

But, with their party in control, they just don't have enough to worry about.  So, they like to make fun of rightly blogs, such as this one.  Hey, we can take it.  Plus, there is no such thing as bad publicity. (Thanks J W, we are returning the favor. Hats off to you.)

Meanwhile, let's talk about issues that matter. 

How about getting your party leadership to give more fair consideration to Republican appropriations bills.  How about not keeping them bottled up in committee with the unfair rules, so they never make it to the floor for a straight up or down vote?

How about making North Carolina more hospitable to businesses by not handing out so many "incentives" and reducing the tax burden on businesses?  Let's end corporate welfare once and for all!  North Carolina is a great place to be and we don't need to be in the business of buying jobs. 

How about reducing the regulatory burden on small businesses that employ 80 percent of those who have jobs? 

What about that gas tax of ours, the highest in the Southeast? 

All these things were put upon us by members of the Democratic party. But, you guys are still celebrating and swimming in your victories.  Congratulations.

Party on guys.  See you in 2010 and beyond!

Copyright 2009 Katy's Conservative Corner, All Rights Reserved
Permission to Re-Post/Re-Print is granted provided that proper credit is given.

Commenting on Katy's Conservative Corner is a privilege, not a right.  Personal attacks against your hostess will be removed.  Off topic comments not allowed.  Name calling is childish and is restricted to your own blog.  Please keep your comments pointed and on topic.  Lively discussion is always welcome.

Controversial Election to State House Post

According to Jordan Schrader of the Asheville Citizen-Times, old names and faces were re-elected while new ones were added as the Republicans in the North Carolina General Assembly held their bi-annual leadership elections this weekend.

Rep. Paul Stam (R-Wake) was re-elected to his post as House Minority Leader.

Senator Phil Berger (R-Rockingham) defeated challengers, Senators Bob Rucho (R-Mecklenburg) and Pete Brunstetter (R-Forsyth) to retain his post as Senate Minority Leader.

Senator Harry Brown (R-Onslow) is the newly elected Deputy Minority Leader.  The post was previously held by Senator Tom Apodaca (R-Henderson) who didn't run for re-election to the coveted post, citing family issues.

Senator Eddie Goodall (R-Union) will take over the Joint Caucus Leader position, while Senator Jerry Tillman (R-Randolph) continues on as Senate Whip.

Most troubling to conservatives is the election of the new House Minority Whip, Rep. Thom Tillis (R-Mecklenburg).  Tillis' election is controversial to many conservatives due to his affiliations.  

According to several sources, former Co-Speakers Jim Black (D-Mecklenburg) and Richard Morgan (R-Moore) "bought and paid for" Tillis' initial victory to the North Carolina General Assembly.  He defeated a solid, and much beloved conservative, Rep. John Rhodes in a Republican primary.

Rhodes (left) is best remembered as being the FIRST to call for the ouster of Jim Black. He once memorably noted in a speech on the House floor:

"One day Mr. Speaker, the people of North Carolina will take you by the collar of your shirt and the waistband of your trousers and throw you out over the seal of North Carolina."

Both Black and Morgan left office in disgrace and Black is now serving time in federal prison for, among other things, accepting bribes and obstruction of justice.  A John Rhodes Day was held in 2007, thanking him for uncovering corruption. 

Morgan eventually returned to politics and attempted an unsuccessful comeback, losing his bid for Superintendent of Public Instruction in November 2008.

The 2009-2010 session of the North Carolina General Assembly convenes at Noon on January 28, 2009, in Raleigh.   Katy's Conservative Corner will be there, covering the action.

Rep. Stam comments on SENATE BILL 1875

State Representative, Paul Stam, sent Katy's Conservative Corner the following information regarding this post that appeared yesterday.

Download NR20080716-AuditorA.doc

Orr Wants Tougher Questions for McCrory

Gubernatorial candidate and former associate Justice, Bob Orr, is challenging Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory's experience and hints that no candidate gets tough enough questioning by the press.

On Sunday, February 23rd, Orr complained about the lack of quality questioning by the members of the North Carolina press but admits "that TV nightly news is only interested in 30 seconds (usually if a murder or wreck has taken place) and print journalism is undergoing a major transition to blogging and website journalism. And of course, reporters are not lawyers nor trained in the art of grilling politicians."

Orr added that he wished HE could question McCrory under oath:

For example if I could get Hiz Honor the Mayor under oath and on the witness stand, I've got lots of questions I'd like answered. Here's a general one that lends itself to some good follow up: "With all your talk about leadership, what have you really accomplished in your business and political career?" The answer I suspect would be "Lots." but that's when you start probing. Pat's a mid-level manager at Duke Energy after 30 plus years and it seems to me he's spent a lot of time being the mayor. But isn't the job of Mayor of Charlotte really more ceremonial with a City Manager form of government and an active Council that really makes the decisions?

Shock, Horror, Dismay: Civitas Blogger Critized by Liberals

You know you've done something right when a liberal blog, criticizes you.  Such is the case with my friend, Max Borders (right).  Though I haven't met Max in person, he and I correspond on political matters and I respect the blog that he writes for the Civitas Institute, Red Clay Citizen. 

First, BlueNC scribblers condemn Max for his work with TCS Daily, a right-leaning website that comments on matters relations to Technology, Commerce, and Society. 

BlueNC claims that the site is so right-wing, that "no one" wants to advertise with them: 

"Nary a BlogAds advertiser. None. Nada. Zilch. Zero. In other words, not even the nuttiest of right wing organizations wants to align itself with TCS Daily." 

Come on, guys.  Is that the best ya got?  Apparently, they think so, as they list it first.  However, they continue attempt to belittle Max by comparing his articles in the Washington Examiner to publishing in a "child's picture book". 

Come on, fellas.  Why the hate? 

Aren't you libs supposed to be full of LOVE?

(Aren't you the ones who "taught the world to sing in perfect harmony" in the early 1970s?  What happened to everybody just getting along?  Isn't that what the left is all about?  Peace, love, and harmony, and maybe loads of pot?)

What the leftists really dislike about Max is that he is affiliated with the e-team, a group that provides accurate information on energy and environmental issues. 

The e-team tells it like it is, unlike the many liberal "environmental" groups that try to scare us with half-truths and deliberate misinformation, about what is really happening with our global ecosystem.

Normally, I am a fan of BlueNC, even though I disagree with much of what they post.  Sometimes it even makes me laugh, even if it is completely wrong. I appreciate their witty writing, and don't mind if someone disagrees with me.  That's what makes this country so great.   However, these personal attacks have gone too far!

Finally, BlueNC called Civitas a "creepshow" on its website today.  Take that as a pat on the back my Civitas friends!  Well deserved.  A creepshow to them is a group of heroes to the rest of us.  Bravo!  Keep up the good work, Max and company.

Meanwhile, call off your dogs, BlueNC.  If you don't like him, don't associate with him.  Meanwhile, stick to the issues.