Rep McHenry helped fix elections

I heard the cries of a fix being in on the elections for CRNC chair this past weekend. The immoral thug (Paul Gourley) won by 6 votes. Remember that Gourley is the hand-picked successor of Eric The Crook Hoplin. Hoplin used lots of resources and staff of the CRNC to (allegedly) threaten various CR chapters into supporting Gourley. Something that might help to bear that truth is the overwhelming number of chapters (as declared by the chairs of those groups) that endorsed Gourley but then when it came down to voting the actual delegates were more evenly divided.

During the entire campaign there were supporters who acted like the Democrats in the impeachment trial...they had their horse and they did not give a damn what crimes he committed. Their political careers could be helped with certainty by Gourley and so they have ignored the shadiness of Hoplin and Gourley. In fact, the supporters border worshiping these thieves. They include Brian Mazanec (who has since left the CR vETS for "truth"), Mike Herbert and Bryan Shuy. They are shameless.

There are rumors that the Missouri chair's signature was forged to enable vote switching. That sounds like the type of stuff that Hoplin-ites do in elections and will not be surprised if the promised evidence surfaces. Until then those are just allegations.

However, Rep Patrick McHenry crossed the line when he made threatening calls to NC CRs trying to get them to switch their votes for Gourley. At least two of the delegates got these phone calls.

The story was alleged over the weekend and then the Hill broke the story open here.

Freshman Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) made phone calls to at least two North Carolina College Republicans asking them to change their votes in the recent acrimonious College Republican national election, and the young people McHenry contacted said they felt pressured by the calls.

McHenry is a former College Republican National Conference (CRNC) treasurer whom the House GOP leadership has called on to speak on several high-priority issues this session. His office employs several CRNC alumni, and College Republicans worked together on McHenry's primary campaign in 2004 despite a plank in the group's constitution that bars the CRNC from endorsing a candidate running opposed in a primary.

Emphasis added because this shows again how willingly the leadership of the CR is to disregard their own rules (and any other's are less important to them). The same thing is occurring in Minnesota's 6th district where the CRs are already working and tacitly endorsing a candidate over 1/2 year before the caucuses. Rules do not matter to the CR.

I find it also very interesting that the on any of the CRNC or MNCR websites their governing by-laws, constitution or other rules cannot be found.

Back to McHenry.

The College Republicans' allegations against McHenry come in the midst of a public-relations firestorm for the group, which incorporated as a 527 for fundraising purposes in 2001. Among nearly $8 million in direct-mail solicitations the CRNC sent last year were letters targeting the elderly, using misleading language that made donors believe they were giving to the national GOP. The CRNC also transferred $10,000 in 2002 to former National Chairman Jack Abramoff, now under investigation for lobbying abuses.

And now it seems the CRNC promoted the man behind all of the "public-relations firestorm" starters. To get a position of leadership within the CRNC you must be immoral.

Think about it. Just within the past 12 months the Hoplin-Gourley-McHenry clan have:
1. Bilked seniors out of millions through misleading fundraising letters
2. Forged signatures to switch votes (allegedly)
3. Threatened state chairs to support Gourley
4. Threatened delegates to actually vote for Gourley
5. Endorsed or assisted candidates in contested primaries AGAINST the rules of the CRNC

Oh wait, let's get back to the threats to the delegates.

Elizabeth Beck, the 24-year-old former regional director for the NCFCR, said McHenry was a crucial part of the Gourley campaign's whip strategy. Beck, who worked on McHenry's primary in the spring of 2004, said the lawmaker called her cell phone last month.

"He said, 'Elizabeth, I thought we were friends, that you cared about getting me elected,'" Beck said. Then, she added, McHenry warned her that he would not help her or her school's College Republicans in the future unless she voted for Gourley for CRNC chairman.

"It was requested from Gourley to McHenry. McHenry told me [that]," Beck said. "Basically, he said, 'Y'all are screwed.' It was one of the worst days of my life because I do like McHenry." She felt threatened and disappointed because "before that, I felt like I had a relationship, like I had connections, a career."

Bold face is my own added emphasis, the underlined text are McHenry's threats.

Another College Republican, who declined to be identified, was standing next to Beck during her conversation with McHenry and recalled that she was intimidated. "It was very pointed - if you don't do this, there will be consequences," she said, summarizing McHenry's words. "If you don't do this, it will be bad for your political career."

But wait, there's more.

Beck was not the first to be called by McHenry. The imminent vote, in which the heads of state chapters would cast their college's vote for either Gourley or Davidson, prompted McHenry and Deans to start making calls.

"McHenry called me on my cell phone, and I almost had a heart attack," said one friend of Beck's who asked to remain anonymous out of fear of retribution from the CRNC. "I don't know how he got my number. … He was really nice to begin with, and then he said, 'I want you to help me out as much as you can by supporting Gourley.'"

OK, no problem with that. It continued though...

The friend told McHenry he could not switch his vote. He said McHenry then asked if he would skip the vote or abstain to give Gourley an advantage.

"The under-the-table vibe I got from him was, if you can't help me now, don't expect any help from me in the future," the friend said. "If a congressman is going to call me, I don't expect the conversation to be like that."

By calling the chairs of the college chapters and switching their votes Gourley's thugs (McHenry & staff) that would actually switch numerous votes. The college chairs cast the votes of the entire college delegation. Remember that Gourley won by only 6 votes...not 6 schools.

Deans said that the calls were not intended as pressure and that the students were caught up in emotions still running high after the election.

"I made a lot of phone calls. I think Gourley was the best candidate, and I gave him my word that I'd support him," Deans said. He confirmed that he asked some College Republicans to skip or abstain but said, "I don't think" McHenry made such a request. "I probably did indicate that helping Paul [Gourley] was helping me and helping the congressman."

OK, so the calls did occur (how many is a necessary question) and Deans (Rep. McHenry's chief-of-staff) admits asking people to not vote if they were not going to vote for Gourley. Everything that the threatened people is substantiated EXCEPT for the threats. Sorry, I have to believe the delegates on this one.

Even if the threats were not explicit they are implied by having the Congressman's office calling.

Again, why were McHenry and Deans helping Gourley? Because of the rules that Gourley broke to help McHenry win his contested primary.

According to several North Carolina College Republicans, Deans and McHenry made their calls in part because Gourley's opponent was critical of the lawmaker for soliciting and receiving College Republican volunteers - such as Elizabeth Beck and her friend - for his primary campaign in the spring and summer of 2004. The CRNC constitution states that "neither the CRNC nor any individual acting in their capacity as national officers or board members" can endorse a Republican running opposed in a primary election.

Ta da...the circle is complete. Gourley broke rules and ethics to help McHenry when where he otherwise would not have. McHenry broke ethics (and rules if the intimidation is true) to help Gourley win a race where he otherwise would not have.