Thom Tillis speaks to supporters at a election night rally
in Charlotte, N.C., after winning the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate
Tuesday, May 6, 2014. Chuck Burton/AP
Republican Senate hopeful equated welfare and
‘reparations’
10/14/14 09:28 AM By Steve Benen
North Carolina’s state legislature considered a resolution
in 2007 expressing formal regret for the state’s previous support for slavery.
Republican Thom Tillis, now the state House Speaker and a U.S. Senate
candidate, supported the resolution.
But as
Daniel Strauss reported, Tillis issued a statement at the time elaborating on
his perspective, connecting the resolution to his concerns about “reparations.”
“This measure does not obligate legislative members to
provide reparations. A subset of the democrat [sic] majority has never ceased
to propose legislation that is de facto reparations and they will continue to
do so as long as they are in the majority,” Tillis said. “Federal and State
[sic] governments have redistributed trillions of dollars of wealth over the
years by funding programs that are at least in part driven by their belief that
we should provide additional reparations.”
“I believe there are several conservative democrats [sic]
who are prepared join Republican [sic] in OPPOSITION to measures that propose
new entitlements and reparations,” Tillis added. “However, a vote against the
resolution would most likely eliminate any chance that we would get support
from more conservative members of the democrat party [sic] members to oppose
such measures.”
To be sure, this is plainly dumb. Indeed, it’s arguably another “macaca”
moment for the far-right candidate. Tillis’ argument seemed to be that
Republicans need not fear the slavery resolution creating the basis for
reparations because, as Tillis argued, African Americans already receive “de
facto reparations” in the form of public assistance.
In other words, while trying to defend his vote in support
of a Democratic resolution, Tillis ended up making a racially charged argument
about the social safety net. The Republican effectively said welfare and
reparations are the same thing, which is clearly an ugly and ignorant charge
for anyone, especially a U.S. Senate candidate, to make.
But there’s a larger context that arguably makes
Tillis’ remarks slightly worse.
Brian Beutler
yesterday flagged the Republican’s 2011 remarks on pitting
Americans against one another in order to dismantle anti-poverty programs.
“What we have to do is find a way to divide and conquer the
people who are on assistance. We have to show respect for that woman who has
cerebral palsy and had no choice in her condition, that needs help and that we
should help. And we need to get those folks to look down at these people who
choose to get into a condition that makes them dependent on the government and
say, ‘at some point you’re on your own! We may end up taking care of those
babies, but we’re not taking care of you.’ And we’ve got to start having that
serious discussion. It won’t happen next year. Wrong time. Because it’s going
to be politically charged. One of the reasons why I may never run for another
elected office is cause some of these things may just get me railroaded out of
town. But in 2013 I honestly believe that we have to do it.”
As Brian added, “The only thing missing from this exegesis is an
explicit reference to racial minorities, reparations, and so on. But the
subtext is pretty clear. And when you read it in light of his comments about
the slavery resolution, it becomes painfully obvious who in Tillis’ mind
deserves government assistance and who needs to be conquered.”
But we can
perhaps even go further still. In 2012, Tillis was asked in an interview about
his party’s difficulties in connecting with minority communities. Tillis said
the Republican agenda is “appealing to everybody,” but went on to say, “The traditional population of North Carolina
and the United States is more or less stable. It’s not growing. The African-American
population is roughly growing but the Hispanic population and the other
immigrant populations are growing in significant numbers.”
It sounded an awful lot Thom like Tillis sees the
“traditional population” of North Carolina as the white population.
Taken together, Tillis’ rhetoric probably won’t help his
campaign reach a broad and diverse base.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2014/senate/nc/north_carolina_senate_tillis_vs_hagan-3497.html
ReplyDelete"In 2002, Elizabeth Dole successfully held Helms’ seat against Democrat Erskine Bowles. Dole was fairly quiet in the Senate, and drew what was thought to be a fairly mediocre opponent in state Sen. Kay Hagan. Dole led Hagan handily for much of 2008, often breaking 50 percent in the polls. But Hagan pulled close after the Democratic convention, and then broke the race open after the financial collapse. She led the Democratic ticket in the state, running ahead of both Barack Obama and gubernatorial candidate Bev Perdue.
Hagan herself has had a reasonably uneventful term. She faces two basic challenges. First, she has mostly backed the national Democratic agenda, and second, she can’t rely upon the surge in African-American turnout that accompanied Obama’s run for office and helped to propel her across the finish line. Democrats attempted to manipulate the Republican primary to increase the chances the GOP would elect a candidate who would implode, but voters nominated House Speaker Thom Tillis. He is the face of an unpopular legislature, but neither Obama nor Hagan is particularly popular in the state either. Polls show a tight race, but Hagan is below 45 percent, and is in deep trouble."
With Thom Tillis' mouth running maybe that African American surge is just around the corner. Actually it is Tillis in trouble. After the Koch's have spent 20 million on this race alone Hagan is even with him. And William as stated before this is a 3 candidate race, the third being libertarian Sean Haugh who has been tracking 4-6% mostly drawing off Tillis. The repubs are socking 6 million more into Tillis 6 million more into this race that has already spent 59Million dollars the most expensive senate race in history.
ReplyDeleteThe race is within the margin of error. RCP is now calling the race at 53-47 without the NC seat going GOP.
DeleteThere are also two republican write in candidates.
ReplyDelete"North Carolina senator Kay Hagan’s admission that she skipped a hearing about the Islamic State to attend a campaign fundraiser threatens to waste the $42 million that Democrats have spent in this race to protect her candidacy and their Senate majority.
ReplyDeleteTwo new polls show Republican state-house speaker Thom Tillis tied or leading Hagan, breaking a streak of 13 surveys that showed her with a small but steady lead.
Tillis leads 46 to 45, according to SurveyUSA, which showed Hagan leading 47–46 in September. High Point University shows the two candidates tied at 40, with libertarian Sean Haugh (whom voters saw during a debate with Hagan and Tillis last week) drawing 7 percent of the vote.
The polling data comes one week after Hagan admitted that she skipped a hearing on the threat of the Islamic State to attend a fundraiser. Tillis hammered her for that during their last debate. Local press has also focused on how the Hagan family has benefited from government spending programs that the senator supported, such as the 2009 stimulus.
“Our internals show that undecided voters are starting to break toward Thom Tillis, in large part because of Senator Hagan’s misplaced priorities and the negativity of her campaign,”"
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/390261/cracks-appear-harry-reids-north-carolina-firewall-joel-gehrke
"The polling data comes one week after Hagan admitted that she skipped a hearing on the threat of the Islamic State to attend a fundraiser. "
ReplyDeleteThe shit that Republican voters respond to and their prioritization logic never ceases to amaze me.
She is the chair of the committee max.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteWhen North Carolina Republican Senate candidate Thom Tillis criticized Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan for acknowledging she couldn't attend a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing because of a campaign fundraiser, Tillis knew he'd missed days at work as state House speaker to raise money too.
DeleteTillis has turned missed meetings into an issue in his tight race against Hagan, both in a television ad and at their second debate this week. Now he's accusing his Democratic opponent of putting raising money ahead of keeping a close eye on threats posed by Islamic State militants and others.
"There is nothing more important than receiving briefings on our national security," Tillis said Wednesday. "Sen. Hagan has failed to do her job."
But since he announced his bid for the Senate, Tillis has at least twice been in Washington raising money while his colleagues in the North Carolina House debated or negotiated key legislation.
In July 2013, he was absent when the House gave final approval to North Carolina's most sweeping tax changes in a generation. Also on the calendar that day were significant bills related to immigration, coastal regulation and firearms. And while lawmakers were trying to negotiate an end to this year's General Assembly session last summer, Tillis was back in Washington for two more fundraisers.
"It is Speaker Tillis who acted inappropriately by skipping work and his duties as House speaker to raise funds for his Senate bid," Hagan campaign spokesman Chris Hayden said in a statement.
Hypocracy at it's finest. Maybe to you William, Tillis missed votes don't matter, but to the people of NC these were the three hottest issues going.
Kay Hagan explained why she missed her conference meeting, it was rescheduled later in the day after the original time was overrun by an important senate vote.
Tillis has not commented on why he missed three of the most important votes in generations in the state of NC
Senator Hagan is not the chair of the armed services committee, that would be Michigan's Carl Levin. She is chair of a sub committee on emerging threats but her committee boss Carl Levin is also on that sub committee and I am sure is more then capable of running the committee in Hagan's absence. This is another item blown way out of proportion by William and his conservatives
We also don't know what committee meeting Hagan missed? What was discussed? Which committee was it? Was it the emerging threats committee? Did you know that she sits on3 sub committees? Maybe it was a Personnel sub committee meeting. She's on that. Maybe it was a Seapower sub committee meeting she's on that one too. Proof William that the meeting she missed was as important as it is claimed to be that she missed discussions on ISIL. And the likes of FOX news and Breitbart aren't considered here as acceptable sources
Delete
DeleteSubcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities
Responsibilities: Policies and programs to counter emerging threats including the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, terrorism, and illegal drugs; homeland defense; technology base programs; special operations programs; and emerging operational concepts.
•Special additional areas: Foreign Military Sales; technology export policies; Department of Defense (DOD) and Department of Energy (DOE) nonproliferation programs, including the Nunn-Lugar program; and nontraditional military operations, including peacekeeping and peace enforcement, low-intensity conflict, strategic communications and information operations, and building partner capacity.
•Oversight of budget accounts: Technology base RDT&E; operational test and evaluation; RDT&E and procurement supporting special operations; counterdrug programs; RDT&E supporting low-intensity conflict, peacekeeping operations, and information warfare; combating terrorism; chemical and biological warfare defense; chemical demilitarization; train and equip programs; and DOD and DOE nonproliferation programs.
•Oversight of DOD offices: Assistant Secretary of Defense (Homeland Defense); Assistant Secretary of Defense (Special Operations and Low-Intensity Conflict); and Assistant Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering.
•Oversight of DOD commands and agencies: Special Operations Command; Northern Command; Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency; Defense Threat Reduction Agency; and Defense Security Cooperation Agency.
Subcommittee on Personnel
Responsibilities: Military and DOD civilian personnel policies; end strengths for military personnel; military personnel compensation and benefits; military health care; and military nominations.
•Special additional areas: Professional Military Education; DOD schools; DOD child care and family assistance; Civil-military programs; POW/MIA issues; Armed Forces Retirement Home; Morale, Welfare and Recreation; and military commissaries and exchanges.
•Oversight of budget accounts: Military personnel; military retirement; Defense Health Program; DOD Medicare-Eligible Retiree Health Care Fund; and operation and maintenance for certain education and civil-military programs.
•Oversight of DOD offices: Under Secretary of Defense (Personnel & Readiness); Assistant Secretary of Defense (Reserve Affairs); Assistant Secretary of Defense (Health Affairs); and Defense Prisoner of War/Missing in Action Office.
•Oversight of DOD agencies: TRICARE Management Activity; Defense Commissary Agency; and Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences. Subcommittee on Readiness and
Subcommittee on Seapower
Responsibilities: Navy and Marine Corps programs (less tactical aviation); and strategic lift programs.
•Special additional areas: Maritime issues.
•Oversight of command: Transportation Command
•Oversight of budget accounts: Navy and Marine Corps procurement and RDT&E (less tactical aviation); Army and Air Force strategic lift programs; and National Defense Sealift Fund.
The day she missed William what exactly was being discussed?
What was the missed meeting about William
We know what Tillis missed. Immigration vote. Tax reform Vote. Firearm vote. Pretty much hot button issues across our whole country.
DeleteHagan's ad spotlights Tillis' record of missing legislative work in favor of fundraising, which even prompted his hometown paper to call for Tillis' resignation -- a clip featured in the latest Hagan ad.
DeleteThe ad also claims Tillis has "no military plan to take out ISIS" and plays up Hagan's 98 percent voting attendance record and says she "leads hearings on eradicating terrorists like ISIS."
And this meeting or whatever was back in February of 2014 before the extent of the ISIL threat had been realized. Yes William even your conservatives weren't talking about it except maybe your buddies Lindsey Graham and John McCain who you will now happily embrace to make a point.
DeleteHey why is such a twit ric. Her hero Obama misses meetings and debriefings all the time to go fund raising and golf.
Delete
DeleteGREENVILLE, S.C. —In one of his latest political ads, Republican North Carolina Senate hopeful Thom Tillis claims Democratic incumbent Sen. Kay Hagan missed half of her meetings with the Senate Armed Services Committee.
"In January, President Obama refers to the Islamic state as a ‘Jayvee Team.’ Days later, the Armed Services Committee holds a hearing on new global threats. Sen. Kay Hagan? Absent,” the ad begins.
That is a true claim. On Feb. 11, the committee held a meeting on Current and Future Worldwide Threats. Meeting minutes show Hagan was not in attendance. Her campaign said that on the day of the meeting, Hagan had a constituent meeting with a former Marine, who claimed families were getting sick and in some cases dying from contaminated tap water at Camp LeJeune in North Carolina.
"In fact, Hagan’s missed half of the Armed Services Committee hearings this year," Tillis' ad continues.
That claim in Tillis' ad is hard to verify for one simple reason: Some meetings of the Senate Armed Services Committee are closed-door sessions and, therefore, attendance records are not available.
So far this year, there have been 11 closed meetings and 22 open meetings. Records show Hagan attended nine of those open meetings, which means she was present 41 percent of the time.
Regarding the ad's' claim that "Hagan's missed half of the Armed Services Committee hearings this year," because we can't verify which closed meetings she attended, Truth Check is calling this statement "mostly true."
Read more: http://www.wyff4.com/news/truth-check-was-nc-sen-kay-hagan-no-show-for-meetings-on-isis/28989690#ixzz3GE8IaOH3
I'm so relieved now that she heads the Sub committee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities.
DeleteCarolina Journal News Reports
DeleteHagan Firm Keeps Stimulus Project Savings, Sends None to Taxpayers
Hiring family-owned company seems to have violated conflict-of-interest policy
By Don Carrington
Oct. 14th, 2014
REIDSVILLE — JDC Manufacturing, a company co-owned by Democratic U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan’s husband Charles “Chip” Hagan, lowered the total cost of a 2010 stimulus-funded energy project but kept all of the savings, sending none back to taxpayers who had funded the stimulus grant.
The company’s original application stated the total project would cost $438,627, and said JDC would contribute “leveraged funds” amounting to $187,983, or 43 percent of the total. As the project reached completion, however, JDC revised the total budget downward by $114,519 and applied all the savings to its share, keeping all the taxpayer funding.
Also, JDC’s decision to hire Solardyne/Green State Power, a separate company co-owned by Chip Hagan and the Hagans’ son Tilden, to install a portion of the stimulus-funded energy project at the JDC building appears to violate a conflict-of-interest provision that was included as part of the original application for the stimulus grant.
In August 2010 JDC, owned by Chip and his brothers John and David, sought a $250,644 federal stimulus grant to replace light fixtures and gas furnaces and install rooftop solar panels at a 300,000-square-foot building it owns in Reidsville.
The occupant of the building is Plastic Revolutions, a recycling company also owned by the Hagan family. In the grant application, JDC claimed that the building’s lighting and heating systems were outdated and that current energy costs “have prevented the tenant from growing their business as desired due to the energy operating costs.”
“These combined changes will save Plastic Revolutions $100,000 in annual energy costs, offset 2 million pounds of [carbon-dioxide emissions], and generate enough electricity to power six homes,” the application stated.
JDC submitted the grant request to the North Carolina Energy Office under the category Energy Efficiency Projects for Commercial, Industrial and Large Nonprofit Sectors. John Hagan completed the grant application, and Chip, a company officer, signed sections of it.
The Energy Office, then housed in the North Carolina Department of Commerce, handled $76 million in North Carolina stimulus grants that flowed through the U.S. Department of Energy. In 2013, the state Energy Office was transferred to the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources. Project files, such as JDC Manufacturing’s, are public information.
DeleteOn Dec. 22, 2010, as the project work was being completed, JDC submitted a contract amendment to the Energy Office that read: “This amendment will decrease the budget by $114,519 from $438,627 to $324,108. The decrease in funds is from Grantee’s Leveraged Funds. Leveraged funds were not a requirement of this program. Reducing leveraged funds does not affect overall eligibility for the program.” The amendment was approved by Commerce.
By reducing its spending on the project by $114,519, JDC contributed only $73,464 — or 23 percent of the total project cost, instead of the 43 percent contribution it offered in the original grant application. Though the cost of the project dropped, CDC still received the entire $250,644 in federal grant money.
Conflict of interest policy
The House and Senate adopted the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act, also known as the stimulus bill, on Feb. 13, 2009, with Kay Hagan casting one of the 60 votes necessary to enact the bill in the Senate. Hagan made a point, in a press release issued on the day the bill passed, of citing the stimulus bill’s “promise to change the way things work in Washington” to favor “working families” rather than “special interests.”
JDC stressed “interests,” as well, in its application for the stimulus grant it submitted Aug. 11, 2010. The company included a copy of its conflict of interest policy, which states: “A conflict of interest occurs when an employee/board member has a direct or fiduciary interest in another relationship. Employees are to avoid any conflict of interest, even the appearance of a conflict of interest. The appearance of a conflict of interest can cause embarrassment to the company, jeopardizing the credibility of the company. Any conflict of interest, potential conflict of interest, or the appearance of a conflict of interest should be reported to your supervisor immediately.”
Chip and Tilden Hagan formed the solar installation company Solardyne the same week JDC submitted its stimulus grant, according to documents filed with the state’s Corporations Division. In 2012, Chip Hagan changed the name of Solardyne to Green State Power. Records from the Corporations Division list Chip Hagan, Tilden Hagan, and William Stewart as managers. William Stewart became Kay and Chip Hagan’s son-in-law in 2011.
Public records show JDC paid Solardyne as a company, and Tilden Hagan and William Stewart as individuals for work on the project. The involvement of Solardyne, Tilden Hagan, and William Stewart appears to be at odds with the conflict of interest policy the company submitted with the grant application.
The estimated cost of the solar component of the grant was $187,500. “The attached budget for the solar phase of the project has detailed equipment prices based on quotes or commercially available prices; however, the final project design and installation work will undergo an open bid once awardees are notified,” the grant application stated. CJ could not find any record of an “open bid process” for the solar installation work.
Commerce officials approved JDC Manufacturing’s stimulus grant on Sept. 29, 2010. The JDC Manufacturing installation was Solardyne/Green State Power’s first job as a company.
Don Carrington is executive editor of Carolina Journal.
She did admit that she voted for Obama. I'll grant her that one.
DeleteReally the Carolina Journal? That right wing rag of NC. Got anything else?
ReplyDeleteI'll only post from Mother Jones and Huff Po for you so you feel warm and fuzzy.
DeleteHow about discrediting the information instead of killing the messenger.
They formed the company the same day as they applied for the grant nimrod. Don't you see just the slightest problem here? Solyndra on a small scale. Talk about cronyism.
DeleteRaleigh, N.C. — As 2013 closed out, Republican U.S. Senate candidates seemed mostly focused on finding different ways to hammer Democratic U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan and her support of the Affordable Care Act.
But before the new year dawned, Cary obstetrician Dr. Greg Brannon slammed state House Speaker Thom Tillis as "an establishment-backed insider" in a fundraising appeal. Among other things, Brannon cited a scandal that forced two Tillis staffers to resign.
"His Chief of Staff – who shared an apartment with my opponent – and his Policy Analyst were forced to resign after it was revealed they were having 'inappropriate' relationships with lobbyists," Brannon wrote in the Dec. 31 fundraising appeal. "But my opponent still gave both of them 'golden parachutes' -- a full month's pay after they resigned from their position."
Read more at http://www.wral.com/brannon-uses-scandals-to-attack-tillis/13285287/#9eFUaSArPT4dQlyB.99
Ah scandal runs deep in NC
Delete(The Plot Thickens?) The Speaker & That Massachusetts Law Firm
by Brant Clifton • January 6, 2014 • 33 Comments
ttChuck Suter — who, with his video camera, strikes fear in politicians across The Carolinas –has released a new video alleging that state House speaker and US Senate candidate Thom Tillis has been using his position in the General Assembly to directly benefit the clients of his wife’s family’s Massachusetts-based law firm.
This site confirmed that Tillis’ US Senate campaign received more than $10,000 from employees of Campbell, Campbell, Edwards & Conroy. Over the summer, state House leaders (of which Tillis is the most senior) led the effort to kill legislation requiring an in-state brick and mortar showroom to sell cars in North Carolina. The legislation was strongly opposed by Tesla Motor Company, which has been represented by Campbell, Campbell, Edwards & Conroy — Susan Tillis’ family’s law firm.
Suter’s video takes it one step further. He says the Campbell firm has represented Time Warner Cable. If you’ll remember, state Rep. Robert Brawley (R-Iredell) had a very public spat with Tillis over legislation that would have helped a small Iredell-based internet service provider. Brawley alleged that Tillis killed the legislation at the behest of Time Warner.
In his video, Suter also alleges that Tillis’ father-in-laws’ firm represents Parsons-Brinckerhoff — the consulting firm involved in the effort to bring HOT lanes and tolling to I-77 in Mecklenburg County. The speaker has made some favorable comments regarding tolling and HOT lanes, drawing some ire from Mecklenburg residents.
Tillis strongly opposed efforts at the state GOP convention to add an anti-tolling plank to the state party platform. Shortly after his unsuccessful efforts at the convention, Tillis and his team returned to Raleigh and pushed through legislation clearing the path for HOT lanes and tolling.
We’ve previously reported on the interesting timing of campaign contributions from beer wholesaler and movie interests and legislative action in Raleigh.
and just a little bit more. You better go back to NJ you can't handle the truth of NC.
And I might add this has all been quite a diverging blast but you have failed to address that Tillis has spilled the beans on the conservative creed. But that's how you roll Nimrod, you don't, no can't face the facts. When the truth comes out you #1 don't comment or #2 comment such as this thread which became nothing but an attack on Hagan, no mention of what Tillis said .........
Only in a progressives mind do allegations become facts. Your just like Obama. Police get prejudiced in public, while grand juries are deliberating. Ports of entry remain open while health officials wander in the dark.
DeleteThe "truth" is ric Hagen has and will continue to vote the Obama party line.
That is a "fact."