College Republican Challenges North Carolina Republican Party
By Alan Teitleman (02/15/05)
It is a sad state of affairs for Conservatives in North Carolina. What used to be a conservative state is now rampant with liberals posing as Republicans. Although I have only lived in North Carolina for five years, I have seen a lot of changes in North Carolina politics during that time
I saw the chairman of a county Democratic party switch party affiliation and become elected to the Stallings town council as a Republican. I saw the Democratic party actively recruit Democrats to switch parties and run in Republican primaries. I even saw the North Carolina Republican party turn its back on Republicans (and conservatives) when they needed them the most.
Conservativism is not something that you throw out as a talking point or something you wear on your sleeve. It is a set of firm principles and beliefs that you practice as well as preach. This past year during the 2004 Presidential election, as I began my term as chair of the ASU College Republicans, there was an unresolved matter involving a check that had been sent to our organization by the North Carolina Federation of College Republicans. Although I asked politely for the check to be sent to our organization, my requests fell upon deaf ears. After a few emails to the NCGOP, I quickly learned that not only were they not interested in assisting me, they were actively working against our organization. A September 6th email from a higher up at the NCGOP told me: “We have looked into this matter and have deemed that no action on our part is necessary. The NCFCR is a quasi- independent organization. In the final analysis $215 is not enough to burn political capital over. I recommend you move on.” How hard would it have been to shoot a quick email or get on the phone and say to the NCFCR: “Listen guys – you wrote a check to this organization… now pay it?” This was definitely not the only email I had received with less than encouraging news. In a time when conservatives were being outspent 10 to 1 by their liberal counterparts, these kinds of emails are precisely what discourages young Conservatives, especially on college and university campuses from being active and having a voice that we so desperately need and deserve.
Whenever you deal with politics, you are bound to have disagreements and arguments even if you are on the same side of the political spectrum. However, in North Carolina the Republican party is supposed to be the voice of Conservatives. Instead, the NCGOP prefers to keep a close inner circle of power and suppress the voice of any dissenters. There have been rumblings in the NC Republican party for a long time that a “good Conservative” needs to step up and run for GOP chair but there has been little action to go along with a lot of hyped up talk. Now is the time to do something. In a state that is solidly Republican, we end up losing control of the North Carolina House the same year that President Bush is re-elected with over a 10 percentage point spread over John Kerry! Our Republican Gubernatorial candidate loses to Mike Easley, who even had the State Employees desert him due to his blatant disregard for them, by the nearly the same margin that President Bush kicked John Kerry back to Taxachusetts! Out of ten council of state seats, Republicans only definitively control two (there are two remaining unresolved elections). There is something seriously wrong with our party leadership. In a post-election Herald Sun article, it sums up the situation very simply. There are two factions of NC Republicans – Co-PAM (Bill Cobey, Art Pope, etc) and the Richard Morgan faction. They have both waged war against each other at the pricey cost of losing a considerable amount of races for Republicans and Conservatives. Neither one is entirely to blame or entirely innocent either. However, CO-PAM is in my opinion more responsible for our failures at the ballot box this November, since they are the faction that is in control of the North Carolina GOP.
If Conservatives ever hope to have a voice in North Carolina politics the options are clear: 1) create a new party, similar to the constitution party which is active in Pennsylvania or 2) take over the Republican party and make it stand for the principles that it purportedly represents. Option 1 is unrealistic due to the vast amount of money it would take to create a viable third party, even on a statewide level. Option 2 although obvious hasn’t occurred yet. In my humble opinion, it’s about time that it does!
Alan Teitleman is a conservative columnist, political activist, and consultant from Monroe, N.C. He currently serves as the chair of the Appalachian State University College Republicans. He has worked on dozens of campaigns across North Carolina from school board to US Congress. Alan is a student at Appalachian State University in Boone, NC where he is a Political Science major with a minor in Community and regional planning. You can contact him at: www.AMTConsulting.com. Please feel free to forward this article in its entirety.
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