The Week Ahead in Eastern North Carolina!

SEPTEMBER


September 3, 2012: Labor Day

September 3, 2012, 2:30-5:00 pm: Americans for Prosperity Family Fund Day in Charlotte, NC!
Join us at the SMS Atrium, 1764 Norland Road, Charlotte, NC for family activities, music, and phone banking. 5:00-7:00 pm Dinner and speakers with Michelle Malkin, Tony Katz, Tim Phillips, and your conservative friends from around the state! Visit FailingAgenda.com:
http://americansforprosperity.org/failingagenda/ to register for a tour stop and sign our petition.
Can't make it to our Charlotte event? The bus will be swinging through cities throughout the state – Go to: http://americansforprosperity.org/failingagenda/. Come out for the tour stop near you!

September 4, 2012, 6:30 pm: Bill Cook for Senate Fundraiser, On The Waterfront Restaurant, at the end of Market St. in Washington NC. Dinner, Beverage and Entertainment--$200 Host, $100 Sponsor, $50 for Meal. Mail checks to Committee to Elect Bill Cook, PO Box 267, Chocowinity, NC 27817. Include Name, Address, Occupation & Employer. Questions call 252 946 5876.

September 4, 7:00 pm: Craven County Commissioners Meeting-- Craven County Commissioners will be meeting in Dover at the Firehouse for this meeting. 1st Monday meetings are open to the public and citizen petitions allowed. (Special date due to Holiday).

September 4, 2012, 7:00 pm: Pamilico County Board of Commissioners Meeting, 2nd floor of the Pamlico County Courthouse in the Patsy H. Sadler Room at 302 Main St., Bayboro, NC,

September 6, 2012, 12:00 Noon: Fundraiser for Brian Brown, NC House Candidate from District 9, at Rep Express, 805 Red Banks Rd., Greenville, NC. Guest speaker is Rep. Paul ("Skip") Stam.

September 6, 2012, 7:00 pm: CCTA AFP Phone Banking Party at the James Residence. For info call Lynn at 252-402-0333.

September 6, 2012, 7:30 pm: Trent Woods Board of Commissioners Meeting, Town Hall, 912 Country Club Drive, Trent Woods, NC 28562. Phone: 252-637-9810 or email: townoftrentwoods@embarqmail.com. Website: http://www.trentwoodsnc.org/.

September 7, 2012, 11:00 am to 2:00 pm: Meet and Greet NC House Candidates! Everyone is invited! Special Guest will be House Majority Leader, Paul ‘Skip’ Stam. Donations are welcome. Craven County has three House Districts Seats in the upcoming election! The Republican Candidates for these seats: House District 3 - Michael Speciale, House District 10 - John Bell and House District 12 - Jim Dancy. Come out and meet these outstanding Candidates for Office!

September 7, 2012, 7:00 pm: Dixon for Commissioner Fundraiser. Please join us for dinner and silent auction to support Donald Dixon, for Beaufort Co. Commissioner, Plantation House Restaurant, 2289 W. 5th, Washington NC--$20 per person. Please call, or email Crystal Dixon to reserve your tickets; 560-7674 or 975-2518. We look forward to seeing you!

September 7, 2012, 7:00 pm: An Evening with Anita Moncrief, True the Vote--Acorn Whistleblower, Village Hall, 395 Magnolia Rd., Pinehurst, NC. Mail you donation for $5.00 payable to: Mariann Benway, P.O. Box 1750, Pinehurst, NC 28374-1750. For more information, call 910-949-3856. Moore TEA Citizens is proud to announce this important appearance in Pinehurst. Please attend and bring your friends. Anita Moncrief is most welcome in Moore County. Moore TEA Citizens: www.mooreteacitizens.com, mooreteacitizens@gmail.com. Phone: 910-783-8340.

September 8, 2012, 10:00 am to 3:00 pm: Craven County Republican Mens Club Meeting and Picnic will be held at Lawson Creek Park. Music will be provided by Tom & Joan Meutsch, food will be provided by Smithfield's. The theme will be “Come Meet The Republican Candidates” with many local and state wide candidates attending. The executive committee is working on the list of candidates. As plans are finalized we will send additional information. If you are planning to attend, please RSVP to Jim Cline at jimcline@embarqmail.com, 252-635-1786.

September 8-9, 2012: New Bern Gun Show at the Jaycees Fairgrounds. CCTA WILL BE EXHIBITING!

Bill Cook for Senate Fundraiser

Bill Cook for Senate Fundraiser

On The Waterfront Restaurant

At the end of Market St. in Washington NC

Tuesday, September 4th, 6:30 PM

Dinner and Beverage, Entertainment

$200 Host, $100 Sponsor--$50 for Meal

Mail checks to Committee to Elect Bill Cook, PO Box 267, Chocowinity, NC 27817.  Include Name, Address, Occupation & Employer.  Questions call 252 946 5876

NC Senate District 1 Republican Primary Race: Evans' misleading and twisted half truths

Note:  CCTA is a non partisan organization.  We do not endorse any particular candidate or political party.  News items are presented for you the reader to help you become informed and reach your own conclusions.

Here is some information that may help to defend my record against Evans’ twisted half-truths. The first section is some facts that I put together and the next section was written by a supporter.

First Section:

1. Representative Bill Cook sponsored or co-sponsored about 145 bills last year. However Evans said on the TV Henry Hinton forum that Bill had only sponsored one bill.

2. Evans accused Representative Bill Cook of voting for ObamaCare on the TV Henry Hinton forum show and his mailer because he voted for HB 115 which is a bill to carry out the federal mandate to North Carolina to set up insurance exchanges. North Carolina has no choice as to whether the insurance exchanges are created or not, the only question is whether North Carolina folks do it or federal folks. All but 3 Republicans voted for this bill, so that North Carolina folks would be in charge of these exchanges. If Evans is saying that I voted for ObamaCare with this vote, then he is saying that all but 3 of the Republicans in the House (65) are for ObamaCare. Clearly this is not the case.


3. Representative Bill Cook voted for HB 2 which is a bill requiring North Carolina to stop ObamaCare in the courts. He has been rated the 4th most conservative member of the House. In light of these facts, can Evans still maintain that Bill supports ObamaCare?

4. Evans left the Republican Party to run for office as a Democrat in 2010 and then left the Democrat Party in 2011 to run against Representative Cook. Evans is a political opportunist with no principals.

5. I co-sponsored HB 810 because the lenders testified that if they did not get an increase in the interest rates they could no longer make these small loans.

How the Effectiveness Rankings Are Done


The Center’s effectiveness rankings are based on surveys completed by the legislators themselves, by registered lobbyists who are based in North Carolina and who regularly work in the General Assembly, and by capital news reporters. These three groups are asked to rate each legislator’s effectiveness on the basis of participation in committee work, skill at guiding bills through committee and in floor debates, and general knowledge or expertise in special fields. The survey respondents also are asked to consider the respect legislators command from their peers, his or her ethics, the political power they hold (by virtue of office, longevity, or personal skills), their ability to sway the opinions of fellow legislators, and their aptitude for the overall legislative process.

This year’s rankings mark the 18th time the Center has undertaken this comprehensive survey. The first edition evaluated the performance of the 1977-78 General Assembly. The response rate to the survey continues to be very high. Sixty-three of the 120 House members (53 percent) responded to the Center’s survey, as did 24 (49 percent) of the 49 Senators (Sen. James Forrester, R-Gaston, died in October 2011), 144 of the 407 registered lobbyists who regularly work in the legislature and are based in North Carolina (35 percent), and 6 of 22 capital news correspondents (27 percent) – all well above accepted standards of statistical validity. The overall response rate was 40 percent.


Here are some of my thoughts on this scoring.

First it is not only the legislators grading themselves but it is also the registered lobbyists and the capitol news correspondents. We know that neither lobbyists nor news correspondents are ever biased and are always impartial! (NOT) I feel that the inclusion of lobbyists and reporters makes this an invalid survey with regard to effectiveness and relegates any results as subjective.

Second the statistics cannot be representative of the Legislature as only 53 percent of the Legislature answered the survey. That means that 47 percent of the Legislature is not represented due to any response. So how can you get a true grade if there is a 47 percent information deficit? The Senate was even worse with a 51 percent information deficit. I am not a statistical sleuth but in my opinion the lack of participation by the Legislature and the Senate should make the survey invalid. That means that the weighted scores are from lobbyists and reporters! I don't remember casting any votes for them at the ballot box.


What is important to me is that you introduced/co-sponsored nearly 150 pieces of legislation in last years session. That is far more than your predecessor did. I am sure that you had to grit your teeth on a few of them such as HB 115 that had to pass to enable the State to participate in the Federal mandate of Obamacare in the event that the Supreme Court did not reject the law as Un-Constitutional. There could be some others that were not palatable for you either. But there is only one perfect being and neither of us qualifies for that title.

I hope this helps.
Bill Cook
http://cookinthesenate.com/category/1/campaign-news-and-updates.html

Video of candidates for the NC Legislature: Beaufort County Candidates Forum

Video of candidates for the NC Legislature--We have video from the Candidates' Forum sponsored Tuesday night (4-3-12) by the Beaufort Patriot TEA Party, the Beaufort Observer and the County Compass. The forum was held at Beaufort County Community College as a service to the community. We will report the video in a series of articles.

The first includes the opening comments by Buzz Cayton, the Chair of the Beaufort Patriot TEA Party. In the first segment he explains the procedures to be used. In Round 1 each candidate was given two minutes to introduce themselves. The state candidates went first, followed by the candidates for Beaufort County Commissioner. After the introductory round, each candidate was then allowed three minutes to address the issues and their positions on those issues.

The second clip is the introductory round for the candidates in Senate District 1, House District 3 and House District 6. Bill Cook was the only candidate in attendance running for Senate 1 and goes first.

The third clip: Michael Speciale, Clayton Tripp, Robert Cayton and Wayne Langston were the candidates for House District 3 in Round 1 in the third clip followed by Jeremy Adams and Mattie Lawson in House District 6:

http://www.beaufortobserver.net/Articles-NEWS-and-COMMENTARY-c-2012-04-04-259636.112112-Video-of-candidates-for-the-NC-Legislature.html/

Check out Your Candiddates

Frank Palombo for Congress:

YOU'RE INVITED! Join me tomorrow evening, Wednesday, Feb 29th, at the Trent Woods Town Hall at 7pm for the Trent Woods Precinct Meeting. The Precinct Chairman has graciously invited me to attend as your guest speaker for the meeting. Come and find out more about my campaign and tell me about the issues that are important to you. To find out more about the event, visit the Event Page on our website. To find out more about my campaign or to volunteer to work the polls or to make a contribution, go to Palomboforcongress.com. Remember, early voting starts April 19th. Frank Palombo is a Candidate for Congress, 3rd Congressional District, NC.


Bill Cook for NC Senate:
March 5, 2012, 6:30 pm: Bill Cook For NC Senate—Fundraiser: King Chicken Restaurant, Washington NC, Gospel Music & Dinner $300 Host, $100 Sponsor, $35 for Meal. Please mail checks to: Committee to Elect Bill Cook, PO Box 267, Chocowinity, NC 27817. Include Name, Address, Occupation & Employer.

Video from Tea Party Town Hall meeting with Rep. Bill Cook

Rep. Bill Cook, R-Beaufort/Pitt, held a Town Hall session sponsored by the Beaufort Patriot Tea Party on April 21. We have the video of most of that meeting below. The first video is the welcome and introduction:


The next video begins a review by Rep Cook of the bills he has sponsored or co-sponsored this session:

In the third video Rep Cook identifies some of the major issues facing the General Assembly during the remainder of the session and invites those in attendance to offer their ideas, suggestions and recommendations on those, or any other issue:

The participation by the audience begins in video four. Most, but not all of the speakers were captured but unfortunately some were omitted when speakers' comments ran beyond the video segments time constraints. Although speakers were asked to do so, not all identified themselves, as you will see.

The fifth video is simply a continuation of the Q & A:

The final video continues the Q & A and the wrap-up:

Rep. Bill Cook represents the Sixth District in the N. C. House of Representatives. That district includes Beaufort and parts of eastern Pitt County. He can be contacted at: Bill.Cook@ncleg.net or 919-733-5906 and he welcomes visitors to his office in Room 1303 of the Legislative Building. His mailing address is 16 W. Jones Street, Room 1303, Raleigh, NC 27601-1096. His home phone number is 252-946-5876. You can learn more about the committees he sits on, the bills he has introduced and his voting record by clicking here.



http://www.beaufortobserver.net/Articles-c-2011-04-25-252461.112112-Video-from-Tea-Party-Town-Hall-meeting-with-Rep-Bill-Cook.html

THE BEAUFORT PATRIOT TEA PARTY IS SPONSORING A TOWN HALL MEETING, THURSDAY APRIL 21. 2010 IN WASHINGTON, NC WITH REPRESENTATIVE BILL COOK

Press Release

For immediate release
Timely until Thursday, April 21, 2010
Contact: Bill Cook, 919-733-5906
Bill.Cook@ncleg.net

THE BEAUFORT PATRIOT TEA PARTY IS SPONSORING A TOWN HALL MEETING, THURSDAY APRIL 21. 2010 IN WASHINGTON, NC WITH REPRESENTATIVE BILL COOK

Rep. Bill Cook, representative from NC House District 6 (Beaufort, NE Pitt) will be hosting a “town hall” meeting on Thursday, April 21, 2010 beginning at 7:00 p.m. in the Second Floor Superior Court Room in the Beaufort County Courthouse at 112 W. 2nd St. Street in Washington, N. C. The public is invited to attend, regardless of partisan persuasion.

Rep Cook will share what is happening in the General Assembly in a brief presentation and then the floor will be open for questions and comments from those attending. The focus should be on issues and items of concern related to the state legislature. It will not be necessary to sign up to speak but speakers will be asked to identify themselves. The press will report on the meeting and this may include audio and video taping which may be made public. Other legislators who may choose to attend will also be recognized and offered an opportunity to make comments and/or respond to questions.

Rep. Cook said: “I look forward to meeting with constituents of the Sixth District on April 21. While I have attended many meetings around the district I am especially happy to host this Town Hall style meeting. I’ll try to brief people attending on what has been going on in Raleigh but I am even more interested in listening. I hope people will come out and help us do a better job of representing them by expressing their ideas, comments and particularly their suggestions.

Our state is facing some critical decisions, especially with regard to the budget. While it is natural for everyone to want to preserve their particular interest, we are at a point where we need as many suggestions for how we can hold down the cost of government as we can get. I hope we will get some good suggestions along these lines on the 21st."