To the Editor:
As a State Representative, I am fully aware that politics is not for the faint of heart. Any elected official understands that they will be judged on their voting record and I stand on my record over the years. But when people distort that record, you must defend yourself and those who stand with you.
Upon hearing of my legislative colleague Norman Sanderson’s intention of running for State Senate, I promptly endorsed his candidacy. I have personally witnessed his conservative values and work ethic in the State House and have no doubt he will be a strong conservative voice for Carteret, Craven and Pamlico counties. After lending my initial endorsement, I made no other public comment. I thought that was the right thing to do as a Republican to let the candidates fight this out. However, I can no longer remain silent since I, personally,and 67 other Republican Legislators have been brought into this with the latest Randy Ramsey Ad and flyer.
State Senate candidate Randy Ramsey recently aired a radio ad and sent out a mailer that accused Representative Sanderson of voting to implement ObamaCare. I was the co-sponsor of the bill that was referenced (HB115) and it was supported by every Republican member of the House as well as 18 conservative Democrats. Only the most liberal Democrats voted against this largely procedural bill that saved North Carolina taxpayers countless dollars. In fact, the full title of the legislation was An Act to Preserve State-Based Authority to Regulate the North Carolina Health Insurance Market and Prevent Federal Encroachment on State Authority by Establishing the North Carolina Benefit Exchange. As the name implies, it was designed to limit the power of ObamaCare. Randy Ramsey’s blatant misrepresentation of this bill was not only an attack on Norman Sanderson but on every Republican who voted for this piece of common-sense legislation.
The very first piece of business for the Republican led legislature in 2011 was passing House Bill #2, entitled Protect Health Care Freedom. I was proud to co-sponsor that bill with Representative Sanderson, knowing that it protected North Carolina’s citizens from ObamaCare and the overreaching authority of the Federal Government into your health care decisions. That important piece of legislation would be law today if had not been vetoed by Governor Bev Perdue.
For anyone to say that Norman Sanderson, myself or any Republican legislator supports ObamaCare is outrageous and a blatant misrepresentation of the facts. Randy Ramsey has either chosen to resort to distortion in a desperate attempt to gain votes or he has not researched the information his campaign team is releasing. Either way, the practice is unacceptable and should immediately cease.
Pat McElraft
Emerald Isle, NC
District 13 State Representative
Showing posts with label Rhino. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rhino. Show all posts
Friday, April 20, 2012
A MESSAGE FROM NC HOUSE REPRESENTATIVE NORMAN SANDERSON
I NEED YOUR HELP NOW.
Desperate people resort to desperate measures, and there is no better example than my opponent's recent attacks on not just me but the entire North Carolina Republican Party.
By now you may have received a few of these outrageous mailers from my opponent, Randy Ramsey, saying I voted to implement Obamacare. Political distortion has reached a new low as he has misrepresented a bill designed to LIMIT the power of Obamacare, a bill that was supported by every Republican in the State House. Here are the facts:
The legislation referenced in Ramsey's flyer is House Bill 115 which was a bill that was a safeguard against the Federal Government having total control over Obamacare funding it if became law. There is the full title of that bill: An Act to Preserve State-Based Authority to Regulate the North Carolina Health Insurance Market and Prevent Federal Encroachment on State Authority by Establishing the North Carolina Benefit Exhchange. How can anyone interpret the words Preserve State-Based Authority and Prevent Federal Enchroachment and believe it supports Obamacare? A failure to act would have meant Washington, DC, not North Carolina, would have made all decisions regarding Obamacare. If the Supreme Court rules Obamacare unconstitutional, the bill is null and void.
House Bill 115 was supported by EVERY REPUBLICAN in the State House and even 18 Conservative Democrats. The only opposition came from the most liberal Democrats. Randy Ramsey has taken sides against the Republican Party and said he would have voted with the liberals. Anybody surprised?
The truth is on our side but we have one glaring obstacle to overcome: MONEY. Randy Ramsey is on pace to spend $250,000 in this primary. He has purchased over $100,000 worth of radio and TV this week alone. This type of money spreads his distorted message out to the masses and my campaign needs the money to answer.
As I send out this message, we are rushing to produce radio and television ads to respond to these outrageous claims. I ask you to respond immediately with your financial support so I can get my message out. I need you to respond NOW, as the inventory is limited due to other candidates buying ads. Time is of the essence. Please help me.
Saturday, April 14, 2012
CAROLINA JOURNAL: Perdue Flight Provider Seeks GOP Nod
Ramsey’s history of support for Democrats an issue
By Don Carrington. Executive Editor
RALEIGH---Carteret County businessman Randy Ramsey, who has made substantial campaign contributions to Democratic Gov. Bev Perdue, former Democratic Gov. Mike Easley, and the N.C. Democratic Party, is running in a three-way Republican primary for the 2nd District state Senate seat. Ramsey is the owner of Jarrett Bay Boat works, a boat-building company located in Beaufort. He is a registered Republican, but his past support for Democrats, which includes air travel for Perdue and a $2,000 contribution to her campaign in July, has outraged several Republican Party activists.
Before this year, he has given $3,750 to Republican candidates, but more than 10 times that amount to Democratic campaigns and to the state Democratic Party.
Ramsey told Carolina Journal that he gave to Democrats from eastern North Carolina and thought they would help his part of the state, but that he has “been disappointed” in them.
Moreover, either Ramsey or Jarrett Bay is connected with at least four flights provided to the 2008 Perdue campaign, based on records from an investigation by the State Board of Elections. Ramsey says he recalls providing for two of the flights, but the records — provided by the Perdue committee — are spotty and incomplete, making it difficult to connect payments with specific flights.
Two former Perdue fundraisers face felony charges related to unreported or improperly reported flights during Perdue’s campaign for governor.
Air travel for Perdue
Perdue was elected governor in November 2008. Investigations and news reports later would reveal that she made extensive use of private aircraft for campaign and official business without paying the owners. Perdue has attributed the initial nonpayment’s to sloppy work by her campaign staff. A Perdue spokeswoman characterized the free flying for official business as “gifts to the state.”
Through an investigation by the Board of Elections, the public eventually learned that Perdue’s campaign had accepted dozens of free flights. After a hearing in August 2010, the board fined the Perdue committee $30,000.
A spreadsheet listing Perdue’s air travel from 2001 through 2008 became public information during the election board’s August 2010 hearing. That document listed a total of 243 flights, but the details of many of the flights were missing.
The records appear complete for a Sept. 26, 2008, flight in a Beechcraft King Air provided by Crystal Aviation. May 11, 2009, the Perdue campaign committee sent Jarrett Bay Boatworks Inc. a check for $629.34, listing it as a debt payment for air travel related to that flight.
Crystal Aviation is involved in airplane leasing, according to corporation records from the N.C. Secretary of State’s office. Randy Ramsey of Jarrett Bay Boatworks was listed as a managing member in 2004 and as a member in other years.
A Carolina Journal review of Perdue’s campaign reports could not match reimbursements for three other flights involving Crystal Aviation:
• A Feb. 21, 2008, flight listed as New Bern/Charlotte/Chapel Hill/New Bern was attributed to Crystal Aviation Partnership and Trawick “Buzzy” Stubbs. No cost or payment information was listed. CJ could find no record of payment to Stubbs, Crystal Aviation, Jarrett Bay, or Ramsey. Stubbs, a longtime friend of Perdue and the law partner of Perdue’s late first husband, recently pleaded not guilty to two felony charges related to the governor’s campaign funding. Stubbs was identified in the Board of Elections’ report on Perdue’s campaign flights as an architect of an “aircraft provider” program, along with Peter Reichard, the campaign’s former finance director. Reichard took a felony Alford plea in February in the state probe of the governor’s campaign.
• A May 4, 2008, flight listed as Beaufort/New Bern/Chapel Hill/Beaufort/New Bern also was attributed to Crystal Aviation and Buddy Stallings. The cost column read “cost sheet not completed.” CJ could find no record of payment to Stubbs, Crystal Aviation, Jarrett Bay, or Ramsey.
• A March 8, 2007, flight listed as New Bern/Chapel Hill/Charlotte/Chapel Hill/New Bern was attributed to Crystal Aviation and Buzzy Stubbs. Notes indicate the trip was part official business and part campaign. The total cost was listed as $1,260.60. CJ could find no record of payment to Stubbs, Crystal Aviation, Jarrett Bay, or Ramsey.
Ramsey told CJ the Perdue committee reimbursed him for two flights, but he didn’t remember the details. When asked who asked him to make his aircraft available to Perdue, he said, “I don’t remember — don’t know who asked.”
NCSU board appointment
In June 2009, Perdue appointed Ramsey to the N.C. State University Board of Trustees. Ramsey filled the vacancy left by board chairman D. McQueen Campbell, who resigned at the request of UNC System resident Erskine Bowles.
At the time, Campbell was the subject of news stories and investigations involving free campaign-related flights he had provided to Gov. Mike Easley, for his role in helping Mary Easley obtain a job at N.C. State, and for helping the Easleys purchase a lot in the Cannonsgate development in Carteret County.
In November 2010, Mike Easley entered an Alford plea to a felony charge of failure to report campaign expenditures. Under an Alford plea, a defendant does not admit guilt but acknowledges that the evidence against him may lead to conviction from a jury. Easley, the first North Carolina governor with a felony conviction, paid a $1,000 fine.
Party loyalty
The 2nd Senate District is made up of Carteret, Craven, and Pamlico counties.
The other two candidates are current GOP state Rep. Norm Sanderson of Arapahoe and Pine Knoll Shores Mayor Ken Jones. Incumbent Republican Jean Preston decided not to seek another term.
Some local conservative and Republican activists can’t stomach Ramsey as a Republican candidate.
“Randy Ramsey has been a major player in liberal Democratic ‘pay-to-play’ politics and is not representative of the conservative values of the Tea Party, or what we expect of the Republican Party,” wrote Ken Lang of Stella on the Crystal Coast Tea Party’s website.
A letter from Fred Decker of Newport, published in the Carteret News-Times, was also critical of Ramsey, and claimed the Republican state Senate leadership recruited him. “We don’t need people from Raleigh, Jacksonville, and Wilmington telling us whom we should select to represent us,” he wrote.
When asked if he had been recruited to run for the Senate, Ramsey told CJ that “recruited was too strong of a word,” and that he discussed his interest in running with Preston, state Senate leader Phil Berger of Rockingham County, and state Sen. Harry Brown of neighboring Onslow County.
Brown, the Senate majority leader, told CJ that Ramsey approached him about running for the seat and that the Senate leadership had no problem with it. “We were looking for candidates, and Norm Sanderson had not come to us at the time. We try to stay out of the primary,” he said.
When CJ asked Brown if he knew that Ramsey had been an aircraft provider to the 2008 Perdue campaign he said, “I had no clue on the flying.”
Most recent contribution
Last year, Perdue issued frequent criticisms of the budget passed by the Republican-led General Assembly.
Perdue wanted to continue a 1-cent temporary sales tax that was scheduled to expire. She vetoed the budget bill, but the General Assembly voted to override her veto.
”Tonight, the Republican-controlled legislature turned its back on North Carolina’s longstanding commitment to our people to provide quality schools, community colleges, and universities — all to save a penny. I vetoed the Republican General Assembly’s budget because I believe it will cause generational damage to this state,” she said on June 15 after the override vote. “This budget is shortsighted and irresponsible. It cuts a full half-billion dollars more out of education than I proposed in my budget. It not only damages our education system but also hurts public safety, our environment, and our ability to care for those who need us most.” (EXCUSE ME--BULL#$%T! ~Lynn)
The following month, on July 25, Ramsey made another $2,000 contribution to the Perdue campaign. Ramsey’s donations to Perdue total $16,500. He also gave a total of $7,500 to Easley and $2,000 to former Democratic Senate leader Marc Basnight. Ramsey also gave $5,000 to the N.C. Democratic Party in October 2008 and another $2,500 in April 2010. He has made additional donations to Democrats.
In April 2008, just before the May primary election, Ramsey’s mother and three Jarrett Bay employees gave a total of $9,500 to the Perdue campaign.
Ramsey’s contributions to Republicans prior to this year total $3,750, including $1,000 to Brown and $1,250 to Labor Commissioner Cherie Berry. CJ
http://www.johnlocke.org/acrobat/cjPrintEdition/cj-apr2010-web.pdf?__utma=1.645644867.1327777086.1334244901.1334443786.8&__utmb=1.4.10.1334443786&__utmc=1&__utmx=-&__utmz=1.1334443786.8.6.utmcsr=google
utmccn=(organic)
utmcmd=organic
utmctr=(not%20provided)&__utmv=-&__utmk=110104325
By Don Carrington. Executive Editor
RALEIGH---Carteret County businessman Randy Ramsey, who has made substantial campaign contributions to Democratic Gov. Bev Perdue, former Democratic Gov. Mike Easley, and the N.C. Democratic Party, is running in a three-way Republican primary for the 2nd District state Senate seat. Ramsey is the owner of Jarrett Bay Boat works, a boat-building company located in Beaufort. He is a registered Republican, but his past support for Democrats, which includes air travel for Perdue and a $2,000 contribution to her campaign in July, has outraged several Republican Party activists.
Before this year, he has given $3,750 to Republican candidates, but more than 10 times that amount to Democratic campaigns and to the state Democratic Party.
Ramsey told Carolina Journal that he gave to Democrats from eastern North Carolina and thought they would help his part of the state, but that he has “been disappointed” in them.
Moreover, either Ramsey or Jarrett Bay is connected with at least four flights provided to the 2008 Perdue campaign, based on records from an investigation by the State Board of Elections. Ramsey says he recalls providing for two of the flights, but the records — provided by the Perdue committee — are spotty and incomplete, making it difficult to connect payments with specific flights.
Two former Perdue fundraisers face felony charges related to unreported or improperly reported flights during Perdue’s campaign for governor.
Air travel for Perdue
Perdue was elected governor in November 2008. Investigations and news reports later would reveal that she made extensive use of private aircraft for campaign and official business without paying the owners. Perdue has attributed the initial nonpayment’s to sloppy work by her campaign staff. A Perdue spokeswoman characterized the free flying for official business as “gifts to the state.”
Through an investigation by the Board of Elections, the public eventually learned that Perdue’s campaign had accepted dozens of free flights. After a hearing in August 2010, the board fined the Perdue committee $30,000.
A spreadsheet listing Perdue’s air travel from 2001 through 2008 became public information during the election board’s August 2010 hearing. That document listed a total of 243 flights, but the details of many of the flights were missing.
The records appear complete for a Sept. 26, 2008, flight in a Beechcraft King Air provided by Crystal Aviation. May 11, 2009, the Perdue campaign committee sent Jarrett Bay Boatworks Inc. a check for $629.34, listing it as a debt payment for air travel related to that flight.
Crystal Aviation is involved in airplane leasing, according to corporation records from the N.C. Secretary of State’s office. Randy Ramsey of Jarrett Bay Boatworks was listed as a managing member in 2004 and as a member in other years.
A Carolina Journal review of Perdue’s campaign reports could not match reimbursements for three other flights involving Crystal Aviation:
• A Feb. 21, 2008, flight listed as New Bern/Charlotte/Chapel Hill/New Bern was attributed to Crystal Aviation Partnership and Trawick “Buzzy” Stubbs. No cost or payment information was listed. CJ could find no record of payment to Stubbs, Crystal Aviation, Jarrett Bay, or Ramsey. Stubbs, a longtime friend of Perdue and the law partner of Perdue’s late first husband, recently pleaded not guilty to two felony charges related to the governor’s campaign funding. Stubbs was identified in the Board of Elections’ report on Perdue’s campaign flights as an architect of an “aircraft provider” program, along with Peter Reichard, the campaign’s former finance director. Reichard took a felony Alford plea in February in the state probe of the governor’s campaign.
• A May 4, 2008, flight listed as Beaufort/New Bern/Chapel Hill/Beaufort/New Bern also was attributed to Crystal Aviation and Buddy Stallings. The cost column read “cost sheet not completed.” CJ could find no record of payment to Stubbs, Crystal Aviation, Jarrett Bay, or Ramsey.
• A March 8, 2007, flight listed as New Bern/Chapel Hill/Charlotte/Chapel Hill/New Bern was attributed to Crystal Aviation and Buzzy Stubbs. Notes indicate the trip was part official business and part campaign. The total cost was listed as $1,260.60. CJ could find no record of payment to Stubbs, Crystal Aviation, Jarrett Bay, or Ramsey.
Ramsey told CJ the Perdue committee reimbursed him for two flights, but he didn’t remember the details. When asked who asked him to make his aircraft available to Perdue, he said, “I don’t remember — don’t know who asked.”
NCSU board appointment
In June 2009, Perdue appointed Ramsey to the N.C. State University Board of Trustees. Ramsey filled the vacancy left by board chairman D. McQueen Campbell, who resigned at the request of UNC System resident Erskine Bowles.
At the time, Campbell was the subject of news stories and investigations involving free campaign-related flights he had provided to Gov. Mike Easley, for his role in helping Mary Easley obtain a job at N.C. State, and for helping the Easleys purchase a lot in the Cannonsgate development in Carteret County.
In November 2010, Mike Easley entered an Alford plea to a felony charge of failure to report campaign expenditures. Under an Alford plea, a defendant does not admit guilt but acknowledges that the evidence against him may lead to conviction from a jury. Easley, the first North Carolina governor with a felony conviction, paid a $1,000 fine.
Party loyalty
The 2nd Senate District is made up of Carteret, Craven, and Pamlico counties.
The other two candidates are current GOP state Rep. Norm Sanderson of Arapahoe and Pine Knoll Shores Mayor Ken Jones. Incumbent Republican Jean Preston decided not to seek another term.
Some local conservative and Republican activists can’t stomach Ramsey as a Republican candidate.
“Randy Ramsey has been a major player in liberal Democratic ‘pay-to-play’ politics and is not representative of the conservative values of the Tea Party, or what we expect of the Republican Party,” wrote Ken Lang of Stella on the Crystal Coast Tea Party’s website.
A letter from Fred Decker of Newport, published in the Carteret News-Times, was also critical of Ramsey, and claimed the Republican state Senate leadership recruited him. “We don’t need people from Raleigh, Jacksonville, and Wilmington telling us whom we should select to represent us,” he wrote.
When asked if he had been recruited to run for the Senate, Ramsey told CJ that “recruited was too strong of a word,” and that he discussed his interest in running with Preston, state Senate leader Phil Berger of Rockingham County, and state Sen. Harry Brown of neighboring Onslow County.
Brown, the Senate majority leader, told CJ that Ramsey approached him about running for the seat and that the Senate leadership had no problem with it. “We were looking for candidates, and Norm Sanderson had not come to us at the time. We try to stay out of the primary,” he said.
When CJ asked Brown if he knew that Ramsey had been an aircraft provider to the 2008 Perdue campaign he said, “I had no clue on the flying.”
Most recent contribution
Last year, Perdue issued frequent criticisms of the budget passed by the Republican-led General Assembly.
Perdue wanted to continue a 1-cent temporary sales tax that was scheduled to expire. She vetoed the budget bill, but the General Assembly voted to override her veto.
”Tonight, the Republican-controlled legislature turned its back on North Carolina’s longstanding commitment to our people to provide quality schools, community colleges, and universities — all to save a penny. I vetoed the Republican General Assembly’s budget because I believe it will cause generational damage to this state,” she said on June 15 after the override vote. “This budget is shortsighted and irresponsible. It cuts a full half-billion dollars more out of education than I proposed in my budget. It not only damages our education system but also hurts public safety, our environment, and our ability to care for those who need us most.” (EXCUSE ME--BULL#$%T! ~Lynn)
The following month, on July 25, Ramsey made another $2,000 contribution to the Perdue campaign. Ramsey’s donations to Perdue total $16,500. He also gave a total of $7,500 to Easley and $2,000 to former Democratic Senate leader Marc Basnight. Ramsey also gave $5,000 to the N.C. Democratic Party in October 2008 and another $2,500 in April 2010. He has made additional donations to Democrats.
In April 2008, just before the May primary election, Ramsey’s mother and three Jarrett Bay employees gave a total of $9,500 to the Perdue campaign.
Ramsey’s contributions to Republicans prior to this year total $3,750, including $1,000 to Brown and $1,250 to Labor Commissioner Cherie Berry. CJ
http://www.johnlocke.org/acrobat/cjPrintEdition/cj-apr2010-web.pdf?__utma=1.645644867.1327777086.1334244901.1334443786.8&__utmb=1.4.10.1334443786&__utmc=1&__utmx=-&__utmz=1.1334443786.8.6.utmcsr=google
utmccn=(organic)
utmcmd=organic
utmctr=(not%20provided)&__utmv=-&__utmk=110104325
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
