Haywood GOP members draw the line over inflammatory emails

coverMonroe Miller is no stranger to the inbox.

Hundreds of emails from Miller have peppered the email accounts of people in Haywood County over the past five years, targeting those he believes have misstepped.

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His targets are accused of being inept or under-handed — and sometimes both. Miller summons large audiences to the email chain, roping in spectators through the cc line to witness the latest attack.

The magic number: is the tax collector’s higher bond prudent or punitive?

Haywood County commissioners are being accused of partisan politics for upping the liability bond for the county tax collector, although commissioners say it’s just a safeguard given the limited experience and less-than-stellar financial record of the incoming tax collector.

Critics say the Democratic commissioners are just trying to shut down the newly elected Republican tax collector Mike Matthews by setting his bond too high.

Obama poised to give the GOP the finger

op frJust as President Obama seems poised to sign an executive order preventing the deportation of up to 5 million illegal immigrants, we read in the Nov. 17 Asheville Citizen-Times that a newcomer center for immigrants in the city school system is so full it has a waiting list. I have no idea how many of those students in the newcomer center or waiting to get in are illegals, but the point is that we have a huge immigration problem in this country and policy to address it keeps being ignored by those in a position to change things.

The GOP’s new normal in Raleigh — Are you for it or against it?

coverNorth Carolina has rarely seen an election where the candidates matter so little, but who wins matters so much.

This year it’s not about the names on the ballot. Those are mere window dressing. Their alma matter, their church, their IQ, their gender, their profession, their hometown — things voters might have cared about in the past — have fallen by the wayside, too. Even the last-minute, slick campaign ads will likely be futile in budging voters to their side of the fence.

Ballot shapes up for Jackson sheriff’s race

Jackson County voters will finally be able to see the shape of the November ballot with the close of a second primary for the Jackson County Sheriff Republican candidate July 15. Following the first primary, in which only 42 votes separated first and last place, results show former Sylva police officer Curtis Lambert coming out on top, beating runner-up Jim Hodgins 130-107.

Haywood GOP faction loses bid to oust chair

An ongoing tug-of-war for control of the Haywood County Republican Party reached a finale last week.

A faction of conservative activists failed in their bid to wrest the chairman’s seat away from Pat Carr, who represents the mainstream party establishment. Carr now hopes the party can overcome the internal division that has plagued it for more than a year.

GOP to get relaxing respite from Raleigh rallies

When North Carolina Republicans arrive at Harrah’s in Cherokee the first week of June for their annual convention, they will likely leave the din of discontent far behind. The rallies — the restless and the rowdies — and the realities of Raleigh will fade in the rearview. 

Wrestling the ‘sleeping giant’: Local GOP deals with divide

A leadership upheaval within the Haywood County GOP is far from settled, but some members are calling for a reconciliation of opposing camps within the party.

The internal power struggle in the local party should take a backseat to the more important task at hand: campaigning for Republican candidates who will be on the ballot this fall. At least that’s the appeal that Lisa Womack made to members of the executive committee at a party meeting earlier this month in Waynesville.

House party: Three GOP candidates take aim at Rep. Queen


A trio of Republican candidates have lined up to challenge N.C. Rep. Joe Sam Queen, D-Waynesville, for his District 119 House seat. One is barely old enough to drink, one campaigned for Barry Goldwater and one features Second Amendment-chest thumping on his website: “United Nations – stay out of NC!”

GOP shake-up: Haywood Republicans wrestle with identity crisis, attempt to oust chair

A coup within the Haywood County Republican Party was set in motion this week by a group of precinct chairs who called for the ousting of the party’s chairwoman.

 

A takeover of the local party by a faction of conservative ideologues has been brewing for more than a year. The faction has increased its toehold in the party, eventually amassing enough seats on the executive committee to make an end-run for the chair’s seat.

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