The local GOP chief just seems to be digging a deeper hole with his corrections to the historical record involving how the party selected two candidates for office.
First, his distinction between “the public” and “the media” is, frankly, nonsensical. The only way the public could discover how the Executive Committee members voted is via some reporter-type — a blogger even — asking questions. No bystander is going to pop in and start asking for vote tallies or start button-holing people about their votes.
That Aneralla seems to consider this “harassment” tells us all we need to know.
Then there is this:
Fact: There is a huge difference between a private entity like a political party nominating an individual for public office and Democrat leaders creating policy behind closed doors. Do the Panthers ask the media to come in when they are choosing their number one draft pick? Does the Democrat or Republican Party ask the media to come in when they nominate their vice presidential nominee, national chairman or state party chair?
Fact: Executive Committee members do not sign up to be scrutinized by the media. Therefore, it is the Mecklenburg GOP’s policy to protect their privacy. We do not even share their email addresses with other Republican organizations.
For all the very special reasons Aneralla rattles off, this is a case where the standing rules should have been broken. The party — a small subset of it, actually — de facto selected a member of the North Carolina General Assembly. The next time the Panthers’ front-office does that his analogy will have some legs.
As this does not happen everyday, no real precedent would have been set by treating the vote as a full-on media event. Not to please or coddle The Media, but to convey to the broader public — Democrat, Republican or utterly disgusted — an open political process is always best.
This might have made some people uncomfortable. Hung some things out people might’ve preferred to keep secret. Too bad.
Besides, from a purely political point of view, Aneralla missed a chance to draw a sharp distinction between the GOP and the party of Parks Helms and Jim Black.
He’s got about 60 days to come up with something else.
