I’ve heard about four warnings about ratified House Bill 373, but I just sat down to look at what is going on. I’m too much of a dweeb to trust common-man interpretations of legislation. At first, I thought it was a hoax, but then I realized the offending section, 163-278.8B is placed right before the rewrite of Section 163-278.6. It reads:
(a) The leader of each political party caucus of the North Carolina House of Representatives and the Senate may establish a separate, affiliated party committee to support the election of candidates of that leader’s political party. The affiliated party committee is deemed a political party for purposes of this Article.
(b) Each affiliated party committee shall:
(1) Adopt bylaws to include, at a minimum, the designation of a treasurer.
(2) Conduct campaigns for candidates who are members of the leader’s political party or manage daily operations of the affiliated party committee.
(3) Establish a bank account.
(4) Raise and expend funds. Such funds may not be expended or committed to be expended except when authorized by the leader of the affiliated party committee.
(c) Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, an affiliated party committee shall be entitled to use the name, abbreviation, and symbol of the political party of its leader.
(d) For purposes of this section, the term “leader” shall mean the currently elected President Pro Tempore of the Senate, the currently elected Speaker of the House of Representatives, or the currently elected minority leader of either house of the General Assembly, until another person is designated by a political party caucus of members of either house to succeed to one of the aforesaid positions, at which time the newly designated designee becomes the leader for purposes of this section.”
Those in-the-know are saying the slightly upset establishment is trying to set up its own shadow political parties, which is kind of funny for anybody who recalls all the years Libertarians in this state had to waste collecting autographs, rather than debating issues. Then kindly Skip Stam significantly lowered autograph and percentage requirements for third parties, but even the Greens and Socialists have not yet crossed that bar in this state. Anyway, those trying to raise awareness see Section 163-278.8B as a power grab, as in the person behind the legislation wants his own political party.
Local activist Betty Jackson sees things this way:
When the grassroots elected Hasan Harnett to the NCGOP chair, the establishment in the NCGOP swore they would tie his hands. This is how they intend to do it.
Blogger Rick Short thinks David R. Lewis, the author of the last-minute poison pill inserted in a bill to change primary dates, is trying to cannibalize his own party.
The bill now sits on the governor’s desk awaiting approval.
