Healthy Start Academy
807 West Chapel Hill Street,
Durham, NC.

All registered Republicans are invited to attend.

These last few months, I’ve really been focusing on building out the party by spending more time organizing each precinct.  We started by putting together four phone banking teams.  (If you are willing and able to commit one night every two months to our phone banking teams, please email Katy Dubois and let her know you’re willing to help the Durham Republican Party.)  I’d now like to take this one step further.

Last Monday evening, Bruce Frazer and I conducted a small Precinct Meeting and it was great – as were the scones!  Bruce is the new Precinct Chairman for Precinct 24 (the Croasdaile Village area).  He was able to gather about 14 dedicated Republicans for coffee and scones.  We gathered at one of their homes to have a Town Hall type of meeting.  There really wasn’t a set agenda.  It was mainly just Republicans getting together to talk politics.  For Bruce, it was an opportunity for him to find folks within his Precinct who may be interested in helping him develop the Precinct.  For most of the folks in attendance, it was just an opportunity to hear from the local Republican Party.

Bruce and I both agreed that the meeting was a success.  I left knowing that we’ve got to make every attempt to hold more of these types of meetings throughout Durham.

North Carolina is a battleground in 2012.  With Governor Purdue deciding not to seek re-election, the Governor’s race is going to be even more interesting than we once thought.  And regardless of what Republican candidate wins the party’s nomination, the Presidential contest will be an all-out battle in North Carolina.  Right here in Durham, we will have the opportunity to make a significant impact in a lot of races.  If we want to win, locally, state wide and/or nationally, then we have got to pull out all the stops in our attempts to organize Durham County.

One of the points that I made at the Precinct Meeting Bruce and I conducted was about the 2011 elections; specifically, the tax initiatives that were on the ballot in Durham last year.  You’ll recall from my prior post that there were only about 15,000 votes cast for or against the tax referenda.  There were about 6,000 votes cast against these tax proposals.  What’s so interesting – and so sad – is that there were only 3,000 registered Republicans who voted.  Out of 24,000 registered Republicans, only 3,000 voted.  Why?

Ultimately, there are lots of reasons but I’ll boil it down to one simple answer: they are/were just not engaged.  It is our job to get them engaged.  To do that, we have to have a shotgun approach.  We’ve got to run our phone banks like clockwork.  We’ve got to have a presence at Durham events like Centerfest.  We’ve got to make every effort to engage the news media.  And we’ve got to meet the registered Republicans on their own turf, in their own back yard … or, as it may be, in their own living rooms (preferably with scones, or blackberry cobbler!).

How do we do this?  That’s where you come in.

You don’t have to be a Precinct Chairman to organize one of these small meetings.  The only work that you really need to do is to get commitments from 15-20 people to join you for dessert and coffee.  Just let me know that you want to host one of these gatherings and we’ll help you put it together.  The entire objective is to reach the registered Republicans – and even those unaffiliated voters, or even a Democrat neighbor that may be receptive to our message – and connect with them.

It should be obvious that the 2012 elections are at stake.  However, let’s be a little more forward looking than that.  Let’s think about 2014, for example.  When was the last time you were proud of the Durham District Attorney’s office?  Perhaps it’s about time that we put a Republican in the Durham DA’s office?  If we want to see outcomes like that, we have to begin connecting with the voters today.

The cocktail reception will begin at 6:00 pm with dinner being served at 7:00 pm. General Admission tickets are $55 per person or $100 per couple. Discounted student tickets are available for only $40 per person.

You can purchase your tickets online .

Location:  DPS Staff Development Center
2107 Hillandale Road

Radio Talk Show Host Frank Roche will be a guest speaker.

We will post more information about speakers as it becomes available.

Time: Sunday, January 29, 2012, 3 pm- 4 pm

Place:  Durham County Library, Southwest Regional Library, 3605 Shannon Rd,

Cost: Free

Healthy Start Academy
807 West Chapel Hill Street,
Durham, NC.

All registered Republicans are invited to attend.

I hope we can move to a more civil discourse on the merits of the proposed voter photo id law. In that hope, I offer the following:

The South Carolina voter id law being challenged by the Obama Justice Department is the product of a bi-partisan task force.

President Carter and Secretary of State Baker chaired the Federal Election Reform Commission in 2005. Their recommendations included requiring voters to produce a photo id. The Commission concluded:

“There is no evidence of extensive fraud in U. S. elections or of multiple voting, but both occur, and it could affect the outcome of a close election. The electoral system cannot inspire public confidence if no safeguards exist to deter or detect fraud or to confirm the identity of voters. Photo identification cards currently are needed to board a plane, enter federal buildings, and cash a check. Voting is equally important.”

I don’t think the opponents would ever characterize President Carter as one seeking to limit the rights of minorities.

The Supreme Court by a 6-3 majority has already approved a similar law just four years ago.

In 2008 the Supreme Court approved the voter photo id law in Indiana by a 6-3 vote. Justice Stevens wrote the majority decision. He has been a leader of the liberal bloc on the Court for decades and authored the much-praised dissent in the Citizen United case (holding corporations to be individuals for campaign contribution purposes.) Opponents of the law cannot fairly characterize Justice Stevens as right wing or a bigot.

In his opinion Justice Steven ruled:

“There is no question about the legitimacy or importance of the State’s interest in counting only the votes of eligible voters. Moreover, the interest in orderly administration and accurate recordkeeping provides a sufficient justification for carefully identifying all voters participating in the election process. While the most effective method of preventing election fraud may well be debatable, the propriety of doing so is perfectly clear.”

The ad hominem and partisan attacks accusing voter id proponents of evil intent overlook the entire history of how and by whom these laws were proposed and that a photo id requirement has been endorsed by our highest court.

Opponents should also consider the views of former Atlanta Mayor and UN Ambassador Andrew Young who testified in favor of voter photo id. He saw clear advantages to the requirement of a free photo id “as a way to empower minorities, who are often charged exorbitant fees for cashing checks because they lack proper identification.”

President Carter said it well: “… support voter ID laws that make it easy to vote but tough to cheat.”

​What: Rail Transit Alternatives Analysis Public Hearing

Who: Durham-Chapel Hill-Carrboro Metropolitan Planning Organization (DCHC MPO)

When: Wednesday, January 11, 2012, at 9 a.m.

Where: Durham City Hall
Committee Room, Second Floor
101 City Hall Plaza
Durham, N.C. 27701

Fast Facts:
• This public hearing is an opportunity for residents to provide input on the locally preferred alternatives for the Durham-Orange and Durham-Wake passenger rail corridors. The Transportation Advisory Committee, which is the policy-making board of the DCHC MPO, invites residents to provide comments and feedback during this public hearing.
• The locally preferred alternative identifies the draft alignment, station locations, and endpoints of the proposed rail systems. Residents will also have additional opportunities over the next several years to comment on the increasingly more detailed design and environmental studies as they are developed.

• For information or to submit comments, contact Andy Henry, transportation planner with the City of Durham Transportation Department/DCHC MPO, at (919) 560-4366, ext. 36419 or via email at comments@dchcmpo.org.
• Residents may also submit comments by mail to the City of Durham Transportation Department, located at 101 City Hall Plaza, Fourth Floor, Durham, N.C. 27701, up to the time of the January 11 public hearing.
• For information about the Alternatives Analysis Reports for the Triangle Regional Transit Program, visit www.dchcmpo.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=85&Itemid=35.