Political Power-Grab? | Eastern North Carolina Now

    It is no secret now that Thom Tillis, Republican Speaker of the NC House, recruited Arthur Williams to run for NC House District 6. The Daily Haymaker blog as have others like the blog Truth or Dare, Beaufort County Now, and the Beaufort Observer have published a series of articles tying Representative Tillis to Arthur Williams, as well as convincing notable local Republicans Bill Tarpenning, Ashley Woolard, and Jeremy Adams (whom many wrongly thought was the antithesis to Arthur Williams) to stump for Williams.

    Now, the Daily Haymaker reports that Thom Tillis called Congressman Walter Jones to get his endorsement of Arthur Williams (confirmed by Congressman Jones' staff). To make matters worse, Tillis led several other Republican leaders in threatening to sue an eastern NC delegate to the NCGOP convention for passing out a flier simply posing questions about unnamed prominent Republicans meddling in politics east of I-95. Even eastern NC Republicans like Beaufort County GOP Chairman Charles Hickman have been critical of the Raleigh GOP leadership's interference in what should be local voter decisions (Beaufort Now web site).

    It's common knowledge that Arthur Williams was registered as a Democrat since 1966 (45 years) before he changed his registration in December 2011 (Washington Daily News). It's also true that Arthur Williams has never signed the Freedom Works candidate questionnaire committing to Lower Taxes, Less Government, and More Freedom. Maybe not as well know is that Arthur Williams has received a grade of "F" three years running from Civitas (meaning that he is no conservative).

    The question is why is Thom Tillis so interested in supporting a former liberal Democrat? Could it be that he wants someone beholden to him and not the voters of eastern North Carolina, or as posed in the Truth or Dare article cited above that he covets Senator Kay Hagan's job. Could it be that Thom Tillis doesn't think he can depend on Mattie to tote his agenda; that Mattie will actually represent the voters in her district? In my opinion, any of these reasons are a pretty strong endorsement for conservative Mattie Lawson.