GASTONIA, N.C. (AP) – The lunchtime event at Milano’s Italian Restaurant in Gastonia provided all the usual flavor found at state Republican Party gatherings in recent years.

It didn’t come from the lasagna, chicken parmigiana and manicotti ordered by the two dozen officials and party activists gathered in a back banquet room.

It began with the state GOP chairman chiding state Democrats, followed by the usual complaints from party faithful in attendance about how the Democratic Party has run most of state government for 100 years.

But new chairman Tom Fetzer tried to turn the griping into something constructive.

“We can either spend our time talking about how unfairly the Democratic majority governs, or we can become a majority and do a better job of governing ourselves,” Fetzer told the crowd between bites of spaghetti.

Sensing an electoral opening after Democrats drew a budget that raised taxes, GOP leaders are already talking up legislative elections, even though those won’t occur until November 2010.

Fetzer and Republican legislative leaders are wrapping up a 12-city “Budget Tour” to places like Gastonia that began after the General Assembly closed a bruising seven-month session Aug. 11 in which lawmakers cast tough votes on spending and taxes. They’re talking about campaign fundraising and targeting Democrats in competitive districts.

The state GOP struggled in the 2006 and 2008 elections as Democrats expanded and retained their majorities in the House and Senate. The 2010 elections take on greater importance because the majority party in each chamber will have the power to draw favorable legislative boundaries for the next decade based on new census figures.

“Those are probably the worst cycles for Republicans that we’ve seen in a long, long time,” said Senate Minority Leader Phil Berger, R-Rockingham. “The political winds are at least, early on it seems … shifting in another direction.”

It will take more than a strong breeze to break Democrats, who hold a 30-20 Senate lead and a 68-52 House advantage. Democrats have held or shared control of both chambers continuously for more than 100 years, save for four years in the 1990s when the GOP led the House.

Fetzer argued at tour stops that Democratic lawmakers and Democratic Gov. Beverly Perdue made all the wrong choices in response to the recession and need to be held accountable. Democrats voted for and Democratic Gov. Beverly Perdue signed a budget that raised taxes by $990 million this year and that Fetzer argued failed to protect the public schools.

The budget “raises taxes at precisely the wrong time,” said Fetzer, a former Raleigh mayor and political consultant elected chairman in June.

Democrats defended the $19 billion budget and said the higher taxes, while painful, are temporary and helped prevent deeper cuts to education, social services and public health.

“It’s easy to sit back and criticize,” said House Majority Leader Hugh Holliman, D-Davidson, calling Republican complaints the “kind of typical rhetoric that’s going on right now. It’s a little earlier than normal.”

There are 13 districts in the House – including Holliman’s – and eight in the Senate – that Republicans hope to take from Democrats next year. To win, Fetzer said, Republicans will aim to match Democratic incumbents in fundraising.

The task will be daunting. The state Democratic Party gave $4.3 million to candidates and political committees during the 2007-08 election cycle, compared to $801,000 by the state Republican Party, according to campaign finance reports.

“It is very difficult to go out and raise money because people interested in legislative action … they’re not going to give with a long-term vision. They give for the next session,” said Jack Hawke, state GOP chairman from 1987 to 1995. “That leaves Republicans with no natural base to go raise money.”

Fetzer has asked party regulars to give $1 a day to party campaign coffers. He said state business leaders who have given more to Democrats recently must be persuaded to shift to Republicans.

In Gastonia, Republicans clapped when Fetzer said the party would fully fund the challenger to Democratic Sen. David Hoyle, co-chairman of the Senate Finance Committee.

“We’ve been outspent year after year after year and election and election after election. And Tom is focused on getting us the money so we can equip our troops,” Gaston County Republican Party chairman Cliff Priest said.

Hoyle, now in his ninth term, has won every two years because he said he’s received support from whom he calls mainstream GOP voters and doesn’t seem fazed about a new effort to unseat him.

“I’ve had them sending money against me nine times,” Hoyle said in an interview. “It’s nothing new, but different faces.”

Fetzer told the Gastonia group it will be painful if Republicans don’t knock off Hoyle and other Democrats next year, particularly with redistricting to follow.

“Winners get to govern. Losers go home and grumble,” he said. “And if we don’t win in 2010 we’re going to have 10 years of grumbling.”

RALEIGH, N.C. — Governor Bev Perdue is expected to sign a $19 billion dollar budget Thursday or Friday. A spokesperson for Perdue said she was still reviewing the bill as of lunchtime Thursday, and that there will be no public signing ceremony.The state Republican Party harshly criticized the bill and the whole budget process at a press conference that morning.

“I predict that as the bill was concocted and written behind closed doors, it will be signed behind closed doors,” said Tom Fetzer, NCGOP chairman. “I also predict the pens used to sign it will not be sought by people as keepsakes.”

Republicans accuse Democrats of passing a budget full of wasteful spending, unneccessary taxes, and cuts to education.

“To raise taxes in a recession, to raise taxes when unemployment is at an all-time high, when one in ten North Carolinians are jobless, and to reduce spending on our number one priority– education– is absurd,” Fetzer said.

Fetzer said he opposes spending on things like a $25 million Nags Head Fishing Pier project, $10 million to give out-of-state athletes tuition breaks at UNC universities, and an $84 million allocation for  the Wildlife Resources Commission that includes money for land acquisition.

RALEIGH, N.C. – The Executive Committee of the Wake County Republican Party has announced its candidate endorsements for the Oct. 6 elections.

On that day, voters in Wake County will go to the polls to elect candidates in various municipal offices and four districts in the Wake County Board of Education.

Claude E. Pope, Jr., Chairman of the Wake GOP, said, “We are delighted with the high caliber of candidates who sought our endorsement, and look forward to providing significant support to these candidates, including financial contributions, volunteer workers, training, and election day efforts.”

The Republican endorsement is given on the basis of a vote of the party’s executive committee, which met Monday night at the NCGOP headquarters on Hillsborough Street in Raleigh.

The candidates endorsed at the meeting are as follows:

Wake County Board of Education:

District 1: Chris Malone
District 2: John Tedesco
District 7: Jerry Ballan
District 9: Debra Goldman

City of Raleigh:

Mayor: Larry D. Hudson II
At-Large: Champ Claris
District B: John Odom
District E: Lisa Elliot

Town of Cary:

At-Large: Philip Scarsella
District A: Jennifer Robinson
District C: Jack Smith

RALEIGH, N.C.  – North Carolina’s new Republican Party head says Democrats should postpone a fundraiser next week until after a state budget is approved or they should consider the contributions tainted.

State GOP chairman Tom Fetzer said Wednesday he event honoring legislative Democrats comes at a time of high interest for anyone who does business with state government, which is controlled by Democrats.

The fundraiser for the North Carolina Democratic Party is next Tuesday. Fetzer said the fundraiser shouldn’t be held at a time when businesses and individuals across the state are trying to avoid the impact of budget cuts or higher taxes.

Spokesmen for Gov. Beverly Perdue and Democrats in the General Assembly did not immediately respond to calls seeking comment.

RALEIGH, N.C.  – North Carolina Republicans picked former Raleigh mayor Tom Fetzer on Saturday to marshal the state GOP’s message, manpower and money leading up to elections next year headlined by a U.S. Senate race.

Fetzer beat Lee County Commissioner Chad Adams to become state GOP chairman on the second ballot after an initial round narrowed the four candidates. Adams bowed out when it seemed clear Fetzer would win, and the state Republican convention proclaimed Fetzer the winner without completing the votes cast by about 1,600 delegates.

The election was hotly contested as the party tries to rebuild in the wake of disappointing election cycles in 2006 and 2008.

Since 2006, Republicans have lost their majority in the state’s congressional delegation. In 2008, Sen. Elizabeth Dole was soundly first time since 1976 with Barack Obama’s victory. Growth in Republican voter registration lagged behind Democrats and independents.

Fetzer, 54, was endorsed by U.S. Reps. Sue Myrick and Patrick McHenry, former U.S. Sen. Lauch Faircloth, and former Gov. Jim Holshouser.

He stressed that he was a proven fundraiser, had the influence to recruit the best Republican candidates, and was an experienced grassroots campaigner.

Fetzer worked with former U.S. Sens. Jesse Helms and John East, and served as an assistant cabinet member in former Gov. Jim Martin’s administration before being elected to the first of three two-year terms as mayor of Raleigh in 1993. He also ran a high-end GOP political consulting firm the past five years.

“If we mean to end the Democrats’ domination of our state’s politics for over a century, let it begin here,” Fetzer said in accepting his nomination Saturday. “We are leaving here today united – one team, one goal.”

Adams, 42, presented himself as the upstart running against a failed Republican Party bureaucracy in Raleigh. He was on leave from his job at the John Locke Foundation, a conservative think tank based in Raleigh.

“The state chairman must come from a volunteer background in order to understand how to run this party,” he said. “The Republican Party will never be a party to contend with until it realizes it starts at the precinct level and works its way up.”

Former Guilford County GOP chairman Marcus Kindley and Bill Randall, a retired Navy veteran from Wake Forest, fell out after the first round of balloting.

Former Duplin County GOP chairman Dale Rankin said he came to the convention planning to vote for Kindley, whose ideas he heard fleshed out during frequent appearances on a Wilmington talk radio station. But after his second choice of Randall bowed out he said he decided to back Fetzer.

“I just felt like between the two of them he just had the most experience,” Rankin said.

RALEIGH, N.C.  — University of North Carolina system workers and state employees couldn’t keep receiving their current salary once they leave their position in a provision approved by the House’s budget-writing committee.

The amendment approved Tuesday night to the budget bill comes after N.C. State University Chancellor James Oblinger and Provost Larry Nielsen resigned recently. The administrators are slated to receive their same salaries for the next six months.

The measure would prevent ex-workers from receiving the same salary for their positions through mid-2011. The provision could apply retroactively but not when a payment is part of a signed contract.

Republicans offered the amendment after the N.C. State administrators resigned due to the flap over the hiring of Mary Easley.

A candidate for chairman of the North Carolina Republican Party has sued a radio show host and a company that owns Wilmington radio stations for libel.
     
Tom Fetzer said Tuesday he filed the lawsuit in Wake County Superior Court late Monday to defend and protect his name.
     
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RALEIGH, N.C. – House Republican Leader Paul Stam (R-Wake) and Senate Republican Leader Phil Berger (R-Rockingham) said Tuesday they oppose two controversial bills expected to be acted on this week.  Amendments will be offered during consideration of these bills to remove provisions most onerous to young people.

The “Bullying Bill”, SB 526, titled “School Violence Prevention Act”, is scheduled for a hearing in the House Education Committee Tuesday.  Rather than providing protection to all students from all harassment, this bill specifies categories of victims.  “Sexual orientation” and “gender identification” are two such categories which single out special classes of victims.  Rep. Stam stated that he intends to offer language from HB 776, “No Bullying Anyone at Public Schools”, as a substitute to SB 526.  HB 776 has 62 bipartisan sponsors.

This is consistent with State Board of Education policy adopted in 2004.  The GOP leaders said this has worked well and does not differentiate between types of bullying or potential victims.

“It is ironic that the House proponents of the enumerated category legislation claim that a prohibition covering all students would be ineffective.   Just 12 days ago they all voted for the “cybernet bullying” bill sponsored by Rep. Nick Mackey (D-Mecklenburg). HB 1261 protects all “minors” without differentiation or enumeration,” the GOP said in a press release.

“A majority of the House is sponsoring HB 776, the ‘No Bullying Anyone’ bill.  It simply provides protection from all forms of harassment and bullying to all students – period,” said Rep. Stam.  “There are no special classes of victims and no ambiguity in our legislation.  All students should be provided the same protection from bullies.  Hopefully, the House will not use its rule on title amendments to defeat this superior approach.”

“Our Constitution already guarantees certain rights to all individuals.  We don’t need to create new or special rights for various groups,” said Sen. Berger.

The “Healthy Youth Act”, HB 88, is scheduled for a hearing in the Senate Committee on Mental Health and Youth Services later this week.  This bill mandates that local school districts provide “comprehensive” sex education to all middle school students.

“This prescribed curriculum changes the current focus from abstinence from sexual activity until marriage to a much broader direction promoting risky and alternative sexual behaviors,” the two said in the release.

“Guidelines for Comprehensive Sexuality Education”, which is attached, provides curriculum guidance for “comprehensive” sex education in a way most North Carolina parents reject.  It is no more comprehensive than abstinence education, only more radical. Local school districts have the authority to offer sex education curricula other than abstinence before marriage, but only 10 of the state’s 115 school districts do so.

During House consideration of this bill, Republicans forced Democrats to make several changes to what was an otherwise bad bill during committee consideration and floor debate.  As a result, students would no longer be forced to take the “comprehensive” sex education curriculum if a parental consent form is not returned.  The original bill required most students to take the “comprehensive” curriculum.  House Republicans also succeeded in having the bill’s sponsors remove language requiring middle school students to be taught respect for “long term committed relationships” as an equivalent to marriage.

Using the term “comprehensive” as the title for the prescribed curriculum will suggest to teachers that they encourage middle school students to experiment with various forms of risky behavior.  That is the approach of the National Guidelines on Comprehensive Sexuality Education.

“Parents should be directly involved with making decisions on what sex education is appropriate for their young children.  There is no question that the vast majority would choose abstinence before marriage if they were fully aware of what the “comprehensive” curriculum entails,” said Rep. Stam.

“These bills are part of the radical left’s social agenda and show how legislative Democrats have abandoned traditional North Carolina values and are now wedded to liberal special interests,” said Sen. Berger.

WASHINGTON  – Moderate Republicans to conservative Republicans: Turn down the volume – especially on Rush Limbaugh – and open your minds. The party’s future might be at stake.

Such warnings about the GOP’s right wing, along with finger wagging about a “shrill” and “judgmental” tone, marked the moderate response in the latest back-and-forth within the Republican Party.

Colin Powell and Tom Ridge argued on television’s Sunday talk shows that conservatives are steering the GOP too far to the right and not listening to other views within the party. Newt Gingrich, seen as a potential presidential candidate in 2012, agreed about broadening the base while political guru Karl Rove challenged
Powell to lay out his vision and “back it up” by helping elect Republicans.

“I believe we should build on the base because the nation needs two parties, two parties debating each other,” said Powell, the nation’s top military officer under President George H.W. Bush and secretary of state for President George W. Bush.

“But what we have to do is debate and define who we are and what we are and not just listen to dictates that come down from the right wing of the party,” he said.

Former Vice President Dick Cheney and Limbaugh, the king of talk radio, have openly mocked Powell as a Republican in name only, citing his endorsement of Democrat Barack Obama over Republican John McCain in last year’s presidential race.

Powell reaffirmed that he is a solid Republican and said the GOP must be more inclusive or risk giving Democrats and independents the chance to scoop up disaffected moderate Republicans. He detailed his presidential voting history – yes to GOP nominees Ronald Reagan through the younger Bush, but yes also to Democrats John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson and Jimmy Carter.

“If we don’t reach out more, the party is going to be sitting on a very, very narrow base. You can only do two things with a base. You can sit on it and watch the world go by, or you can build on the base,” Powell said.

Fellow GOP moderate Ridge, the former Pennsylvania governor and homeland security secretary under George W. Bush, said if the GOP wants “to restore itself, not as a regional party, but as a national party, we have to be far less judgmental about disagreements within the party and far more judgmental about our disagreement with our friends on the other side of the aisle.”

Gingrich, the former House speaker, insisted he didn’t want to pick a fight with Cheney. But he offered this advice: “I think Republicans are going to be very foolish if they run around deciding they’re going to see how much they can purge us down to the smallest possible base.”

Cheney, defense secretary when Powell was Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman during the Gulf War in 1991, has made clear that he would rather follow broadcaster Limbaugh than Powell into political battle over the GOP’s future. “I didn’t know he was still a Republican,” Cheney said in a television interview two weeks ago.

Limbaugh has called Powell “just another liberal,” said he should become a Democrat and charged that Powell endorsed Obama based on race. Powell and Obama are black.

In remarks to business leaders in Boston this past week, Powell took on such high-profile criticism, saying, “I may be out of their version of the Republican Party, but there’s another version of the Republican Party waiting to emerge once again.”

Rove, chief political strategist for the younger Bush, took the position that “if you say you’re Republican, you’re Republican.” But he wanted more than words from Powell.

“I don’t like this thing where people – and Powell is one them – who said, `Rush Limbaugh, shut up.’ We believe, as Republicans in the marketplace of ideas. Let that marketplace decide,” Rove said.

“I want Colin Powell to go out there and lay out his vision, and then I want him to back it up by finding people who share it and working like heck to get them – and that’s how you win the party.”

Like Cheney, Rove said he would pick Limbaugh over Powell, but said it’s moot. “Neither one of those are going to be people who are offering themselves for office. … This is a false debate that Washington loves.”

Intraparty squabbles would appear natural given the low standing of the Republican Party and George W. Bush’s administration in opinion polls. But Republicans who have suggested that the party moderate its views and even support some of Obama’s initiatives have been quickly targeted for criticism.

Ridge, an abortion-rights supporter who was on McCain’s short list of vice presidential picks but deemed too moderate by more conservative elements of the GOP, said he thinks “a lot of our commentators are being shrill.”

“Rush Limbaugh has an audience of 20 million people. A lot of people listen daily to him and live by every word. But words mean things and how you use words is very important,” Ridge said. “It does get the base all fired up and he’s got a strong following. But personally, if he would listen to me, and I doubt if he would, the notion is express yourselves but let’s respect others’ opinions and let’s not be divisive.”

Powell appeared on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” Ridge’s taped interview aired on CNN’s “State of the Union.” Gingrich spoke on NBC’s “Meet the Press” and Rove on “Fox News Sunday.”