Republicans 'listen' with deaf ears
Published March 13, 2015
by Doug Clark, Greensboro News-Record, March 12, 2015.
Talk about timing.
On the same day that state Senate Republicans rammed through a bill to basically reverse the last county commissioners election in Wake County, the North Carolina Republican Party announced a "listening" campaign in the very same county.
From the NCGOP:
"Today, U.S. Senator Richard Burr, and North Carolina Republican Party Chairman Claude Pope announced the launch of Project Listen – a new initiative to better connect Republican candidates with Mecklenburg and Wake County voters.
“Mecklenburg and Wake Counties are not only among the fastest growing regions in the state, but the entire nation. It is imperative that our team of candidates have a better understanding of the issues impacting these voters and how to better communicate with them," Pope said.
How tone deaf can they be?
Democrats did well in Wake and Mecklenburg counties in 2014, bucking a state and national trend. So it's understandable Republicans want to recover their losses there.
So, what have they done?
NCGOP quotes Burr as saying: “Project Listen was created ... for voters to have a greater voice in what they think – whether good, bad, ugly, or indifferent. It’s a two-way conversation on where we want to go as a state and party, and how we get there by working together.”
Yet the Republican state Senate has just taken exactly the opposite approach. Its Wake County bill is designed to retake political control through partisan redistricting and a restructuring of the board.
Senate Republicans even shot down a proposed amendment that would have given Wake County residents a voice through a referendum.
Senate Republicans don't want to hear from the people. They voted to impose their will, period.
The NCGOP will have a hard sell in Wake County ... and in Greensboro, if they bring their so-called listening tour here.
