Our next Madison County Republican Party Executive Committee Meeting of 2013 will be held on Tuesday June 4th. The meeting will begin at 6:30 PM at the Madison County Agricultural Extension Office at the Madison County Fairgrounds. We will begin planning for another big election in 2014. Please come out if you have any interest in learning more about the Young Republican Club or if you have an interest in running for office in 2014 on the Republican ticket. Don’t believe rumors…..Come get the inside “dirt” on Madison County and NC politics directly from the people we have elected to represent us.
**MAY SESSION UPDATE**
The second round of Forest Plan Revision assessment information sessions for the Nantahala and Pisgah National Forests will be held on the last two Thursdays of May. The objective of these sessions will be to present more in-depth information on a selection of topic areas related to the existing condition of the forests, and share opinions and ideas on these topics. The format will be a series of presentations from Forest Service personnel for the first half of the meeting, followed by discussion sessions on those topics during the second half. Topics include some that were of high interest at the initial round of meetings in February and March.
*Topic areas to be presented and discussed are:
· Managing Outdoor Recreation, Access, and Scenery in Public Forests Managed for Multiple Uses
· Availability of Wildlife Habitats on the Nantahala and Pisgah NFs with an emphasis on early successional habitats (young forest areas)
· National Forest Lands that Require Special Management – Determining criteria to evaluate the need for designated areas (i.e. special interest areas, Wilderness, etc.)
Meeting participants will have an opportunity to participate in all three topic discussions.
*Each meeting will follow the same format and due to space limitations, we encourage participants to attend either the Franklin or the Asheville meeting.
Franklin, NC – May 23 rd at the Tartan Hall of the First Presbyterian Church ( 26 Church St, Franklin, NC 28734)
Asheville, NC – May 30 th at the NC Arboretum
( 100 Frederick Law Olmsted Way, Asheville, NC 28806)
*Meetings will run from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m.*
Participants are encouraged to arrive at 5:30 to gather handouts
and review materials prior to the meeting.
Thanks to everyone who came out to make our 2013 Reagan-Lincoln Dinner wildly successful.
It was a great night!!….thank you!
Today (4/27) I was honored to be elected as the 2nd Vice-Chairman of North Carolina’s 11th Congressional District Republican Party.
Thank you,
Matthew Wechtel
Chairman, Madison County GOP
The voters of Madison County will have quite a unique opportunity in the 2014 election cycle. Rarely does a community have a chance to send a message that corruption in public office will not be tolerated.
Since I arrived in WNC in January 2012, I’ve heard horror stories of the political machinations in Madison County. Some folks wear this almost as a badge of honor.
We’ll all find out just how proudly that badge is worn next year, when John Ledford attempts to win back a badge of his own.
According to the Asheville Citizen-Times: Just days after news spread of John Ledford’s dismissal from the Alcohol Law Enforcement Agency, the former Madison County Sheriff made another announcement — he will run for his old office in 2014. Ledford, a Democrat, was Madison County Sheriff before he was appointed Director of ALE. He was named to the post by Democratic former Gov. Bev Perdue in 2009.
But when Republican Pat McCrory won the gubernatorial race in 2012, Ledford asked for a demotion to a field agent. He got that demotion, according to a scathing memo from the new NC Department of Public Safety Commissioner, Frank Perry, by breaking the law.
This conduct, the letter states, stems from a 2012 request by Ledford to be reassigned from law enforcement director to an agent position. At the time, according to the letter, the only open position, budgeted at $39,198, was in Wilmington.
Perry states that Ledford requested top pay for “advanced” competency level. “You then, in effect, recommended approval of your own request by signing the personnel action clearance form in your capacity as division director,” the letter states. Perry said the request was then “confirmed” by Chief Operating Officer Mikael Gross, rather than the deputy director, deviating from the correct procedure. “Not only did this procedure result in approval of a request that should not have been approved, it also resulted in approval of excessive salary ($65,887.00) thereby making you the highest-paid special agent in the division.”
There were no vacant positions in Asheville, according to Perry. Ledford says he was dismissed for “political reasons.” Apparently, following the law is now considered to be a political thing. I’d be more willing to believe Ledford’s explanation, if not for a little issue that popped up last June (which I believe comes before the month of November – and, as such, before the election of the Republican Governor).
From WRAL: Officials in the state Department of Public Safety repeatedly blocked attempts by state auditors to investigate a complaint that two high-ranking Division of Alcohol Law Enforcement officers were misusing their state-owned vehicles, according to an audit released Tuesday.
The auditors were responding to a tip that ALE Director John Ledford and Deputy Director for Operations Allen Page were using their state-owned vehicles to commute to their homes near Asheville on the weekends.
State law allows the men to use their official vehicles for commuting but also requires them to live in or near Raleigh since they are based at headquarters. The men share an apartment in Raleigh, according to the audit, so they shouldn’t be using a state-owned car to commute elsewhere.
According to the audit, attempts to speak with ALE officers in Asheville were met with so much resistance that the State Auditor’s Office had to ask the Attorney General’s Office to prepare subpoenas to compel cooperation before ALE officials finally relented and spoke with investigators.
So, all this “politicking” that has targeted Democrat Ledford occurred under a Democratic Governor.
After an audit by a Democratic Auditor. Who asked the Democratic Attorney General to intervene.
Got it. Maybe it’s not everyone else, Mr. Ledford. Maybe it’s you. This is a chance for the folks in Madison County to help repair the image as a hotbed of political machine corruption. But, November 2014 is a long way off.
EXIT QUOTE: Ledford said, “…we are going to put back confidence within the Sheriff’s Office.”
Good luck with that.
Did you notice who Obama threatened????
From now thru November 2014 this should be required weekly or at least monthly, reading – BY ALL WHO VOTE!!!
Did you notice who Obama threatened when he wasn’t getting his way on raising the debt ceiling?
He threatened to not pay: Social Security Retirees, Military Retirees, Social Security disability and Federal Retirees.
Now… Let this sink in really good -
He did not threaten to stop payments to illegal aliens
He did not threatened to take frivolous benefits such as Internet access away from violent inmates
He did not offer to fire some of the thousands of unnecessary federal employees that he hired
He did not offer to cut down on his or his wife’s frivolous gallivanting around
He did not threaten to not pay the senators and representatives or any of their staff
He did not threaten to take benefits away from welfare recipients
He did not threaten the food stamp programs
He did not threaten to not pay foreign aid
He did not threaten to cut back on anything that involves his base voters
The list could go on and on. He is in full political re-election mode!
Why are we allowing this person to destroy this wonderful country with his selfishness and his lies?
His type of change is killing our country. He needs to be stopped and only our votes can stop him.
Do not forget about his tactics when it’s election time. Vote for true conservative candidates for US Senate and US House in 2014.
ELECTION 2014 IS COMING!!!
