Happy McHenry's Been Caught? Hardly...

May 14, 2007

Last Friday night, I returned home to an email informing me that CBS News investigators were reporting that a field coordinator for the Patrick McHenry campaign for Congress in 2004 had been indicted by a Gaston County grand jury for voter fraud. Michael Aaron Lay, 26, was one of several college-age men who came to the 10th District that summer from out-of-state, or from other parts of North Carolina, and stayed temporarily at McHenry’s house in Cherryville to work in the now-congressman’s primary campaign.

The problem is—according to the N.C. State Board of Elections—all of them registered to vote, then voted twice, in a race that McHenry conveniently won by 86 votes, the most hotly contested 10th District primary in 40 years. If these young men came to Gaston County for a “temporary” purpose, then under N.C. General Statutes chapter 163, that’s a Class 1 felony each time one of them voted.

The N.C. State Board of Elections, District 27A prosecutor Locke Bell and then the Gaston County grand jury all found sufficient evidence to pursue the charges against Michael Aaron Lay. A number of us from the 2004 opposition campaign—for almost three years now—have clamored for appropriate law enforcement agencies to take a close look at the obvious evidence from state files.

McHenry’s camp, of course, is screaming that the indictment of Lay is a “political witch-hunt” and that the congressman is the real target. This attempt at an end-around is as obvious as it is weak. McHenry, fearing he might be next in line for the grand jury, is yelling that “it’s all political.” Well, Patrick, I’ve got some news for you. Sometimes, good Americans stand up for what’s right and rid themselves of corrupt politicians. Call it witch-hunt or whatever, but what you should call it is the legal system catching up to you—just like it caught up with your friends Foley, DeLay and Abramoff.

It’s only a political witch-hunt, you see, because McHenry is the witch being hunted.

Personally, I have written probably a dozen letters-to-the-editors, calling into question the ethics of the whole 2004 McHenry campaign apparatus, the tactics he used, the fund-raising, etc. After all, these young campaign workers STAYED WITH the congressional candidate! It would be quite a stretch, don’t you think, that McHenry DIDN’T KNOW about illegal registrations and voting at the time they occurred in his own home? That makes the congressman himself a potential target of the same grand jury, according to the law.

A few of my political allies called or emailed that I “must be happy” now that my efforts to expose voter irregularities had finally “paid off.” Actually, no, I’m disgusted…disgusted that McHenry was allowed to represent me in Congress for more than two years, disgusted that a grand jury believes he was put there with the assistance of illegal votes. I always felt like my vote, done legally, was cancelled out by someone who broke the law.

What’s really sad, too, is that it took so long for “the system” to expose this to the world. Now, of course, Congressman McHenry will continue in office as he enjoys his presumption of innocence under our hallowed legal system. For that time frame, whatever it is, the illegal votes will still have trumped my legal votes!

We need to remember that the right to vote that so many take for granted, and our civil liberties, including McHenry’s right to remain silent, all have been bought and paid for by more than 230 years of blood shed by the men and women of our armed forces.

The primary for McHenry’s 10th District congressional seat is less than a year away. It’s time now for us to say bye-bye to Patrick and his ethically challenged cronies. We need to start looking for a new leader who will represent both the interests and the integrity of the people of the 10th District.