Is McHenry's "Luck" Really This Bad?

May 15, 2007

The last few weeks have not been kind to our esteemed young congressman, Patrick McHenry.

In mid-April, in an MSNBC-TV interview with Chris Matthews, McHenry was all fired up and ready to attack Iran with a pre-emptive strike, to prevent that nation from developing a nuclear weapon. Just two weeks later, a call to the congressman’s office revealed that “he did not vote” on HR1592, the widely-ballyhooed liberal attempt to make gays and lesbians a separate “protected class” under federal hate crimes law.

Could it be that a congressman so eager to send American sons and daughters off to yet another war can be so out-of-touch with those same GIs’ own conservative values?

Last week, Michael Aaron Lay, 26, a McHenry field coordinator in 2004, was indicted for voter fraud in Gaston County. Lay was one of several college-age men staying temporarily at McHenry’s Cherryville home during that primary campaign, and all showed up in N.C. State Board of Elections records as having voted in Gaston County. Lay’s permanent address at the time was in Pioneer, TN.; another McHenry associate, Jason Deans, was in that group, and his permanent address was listed as Chocowinity, NC.

Also last week, two very large and influential interest groups—one liberal, one conservative—not only flunked McHenry but gave him “zeroes” on his report card for effectiveness in Congress. The long-honored Disabled American Veterans (DAV) rated him 0 on a scale of 0-100 in his ability to secure appropriate health care and other benefits for veteran GIs returning from Iraq. The liberal National Education Association (NEA) also rated him 0, according to ProjectVoteSmart.com.

Moreover, the voter fraud controversy from Gaston County not only won’t go away, but seems to be gaining steam with some “sister investigations” in other counties. Laura Harvey, another young McHenry loyalist who lives in Iredell County, resigned recently as national committee woman for the N.C. Federation of Young Republicans, due to allegations that she voted illegally in Mecklenburg County. The Mecklenburg group immediately condemned voter fraud and censured her. Another voter fraud controversy involving McHenry’s chums is being investigated in Moore County.

Still another McHenry associate in Cleveland County has been charged with soliciting sex with a minor. The illegal registration and voting controversies are featured now on a number of websites and blogs, including “patgobyebye.com,” raising serious legal questions.

Also last week, McHenry had Harvey call Republican leaders in Catawba County to tell them he “has a bad back” and could not attend the Republican Presidents’ Day Dinner last Saturday. This is the same dinner in which he rigged a straw poll with his young supporters in 2004 to show himself as the winner. But, oddly, McHenry was seen on C-SPAN Friday, standing on the floor of the House waving his arms and shouting at a colleague—while being told he was out of order.

Bad back? Or a bad feeling about the reception he would get in the most populous Republican County in the 10th District?

It seems, too, that all this disharmony and scandal focused on McHenry and his closest associates is hitting the congressman where it really hurts, in the political pocketbook. After collecting some $1.45 million in campaign cash during the 2005-2006 election cycle—tops for a North Carolina congressman—McHenry fund-raisers are apparently on the skids. In the first quarter of this year, his campaign funds amounted to $123,000 in the bank with $90,500 in debts, far less campaign money than several other Tar Heel congressmen have, according to the Federal Election Commission.

Maybe it really is time for Pat to go “bye-bye.” Or he could do a Teddy Roosevelt and organize his own regiment to personally lead that attack on Iran.