September 12, 2007
This is an open letter to 10th District Congressman Patrick T. McHenry, who after three years, finally fired back at one of my letters-to-the-editor.
Congressman, you are all three rings, the ringmaster and even the elephant in that circus that you consider “public service.” Nice shot, though, that I was entitled to my own opinion, but not my own facts. Very clever, considering that I had never heard a response from your camp before.
Let me give you some more facts, Congressman:
The letter I wrote about the sharp rise in your net worth since you entered Congress was fueled by numbers in Federal Election Commission reports that you filed, sir, with your signatures—I had nothing to do with them. Trying to discredit the messenger, though, allows you to sidestep the real issue of your wealth altogether, doesn’t it? You tried to dance around me just like you sidestepped Mrs. Farrie Blackburn at your Lincoln County meeting three weeks ago when she asked the same questions, right?
Last year, in Morganton, how did it feel, sir, to tell an elderly veteran of the United States military to “sit down and shut up”? This summer, did the Disabled American Veterans really rate you a “zero” for your
ineffectiveness, sir? Why did the National Education Association rate you a “zero” for ineffectiveness?
And did you really tell Mrs. Blackburn that, by revealing the location of your party palace on Lake Hickory, that I had “threatened (your) safety”? I waited around all the next day, sir, for the FBI to come and question me about my “threatening” behavior. They haven’t showed up yet.
And the condo on Lake Hickory is your primary residence, right? Even though you tell people in Gaston, Lincoln and Cleveland counties that you live in Cherryville? And what about your home in the Washington, DC, area? Did you have all these non-revenue-producing homes, plus your rental properties, sir, when you were running your do-nothing company, McHenry Real Estate?
I sent that letter you objected to to three newspapers, sir, not five, as you alleged in your response. A fourth publication emailed one of the other three to ask permission to use it; I’ll be glad to send you a copy of that request, if you wish. I know nothing of any papers which, through their great loyalty to you, sir, refused to use my letter.
Michael Aaron Lay’s guilty plea to deferred prosecution in Gaston County voter fraud charges is still a “political witch hunt,” right Congressman? If he was so innocent, why did he cop a plea at the first drop of the hat? And were there several other temporary voting guests staying at your house during the 2004 elections? Should we expect more indictments, sir? And in other 10th District counties, sir, how many more indictments should we expect? Should we really believe those Board of Elections voting records?
The Citizens Club for Growth pushed you over the top in your 2004 primary campaign with an illegal $182,000 contribution for TV commercials, didn’t it? And, just last week, wasn’t it, this “club” paid a $350,000 fine to the Federal Election Commission to settle the FEC’s lawsuit from 2005—thereby agreeing that its gift to you was out-of-bounds? Wasn’t this contribution “arranged” by the disgraced Tom DeLay?
Your former political consultant, Dee Stewart, I suppose, is not under investigation in Moore County for similar voter registration and fraud issues in another campaign, right? Why did your camp and Mr. Stewart suddenly part company, Congressman?
And James Brett Keeter, a rather prominent member of your staff, sir, was not arrested for DWI on Labor Day weekend, right? What was he doing in Gaston County at 3:50 on a Sunday morning, sir, and did he, or did he not, blow a .13 blood alcohol content on the officer’s breathalyzer? You and Keeter go back quite a number of years, don’t you, sir?
Your former chief of staff, Jason Deans, sir, also has an extensive history of motor vehicle indiscretions, doesn’t he? Didn’t one of them, some years ago, result in the death of an innocent party?
What about Laura Harvey, sir? Remember her, a former national committee woman for organizing youthful Republicans, who resigned in disgrace and apologized to the party? Let’s see, didn’t she live in Iredell County, but had a problem for using an address in Mecklenburg County when she registered to vote? Isn’t she an old political crony of yours, too, Congressman?
And at first, your office denied that it knew the late Jason Robert Drake of Rutherford County, who, according to authorities, was the shooter in a double-murder-suicide two weeks ago in Florida, right? Isn’t it true that Mr. Drake, pardon the pun, was your “hired gun” in all the surrogate campaigns that you sponsor in 10th District sheriffs, mayoral, state House and Senate, and county commissioners races? Isn’t this how you engender such blind loyalty among local officials—it’s how they know they won’t have to face your candidate in their reelection campaigns? It’s a power thing, right?
There are credible media reports, too, that the late Mr. Drake is suspected of killing the other two gentlemen, because one of them had a list of Republican office-holders using a gay prostitution service he was trying to sell, maybe to the news media? Do you know anything about such a list, sir? Was Mark Foley’s name on it, and was that why you were so quick to go on national TV last year to defend Foley?
Do you know a husband-and-wife lawyer couple in Conover? You should, because you used their business address as your address on the Lake Hickory condo deed. Wasn’t one of them asked to step down recently as head of a Catawba County Republican organization, because this couple actually still lived in Iredell County? Isn’t this business of having people “step over the line” to vote or to influence local politics a tried-and-true strategy in Stewart-run campaigns, sir? Especially, when you win by 84 votes?
Do the names Sullivan and Duffy mean anything to you? Aren’t they the former business men in Gaston County who were valuable fund-raisers in your campaigns, sir? Didn’t they attract the attention of federal investigators, sir? Something about Medicaid contracts? And didn’t they each file bankruptcy, leaving millions of dollars in debts?
How far do you want me to go with these facts, Congressman? Do you still want your constituents to believe that you are simply an innocent bystander in all this swirl of controversy and unethical behavior around you? That this is just a “political witch hunt”? If you truly believe this, sir, then I’ve got a bridge over on Interstate 40 that I’d like to sell. Would you want to buy it with some of your new wealth?
I can’t wait for someone of unquestioned integrity to stand up to run against you next year, sir. But don’t worry…even after you’re gone, you will still be a legend in your own mind!
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