The NC-09 Drama Continues As Dowless Is Arrested-- And Harris Announces He Won't Run, Backs Boss Hogg Instead

Dowless mug shot

A few days ago, Mark Harris, as expected, announced that he will not be running for Congress. Harris claimed ill-health, but it is likely that he made a deal to not run in return for not being prosecuted for for hiring a known election fraudster to steal the Republican primary and then the general election. The fraudster, Leslie McCrae Dowless Jr., however... doesn't have a good bargaining position. He was arrested yesterday and indicted on election fraud charges related not just to the Mark Harris' fraudulent election but also for 2016.

One indictment-- there were 3 so far-- stated Dowless "unlawfully, willfully, and feloniously did, with deceit and intent to defraud, obstruct public and legal justice by submitting or causing to be submitted by mail absentee ballots and container-return envelopes for those ballots to the Bladen County Board of Elections in such a manner so as to make it appear that those ballots had been voted." Four of Dowless' employees, Caitlyn Croom, Matthew Matthis, Tonia Gordon and Rebecca Thompson, are also facing prosecution. Two other Dowless accomplices, Lisa Britt and Kelly Hendrix, were not charged, presumably in exchange for their testimony against Dowless. Dowless is being held on $30,000 bail.

Harris testified at an election board of Elections hearing that he hired Dowless after the 2016 race, when he noticed that one of his primary opponents, Todd Johnson, had miraculously won 221 out of 225 absentee ballots cast in Bladen County during the Republican primary, helping to cost Harris the election, which was won, narrowly (0.6%), by incumbent Robert Pittinger.

Boss Hogg (AKA- Stony Rushing)-- can you imagine this in Congress?

Monday, State Board of Elections will announce the timetable for the primary and general election to fill a seat that's been without representation for far too long. Harris has already endorsed Union County commissioner Stony Rushing (AKA- "Boss Hogg), a gun seller and another far right extremist like Harris. Other Republicans likely to jump into the race are former state Senator Tommy Tucker, Dan Barry, chairman of the Union County Republican Party, and Matthew Ridenhour, a former Mecklenburg County commissioner. Pittenger has already said he won't run.

Dan McCready, the Blue Dog Democrat in the race is unlikely draw a primary challenge.He has already raised over half a million dollars for the special election. Republicans are trying to blame the incontrovertible fact that their own party and candidate was caught red-handed stealing the election, is something that was somehow McCready's fault. Boss Hogg put this up on his Facebook page.

Let's Re-Visit The North Carolina Republican Party Vote Theft Mess

We left off Sunday night before the meeting of the North Carolina Board of Elections. All the background about the case, the candidates and the 9th district can be found there, as well as my predictions how just how horrible Democrat Blue Dog Dan McCready is likely to be and how progressives would be better off without him in Congress. But I know you want to cheer for Team Blue anyway, so here's the update.

Voter fraud galore and it seems like these Republicans absolutely have to go to prison for trying to steal the election. On Monday Leslie McCrae Dowless, who was paid by Republican Mark Harris to steal the 2018 primary and general election, was aware of that and said he will not testify with a grant of immunity from prosecution. That makes sense-- especially after his stepdaughter testified how his ballot harvesting operation worked.

Lisa Britt, whose mother was married to Leslie McCrae Dowless in the early 1990s, testified that Dowless paid workers to collect absentee ballot request forms and mail-in absentee ballots and drop them off at his office and his home.

She said Dowless and others made copies of request forms and had specific criteria for matching pen colors, where to mail ballots from, how many to mail at a time and even how to place stamps to avoid setting off alarms.

“He fussed at me for putting on stamps upside down,” Britt testified before the N.C. Board of Elections. “We didn’t want to throw up a red flag.”


...Britt’s testimony was the beginning of the attempt by a new, five-member state board to prove what Executive Director Kim Westbrook Strach called “a coordinated, unlawful and substantially resourced absentee ballot scheme operated during the 2018 general election in Bladen and Robeson counties.”

The hearing took place in a makeshift courtroom at the state bar and drew dozens of potential witnesses as well as national media. When it ends, the board will vote to either certify the victory of Republican Mark Harris, call for a new election or deadlock, which would throw the matter into limbo.

Harris leads Democrat Dan McCready by 905 votes in unofficial results in the district, which runs from Charlotte to Bladen County in the east.

Dowless was hired by Red Dome Group, Harris’ campaign consulting group at Harris’ direction. The state board said Red Dome Group paid Dowless $131,357.57 from July 3 to Nov. 7, but said that it could not be certain all of the money was for Harris’ campaign.

Monday marked the first time that state officials revealed their findings in the investigation, which launched in November and twice caused the old nine-member state board not to certify the election results. 
Britt, a convicted felon who had previously spoken to investigators, said she didn’t think Dowless would have her do anything illegal. Britt, who testified without immunity and without a lawyer present, admitted to multiple election fraud activities.

“I don’t want to get him in trouble. I don’t want to get anyone in trouble,” Britt said. “Mr. Dowless has been a father figure to me for 30 years. There’s certain things you would place trust in. He’s not going to put you out here to do something illegal.”


 But Britt outlined a process by which she and other workers often signed as witnesses for ballots they did not see signed, traced over signatures to make sure the ink colors matched that of the voter’s, dated forms incorrectly, forged signatures and filled in down-ballot races on some ballots.

It is illegal in North Carolina for anyone outside of a close relative to handle a voter’s absentee ballot. Her testimony was backed by another witness, Kelly Hendrix, who testified that she collected ballots and turned them into Dowless with only one of the two required witness signatures. The forms were signed later, Hendrix said, by people who did not see them collected.

Britt also told the board that Dowless-- on at least two occasions-- tried to influence her public statements and testimony. As controversy swirled over the election results last year, Britt said Dowless called her and other workers together for a meeting at his house.

“As long as we all stick together we’ll all be fine, because they don’t have anything on us,” Britt said Dowless told them.


Britt, who along with her two young children lived with Dowless for a time last year, said late last week, Dowless sent her a note, urging her to say she had not done anything wrong, that Dowless had never instructed her to do anything wrong and to take the 5th Amendment against self-incrimination before the board.

The note was entered into evidence.


Britt testified that she made false statements during a December interview with WBTV, in which she denied collecting absentee ballots.

“I do feel I have done wrong,” she said.


 ...“You heard direct evidence of a scheme to deprive voters of the 9th Congressional District of fair balloting,” McCready campaign attorney Marc Elias said after the hearing. “And you heard that that direct evidence winds up doorstep and the telephone of Republican candidate Mark Harris.”

Republicans say unreturned ballots don’t necessarily suggest fraud. An attorney for the Harris campaign pointed out that the Bladen County Improvement PAC, a Democratic group, was working to request numerous absentee ballots as well. Republicans say McCready must show that any fraudulent ballots actually made a difference.

“The burden is on McCready to prove absent the irregularities he likely would have won the race. The burden is not on Mr. Harris or the NCGOP to prove the election system is perfect. It is not, never has been, and never will be,” tweeted Dallas Woodhouse, executive director of the NC Republican Party.

Under state law, the board can call for a new election if “Irregularities or improprieties occurred to such an extent that they taint the results of the entire election and cast doubt on its fairness.”

Trump and Harris-- perfect pair of cheats

Exciting, right? Tuesday the fireworks continued with a finding that "votes were counted days before Election Day in the rural county at the center of the disputed results." AP reported that "The officials also said the election was marred by falsified signatures, blank ballots that consultants could complete and disappearing documents. The state elections board on Tuesday heard from Bladen County poll workers who admitted tallying results on the Saturday before Election Day when early, in-person voting ended. That’s contrary to proper practice... [and] the practice of early counting raises questions about the vulnerability of the county’s voting results."

This process was expected to end today tomorrow with a decision by Friday. That looks less likely as the magnitude of the criminal activities continues to unfold. The Republican Party has been whining about voters fraud for years and years and they have finally found it. Now we all know why they were so sure of it too. Except for people who get their news from Fox. They don't get a reality-based perspective on anything. It's kind of scary. For example, this Tucker Carlson piece with Dutch historian Rutger Bregman hasn't been aired-- and won't be. You should watch it though... for a whole variety of reasons, done of which have anything directly to do with Republican Parrty election theft in North Carolina.





UPDATE: BREAKING NEWS!

In an unexpected shock today, Mark Harris' son. John, testified that he had warned his father-- more than once-- about fraudulent absentee ballots in Bladen County and told him in no uncertain terms that McCrae Dowless is a GOP career criminal.

Tomorrow's The Day In North Carolina-- Another Fascist In Congress... Or A Somewhat Less Horrible Blue Dog?

It's exceedingly rare that elections that are decided by vote theft get overturned. But the swingy southern-tier district of North Carolina, stretching from Elizabethtown and Fayetteville in the east, out through Lumberton, Laurinburg, Wadesboro and the southern Charlotte suburbs as far as the Central Piedmont Community College campus in the west, still doesn't have a representative in Congress. The PVI is a daunting R+8, but independents and moderate Republicans in the suburbs abandoned anyone tainted with Trump-- as Harris is-- in droves. (Trump beat Hillary in the 9th by nearly a dozen points-- 54.4% to 42.8%.)

Tomorrow-- finally-- the North Carolina Board of Elections will hold its long-awaited public evidentiary hearing in Raleigh into the Mark Harris fraud case. It starts at 10 AM and is expected to last as long as 3 days. The five-member board will consider testimony from its own investigators and experts, plus witnesses representing Mark Harris (R) and Dan McCready (Blue Dog). There are 3 Dems and 2 Republicans on the board. It would take 3 votes to certify Harris-- who leads by 905 votes (including thousands of fraudulent ballots)-- or 4 votes to call a new election. In other words, the Dems would have to get at least one of the Republicans to vote with them for a do-over. Or, the Republicans would need at least one Democrat to agree with them that the election was stolen fair and square. A decision is expected by Wednesday. If the Board of Elections can't reach a decision, either Gov. Roy Cooper (D) or the U.S. House will have to decide and there is little doubt that either would call for a new election.

Harris is trying to turn the hearing into a circus in the hopes of discrediting the decision, which no one expects to go his way. His attorney has demanded McCready appear to explain a comment he made last month on TV: "This is for the State Board to decide-- I think there are two options here. Either [Harris] knew what was going on, which I don't know how you wouldn't, and he should be in jail... or he turned a blind eye to fraud. He built a culture of corruption that represents the worst in our politics."

Early this month, Charlotte Observer political reporter Jim Morrill explained why McCready would have a commanding head start over Harris. It's mostly money. McCready's got $338,000 in his coffers compared to Harris $19,000.

This past Friday Morrill reported that McCready's case is based on the obvious, that Harris' ballot harvesting operation tainted more ballots than the current margin The Election Board can call for a new election if "irregularities or improprieties occurred to such an extent that they taint the results of the entire election and cast doubt on its fairness," which is clearly the case here.

The McCready campaign argues that the number of ballots affected by Leslie McCrae Dowless-- a Bladen County political operative and elected official who was hired at Harris’ direction to conduct get-out-the-vote work-- could be as high as 2,500, citing the 1,364 absentee-by-mail ballots cast in Bladen and Robeson and the 1,169 absentee-by-mail ballots sent to voters that were not returned and who did not vote in another way.

...Dowless, whose work in the 2016 election led to multiple ongoing investigations, is alleged to have paid workers to collect requests for mail-in absentee ballots, which is legal, and to have paid workers to collect completed or incomplete mail-in absentee ballots, which is illegal.

“While only Dowless may ever know the breadth of his scheme, the evidence is conclusive: Dowless’s operation tainted a far greater number of ballots than the apparent margin in the CD-9 race, and he was aided and abetted by elections officials along the way,” the McCready campaign said in its brief.

Dowless himself turned in requests for 590 mail-in absentee ballots in Bladen County, according to data released by the state board. McCready’s legal brief says that Dowless and his associates made “well over 700” requests in Bladen County.

As for the unreturned ballots, the McCready campaign argues their rate was “exceedingly high” in Bladen and Robeson and claims that Dowless and his associates discarded ballots they had collected.


The McCready campaign also said that Bladen County election officials released early vote totals to Dowless, gave him access to unredacted ballot request forms and provided him regular reports with voter information connected to mail-in absentee ballots.

McCready’s argument-- that more than 905 ballots were affected-- seems designed to rebut claims by the Harris campaign that the state board should certify his victory because there are not enough ballots to overcome the current deficit.

“Irregularity or misconduct alone does not mean a protest moves forward. The State Board must decide whether the irregularity is sufficient to cast doubt on the results of the election,” Harris’ attorneys wrote in their filing to the board. “If irregularity or misconduct-- no matter its nature or egregiousness-- does not cast doubt on the result, the protest should be dismissed.”

The Harris campaign has denied knowing about Dowless’ criminal history or about allegations of improper actions in 2016 until news reports after the election.

The previous nine-member board was disbanded in late December due to a separate legal challenge, but staff continued its investigation into the election results. The new board, made up of three Democrats and two Republicans, was appointed Jan. 31. Members got their first in-depth look at the evidence gathered by staff last week.

There are several reasons Democrats around the country are rooting for-- and contributing to-- McCready. First, of course, is the tribal mentality which defines this as a team sport and sees McCready in a blue uniform and Harris in a red one. A more valid reason is because Harris is a extremist lunatic who will be a 100% rubber stamp for Trump or even someone pushing Trump further right. But the best reason is because there are already too many crooked politicians in Congress and Harris clearly hired a known election fraud mastermind and paid him to steal the election./ He belongs in prison, not in Congress.

That said, I want to warn progressives about McCready. Not only is he a Blue Dog, but on most crucial issues the Republicans will be able to count on him to support their positions. The Democrats don't need another vote to elect a Speaker and organize the House-- the usual lame argument for support crap lesser-of-two-evils candidates like McCready. In fact, McCready will be another voice within the caucus, pushing the caucus to water down progressive proposals. Progressives are actually better off if McCready loses.

These are 10 freshman Blue Dogs with their ProgressivePunch ratings so far. Aside from having joined the Blue Dog caucus, you'll notice what they all have in common. McCready is considerably to the right of most of them:

• Anthony Brindisi (NY)- F
• Ed Case (HI)- F
• Joe Cunningham (SC)- F
• Kendra Horn (OK)- F
• Ben McAdams (UT)- F
• Max Rose (NY)- F
• Mikie Sherrill (NJ)- F
• Abigail Spanberger (VA)- F
• Xopchitl Torres Small (NM)- F
• Jeff Van Drew (NJ)- F

Want To Chip In To Help A Blue Dog Win A Seat In North Carolina? Neither Do I

North Carolina Republicans realize that vote thief Mark Harris is unelectable-- and there's a special election coming to fill the NC-09 seat he almost got away with stealing. The district is trending purple but it still leans pretty Republican. Trump beat Hillary there 54.4% to 42.8%. That's a lot of ground to make up. And Cook still gives the district a PVI of R+8. The district starts up in the southern part of Charlotte at Piedmont Community College and takes in many of the city's southern suburbs before heading due south to the South Carolina border and east through Matthews, Monroe, Wadesboro, Laurinburg, Lumberton, Elizabethtown and then back north into Fayetteville. Even with all the vote theft, the Blue Dog Democrat the DCCC ran, Dan McCready, won Mecklenburg, Robeson, Cumberland, Richmond, Scotland and Anson counties, losing only Bladen and Union. A friend who works for a member of the state legislature told me that it wasn't just the votes Harris stole in red Bladen County. Harris, she told me "stole enough votes in Robeson [which McCready won in a landslide] to swing the election. Everyone knows it and Harris' support has completely evaporated. No one wants to see him go to Congress except some real extremists out in Union County... He's embarrassed the state and embarrassed the [Republican] party."

What this all amounts to is a plan for the Republicans in the state legislature to make certain that Harris is not the party's candidate in the special election. To do that, they feel, there needs to be a new primary election before a new general election. They passed a bill on Thursday that requires a new primary after the Election Board officially rejects Harris, presumably after a January 11th hearing-- a week after the new Congress is in session. The Charlotte News & Observer reports that "The Wake County District Attorney’s Office is also conducting a criminal investigation into Bladen County absentee ballots.

Yesterday Governor Roy Cooper (D) said he's veto-ing the GOP bill calling for new primaries, a bill bitterly opposed by Democrats and, according to Cooper, too friendly to lobbyists and others who violate campaign finance laws. If the Republicans in the state legislature can override the veto-- not likely-- it is considered probable that incumbent Robert Pittenger (R) will beat Harris (who appears to have stolen the Republican primary as well as the general).

Under current state law, if the board calls for a new election it would be a re-do of the general election contest between Harris, McCready and Libertarian Jeff Scott. But the Republican-led General Assembly passed a bill Thursday mandating a new primary election in the district if the board calls for a new election. The bill must be signed by Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat.

“These bad actors may have been even more influential in the primary of 2018 than they were in the general election,” Rep. David Lewis, a Republican, told the News & Observer.

“It certainly looks like we’re heading toward a new election,” said Bill D’Elia, a spokesman for Senate Leader Phil Berger: “ Media reports also indicate potential wrongdoing in the primary, which is why we passed a bill earlier this week to require new primary if the Board calls for a new election.”

In the GOP primary, Harris won 437 mail-in absentee votes in Bladen County to 17 for the incumbent Rep. Robert Pittenger. The state board is investigating McCrae Dowless, a Bladen County political operative who allegedly was at the center of a mail-in absentee ballot scheme. Dowless was paid by Harris’ consulting firm, Red Dome Group.

Harris directed the hiring of Dowless despite warnings about the convicted felons methods and history, the Washington Post reported Thursday. Late Friday, WBTV reported that Harris confirmed to them that it was his decision to hire Dowless, but denied any knowledge of wrongdoing.

Democrats and a former N.C. Supreme Court Justice believe that changing the law, at this point, could be unconstitutional.

“Now that the (primary) election has been certified — over and done — it raises constitutional questions whether it is an ex post facto law,” former N.C. Supreme Court Justice Bob Orr, a Republican, told the News & Observer.

North Carolina’s three Democratic representatives in the U.S. House made the same argument.

“For the legislature to preempt that in any way is unacceptable. This is designed to give a partisan advantage,” Rep. David Price, of Chapel Hill, told the News & Observer on Thursday at the Capitol.

Said Price, Rep. G.K. Butterfield of Wilson, and Rep. Alma Adams of Charlotte issued a joint statement: “The Republican super majority in the General Assembly must understand that changing the law after the election, to require a new primary, is likely unconstitutional. This newly enacted legislation discredits North Carolina once again in the eyes of the Nation.”

A primary would give Republicans a chance to remove Harris, whose campaign and consulting firm have been subpoenaed, from the general election ballot. The lawmakers’ move to add a primary was seen by many as an indication of that desire. Harris is a former Baptist pastor who has run for federal office three times since 2014.

“It’s sort of a sign that Republicans would like to have a different candidate other than Harris,” longtime GOP strategist Carter Wrenn told the Charlotte Observer.

It was just a week ago that some state Republicans were calling Harris “an innocent victim” in the election fraud case. Now they are demanding answers from Harris, whose long public silence did little to calm impatient Republicans. Harris released a video message on Dec. 7, claiming he was “absolutely unaware of any wrongdoing.”

Prior to Harris’ interview with WBTV, CNN reported that an unnamed NC GOP official called Harris’ lack of communication “a death wish.”

“We have to hear what Mark Harris has to say and how much he knew about this guy (Dowless),” Phillip Stephens, the chairman of the Robeson County Republican Party, told the News & Observer on Friday. 
In his WBTV interview that was posted later Friday, Harris is quoted saying that Dowless “was being vouched for by a number of other leaders down there.”

Wake County’s investigation, which began in January, includes the 2016 election, District Attorney Lorrin Freeman told the News & Obsever on Friday. She said the investigation could extend for several months.

“The focus includes not only what was the nature of voting irregularities of absentee ballots, but also in as much as there may be activity, how would it have been funded and who would’ve been involved in such a scheme-- including potentially campaigns and others who may have had an interest in such activity,” Freeman said.

WARNING: There is going to be a new election. The DCCC and other Democratic captive groups-- from No Labels and Center Forward (the New Dem PAC) to the Sierra Club, the League of Conservation/New American Jobs Fund, Bloomberg's PACs, Steyers' PACs, Priorities USA, VoteVets and Patriot Majority-- will be bombarding you for money to help elect McCready. Do you want another Blue Dog in Congress? McCready would be the 8th conservative Blue Dog elected in 2018 (except it would be 2019)... and who needs him? The Democrats already have a 40-seat majority. And McCready is likely to vote with Republicans on almost everything. He's supposedly good on environmental issues... but not on anything remotely like the Green New Deal. If he's elected, he'll be just another conservative Democrat pushing the party always further right from the inside. He will not support anything like Job Guarantee, Medicare-For-All, free state colleges, $15 minimum wage or anything that the media labels "controversial." Why bother spending your money on him. Let the DCCC spend their own money on him. Save yours for the primary that happens after he scores an "F" from ProgressivePunch, pledges his everlasting fealty to the Military Industrial Complex and votes with the GOP more than he votes with the Democrats.



Last time around, he spent $6,121,978 to Harris' $2,096,992, while Democratic organizations poured another $4 million into the race. It's not worth spending that kind of money on someone who isn't even going to support the party on core values votes. Sure, he's the lesser evil. Go, for it... if you want to spend your money on evil. He'll probably win anyway but I guarantee you, Blue America won't be asking our members to waste their money by chipping in for a candidate as bad as the incumbents whose 2020 primaries we're already working on (like Dan Lipinski and Jim Costa).

And no sooner had I written this-- ink not even dry on the page yet-- when this popped pop in my in-box:

Republican Criminal Behavior-- From North Carolina To Kansas

Have you been wondering how much Mark Harris paid professional Republican Party vote thief Leslie McCrae Dowless to steal the 2018 election for him? It was over half a million dollars, probably a lot over half a million dollars. How slimy is Harris? Watch the sickening video above that he released yesterday through Twitter.

He refers to his scheme to steal the Republican primary from Mark Pittenger and then the general from Blue Dog Dan McCready as "alleged irregularities." He wants to let everyone know that he and his campaign "are cooperating fully with the state Board of Elections investigation." Is he really? What's the alternative? Seeking asylum in Paraguay, which still has a sentimental soft-spot for fascists? And it got sleazier: "I trust the process that's underway, just as I've always trusted the decisions of the voters." That's why he paid Dowless to collect absentee ballots and destroy them?

Here are my favorite lines, which I hope are played for a jury one day very soon:

I trust that this investigation will be full and complete, examining any alleged irregularities that could have benefited either party in this election or in past election cycles. The integrity of our electoral process is the heart of our democracy. And we must protect it.

Though I was absolutely unaware of any wrong-doing that will not prevent me from cooperating with this investigation. I'm hopeful that this process will ultimately result in the certification of my election to Congress before the next House session begins. However, if this investigation finds proof of illegal activity on either side, to such a level that it could have changed the outcome of the election then I would wholeheartedly support a new election to insure all voters have confidence in the results.

Two things I want to say about this. First is that he used "either side" twice when no one is accusing McCready or Pittenger of anything other than being victims of Harris' criminal conspiracy. And, second that it doesn't matter if Harris' crooked employees told ten votes ten thousand votes, he should be banned from participating in any elections and should be tried for a n extremely serious crime and, hopefully, spend the rest of his life in prison.

This is all part of what we've been talking about-- the undermining of democracy by the Republican Party, whether that means state legislators in Wisconsin, Michigan and North Carolina trying to invalidate their losses in lame duck sessions, Trump and his repulsive family working with the Russians to steal the 2016 presidential election, or characters like Harris hiring a known felon-- Dowless-- to steal ballots from minority voters.

Funny, just as I was finishing up on this post, a McClatchy report popped up on my screen about more GOP criminal behavior, this time by Kanas Congresswoman Lynn Jenkins. She's retiring but hasn’t left Congress yet, and has "already launched a new lobbying firm," which is absolutely illegal.

Jenkins’ term in the U.S. House doesn’t officially end until the first week of January and she still faces major votes on the farm bill, homeland security budget and other legislation. But her new business, LJ Strategies, LLC, has already registered with the state of Kansas.

Ethics watchdogs say the situation makes a mockery of the rules restricting lawmakers from working as lobbyists until they’ve been out of office for at least one year.


“This is an egregious abuse of the revolving door,” said Craig Holman, the lobbyist for Public Citizen, a group which advocates for stricter ethics rules.


“I suspect she’s being coached as to how to dance around the law, but it certainly violates the spirit of the revolving door law itself,” he said.

And, Holman warned, “She’s opened herself up to being bought.”

Jenkins and her firm should be banned from lobbying Congress in perpetuity and she should be banned from entering the Capitol from the moment next month that her term expires. Conservative lawmakers seem to believe that laws are written for "the little people," not for them.

You know what that Harris video reminded me of? That great clip 60 Minutes clip that shows John Boehner's reaction when he was caught red-handed giving out tobacco industry checks on the floor of the House. Like Harris Boehner seemed offended by his own behavior. "it's a practice," he told 60 Minutes, "that's gone on here for a long time that we're trying to stop... It's a bad practice," he said indignantly [about his own behavior]. "We ought to stop this. This is just not something that ought to happen." Watch:

New Election After Republicans Were Caught Trying To Steal A House Seat In North Carolina?

2 GOP crooks-- Mark Harris and Trumpanzee

By the end of last month, it was already obvious that North Carolina Trumpist, Mark Harris, had stolen both the GOP primary that ousted Robert Pittenger and then the general election in which he-- against all odds-- beat Blue Dog Dan McCready. The final 538.com forecast omg November 6, showed Harris with just a 12.1% chance to win (1 in 8).

Harris has been in DC pretending that he's the legitimately-elected congressman from North Carolina's 9th district, the state's southern tier, from Charlotte through Monroe, Wadesboro and Lumberton and up to Fayetteville. Everyone knows he tampered with the ballots and wasn't really elected. According to the election tallies that no one believes to be legitimate, Harris beat McCready 138,338 (49.4%) to 136,478 (48.8%). There are 8 counties in the district. McCready won 6, including the biggest (Mecklenburg). But it appears that the absentee ballot scheme that Harris almost pulled off, gave him wins in Bladen and Union counties. Congress-- meaning the Democratic majority-- will decide whether or not to seat Harris. I don't see Speaker Pelosi swearing him in. In all but Bladen County, McCready won among mail-in absentee ballot voters by at least 16 points. In Bladen County, he lost by 24. A Harris capo, notorious crook Leslie McCrae Dowless, Jr., led a crew of thugs who went door-to-door in Bladen County collecting blank or partially-completed absentee ballots, promising to finish and submit the ballots on the voters' behalf. This is an old Republican trick that they do all over the country. Harris was paying Dowless in untraceable cash-- and Dowless passed the cash on to his team for, in effect, buying the absentee ballots.

Yesterday, the district's biggest newspaper, the Charlotte Observer, urged the state to hold a new election from scratch, although it makes no sense to allow Harris to participate in one.

In the week since the state Board of Elections declined to certify the results of North Carolina’s 9th Congressional District election, journalists and others have begun to fill in the details of a troubling case of apparent ballot fraud. In Bladen County-- and perhaps other counties-- individuals have interfered with the voting process by gaining access to others’ absentee ballots, according to witnesses and records. Investigators also are looking into the burgeoning scandal.

There may be no way, however, to know how widespread the fraud was, or whether it involved enough ballots to potentially change the outcome of the election-- a 905-vote victory for Republican Mark Harris over Democrat Dan McCready. But we do know enough. Unless new evidence somehow clears the clouds hanging over this election, the Board of Elections should toss out the 9th District results.

Calling for a new election would be an enormously significant decision for the board. It should be done with the support of N.C. statutes and without a whiff of partisan politics. Republicans from Raleigh to Washington would surely howl; already, they’ve noted that the number of absentee ballots cast in Bladen County falls short of the overall margin of victory in the 9th.

This is true. But witnesses have said that their ballots, which were collected by individuals apparently working for ringleader McCrae Dowless, were never submitted to the county or state. There’s little certainty about how many ballots were wrongly tossed or destroyed in Bladen County (there were more than 1,500 that were requested but unreturned) or how much Dowless and his workers may have done the same in neighboring Robeson County, as reports suggest. It might have been enough to change the outcome of the race. It might not have been.


That possibility, however, triggers a statutory threshold for holding a new election. North Carolina General Statute 163A-1180 authorizes the Board of Elections to intervene and “take any other action necessary to assure that an election is determined without taint of fraud or corruption and without irregularities that may have changed the result of an election.” The board should call for a new NC-09 general election. The U.S. House can and should order a new primary, given that results show Harris winning a startling 96 percent of the Bladen absentee vote in his narrow 2018 primary victory over then incumbent Robert Pittenger.

Questions remain about how much Harris knew about the work being done on his behalf. Both he and his chief consultant, Andy Yates, contend they weren’t aware of any election fraud in the 9th District, but Dowless was well-known as a dicey figure in N.C. political circles. He’s a convicted felon who had been investigated for similar fraud in 2016, and he even was featured nationally in a This American Life episode. Harris, at the least, should have seen the smoke.

Voters in the 9th District deserve the confidence that their election was free from fraud. North Carolina statute supports it. The evidence already demands it. The Board of Elections should start the election over.

Yesterday, Gerry Connolly (D-VA), who will be second in command on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee in a few weeks, wants the committee to call an emergency hearing immediately to look into Republican vote tampering in NC-09, calling it "real election fraud... Votes have been stolen by preying on senior and minority voters, and now a cloud of doubt and suspicion hangs over this election result. It is incumbent on Chairman Gowdy to hold an emergency hearing before the end of this congressional session so that we can shed light and understand what happened in this race."

The Hill reported last night that "Over a thousand absentee ballots from likely Democratic voters may have been destroyed... as allegations of fraud on behalf of the Republican candidate mount. 'You’re looking at several thousand, possibly 2,000 absentee ballot requests from this most recent election. About 40 percent of those, it appears, at this point may not have been returned,' Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman told CNN... Steny Hoyer (D-MD), the next House majority leader, said Tuesday that Democrats will not seat Harris until the allegations are resolved."

What's at stake? I mean really at stake? Believe me, it's way more than just another North Carolina House seat. Here's Bernie talking about chutzpah to the Real News Network at Berniepalooza last week:




UPDATE: McCready Just Withdrew His Concession

In an exclusive interview, McCready told Joe Bruno that he thinks Harris not only knew what McCrae Dowless was doing but that he was bankrolling "criminal activity."

CNN interviewed Bruno (below). Dallas Woodhouse, executive director of the North Carolina Republican Party, was also on CNN where he hinted that the state party might support a new election if allegations of fraud are proven true and if it impacted the outcome of the race. If allegations of fraud are proven true, the perps shouldn't be allowed to participate in a new election unless it's from a prison cell. Woodhouse: "This has shaken us to the core. We are not ready to call for a new election yet. I think we have to let the board of elections come show their hand if they can show that this conceivably could have flipped the race in that neighborhood, we will absolutely support a new election."

NC-09-- It Appears That Neo-Fascist Candidate Mark Harris Stole The Primary From Robert Pittenger And Then The General Election From Dan McCready

Paul Ryan was whining Thursday about how the Republicans had only lost 26 seats when he went to bed on election night and wha wha now they’re down 40. So something’s wrong. Yeah, it’s called counting all the votes and conservatives hate the very concept. Well, there may be 41 soon. Seems there’s a little problem along the southern tier of North Carolina-- the 9th district-- where, ostensibly, it looked like far right extremist Mark Harris defeated Blue Dog Dan McCready by 905 votes. Or maybe not. Tuesday the state board of election unanimously refused to certify the results. And late last night Amy Gardner and Kirk Ros reported for the Washington Post that state election officials had no plans to certify them at their meeting today either. In fact, they wrote, “mounting evidence of voter fraud… could indefinitely delay the certification of a winner, as state election officials investigate whether hundreds of absentee ballots were illegally cast or destroyed. The board is collecting sworn statements from voters in rural Bladen and Robeson counties, near the South Carolina border, who described people coming to their doors and urging them to hand over their absentee ballots, sometimes without filling them out. Others described receiving absentee ballots by mail that they had not requested. It is illegal to take someone else’s ballot and turn it in.”

The Charlotte Observer’s editorial board seems stunned and embarrassed— and demanding to know what happened.

We know that board members twice voted 9-0 not to certify the 9th District results. That means the board, which consists of Democrats and Republicans, was overwhelmingly persuaded of the seriousness of [Robeson County Democrat Joshua] Malcolm’s concerns.

We know that Elections board spokesman Patrick Gannon told the Associated Press Wednesday that the board is investigating “irregularities” involving absentee ballots in Bladen County, which Harris won by 1,557 votes. We also know that Bladen has what can charitably be described as a colorful political history of alleged arson and fraud.

We know that Malcolm’s move Tuesday was a surprise. Neither campaign knew Malcolm’s complaint was coming, which indicates that it likely doesn’t involve an election day complaint of fraud, at least not one significant enough to cause McCready to call for an investigation before conceding this razor-thin result.


Malcolm’s comments Tuesday also seem to indicate that the issues troubling him are ongoing. “I am not going to turn a blind eye to what took place to the best of my understanding which has been ongoing for a number of years that has repeatedly been referred to the United States attorney and the district attorneys for them to take action and clean it up,” he said. “And in my opinion those things have not taken place.”

Update, 11/28, 6:30 pm: Two sources tell the editorial board that the issue specifically involves a person who allegedly gained access to absentee ballots, perhaps through voters who request them from the county or state. The ballots were filled out for Harris. This individual was suspected of similar fraud in 2016, sources said, but investigators didn’t find enough to prosecute. The number of ballots involved in the 2018 race, however, wouldn’t be enough to swing the outcome to McCready, sources said.

Complicating this even further is that when Harris ousted a more mainstream conservative incumbent, Robert Pittenger, in the GOP primary there seems to have been the same monkey business in play. WFAE reported yesterday that ‘an elections law expert says Bladen County's results for the 9th district GOP primary also deserve attention, calling them unusual.’”

In May, Harris narrowly upset incumbent Robert Pittenger in the Republican primary by 828 votes.

Harris' win was powered, in part, by a surge of absentee-by-mail ballots from Bladen County, according to data from the N.C. Board of Elections. In the May primary, 22 percent of the votes cast in Bladen County in the Harris-Pittenger race were cast by absentee-by-mail, and Harris was the overwhelming winner of those ballots.

Harris won 96 percent of the 456 absentee-by-mail votes in Bladen, but won only 62 percent of all other votes in the county, according to state Board of Elections records.

Gerry Cohen, an elections law expert who was a state legislative attorney for more than 30 years, said the absentee-by-mail votes from Bladen are "unusual."

"Clearly there is something going on in Bladen County," he said. "It's the only county in the state with an organized, street-level vote-by-mail operation. And there is nothing necessarily wrong with that."

He said it's not illegal to help people request absentee by mail ballots, but someone can't collect the ballots, a process known as harvesting.

At 22 percent, Bladen County easily had the highest percentage of absentee-by-mail ballots in the district. Mecklenburg County was the next highest at only 1.6 percent.

Here are the percentages from the other counties in the 9th Congressional District: Union (.07 percent); Anson (0 percent); Scotland (1.5 percent); Robeson (1.1 percent); Cumberland (.08 percent); Richmond (.02 percent).

After reviewing the data, Cohen said there were a large number of absentee-by-mail ballots in the primary that were requested but never returned. Cohen says one possibility is that a third party promised to mail them for voters but failed to do so.

Dan McCready Will Make A Really Terrible Member Of Congress-- But If You Live In NC-09 You Should Probably Vote For Him Anyway

2 dangerous fascists-- Mark Harris and the Pig Man

One of the lesser-of-two-evils races to watch tomorrow is in North Carolina's 9th district, which stretches from Fayetteville to Charlotte and follows the South Carolina border from the Lumberton area into the suburbs south of Charlotte. It's a very red district, with a PVI of R+8 and where Trump beat Hillary 54.4% to 42.8%. It's been over 5 decades since a Democrat represented the area in Congress. But what makes it notable this cycle is that Republican primary voters threw out their mainstream conservative congressman, Robert Pittenger, for a fire-breathing extremist, Mark Harris a Satin-inspired "pastor," who preaches old fashioned misogyny, anti-Semitism, homophobia, hatred and bigotry. In the May 8th primary Harris edged Pittenger 17,302 (48.5%) to 16,474 (46.2%). Meanwhile a very right-wing Democrat, Dan McCready, backed by the Blue Dogs and DCCC, beat a progressive. Were McCready to make it into Congress, he'd be one of the worst Democrats imaginable-- just as Harris would be one of the worst Republicans imaginable. So there you go.

Both candidates say God wants them to win and that they will serve God if they are elected. McCready is a military nut and says he hates politicians. He's one of the least authentic of the DCCC recruits of candidates manufactured out of human sewage this cycle. And yet... Harris is even worse.



As of the October 17 FEC reporting deadline, McCready had raised $4,552,674 and Harris had raised $1,841,836 but outside spending was even bigger. Over $4 million in negative ads had been hurled against Harris and $2.5 million against McCready. The DCCC, Pelosi's SuperPAC, VoteVets and Tom Steyer were all spending hugely to elect the Blue Dog.

You might think there aren't any Jews in this district, but you'd be wrong. Fayetteville has a synagogue and Charlotte has at least half a dozen. And yesterday the Jewish Daily Forward focussed on the NC-09 race... or at least on one aspect of it. The headline, based on a report from CNN: GOP Candidate: No Peace In Israel Until Jews Convert To Christianity. "Mark Harris who served as a Baptist pastor in Charlotte until resigning last year to run for office, recounted in 2011 his visit to the Holy Land," wrote Aiden Pink.

“You cannot be in that land, as powerful and as moving as it is, without realizing the incredible tension that is constantly in that land between the Palestinians and the Jews,” Harris said. “There will never be peace in Jerusalem until the day comes that every knee shall bow, every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.”

Harris went on to say that no Jewish or Muslim resident of Jerusalem would find peace unless they accepted Jesus Christ.

“Jesus, when he went into Jerusalem, said, ‘I am the vine. I am the true vine,’ and until those that are called in Islam realize that and until those that are called in Judaism realize that, for that matter, until those that are caught in the religion of Christianity and are missing the personal relationship with Jesus Christ, realize that, there’ll never be peace in their soul or peace in their city,” he said.

CNN also found multiple other instances of Harris making Islamophobic remarks. One November 2010 sermon called Islam Satanic and “the great counterfeit of our generation… That’s why we’ve got to be so careful of political leaders who somehow just like to speak of it as one of the great world religions. Ladies and gentlemen, it is not.”

A more-read newspaper in the district, the Charlotte Observer endorsed McCready. They wrote that McCready has failed "to take clear stands on some straightforward policy questions. Whether that’s his inexperience or a deliberate strategy in a Republican-leaning district, it is not a good look" but they're backed him anyway based on what they perceive as his "character," "intelligence" and "his life-long commitment to others." Everyone loves a Marine.

He says he would seek out bipartisanship, and there’s little reason to doubt him, especially given the conservative district he would represent. In a deeply polarized Washington, there’s probably only so much he can do on that front, but it would certainly be more than voters would get from Harris, who has said he would be deeply ensconced in the far right end of the House.

Harris still says being gay is a sin and a choice. He also believes the earth is less than 10,000 years old and thinks women should submit to their husbands. McCready says those views are out of step with this district and with this century. We agree. Our faith incorporates a broader and more holistic interpretation of the Bible, and we worry that Harris’s rejection of science and his views on women would translate into misguided public policy.

We agree with McCready over Harris on many issues. McCready backs sensible gun laws that Harris doesn’t. He opposes the Trump tax cuts that Harris supports and that are fueling the federal deficit. He supports having people who make more than $1 million a year pay Social Security tax on their full income to help secure that program’s future. Harris has said he would shut down the federal government if the budget was not to his liking.

McCready and Harris are both a bit green, but McCready has far more potential to effectively represent the 9th, and to help change the tone in Congress, than Harris. We recommend McCready.

One More GOP Crackpot Who Probably Won't Get Into Congress-- Mark Harris (NC-09)

Keep digging' Mark

Dan McCready isn't my kind of candidate. He has already joined the Blue Dogs and New Dems, the Republican wing of the Democratic Party and is likely to take a very conservative posture when it comes to crucial congressional votes-- more or less your father's kind of Republican but with a "D" next to his name, not a Trumpian fascist or 2018 right-wing extremist. With the connivance of the DCCC, he won the NC-09 May 8th primary.

The Republican incumbent, Robert Pittenger, a solid conservative, was defeated by a neo-fascist extremist, Mark Harris in that primary, probably making it easier for McCready, a Marine vet, to win the general election. McCready didn't just win his primary overwhelmingly-- 36,098 (82.8%) to 7,922 (17.2%)-- he won more votes than the 3 Republican combined!

• Mark Harris- 17,302 (48.54%)
• Robert Pittender- 16,474 (46.22%)
• Clarence Goins- 1,867 (5.24%)

As of the April 18 FEC reporting deadline, Pittenger had spent $1,000,061 to Harris' $465,043. McCready, who has raided the most money, spent $695,478 on the primary. Ryan's House Majority PAC spent around $75,000 attacking Harris. As of that last filing deadline, McCready had $1,220,648 cash on hand to Harris' $70,804.

The district takes up most of the state's southern tier that borders on South Carolina but much of the population lives in metro Charlotte-- Cherry, Colonial Heights, Eastover, Meyers Park, south into the cities suburbs and exurbs-- and most of Fayetteville and its suburbs. Although the district's PVI is R+8 and although Trump beat Hillary there 54.4% to 42.8%, demographics are trending blue. In a wave election, NC-09 would be a good pick to flip Democratic, especially this year when Harris had been unable to soothe the bitterness and rancor of the Pittenger backers. That's confirmed by a Civitas poll of likely voters released yesterday, showing McCready ahead by 7 points.

• Mark Harris- 36%
• Dan McCready- 43%
• Jeff Scott (Libertarian)- 3%

By 49-43% NC-09 voters disapprove of the way Trump is doing his job. But Harris' biggest problem is because women dislike him-- by 16 points. While the poll was in the field a Democratic SuperPAC, American Bridge, discovered a sermon Harris did as a Baptist minister, implying, strongly, that women belong in the home, not in the workplace. It was picked up widely by the local media. He questioned whether a career was the "healthiest pursuit" for women.

In the sermon, Harris, then pastor of Charlotte's First Baptist Church, spoke about "God's plan for biblical womanhood" and barriers to it.

"The first one... is that we’ve had in our own culture a new supreme pursuit," he said. "There is a new supreme pursuit from the traditional pursuit of being a wife or a mother... 
"In our culture today, girls are taught from grade school... that what is most honorable in life is a career, and their ultimate goal in life is simply to be able to grow up and be independent of anyone or anything," he said.

"But nobody has seemed to ask the question that I think is critically important to ask: Is that a healthy pursuit for society? Is that the healthiest pursuit for our homes? ...Is that the healthiest pursuit for the sexes in our generation?"

...In a statement, McCready said the sermon reflects someone "out of step."

"As a Christian, I believe that we are all created in God's image," he said. "That means men and women are equally valuable and equally capable and should be treated as such in their homes, careers, and in society. Mr. Harris' comments suggest otherwise. This is just another example of how out of step Mr. Harris is-- not just with this district but with this century."


...Harris' sermon came a year after he helped lead the successful 2012 push for what was known as Amendment One, which defined marriage as between a man and a woman. It was later nullified when the U.S. Supreme Court legalized gay marriage.