BlueprintNC leader now calls for civility
It must be election season, if Rick Glazier is calling for civility without mentioning the work his organization has done to destroy civility in state politics.
In an op-ed published in the Fayetteville Observer, Glazier says he never ran a single negative ad against any of his opponents when he ran for public office. He writes: "Civility breeds civility and incivility breeds incivility in all aspects of our life. Campaigning and holding public office are no different."
Glazier is identified as a former Cumberland County school board member and state legislator.
What the op-ed does not mention, however, is that Glazier is currently the Executive Director of the leftwing NC Justice Center.
Glazier's organization is the , according to Mapping the Left:
The Justice Center considers itself the “state’s preeminent voice for economic, social and political justice.” Without a doubt it is one the largest if not the most liberal and radical activist groups in North Carolina. The Justice Center has served as an incubator for new liberal groups and projects, including the network of groups, Together NC and Blueprint NC, the umbrella group created to decide where Z. Smith Reynolds grant dollars would be spent. The Justice Center was picked to be the “administrative home” for Blueprint NC in the mid 2000’s by Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation because, according to a report titled the “State Strategies Fund,” Blueprint had been created as a “strategic initiative” and its focus would be on “collaborative change.” The report went on to explain that the “Justice Center, because of its scale and the close alignment of its interests and values with those of Blueprint” it would serve as its administrative organization. In the beginning, the Justice Center employed the Blueprint staff and received the grants made for Blueprint’s work. In addition the Justice Center exercised oversight over Blueprint’s budgets.
As a result of the Justice Center’s assistance, Blueprint NC went on to gain notoriety with their strategy memo that directed their members to “eviscerate, mitigate, litigate, cogitate and agitate” the state’s leadership in 2013.
If you are new to state politics, you might not know what Blueprint NC is. Five years ago, after Republican Pat McCrory won the race for NC Governor, a convention of the state's leftwing groups was held.
A leaked memo from this gathering showed the strategy that these groups and their Democrat allies would employ against the newly-ascendant Republican government. (They even got a little help from WRAL TV.)
The strategy was to exploit divisions within the Republican Party, as well as the general population.
The groups would launch a 5 year campaign designed to "cripple" the majority - through relentless attacks on policies and individual lawmakers' character and integrity.
You'll notice some of these themes are being used in the current election season.
The Blueprint NC memo offered a lyrical overview of the effort to unseat Republicans, who had won control of state government for the first time since Reconstruction.
This is the strategy that was implemented.
After barely winning the 2016 election, Gov. Roy Cooper (D) appointed dozens of people from Blueprint NC affiliated groups to government posts.
So, after waging this half-decade long campaign, we are told it is the Democrats who can restore civility to politics. Three weeks ago - it was Hillary Clinton telling us.
Today it's Glazier:
It is campaigning tactics like we are receiving almost daily in our mailboxes that has led to the bitter and nonproductive partisanship we see now in Washington and Raleigh. But only we can break that cycle. Only we the people can stop empowering these tactics by voting, even outside our own party preference, for candidates who don’t lower public discourse into the gutter. Indeed, if we mean it when we say we hate negative campaigning, then now is our chance to prove it with our vote; otherwise it is just whining without meaning.
Glazier pretends that history began on the same day as Early Voting.
That said... I will take his advice and not empower these tactics of division and bitterness.
As such, I'll be voting against every single Democrat on the ballot.
Pete's Prep: Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2018
- An Asheville couple was arrested for leaving a dead cat in a grocery store parking lot. A third man is wanted in connection to the mutilation of the animal. WLOS reports the owner of the 2-year old pet cat has been found.
- The NC Republican Party is using peoples' voting records to try to shame/guilt/convince/motivate them go vote. Leftists are not happy. This kind of mailer campaign is not new although it almost always draws criticism. It also tends to work.
- For some reason, Forbes just ranked Asheville #15 in top places for businesses and careers. Raleigh ranked #2... Charlotte ranked #5... and Durham ranked #13.