NC Dems attack their black colleague (12-17-2024--Hour1)

[00:00:04] What's going on? Thank you so much for listening to this podcast. It is heard live every day from noon to 3 on WBT Radio in Charlotte. And if you want exclusive content like invitations to events, the weekly live stream, my daily show prep with all the links, become a patron, go to thepetekalendershow.com. Make sure you hit the subscribe button, get every episode for free, write your smartphone or tablet. And again, thank you so much for your support.

[00:00:28] All righty, so the problems that the Democrat Party is having nationally between factions of its coalition are playing out in North Carolina at a personal level. Like we have now sort of this, like a microcosm of the larger issue going on inside the Democrat Party. And I am here for it.

[00:00:56] All right, so what am I talking about? Talking about state representative Cecil Brockman from the High Point area. And his name has popped up over the years on a couple of different occasions. I believe he became the first gay lawmaker, black gay lawmaker. I think something like that was how kind of people he got on people's radar for that.

[00:01:20] But he has also broken with the Democrat Party on a couple of key issues over the years. I think most notably the school voucher topic. So this has inspired wrath from his Democrat colleagues.

[00:01:37] And he put out a statement onto the Facebook. And he just lays into his party, his colleagues in Raleigh. Now remember, the House just, the Republicans just lost their super majority. They have a majority.

[00:02:00] They have one vote short of the super majority. And Democrats have been running around saying like, you know, the voters, you know, exercising their democracy.

[00:02:10] They have broken the super majority for us. That's what the voters were saying. Like, it's one vote.

[00:02:17] Like, you won back a seat. And that seat you had lost because Trisha Cotham, who, by the way, ran for reelection and retained her seat.

[00:02:28] Trisha Cotham flipped her party from Democrat to Republican.

[00:02:32] And that's what gave the Republicans their super majority for this last two year session.

[00:02:38] So it wasn't like it wasn't like voters had this huge groundswell of support for Democrat policies and initiatives.

[00:02:50] No, it was basically a reversion to the norm. Right.

[00:02:57] You you got back the one seat. You got back a seat.

[00:03:02] And it wasn't Brockman's, by the way. Cecil Brockman is facing criticism from other Democrats now for missing a major vote last week.

[00:03:14] I believe it was. I believe it was imported.

[00:03:18] It was for G.

[00:03:19] There's a major vote last week.

[00:03:21] And he says he's being scapegoated and treated the same way that Trisha Cotham was before she switched parties last year.

[00:03:32] OK, he is sending a very clear warning.

[00:03:38] Even I can understand it. And I don't even speak Democrat.

[00:03:42] I can understand what he is saying.

[00:03:45] You keep doing this to me. You keep pushing me.

[00:03:48] I will flip.

[00:03:50] That's what he's saying to them.

[00:03:51] He may not he may not go full Republican.

[00:03:55] He may just change his party identification to unaffiliated, for example.

[00:04:00] He could do that and caucus with the Republicans or he could remain a Democrat and just vote with them.

[00:04:07] He could keep doing that.

[00:04:10] And what's the risk?

[00:04:12] Oh, well, they could come after him in the Democrat primary because that's what my good friend Ray, now the outgoing governor.

[00:04:18] That's his tactics. I'm sure Roy 2D2, Josh Stein, the incoming boy governor.

[00:04:25] I'm sure he will adopt that kind of tactic as well.

[00:04:28] No doubt about that.

[00:04:30] That's how the machine has been operating.

[00:04:32] And I think this is one of the one of the symptoms of the machine.

[00:04:39] Where you have people that vote to get things for their district, but because the machine values something else.

[00:04:48] They have prior.

[00:04:49] The machine has prioritized something else.

[00:04:52] Namely, in North Carolina Democrat party circles, it would be money.

[00:04:59] Outside donations via the online donation platform, ActBlue, which we covered the problems with ActBlue, taking foreign money and all of that and spreading around contributions with straw donors.

[00:05:12] That's what it looks like.

[00:05:14] Maybe we'll get an investigation into it at the federal level.

[00:05:18] But there are a lot of suspicious activities going on with ActBlue.

[00:05:23] Anyway, the point here is that North Carolina Democrats have long relied on outside money to fund their campaigns specifically for governor because they can't claw back enough votes in the legislature.

[00:05:40] So the governor is the only way to stop Republican policies from being implemented.

[00:05:48] So through the veto.

[00:05:49] So they just keep fundraising and all the money flows into the governor's race.

[00:05:55] Now, unfortunately for Republicans in the last cycle, Mark Robinson's campaign was running so far behind for so long that it was very obvious that Josh Stein, a.k.a. Roy2D2, until I find a better name.

[00:06:11] It's been very clear.

[00:06:12] It was very clear that Stein would need all of the money.

[00:06:15] So he starts distributing the money down ballot to other races.

[00:06:19] And I suspect that's what happened with a lot of the other races that went Democrat.

[00:06:27] The attorney general, for example, although we've not elected a Republican attorney general like ever since the Civil War.

[00:06:33] So there was that.

[00:06:36] But we also lost the lieutenant governor position.

[00:06:40] Right.

[00:06:41] How weatherman didn't wasn't able to pull that out.

[00:06:44] So the Council of State, the 10 statewide elected executive branch offices now evenly split five to five.

[00:06:52] It was a six for Republican split.

[00:06:56] So Brockman.

[00:06:59] Decides, you know what?

[00:07:00] My district would be better off.

[00:07:03] Getting some stuff.

[00:07:05] In the budgets.

[00:07:07] And so, therefore, I am going to work with the Republican majority, near supermajority.

[00:07:16] And.

[00:07:18] For that now, he is being savaged.

[00:07:21] And the risk is or it was with Roy Cooper.

[00:07:26] The risk.

[00:07:27] Was that Roy would recruit somebody to run against him in the Democrat primary, because that's what the Democrat machine does.

[00:07:36] Slight problem.

[00:07:38] Brockman won.

[00:07:39] That happened.

[00:07:41] And Brockman beat that Democrat in the primary.

[00:07:44] And then he went on to win in the general election.

[00:07:48] Awkward.

[00:07:49] And so now.

[00:07:51] Brockman has had just about enough of your crap.

[00:07:55] Fellow Democrats.

[00:07:57] He's had just about enough of it.

[00:07:59] And that brings us to the vote that occurred to override the governor's veto of Senate Bill 382.

[00:08:07] This was the bill that had Hurricane Helene relief funding in it.

[00:08:11] And it had the realignment of the like the appointment power for the Board of Elections to move that from the governor's office and send it over to the auditor.

[00:08:23] Who is a Republican.

[00:08:25] Power stripping.

[00:08:27] And that's what was part of the bill.

[00:08:29] Also, the attorney general.

[00:08:31] They made it very clear.

[00:08:34] You are not allowed to enter into collusive settlements.

[00:08:36] You're not allowed to work at cross purposes to legislation that we have passed.

[00:08:41] Right.

[00:08:41] You're not allowed to take these positions in court here or anywhere else in the nation.

[00:08:46] You cannot basically be going to court to try to undo legislation we have passed.

[00:08:54] So Brockman was not at the vote.

[00:08:59] Did it matter?

[00:09:00] No, it actually didn't matter.

[00:09:05] The Republicans still have their supermajority.

[00:09:08] It was the last vote of their supermajority.

[00:09:11] And they overrode the veto.

[00:09:13] All the Republicans came and they all voted for the override, including three Republicans from Western North Carolina that had initially voted against the bill.

[00:09:24] So Democrats were hoping that the Republicans, they couldn't even override the veto with all of the Republican votes.

[00:09:31] But that turned out not to happen.

[00:09:33] So Brockman's vote was unnecessary.

[00:09:37] Had he been there, which he wasn't, but had he been at the legislature and had he voted against the override, it still would have been overridden.

[00:09:48] But he wasn't there.

[00:09:51] And so there are a bunch of progressive white female leftists in the legislature that are very angry with the black gay man that caucuses with them.

[00:10:06] See what I mean?

[00:10:08] The coalition that is the Democrat Party is encapsulated in this story.

[00:10:14] I'll read to you his statement.

[00:10:16] It's a barn burner.

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[00:11:19] All right.

[00:11:19] So here is Representative Cecil Brockman's statement on last week's veto override vote.

[00:11:28] Quote, last Wednesday, I was sick and I had gotten word that the vote was likely to be unanimous among the Republicans versus Democrats.

[00:11:39] So the veto is going to get overridden.

[00:11:41] That's what he's saying there.

[00:11:42] So, he says, I prioritized my health.

[00:11:46] The depravity of the establishment within the North Carolina Democratic Party knows no bounds.

[00:11:54] After gathering the strength to share with the world about my struggle with mental health, the party has sent angry mobs after me.

[00:12:03] Now, far be it for me to defend the North Carolina Democrat Party, but that's who their base is.

[00:12:12] Okay, so, like, I don't know what to tell you there.

[00:12:17] You do anything against the Democrat Party.

[00:12:22] You have an independent thought.

[00:12:25] You express an opinion or, God help you, you cast a vote against what the Democrat Party leadership wants.

[00:12:33] They don't have to direct the angry mob to attack you and savage you online and, you know, endanger your mental well-being.

[00:12:44] They don't have to issue any kind of a directive.

[00:12:47] That's who they've got as the activist base.

[00:12:52] That's leftism.

[00:12:54] So, again, not a full-throated defense here of the Democrat Party.

[00:13:00] I'm just pointing out that this is, like, this is who comprises the people that animate and activate.

[00:13:08] Okay?

[00:13:11] Yeah, we're going down a rabbit hole today on leftists.

[00:13:14] Okay?

[00:13:15] So, this is the beginning of the journey with Mr. Cecil Brockman.

[00:13:20] All right.

[00:13:21] Hey, real quick.

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[00:13:47] Again, that's Pete at the PeteCalendarShow.com.

[00:13:51] It's a Pete tweet from Ronnie who says, Ronnie Worley, county commissioner, says, Republicans do the same thing.

[00:13:57] I don't disagree with that.

[00:13:59] Political parties operate in similar fashion.

[00:14:03] No doubt about it.

[00:14:06] I just find it interesting to note that the fight going on inside the Democrat Party, when they don't have votes to give up, right?

[00:14:15] I mean, that's – they're right on a line here.

[00:14:18] They can't lose any of their coalition members in their caucus.

[00:14:26] Up in Raleigh, they are going to be – the Republicans are going to be one vote shy of the supermajority.

[00:14:34] And, yeah, they whip their votes.

[00:14:36] They make sure everybody votes the same the Republicans do.

[00:14:38] And Democrats have to do the same.

[00:14:41] But if you don't give your members permission to vote a certain way when the vote is really irrelevant – I mean, that's what we're talking about.

[00:14:51] The vote is irrelevant because the votes were already there to override the governor's veto.

[00:14:56] But rather than just ignore it, just let this guy Cecil Brockman be out sick, they focused everybody on to him.

[00:15:05] And they sicked their mob on to Cecil Brockman.

[00:15:12] And Brockman puts out this statement calling the establishment within the North Carolina Democratic Party depraved.

[00:15:23] He said he had – he gathered the strength to share with the world about his struggle with mental health.

[00:15:30] But the party has sent angry mobs after me.

[00:15:34] Even after wasting more than half a million dollars on a failed Democratic primary to defeat me,

[00:15:40] the state Democratic Party clearly still does not respect the will of the voters in District 60,

[00:15:46] who made their voices clear about who they want to be their representative.

[00:15:51] I simply ask the party to respect the will of the voters.

[00:15:56] In other words, democracy.

[00:15:59] Meanwhile, as the party continues to prioritize attacking me and spreading lies within my community,

[00:16:06] the North Carolina Senate continues to maintain its supermajority,

[00:16:11] and the North Carolina House is just one vote shy of the supermajority.

[00:16:16] I genuinely question the strategy of the Democratic establishment who prefer to scapegoat a member of their own party

[00:16:25] to shift the heat off themselves for an outcome they failed to change.

[00:16:32] Again, his vote – he was not present for the veto override vote.

[00:16:36] Even if he were present and even if he had voted for – or voted to sustain the veto, voted against an override,

[00:16:45] it still would not have mattered because the Republicans had whipped all of their members to vote for the override.

[00:16:53] His absence had no impact.

[00:16:57] He says,

[00:16:58] For my voters, they need to know that this is a coordinated strategy from within my party

[00:17:03] and it will continue over the next two years.

[00:17:06] If I do not bend my knee to the establishment, I will continue to be portrayed as a villain.

[00:17:12] They'd rather convince my community that I am a villain to be scapegoated

[00:17:16] instead of acknowledging the reality that things are rarely black and white.

[00:17:22] Oftentimes, I find myself negotiating for what may seem like small but necessary changes

[00:17:28] that help make legislation less problematic.

[00:17:33] I have even brought back millions in state funds to a poor black community that has never seen that before.

[00:17:39] To some within the party that claims to care about black people, that isn't enough.

[00:17:44] So this is the half-loaf argument.

[00:17:50] When you are in the minority, you cannot run bills.

[00:17:56] You cannot get things passed unless the majority that controls the body goes along with you.

[00:18:03] You have to get votes from the party in the majority.

[00:18:07] Which means what?

[00:18:09] If you're trying to run a bill that the majority opposes, you're not going to get that passed.

[00:18:16] Those are facts.

[00:18:18] Okay?

[00:18:18] You're not going to be able to get it passed.

[00:18:21] But what has replaced legislating is just this mugging for cameras and getting money.

[00:18:31] And so when you're in the minority party, you're there to keep throwing grenades under the table.

[00:18:38] And you're just trying to gum up the works.

[00:18:41] You're trying to motivate the base.

[00:18:42] And oh, they're terrible.

[00:18:43] They did this awful thing.

[00:18:45] And both of the parties do this.

[00:18:46] Like this is what the strategy is because you cannot run bills.

[00:18:50] You can't do your priorities.

[00:18:52] I'm sure Cecil Brockman has some progressive ideas, some Democrat ideas that he would love to advance if he were in the majority.

[00:19:02] But he's not.

[00:19:03] So where does that leave you?

[00:19:05] Do you fight for the full loaf of bread?

[00:19:10] Right?

[00:19:10] Like you want the full loaf.

[00:19:12] The majority is not going to give you a full loaf.

[00:19:14] Instead, they're going to give you half a loaf.

[00:19:16] So what do you do?

[00:19:18] Do you take the half and vote for that half and then come back and fight for the rest of it?

[00:19:26] Or do you dig in your heels and say, I'm not going to do this.

[00:19:30] I'm not going to take the half a loaf.

[00:19:33] It's the whole loaf or nothing.

[00:19:35] In which case then you get nothing because you're not in the majority party.

[00:19:38] This is very simple.

[00:19:39] Okay?

[00:19:40] Very simple.

[00:19:41] And what Brockman has decided on some issues, not all of them, but on some issues, he has found that the juice is worth the squeeze.

[00:19:49] He has decided, I will take half of that loaf.

[00:19:54] That's called, by the way, it used to be called bipartisanship.

[00:19:57] Right?

[00:19:58] When you would put together a bill that could get support from Democrats and Republicans, not all of them.

[00:20:04] You don't have to get all of them.

[00:20:05] But if you get some in there, right, through whatever means, they may not like all of the provisions inside of a bill.

[00:20:15] But that's what compromise and legislating requires.

[00:20:21] And some people, and that's on both sides, they don't want to do that.

[00:20:25] They would rather say no all the time, get nothing done, not solve problems, but be able to fundraise and demonize their opponents.

[00:20:35] Right?

[00:20:37] Now, obviously, the issues matter.

[00:20:40] Right?

[00:20:40] The issues matter.

[00:20:41] I'm not advocating compromising on all issues.

[00:20:47] However, if you recognize that you are in the minority and your vote is not going to really matter, but they're willing to, you want to call it a bribe, although not in the legal sense, right?

[00:20:58] But we'll send you a couple of million dollars to your community, to your poor community that needs investment.

[00:21:05] We'll give you some money.

[00:21:07] Do you want to sign on to this bill?

[00:21:09] Obviously, the Republicans would love to have a Democrat or a bunch vote for legislation with them that they may not support in total, but they might support provisions of.

[00:21:20] So they'll throw out some stuff, some sweeteners to Democrats, because it looks better for them that they enacted this stuff, they did this stuff, and it was a bipartisan vote.

[00:21:31] It inoculates them from some of the political attacks.

[00:21:34] And Democrats don't want to do that because they don't want to give any kind of a clear runway for Republicans come election time.

[00:21:43] And Brockman's sin is going along with Republicans on, I think, notably the biggest one, I think, is the school voucher issue.

[00:21:53] And that's just too much.

[00:21:54] How dare you do that?

[00:21:56] And by the way, that was the same issue for Tricia Cotham.

[00:22:00] He says, the party would rather have a seat warmer who does nothing, sacrificing their own community's needs for the desires of the wealthy and white Democratic elite.

[00:22:14] But this is the problem inside the Democrat Party at a personal level.

[00:22:19] He said, he concludes his letter,

[00:22:21] For those in our party who desire to keep my name in their mouths, let me make it plain and clear for you.

[00:22:30] Over these next two years, you need me.

[00:22:33] I do not need you.

[00:22:36] It is not easy to forgive or forget the vile, disgusting lies you all have peddled.

[00:22:42] Watch your mouth when talking about me.

[00:22:45] And remember, your neighbors are watching and listening, especially those in the African-American community.

[00:22:50] That is what I would call a shot across the bow.

[00:22:53] Like, you guys keep doing this.

[00:22:56] I'm going to go be a Republican.

[00:22:58] Or at least I'm going to vote with them.

[00:23:00] That's what that tells me.

[00:23:02] Email is pete at thepetecalendarshow.com.

[00:23:07] Dennis has an idea.

[00:23:11] So here's an email from Dennis.

[00:23:13] He says, I have an idea for you to tag our new governor-elect with a suitable nickname.

[00:23:17] How about, I never know how to pronounce this name, D-E-U-X.

[00:23:24] Dukes?

[00:23:26] Duh.

[00:23:26] I don't want to sound all Frenchy, though.

[00:23:28] Duh.

[00:23:29] Duh.

[00:23:30] Duh coupe.

[00:23:31] Duh coupe.

[00:23:32] In French, the term Dukes means two shots.

[00:23:37] Well, Stein is the Democrats' second shot of our good friend Ray.

[00:23:41] Thus, Dukes.

[00:23:45] Maybe.

[00:23:46] I'm going to have to figure out how to pronounce that first, though.

[00:23:49] All right.

[00:23:49] So the News and Observer has a story about the Cecil Brockman dust-up inside the Democrat

[00:23:54] Party.

[00:23:56] Do not say they're in disarray.

[00:23:58] They hate that.

[00:24:00] So Democrats are in disarray.

[00:24:02] And asked on Monday if he plans to stay in the party during next year's legislative session,

[00:24:08] Brockman said via text message that he has been a lifelong Democrat.

[00:24:12] And then instead of fighting other Democrats, I would rather see our party focus on doing

[00:24:16] things a successful one does to win back the majority.

[00:24:20] When asked if he had ruled out switching parties entirely, Brockman said, quote, I would just

[00:24:26] say that this is the exact same behavior that pushed Trisha Cotham out of our party.

[00:24:31] Everyone has their limits.

[00:24:35] So he is he is telling all of the Democrats, you keep doing this to me.

[00:24:40] I will defect.

[00:24:44] That's my that's what I take from his message.

[00:24:46] He missed an override vote last week on sweeping GOP legislation that takes away power from incoming

[00:24:52] Governor Josh Stein and other recently elected Democrats.

[00:24:56] Fellow Democratic representatives Pricey Harrison and Tracy Clark criticized Brockman for being

[00:25:03] absent.

[00:25:05] These are.

[00:25:06] Affluent white female liberals are awful.

[00:25:09] Right.

[00:25:12] Pricey Harrison and Tracy Clark.

[00:25:15] White females.

[00:25:17] Clark told the news and record on Thursday.

[00:25:21] Brockman's absence was, quote, extremely frustrating because he's not a Democrat.

[00:25:28] Adding that Democrats can't trust or hold him accountable for being with us on important votes like the one we had yesterday.

[00:25:36] He wasn't there.

[00:25:38] He wasn't there.

[00:25:39] He had he was he says he was sick.

[00:25:42] He wasn't there.

[00:25:44] And it didn't matter.

[00:25:46] And you're saying he's not a Democrat.

[00:25:49] Absences among Democrats would not have made a difference in the GOP's ability to enact the bill.

[00:25:53] Another Democrat who was absent, Representative Joe John of Raleigh announced after the vote that he had recently been diagnosed with throat cancer and he missed the vote also because of his treatment.

[00:26:03] So is he not a Democrat either?

[00:26:06] Like like why?

[00:26:07] Why are you picking this fight with Brockman over this?

[00:26:10] It's because of the it's school vouchers.

[00:26:14] I think that's really what's going on.

[00:26:15] All right.

[00:26:16] That'll do it for this episode.

[00:26:17] Thank you so much for listening.

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