Dole: It's not my fault. Again.
Submitted by James on Fri, 11/16/2007 - 10:16am
If you listen closely, you can now hear Do-Nothing Dole whining all the way from the Watergate where she lives. In what feels like a bad script from the Twilight Zone, the Very Senior Senator has this to say to Governor Mike:
"Fooey on you, mean old Governor. It's all your fault that North Carolina has become a ping-pong ball in my sweet little game with John Warner and the US Navy. Nanny-nanny boo-boo. I'm rubber and you're glue. Bounces of me and sticks on you."
That, of course, is my translation, which is amazingly close to what Dole actually had to say, as reported in the N&O today.
Dole, responding to pointed criticism by the governor, said the Navy and the Easley administration should have conferred with local officials about potential sites for the airstrip before announcing them to unreceptive residents in September.
"I think that was a very big mistake, and the governor and the Navy have now paid the price for that mistake," Dole said in a teleconference with reporters. "They've wasted the last few months on something that was known from Day 1, had they only talked to the local communities. And now there is an attempt to throw this mess on the laps of the delegation, and I think that is just wrong."
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As you try to sort through all this, there are only a few key themes to keep in mind.
1. The Navy does not work for or care about Mike Easley in any way shape or form. The US Congress holds their dirty leash, and Liddy Dole just happens to be (sadly) one of our US Senators.
2. This whole freakin' mess was created by Liddy Dole in the first place. In a strange act of obeisance to John Warner more than five years ago, Liddy sold out Northeast North Carolina, and got nothing but table scraps in return. So don't fall for her new-found claims of actually giving a damn about our state. For example, when her mouthpiece says this:
"She was critical of the Navy and said she thought they would have learned more from their previous experience with the Washington County site," Woodruff said.
...don't buy it. Liddy was just covering her butt after it was clear the natives weren't going to stand by while she consummated her deal with the devil. The entire OLF controversy in North Carolina is Liddy Dole's doing. She's trying to run like hell from this mess, but like Bush's War in Iraq, she can't run far enough or fast enough. Liddy Dole owns this problem.
3. Nobody in North Carolina wants this OLF. Liddy could have ended this discussion a thousand times over the past five years with a two words to the US Navy: Don't bother. For her to try to blame the governor or the people of North Carolina for her failure to do her job simply expose how little she knows or cares about our state.
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Do we have any quotes, any news releases?
Where she talked about how proud she was that we were going to have an OLF in NE Carolina? I'll bet they are out there.
One of the pitfalls of childhood is that one doesn't have to understand something to feel it. - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
Jesus Swept ticked me off. Too short. I loved the characters and then POOF it was over.
-me
It was backroom deal-making
In the original court case, there were some documents about how the Senate was approaching this issue, with John Warner out in front - trying to clean up the mess in Virginia Beach by dumping it on NC. Liddy was never out in the public, that I know about. And why would she be? Republicans don't care about North Carolina unless they get some personal gain from it.
Maybe the OLF activists in Washington county have more insight. All I know is they are VERY unhappy with Dole, who has successfully turned many of them away from the Republican party.
Tolerance ends
I was going to ask for a timeline
and just what were the "table scraps" she traded our environment for?
Be the change you wish to see in the world. --Gandhi
__________________
"My darling girl, when will you understand that 'normal' is not necessarily a virtue. It rather denotes a lack of courage." - Alice Hoffma
Table scraps
What she gave away:
What she got
Tolerance ends
Apparently the Navy deceived Easley
Excerpt from N&O article:
Sherri Johnson, a spokeswoman for Easley, said the Navy's earlier plans for the landing field included a much larger project and the unspoken prospect that there would be a larger base to follow. That would have brought jobs and economic opportunities. Now, she said, the Navy has made clear it simply wants to find a runway.
Easley said that makes the landing field far less appealing -- and a much harder sell. The landing strip alone would bring only 52 jobs.
"The Navy has completely changed the package so that Virginia gets the gold mine and we get the shaft," he said. "And Senator Dole knows that. The new OLF proposal is merely a dumping ground for Oceana, with no economic benefit for any of the sites the Navy has selected. I am opposed to that, the people are opposed to it, and our congressional delegation should be as well."
so dole, easley, butterfield, burr, jones
whatcha gonna do?
The Navy can not show a requirement for this OLF. The Navy has done a draft EIS and did not show a requirement. They have done an FEIS with supporting documentation that readressed the individual requirements and lowered the requirements. They have done an SEIS and did not show a requirement, and they have had this public hearing to gather new sites and still no requirement based statements. So the Navy can only support this OLF in NC to benefit the people around Oceana. That is the only stand the Navy can champion.
So its agreed that the local people have a huge say in this project. The Navy knows we should have been asked by reading their own policy instructions on developing a new air base. Because to many people know its not required and no one is denying this statement when are our reps going to say enough already? We know we will not get any benefit from it. We know this is only a dump for VA. Everyone knows it. Any county that has already stated they are in opposition to this with a resolution is officially off any list generated by either the Navy, the State or Congress.
Governor Easley, Burr/Dole, Butterfield, Jones, anyone of you can start this ball rolling. Heck I think state reps Basnight, Jones, Owens, Mobley could start this going. Officially let us of NE NC move on with our lives. More then just Camden and Gates County are included in this discussion. Bertie, Perquimans, Chowan, Pasquotank, Currituck, Washington, Beaufort, Hyde, and even northern Craven County have all opposed it. We should be released from this process.
Now who is going to be the first to blink and tell the Navy "no thank you" like all of NE NC has been saying for ever?
The truth
The only two people who absolutely have the power to kill this monster are Dick Burr and Liddy Dole. Everyone else can only recommend and argue. Any member of the House can get caught up in parliamentary BS. Only a sitting Senator can put a nail in the OLF coffin right now.
Dole could do it. Burr could do it. It would be easy as pie.
But neither one is standing up for the state. They're both playing shameful political games with people's lives.
Tolerance ends
Butterfield and Jones could also
as they are part of congress. it would take a little more work but they do represent us. I think every site falls in NC-01 or NC-03.
Your right about this. Every elected official who has an input on this is playing with our lives. Once they start to say "leave these people alone" will they truly be on our side. That is why I lump all these guys in one basket.
A lot of them are indicating it is wrong, the local people should be listened to etc. but no one is saying, "these communities (counties enumerated) have told us that under no circumstance do they wish this OLF. These communities and sites that will indirectly impact these listed counties are removed from consideration."
When my elected officials start talking in this language will I trust em. I do not wish to be a pawn in this game anymore, we have advanced our selfs to the 8th row and we should be "queened", the most powerful piece in this fight. Let our voices be heard and let our elected officials start speaking as we do. "NO OLF where the people and local communities do not wish it. My county is off any list for consideration and any site that will impact my county is off as well no matter what the site is, new or original 5 sites."
Dole: No OLF support unless public wants it
from Washington Daily News
Gov Easley, we are not for sale. If we need monetary help, we come to YOU, not the US Navy. Do not pawn off your responsibilities onto the Navy. They are a military organization with the purpose of protecting and defending our nation, not buying a water system for a county as an appeasement or a bribe.
The Navy has the responsibility to prove to us that this OLF is required. They failed on that score. They proved to us it is not required. So now the only thing the Navy can hope for is for some politician to think their community can be bought. Are you saying we are for sale?
Did any county ask for a "bribe" to take this? NO. They all said, NO OLF. Period. End of story. This economic-incentive your talking about will run out in how many years but this OLF will be in our community for 70+ years. The Navy cannot make that kind of deal today. You are not empowered to make that kind of deal, my county commissioners are not empowered to make that kind of deal. So stop thinking in those terms. Some of the communities your potentially allowing to be displaced have been here for how long? Before the Wright Brothers flew off a sand dune in Kitty Hawk in Currituck County. How ironic that is. No, we do not want this OLF in our communities.
This line of thought is a short term bribe. We are not opposing this OLF because we think we can get something out of it. We are opposing it because it will hurt us.
Which US Reps and Senators attended any local meetings,
anywhere in Coastal NC, of the families and those others who will be directly effected by the OLF anywhere in NC? None?
I am hoping that my candidacy for Congress, and my very public opposition to the OLF, anywhere in NC, will jump start Congressman Jones into helping.
If he abandons the OLF issue to me, as so many other issues he ignores, he will certainally be putting another nail into his political coffin.
Although that is a good thing for me, the OLF Issue cannot wait for my election.
We need to pressure Rep. Jones to assist, intervene, redirect, propose an alternate State , or anything to stop this deliberate Navy process of wearing down the citizens of Coastal NC. I hope he does.
As for me, there are plenty of others issues I will win the election on.
If he does not help the citizens of Coastal NC in pushing OLF out of NC, I will be the vocal finger pointing right at him.
none of the big boys showed up
at any of the public hearings for the DSEIS. Gov Easley did not show up when DENR unveiled the 6 new sites.
Governor Easley, what was so important on 18 sept that you did not come visit a 2 star admiral in your capital city of your state? He was one block away from the Capital building. Sure hope it was important.
All we ever got was reps. I think one Representative did show up, and he did talk to folks, but I have forgotten who he was. He was at the Washington County meeting. It was either Rep Price or maybe Jones? Might have been a state rep/senator. I just cannot remember.
State Senator Jones has been out and about meeting folks in NE NC. He knows what his constituents want. He has spoken at rallies and is not afraid to chat with us. At Elizabeth City, he was in the audience talking and listening to what we had to say.
I like that your going to discuss with Walter Jones this OLF project.