Jay Ovitorre attacked in Yes Weekly
This morning, Yes Weekly, a newspaper serving the Greensboro/Triad area published a whiny little rant from columnist Jim Longworth, who has declared Democratic candidate for NC-06, Jay Ovittore, unworthy of air time on his little TV show "Triad Today." Never mind that most of the 6th district has never heard of Longworth or Triad Today - to my mind, his refusal to give equal time to a candidate if he so requests may actually be a violation of NC Election Law. That is something I will check into when I get home.
What is Longworth's complaint? He notes that in an interview with the News and Record, Jay said:
Noting that Coble had missed two votes on August 4 and 5, Ovittore told the Greensboro News and Record, "I noticed him (Coble) leaving early at times...maybe it was past his bed time".
Longworth incorrectly quoted the article, which was written by Mark Binker and published on Dec. 23. The quote from the article was
"I have noticed him leaving early at times," said Jay Ovittore, pointing to a spate of votes Coble missed on Aug. 4 and 5 this year before Congress' traditional summer recess. "Maybe it was past his bedtime or he had a hot date."
After speaking with Jay, I understand that this was a not a complete quote, either. Jay told Binker that he didn't think that age was a factor in running for Congress. "Fred Astaire danced until the day he died," but that Coble had missed 22 votes in August, and was often seen leaving committee meetings early - especially the crucial Armed Forces Committee. By the way, one of the votes the Coble missed was the Protect America Act, otherwise known as the FISA amendment. As constituent, I had written to Coble to ask him to vote against this bill. He didn't even show up.
Whether it was Binker or an editor who left part of the quote out, I can't say. However, Longworth has turned a straightforward Ovittore comment into something snide and ugly.
Anyone who has spoken to Jay knows that he speaks his mind and will not mince words - a quality I admire and with which I can identify. Longworth thought that it was a "mean-spirited joke". I don't think it was. It sure got me looking into Coble's record. Age may or may not have anything to do with it, but I think "Our Congressman, Howard Coble", may be burning out. During the 107th Congress, he missed only .4% of the votes. During the 108th, he missed 1.7%. During the 109th, he missed 3.2%, and now, during the 110th, he has already missed 5%. (Source: http://projects.washingtonpost.com/congress/) I don't know about you, but I see a pattern. If I had an employee whose work attendance had declined at that rate, I would want to know why.
Wait a minute. I do have a work employee whose work attendance has declined at that rate. Mr. Coble, care to explain yourself?
Jay Ovittore knows what it is to have to show up in order to get paid, and he understands that when you're sent to Washington, your number 1 job is to be on the floor to represent your constituents when a bill is being voted on. I don't care if the bill would have failed or passed without you - if you're my Congressman, and you didn't show up, my voice had no chance of being heard. Representative, my foot.
Longworth further added insult to injury when he finished his hit piece with
I'd rather have someone representing me who is 76 and has the energy of a 25-year-old, than someone who is 25 and has the demeanor of a 10-year-old.
Jay is 35 years old; he's a successful businessman, and, unlike his opponent in the primary, an active Democrat.
I am urging Longworth to rethink is position. There are a lot of active Democrats in NC-06 who don't want to see one of our candidates shunned in this manner. You owe Jay an apology, and you need to take him seriously, because when you retire, it's going to be Congressman Ovittore watching out for your Social Security.
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Jim Longworth's "Nancy Baby Tea Time" show blows anyway.
He wants to ban "mean-spirited" personalities from his show? For the love of God, he let Vernon Robinson debate Virginia Foxx on his show! I'm surprised poor Jim was able to crawl out of that pit of vipers with his life!
Hey, wait a minute...maybe Vernon has something to do with this...
I've never heard of Jim Longworth
He sounds like a whiny brat. I guess I could go read the piece, but since I trust your take on things I won't waste my time clicking through.
Robin Hayes lied. Nobody died, but thousands of folks lost their jobs.
But wait, there's more!
Lurching into this battle is Guilford Party Republican Chair, Bill Wright, who states in a letter to the N & R,
Here's the problem - if Jay were adequately quoted by the media, this would not have been seen as a personal attack. Jay's original statement was not meant as an attack, but as an observation of Coble's behavior. This is fair in politics, after all, Jay is one of Coble's constituents as well. Why isn't Coble staying for Armed Forces Committee meetings?
Why is Coble being touted as one of the "first Republicans to be against the war", yet still voting to fund it without imposing timelines? Why is he supposedly standing for peace, when the biggest projects he's bringing to the district are defense contracts? (PPG Industries in Lexington, American Growler in Robbins)
The only thing I can figure is that Jay's energy and vigor has Howard and his Republicans running scared. He's even attracted the attention of the Pope Circus.
Who would you rather have representing you? A man who, at 76, admits he's "long in the tooth", who consistently misses more and more of his assigned job duties, or an energetic man in his prime who is ready and willing to listen to all of his constituents, no matter which side of the aisle they're on, and is not afraid to tell the truth when it needs to be told.
Seems like a no-brainer to me.
Be the change you wish to see in the world. --Gandhi
For what it's worth, this is
For what it's worth, this is not the first time Longworth has complained about a Congressional candidate.
http://tinyurl.com/yvq78k
That sheds a little more light on things.
Thanks, Mark.
Be the change you wish to see in the world. --Gandhi
Hey, Jay?
Call 'em like you see 'em. When you are set upon by a twinkie with a writing gig at a Weekly, call him out and make him explain himself. Do it with class and verve. Make sure ANYONE that picked up on his little tirade and ran with it has access to your rebuttal. Be sure they know the truth, be sure they follow up and if they don't, be sure to talk to ANYONE who will listen and be sure they write about it in a Daily.
Yeah, I know you know all that, but it's free advise and I'm sure you're busy.
Thanks for the heads up Linda!
North Carolina. Turning the South Blue!
Call 'em like you see 'em.
I have yet to meet Jay in person, but I get the distinct impression he does exactly that.
And what could be better than having that in Congress?
Be the change you wish to see in the world. --Gandhi
Score one for Jay!
He sounds like a whiny brat. *BM
More like a neo-conservative republican idiot....
Jay must be doing something right since it is too early to start the old Republican smear game....
First they ignore you, than they call you nuts or looney, than they steal your dog and cat and accuse them of being Gay.
When you mix the Republicans attack machine together with authortarism and stupidity, you get a very scary political animal, who would be at home at a Munich Beer Hall during a Nationalist Socialist Workers Party meeting in the 1920's....
Stalking Horse
In 2004 or 2006 (I forget which, there were two Democratic candidates who faced off in a primary--an electrician from Randolph County and a lawyer from Greensboro. The lawyer won the primary and never was heard from again - no campaign coverage, no web site, no evidence of activity. This made me think that the the lawyer was a stalking horse meant to make sure that no effective opposition to Coble would appear. Had there actually been a campaign, I would have not had this opinion.
The appearance of this candidate and this particular hit makes me think the same thing about Longworth. The diary's comment "Jay is 35 years old; he's a successful businessman, and, unlike his opponent in the primary, an active Democrat." and Longworth's behavior in the Miller-Robinson race are telling.
Reckon old Howard and his Republican supporters are a little scared?
50 states, 210 media market, 435 Congressional Districts, 3080 counties, 192,480 precincts
I will have my chance
to respond to Mr Longworth. I spoke with the editor of Yes Weekly today and I am going to write a rebuttal in next weeks issue. I will post it on my campaign blog as well. I appreciate all the kind comments and support. I too feel like the machine is a little scared of me. I am not your normal politician. I expected no less and enjoy engaging in debates. I want to debate on the issues not the machine semantics that they are slinging out there.
What you all could do to help is keep writing about their ploy and make a small contribution to my campaign. I have an Act Blue button on my campaign site.
The Democrat with a backbone is here and he is going to win this election. I will need your help to do it. I will cross post the rebuttal here when it is available.
Thanks Again,
Jay Ovittore
Candidate- 6th Congressional District
“The will of the people is the only legitimate foundation of any government, and to protect its free expression should be our first object.” Thomas Jefferson
I agree 100% with the substance of this post, but ....
the line in question:
."
whether edited or not, was, IMO, a mistake.
Evidently voters in the 6th are used to a gentlemanly, elder "statesman" and as such any statements made by Mr. Ovittore that make him appear to be young, brash, impolite, will be exploited by the other side. This is to be expected.
The sad reality is that politics is only partly about substance. All of the info about Coble's voting record was entirely appropriate and totally fair., but that throw-away oneliner gave the right wing attack machine an opening.
If this guy Longworth is really just a media midget, my advice would be to just let this go - don't give it any more energy (legs).
Person County Democrats
I know you're probably right.
But I want to point out that the end of the statement was taken quite out of context, and when repeated to me, was quite humorous. Of course, I wasn't there for the original interview, but Longworth took it second-hand (or third) and spun the right-wing nut jobs all out of shape.
And I feel compelled to put legs under Coble's continuing failure to live up to his promise to leave office after 10 years. He's known for his "constituent services", but he's not running a chamber of commerce, he's a Congressman. He ducks out of votes that are uncomfortable. He didn't vote on S-CHIP the last time around because he knew that Jay would call him out on it. It's not that he voted for it - or against it. He just didn't vote. As I stated earlier, he didn't vote on the FISA amendment. Too uncomfortable. He made a big splash in the 6th district papers about riding in a limo with President Bush and telling him what he thought about the war; that he thought that the troops should be coming home, but he's never broken with party ranks to do anything to bring them home. So this is it, Coble, you're on notice.
I would rather have someone in office who makes a few brash statements once in a while than someone who lies by omission. Coble is a waste, and skates by because he's not as obnoxious as Virginia Foxx, or as flip-floppy as Robin Hayes. Guess what? Carbon Monoxide doesn't smell, but it will kill you pretty fast. He's toxic, and I'll say it now like I did two years ago. It's time for him to go.
Be the change you wish to see in the world. --Gandhi
Definately, Coble needs to go.
I'd much rather have a straight talking Ovittore over a party hack with good pr like Coble.
Coble's record, or lack thereof, is fair game, but they don't call it playing politics for nothing. Gamesmanship unfortunately counts way more than it should.
Carbon monoxide is an apt comparison, btw.
Person County Democrats
Make no mistake, Coble knows how to play the game.
I saw him in action in 2006 when I was volunteering for Rory Blake. He's a snake.
Thank you - I thought it was inspired. :)
Be the change you wish to see in the world. --Gandhi
If Jay had better name recognition,
I would probably agree with this:
but right now he needs all the media exposure he can get.
The safest thing the right-wing attack machine could do about Jay is nothing at all, but they're not smart enough (apparently) to figure that out.
Name Recognition will be extremely important in this race.
And that's why I felt the need to push back. Everyone knows Coble. He's had nearly 24 years in office (even though he signed the Contract on America and promised to leave. Then he came up with some bullshit about term limits should apply to everyone, not just him - even though he promised. Shows you what he's made of.)
In an editorial from the News-Record from Dec. 28
None of the three candidates for the Democratic Nomination for this race have this kind of experience going into the race. However, I daresay that doesn't matter at this point. What matters is someone who has the integrity to say what he thinks and carry through on it. What matters is someone who has consistently worked with the public on important issues - not because of ambition, but because it's the right thing to do.
As I've said above, Coble is not running a chamber of commerce. He's a congressman. It's all well and good that he helped communities get new fire engines. That's important. It's great that he's brought industry back to the communities that have lost textile and manufacturing jobs - but again, as I pointed out above, those are defense manufacturers. While we're glad to have the jobs so we can put food on our families (sic), there are a lot of folks in NC-06 who would rather see the energy that it took to bring those industries here spent on bringing in industry developing alternative fuels, and we'd like to see more done for tobacco farmers who need to find a new crop that will help sustain their family (not corporate) farms.
But Coble spends so much time running - excuse me - wheezing around the district getting his picture taken that he misses important votes and committee meetings. Those are the things we're paying him for. Again, as I stated above, when an employee starts missing his regular duties on a consistently escalating basis, there is cause for concern. I realize it's a difficult balance to strive for - if you spend too much time in Washington, you risk something like this. But we know that the balance can be struck. Legislators at all levels do it all the time. Brad Miller immediately comes to mind. No one can accuse him of ignoring his district - but he rarely misses a vote or committee meeting.
Let me dispel a fallacy right here an now. We might have a republican congressman in NC-06, but we don't have a republican majority. Democrats and Unaffiliated voters together could defeat Howard Coble. The issue is finding the right candidate at the right time. I believe that we may have that in Jay Ovitorre. He's young and energetic, he is passionate about what he believes, and cares about the 6th district and North Carolina. As long as the race doesn't stay Greensboro-centric, I believe he has a chance of winning enough voters over.
Be the change you wish to see in the world. --Gandhi
I agree with this:
but he still needs max exposure from Greensboro-based media outlets, which (imo) focus too much on Greensboro issues and leave a whole bunch of their circulation area underreported.
We need to develop a list of all local papers in the district (with contact info) so we can start bugging them :) about doing articles on Jay.
Sounds like a plan.
n/t
Be the change you wish to see in the world. --Gandhi