Harnett Dispatch

Lewis Bell

Former Harnett County GOP Vice-Chair Goes Back To Democratic Party Citing racism, sexism, obfuscation and hypocrisy, former Vice Chairman of the Harnett County GOP Lewis Bell announced Wednesday (2/13/13) that he has changed his official party affiliation back to Democratic after 21 years of hard work for the Republican Party. “I didn’t leave the GOP,” Mr. Bell said. “The GOP left me.” Mr. Bell said that he made his decision to switch back to the party in which he was raised after a series of events convinced him that the Republican Party had changed for the worse to the point where he could no longer follow the ideology or support its agenda. Mr. Bell said that he left the Democratic Party in 1992 after witnessing the Clarence Thomas confirmation hearings. “I left because I felt the hearings amounted to a high-tech lynching of a black conservative – I felt the Democrats should’ve supported Thomas because he was a professional and a good man for the job, instead they threw him under the bus because blacks were considered the standard of the Democratic party and he was stealing the Democrats’ thunder by showing up for the conservatives.” Mr. Bell said that he initially began considering his decision to leave the Republican party after a special call meeting of members of the the Harnett County GOP on December 6, 2012, called by Republican party Chairman Dan Moody under the guise of discussing the recent election results. Mr. Bell said that at that meeting several attendees “accused him of not towing the party line by not actively supporting the entire ticket, which is partially true. I worked for one candidate only, the one that hired me – Nicolle Phair – Candidate for District Court Judge.” Financial records show that he did monetarily support several GOP candidates, including Ronald Rabin for NC State Senate, Bill Morris for Harnett County Board of Education and Mr. Moody himself in his campaign for Clerk of Superior Court, as well as having donated money to the Harnett County Republican party for its headquarters operations. Mr. Bell said that he had been in the practice of regularly attending Executive Board meetings and events even though he was no longer a committee or voting member or officer. He stated that to his knowledge this was never a problem in the past. However, this meeting quickly turned into a series of provocations and accusations against him by certain individuals, led by Mr. Moody. Mr. Bell said that later during the meeting, the Second Vice Chair, Erica Galleon, stated that Mr. Bell’s refusal to tow the party line had caused Republican Angus Strickland to lose to Democrat Beatrice Hill in the 2010 Harnett County Commission race in a predominantly African-American district. “That’s giving a lot of credit to one person,” Mr. Bell laughingly said. At this point Chairman Moody said that he would entertain a motion from the group that Mr. Bell be asked not to attend any further GOP board meetings. Mr. Bell stated that the comment that bothered him the most came from Chairman Moody, who was quoted as saying of the newly re-elected President Barack Obama “I’m surprised somebody hasn’t killed him yet.” Mr. Bell said that at that point in the meeting someone did speak up and say “we shouldn’t be talking about this.” Mr. Bell stated that “for my own safety as well as the safety of others, I decided that my best option was to wish them well and politely leave.” He also said that he believes that President Obama has been vilified, both locally and nationally, more than any other president in his lifetime. When asked why, he answered, “Because he’s half white. Because he wants to help the most vulnerable in our society and I think that is his most admirable trait.” When asked what prompted the accusations in the meeting, Mr. Bell stated that he had confronted GOP Chairman Danny Moody on the last day of early voting at the polling site in Erwin on November 3, 2012 in the presence of the voting public and other witnesses, questioning as to why he had made the decision to have the poll workers pre-mark the Republican sample ballot in favor of incumbent Henry Willis for District Court Judge, who was running against Nicolle Phair, when it had previously been agreed that since both candidates were members of the Harnett County GOP, the party would not favor one over the other. “It was brought to my attention that the Campbell College Republicans, as well as others, including elected officials and candidates that the pre-marked ballots were being handed out. When I inquired as to why this was being done, I was directed to speak with Mr. Moody regarding the matter. I simply asked a question as to why this was being done, based on the previous party agreement and due to the fact that the Democratic party had also decided to remain neutral in the Judge’s races. Mr. Moody’s response was that there had been an ‘Executive Committee’ meeting called during which the decision to support Mr. Willis was made.” Mr. Bell said his disillusionment with the Republican Party first began when President Barack Obama won his first term. “I looked at the rallying cry of the entire party – It was anti-Obama, repeal Obamacare, questions regarding his birth and citizenship, and racially-charged comments such as ‘shucking and jiving’. Who wants to support any political party whose primary agenda is to make sure that a newly elected President only serves one term, rather than focusing on the issues which are truly important to the American public? I did support the GOP candidates in the 2008 election, in which Barack Obama won his first bid for the Presidency, but after the election I kept quiet and watched. There was a lot of racially motivated animosity.” Mr. Bell said what followed was several years of accumulated comments from party members which disparaged the President, women, and minorities in general. “He has been referred to by leaders in the GOP as ‘The Food Stamp President’. Of the 47% of Americans receiving the‘entitlements’ which Governor Romney spoke of, most of the Medicaid money goes to the elderly and disabled for healthcare, as I can attest to due to the nature of my business. It also includes people receiving other forms of government-sponsored assistance such as Medicare, Social Security, VA Benefits, and military retirement benefits as well.” Mr. Bell said misconceptions abound regarding the “so-called drain of welfare on our society, yet only one percent of our population is actually dependent upon welfare. “If we’ve got all these poor people draining the system why aren’t they getting rich and moving to the Cayman Islands? I’ll tell you why– there’s not that many poor people receiving welfare benefits and they don’t get enough money to support the standard of living that the conservatives want you to believe. There are more kinds of welfare than the folks living in subsidized housing,” Mr. Bell said. “What about the billions in farm subsidy welfare and corporate welfare? Compared to that amount the money collected by single mothers living in the projects is a mere drop in the bucket.” As proof Mr. Bell provided data from the EWG Farm Subsidies United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) websitehttp://farm.ewg.org/top_recips.php?fips=37085&progcode=totalfarm&regionname=Harnett. The site lists 1995-2011 Harnett County recipients of $44,625,000. A disclaimer at the bottom of the page states that the actual subsidies paid to North Carolinian farmers may actually be much higher since the data is not “transparent” and some numbers were just not available at the time the list was made. “Therefore, it is not known exactly how much in subsidies wealthy farm owners are receiving,” Mr. Bell said. “You hear about the unwed mothers who get food stamps, but once they and their children eat the food that money is gone; however, the farm owners get paid to not plant one particular crop, so they plant something else and after they sell the crop they still have the land. Can you see which form of welfare would be costing taxpayers the most money? But you only hear about the mothers. That’s a promoted misconception.” Mr. Bell said another thing that contributed to his loss of faith in the Republican Party on a national level was what he saw as a lack of respect for women as evidenced by their attitude towards abortion. “I am not pro-abortion,” he said. “But through the ills of our society pregnancy can come from rape and incest, sometimes involving young teen and pre-teen girls. I cannot condone what GOP Missouri Senator Todd Akin and Indiana Senate Candidate Richard Mourdock stated during the presidential election. “There is no medical evidence that after a ‘legitimate’ rape the female body can ‘shut down’ to prevent an unwanted pregnancy and becoming pregnant as a result of rape is not God’s will.” Then at the State level there was the open-mike slip when Majority Leader Paul Stam basically called fellow Republican Rep. David Lewis of Harnett County a “great obfuscator”. To quote Mr. Stam: “On one point, I only want David Lewis to talk. The talk about redistricting and this thing in the budget is extremely sensitive to the other people not in this room. No one but David talk. David can obfuscate more than anybody I know.” “When I heard that statement (which can be heard on YouTube)it further increased my disillusionment with the North Carolina Republican party,” Mr. Bell said. “Do you know what an obfuscator is? Webster’s Dictionary defines an obfuscator as one who darkens or makes the truth obscure. Now, is that something that you want to be said of any elected official? Redistricting is important. Harnett County wouldn’t even have a predominately African-American District 1 if the Federal government hadn’t come down in the mid-eighties and drawn in that district after a lawsuit was filed by the black community.” Mr. Bell, who has campaigned for many conservatives, including Don Davis, David Funderburk, Larry Walker, Gary House, Bryan Avery, Judge James Etheridge, and most recently Nicolle Phair, said he realizes that good and bad exists in both of the major parties, but for the son of the late Virginia M. Scott who started VMS Home Oxygen, turning Democrat is like returning home. “My mother would be happy with my decision,” Mr. Bell said. “The Democratic party welcomes everyone – I’m excited to be joining the party that elected the first black President of the United States and one day I expect this party will elect the first female President. I’m ready to get to work – one positive result of my being a registered Democrat is that now my wife and I can watch the election returns in the same room.” Mr. Bell said that he will not lose any true friends over his recent political move. He cites Republican Don Davis as a mentor and longtime friend and Harnett County Commissioner Gary House as a close friend as well. “I haven’t told anyone yet, but feel that they will always be my friends. The people who know me know that I am Lewis and that I follow my beliefs, rather than following a pre-set agenda. You can say that I was Lincoln Republican. I admire the principles mentioned in his speeches that all men are created equal and that a house divided against itself cannot stand. I love this country and this state. I may not always do what is expected or anticipated, but I’ll do what I think is the right thing and stand behind my beliefs, regardless of my party affiliation. I am an activist, and I work hard for the things I believe in.”

Theresa Oudeh Harnett County Democratic Chairman” said that we welcome Mr. Bell to the party because we are the party of the people and no matter your race, religion or background we accept all who embrace the ideology of the Democratic Party”

things I believe in.”