Former Congressional candidate says Tillis likely next speaker

Carl Mumpower, an Asheville Republican who ran unsuccessfully for Congress against Democrat Health Shuler, has kept up his commentary on American and N.C. politics regularly -- and how he's attacking Republican Rep. Thom Tillis of Mecklenburg as a "RINO" (Republican In Name Only) although he also says he thinks Tillis is going to become the next speaker of the N.C. House of Representatives. Mumpower is a family psychologist whose site is called The Candid Conservative.

 Mumpower says Tillis first won his House seat with the help of former House Co-Speakers Jim Black, a Democrat, and Richard Morgan, a Republican, and defeating former Republican Rep. John Rhodes of Mecklenburg, an early critic of Black who was the first (or at least among the very first) to call for Black's resignation.

But the problem for many House Republicans is that they owe a lot to Tillis, a pro-business, no-nonsense lawmaker who quit his job in order to devote full time to raising money and campaigning for a Republican majority in the legislature. They won's the General Assembly for the first time in more than a century in large measure thanks to Tillis's organizational skills, his salesmanship and his hard work on the campaign trail. He differs from Rhodes in many respects, including his ability to get things done. If Tillis wins the speakership, it will be because of that, not how he got to Raleigh or with whose help. 

Here's what Mumpower is saying on his Podomatic podcast site:

North Carolina Republicans have just achieved  their first legislative majority in 100 years.  Following a long-standing Democrat tradition of institutional graft, tarheel elephants have a golden opportunity to return the state to sanity. 

Instead, there are early indications that power, popularity, and profit are, once again, moving to trump principle.  Charlotte Representative Thom Tillis has stepped into the batter's box for the Speaker of the House position - he's favored to win. 

Conservatives with a hand on NC's heart may remember this gentleman was plugged into office by Democrat Speaker Jim Black and a coalition of big pocket RINO's.  In a primary, Tillis helped rid future jailbird Black of his nemesis, Representative John Rhodes, a stalwart conservative with a courage button. 

It is telling that Tillis rose in the Republican ranks while an authentic conservative was discarded by the Party.  The fact that RINO Tillis is likely to win the seat of power, tells us even more about what we can expect from NC's new elephant majority...