Somebody should go to jail for this

Make sure that journalists who cover the General Assembly stay camped out on the second floor to report every day on the number of hangers-on outside the Speaker's office, and apparent violations of the obscure rules that were trotted out yesterday.

I haven't been there often, but have stopped by a few times when I was in Raleigh on business otherwise...I never had any problem visiting with Liston Ramsey or Charlie Beall or John Snow or Joe Sam Queen or Ray Rapp or Phil Haire...wherever their offices were located. And no Capitol Police ever stopped me or questioned me.

Republican elected official doing what Republican elected officials to best: nothing of value.

If these goof-offs were working in the private sector, they'd be toast.

Selective enforcement:

When hypocrisy in using the power of the state becomes worthy of a lawsuit

As one of the organizers of yesterday's event and a Legislative Building veteran who has been trodding the halls over there for two decades, I had never once heard of this purported rule.

Frankly, as to why no one went to look for a friendly lawmaker to invite us to stay, all I can say is that no one thought of it. Things were happening pretty fast and we had a very strong impression that the police had their orders.

Having said this, the objective of the event was to make Tillis aware of our presence--i.e. that people were watching and bearing witness to his actions because of the violation of trust that occurred last month.

The funny thing is that if Tillis and his cronies had even a modicum of common sense and weren't so lost in the right-wing echo chamber, they could manage/defuse such situtations without breaking a sweat. They continue to be remarkably tin-eared on multiple levels.

Rob Schofield
NC Policy Watch

I had friends who were there and they were really afraid. They thought they wre going to be thrown in jail and they weren't doing anything wrong.

I posted this link, with the following comment, on WFMY/Digtriad's Facebook wall this morning. Let's see if they pick up the ball and run with it or pull an Asheboro Courier-Tribune move and delete it. I'm thinking somewhere in the middle and they simply ignore it.

"Hey Digtriad, check out this video of NC House Speaker Thom Tillis caught in a double standard. It seems progressive citizens are not allowed to visit the General Assembly, but Tea Party members get a pass for the very same thing. You guys are doing a great job covering the shenanigans happening down the road in Candor, but this story affects even more citizens of our state. Keep the pressure on and help keep them all honest. Thanks!"