Fletcher Hartsell

Fletcher Hartsell, Andrew Brock, Jeff Barnhart, Bryan Holloway

Chris Fitzsimon today rightly calls out four North Carolina right-wing extremists, all elected officials in the General Assembly. In any sane world, these legislators would be embarrassed by their bizarre rhetoric, but unfortunately, sane would be the last word I'd used to describe their approach to public service.

State Senator Fletcher Hartsell accepted campaign contributions from billionaire David Murdock in excess of the $4,000 per election limit. In the 2008 election cycle Cabarrus Republican Hartsell received a $4,000 Murdock contribution 5/01/08, during the primary. Hartsell received another contribution of $4,000 from Murdock 10/17/08, during the general, apparently maxing out legal contributions.

However, Hartsell had also participated in a joint fundraising committee known as the Cabarrus-Rowan Leadership Celebration. The committee was shared by five candidates equally: Jeff Barnhart, Linda Johnson, Fred Steen, Bob Crumley and Fletcher Hartsell. Murdock contributed $4,000 to the joint fundraising committee 11/15/07. Of that $4,000 the amount of $800 is considered a contribution to Fletcher Hartsell by David Murdock during the primary.

For all of its flaws, North Carolina's REPS package does contain some critical elements that make us part of an enlightened coalition of states that have already brought about some very promising changes in the way our nation approaches the generation of energy. But there is a bill sponsored by Fletcher Hartsell that is on the General Assembly's Crossover list that could make our state's REPS package completely useless in the promotion of renewable energy, and it needs to be stopped. Note: I really want you to read this diary, so I'm going to be very brief. Enjoy it while you can. ;)

*Major edit*

It's been brought to my attention that I pointed towards the wrong parts of this legislation previously, to wit: The max 10% requirement I referenced was for coops and municipalities (as opposed to utilities), and that hadn't been modified/revised from the original version in this new bill.

State Senator Fletcher Hartsell and State Representative Jeff Barnhart, both Cabarrus County Republicans, last week set up a non-profit corporation called “Real Debate.org, Inc.”. Only Hartsell’s name appears on the corporate filing but Barnhart is listed on a parallel filing last week with the IRS establishing “Real Debate.org, Inc.” as a 527 Political Committee along with Wilmington millionaire Fred Eshelman.

Crossed from RTB @ Under The Dome

A legislative office created to examine the benefit of public programs was ready to give its report Thursday on the state's mental health services. Anyone could tell from the title "Compromised controls and lack of focus hampered implementation of enhanced mental health services" it wasn't full of compliments.

A chairman of the committee, Sen. Fletcher Hartsell of Concord, said the report was taken off the agenda because the committee didn't have time to talk about it.

Updated with contact information