“And that’s it, there’s no check, there’s no verification that the information they gave them was valid, there’s no check to make sure that they are actually who they say they are,” – James Johnson, President of NCFIRE, protesting a Mexican Consulate event.

While there are exceptions to every rule, the absence of paper trails or verification for an organization strong on verifiable documentation is troubling to say the least. In fact NCFIRE has a form letter to send to employers that includes these threatening statements:

“The I.R.S. does not take kindly to employers avoiding employee withholding taxes. Penalties for willful failure to collect, truthfully account for and pay, the withheld income taxes and employee’s share of FICA, amount to $500 per unauthorized employee. … We certainly wouldn’t want to see any business negatively impacted by reporting them to I.C.E. and the I.R.S.”

NCFIRE’s own reporting to the IRS is somewhat ambiguous. NCFIRE was formed in 2007, and is located in Wade NC, in Cumberland County. A search of publicly accessible IRS Form 990 annual returns for non-profit organizations turns up no records for any variant of the name NCFIRE, North Carolinians For Immigration Reform & Enforcement, or the Employer Identification number stated on its website. The closest match is the unrelated “Wade Community Fire Department Inc”, a 501(c)4, the town’s volunteer fire service.

Claiming a membership of 6,000 NCFIRE produces a monthly “North Carolina Illegal Alien Crime Report”, a compilation of rap sheets from public sources for people with Hispanic and Muslim sounding names, “suspected illegal aliens”, without regard to actual immigration or citizenship status. The demonization of “other” is expanded in statements on the group’s website, which include:

• We support limiting our jobs and resources to the citizens of North Carolina
• End taxpayer funding of all North Carolina ethnic councils.
• Prohibit the use of all foreign ID cards for any taxpayer funded services or civic activities.
• Eliminate taxpayer funding to NC colleges and universities that allow illegal aliens to enroll.
• Mandate English as the official language of NC.
• Fed up with the abuse of the 14th Amendment (“Anchor Babies”) to circumvent citizenship laws?

During the past year several legislative hearings related to immigration and documentation of identity have taken place with little notice, with little indication of the opportunity for public comment, or with the purpose obscured by obtuse bill titles. Yet ALIPAC, NC LISTEN and NCFIRE can be found front and center, an indicator of unique communication with committee chairs or bill sponsors, while other stakeholders with opposing views are poorly represented.

Perhaps being an undocumented organization would make one eligible to hold forth on undocumented workers. The fact that NCFIRE has been given opportunities to address legislative committees at the NC General Assembly on issues of identity and eligibility, without transparent accountability as to its own credentials, is a testament to the 1st Amendment to the Constitution, but is a mockery of the 14th Amendment, in particular the Equal Protection Clause which reads:

“No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”

*References:

NCFIRE Website and Facebook Page:

Please Consider Your Support With A Contribution
Donations to NCFIRE are tax-deductible

Cumberland County Republican Women Website 9/13/11 James Johnson speaker:

NCFIRE is a separate 501(c)(3) non-profit organization

Pantano for Congress Website James Johnson statement:

NCFIRE is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and as such, we cannot endorse political candidates however, we strongly agree with Ilario Pantano’s stance against illegal immigration and against amnesty for illegal aliens.

Note:
NC LISTEN is an acronym for North Carolinians for Lowering Immigration to Save the Environment Now, a documented 501(c)3. ALIPAC is Americans for Legal Immigration PAC, operated as a Federal PAC by William Gheen a registered NC lobbyist.

As Rob Schofield said in an earlier post:

Disclaimer: Policy Watch is not responsible for any damage you may inflict upon your computer screen or any fragile items nearby as you watch/listen to this drivel.

Rand Paul’s idea to kill education agency would affect poor most

Programs on the chopping block would include Title I, which distributes funds to schools and districts with high numbers of low-income students; Pell Grants for low-income college students; and Head Start, an early childhood education program for lower-income children.

Dismantling the Department of Education also would be a herculean and politically unpopular task, said Frederick Hess, director of education policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative Washington think tank.

Since 1979 when Jimmy Carter signed the law creating the US Department of Education, conservatives, starting with Ronald Reagan, have been bent on abolishing the cabinet agency. For years abolition of the department was part of the Republican Party platform. President George H W Bush declined to implement this plank in his party’s platform. His son George W Bush, with the bipartisan collaboration of John Boehner and Ted Kennedy, actually expanded the role and size of the US Department of Education with the implementation of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001.

Nationally candidates like Rand Paul and Sharron Angle took flak for calling for abolition of the US Department of Education yet NC Republicans Sue Myrick, Walter Jones, Howard Coble, and Richard Burr are known to support abolition of the Department. Among Republican candidates in NC in the 2010 election Ashley Woolard, Bill Randall, and BJ Lawson all supported abolition of the agency. Mike Beitler, Libertarian candidate for US Senate, also supported abolition of the agency. All this despite little public appetite for elimination of the Department of Education.

“It’s not realistic. If there is any official in Obama’s cabinet who has gotten more praise from The Wall Street Journal and conservative corners it is the secretary of education,” Hess said of Arne Duncan. “Republicans have spoken relatively kindly about what’s being done with education.”

The burdens of compliance with federal law would not evaporate with elimination of the US Department of Education. If anything the agency helps facilitates compliance with federal law and provides associated funds. Eschewing federal funding might release the yoke of compliance with some federal law. Much of that funding targets low achievement and low income students and is sorely needed. Yet, John Tedesco thinks that abolition of the US Department of Education “would be great”.

In the past 10 years PPD has been awarded over $600,000,000 in federal government grants and contracts. Between 2006 and 2008 Cabarrus Community Health, of which Hartsell is the founder and Barnhart is the Director, received $1.9 million in federal grants. These benefits do not appear to constrain RightChange’s founders from railing against government spending.

Now Eshelman has teamed up with Durham attorney John W. Marin and Lumberton businessman Murchison “Bo” Biggs to create a North Carolina focused conservative attack machine called “Real Jobs NC, Inc”. Biggs is a veteran of the North Carolina Retail Merchants Association and a director of the NC FreeEnterprise Foundation.

There has been little visible activity since filing in May with both the IRS as a 527 political committee and NC Secretary of State as a non-profit corporation. Real Jobs NC has acquired some domain names and while the sites are apparently inactive, one domain is running a test site in a sub-folder*.

The principal office of the corporation Real Jobs NC, Inc is listed as 3901 Barrett Drive, Suite 202, Raleigh. While domain name registration for RealJobsNC.com and RealJobsNC.net are private, the domain name registration for RealJobsNC.org lists Calvin Kirven of Continental Communications as the registrant and admin with a mailing address of PO Box 20875, Raleigh NC 27619.

Continental Communications is a public relations and association management firm with an address at 3901 Barrett Drive, Suite 202, Raleigh and the same PO Box for mailing. The mailing address and the physical address are also those of the NC Landscape Contractor’s Registration Board of which Kirven is the Executive Director. It seems highly irregular that the offices of a State Board also house a political committee.

The test website of Real Jobs NC* provides some insight with rhetoric about tax burdens and free enterprise in NC. One link points to a poll targeting Representative Cullie Tarleton by Carolina Strategy Group, a political consulting firm started by Representative Barnhart, Republican consultants Paul Shumaker of Granite Falls, Mark Lisella of South Carolina, and Raleigh attorney/lobbyist Roger Knight. Barnhart is still listed as the group’s registered agent though an incomplete filing by Knight strikes Barnhart’s name and lists the address of Shumaker’s Raleigh office. In prior filings with the Ethics Commission Barnhart noted his connection to lobbyist Roger Knight but more recently has dropped any reference to Carolina Strategy Group.

In another curious filing in May Eshelman, Hartsell and Barnhart registered another NC corporation called RightChange.com II. The listed agent is Paula Hopper a Durham attorney/lobbyist. This is distinct from the entities RightChange.com, Inc. and RightChange.com Political Action Committee, Inc.

The Real Jobs NC site claims that:

“Government doesn’t create jobs – businesses do. If government purports to create a job – it only does it with money taken from individuals and businesses in the form of taxes.”

Perhaps after Fred Eshelman rings the NASDAQ bell PPD will magnanimously return the more than $600,000,000 received from the government so that we can create some more real jobs in NC and not off-shored to the 41 countries that PPD operates in.

*Update:
Since the original posting, the Real Jobs NC website has been password protected. In anticipation of this screen-shots of selected pages were saved:
    Home: Why Real Jobs NC?
    About
    Solving The Problem
    Donate

The video is split into four sections below. The fourth and final section of the documentary covers 1970′s and Jesse Helms through to present day school integration:

From Desegregation to Resegregation: 1969-2008 (part 2)

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Brown’s Promise Unfulfilled, 1954-1968

Click here to view the embedded video.

The Long Road to Brown, 1865-1954

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

On November 3rd, 2008, the day before Election Day, a 1/4 page ad ran in the Raleigh News & Observer obviously supporting Steve Troxler for NC Commissioner of Agriculture, paid for by The Truth Squad. The NC Commissioner of Agriculture election is a statewide race. No reports have ever been made to the State Board of Elections by The Truth Squad.

A report filed with the IRS shows that The Truth Squad took in $19,200 on late October 2008, most of it coming directly from the NC Growers Association ($12,800 10/29) and Carolina Farm Credit, ACA ($5,000 10/21). On 10/29, $14,919 was spent on newspaper ads “to help elect Steve Troxler for NC Commissioner of Agriculture”. (Full page ads in the Winston-Salem Journal and the Greensboro News-Record and 1/4 page ads in the Wilmington Star, Fayetteville Observer, Raleigh News & Observer and Durham Herald Sun). The ad walked right up to the line in election law separating information from vote solicitation. In portraying incumbent Troxler as a farmer and challenger Ansley as a lawyer the ad leaned right over that line, leaving no doubt as to whom you should vote for by saying “Ask a Farmer”.

In the Fourth Quarter of 2008 the NC Growers Association PAC reported to the SBOE initial cash on hand of just $1,827. It reported a 9/27 contribution of $1,000 to the campaign of Labor Commissioner Cherie Berry. It reported a subsequent 10/13 contribution of $2,000 to the campaign of Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler when it apparently only had $827 cash on hand. The PAC reported receiving $17,100 on 10/14 comprised of a total of 855 checks each being equal contributions of $20. Reports made by the NC Growers Association PAC show that no other contributions had been made to the PAC since Fall 2005.

It is unlikely that this late spending could influence either election. It is more likely that it was intended to curry favor with Commissioners who have responsibility and influence related to migrant agricultural labor in North Carolina. The contributions to the 527 are troubling because they demonstrate how easy it is to inject corporate cash into a state or local election. The PAC contributions are unusual because they are improbably numerous, identical in amount, type, date, and well below the threshold for reporting of names, occupations and employers and, because no other contributions were reported. Maybe money does grow on trees and is harvested on a single day.

The ad is a warning shot to the NC Congressional Delegation about Big Pharma jobs in NC. The superficially supportive but ambiguous message had enough code words surgically implanted in the body of the text to send a clear signal to Capitol Hill and the White House that these players oppose single payer and the public option.

What’s best for patients is what drives our business. That’s why we strongly support health care reform that provides access to affordable coverage for every American and keeps medical decisions in the hands of doctors and patients.
   :::::
Policies that provide incentives for innovation are essential for continued investment and job creation.

Not readily apparent from the ad is that it is part of a national astroturf effort. A fine print reference to archstoneconsulting.com provides a clue.  Archstone Consulting coordinates a national campaign called “We Work for Health” (WWFH), funded by PhRMA, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America.  This group has targeted 10 places with major biotech and pharma interests: Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia ,Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Washington.

We Work For Health, NC Coalition Partners are listed as:
* Jeff Brennan – VP Targacept
* Sue Cole – Former President of NC Chamber/ Former Chair of BioTech Center
* Jim Fain – Immediate past Secretary of Department of Commerce
* Bob Ingram – Former Chair/CEO GSK
* Allen Joines – Winston-Salem Mayor/Governor’s Economic Development Board
* Martin Lancaster – Immediate Past President NC Community College System
* Ken Lee – Hatteras Venture Partners
* Harold Martin – Senior VP for Academic Affairs, University of North Carolina
* Charles Sanders – Former Chairman, GSK
* Christy Shaeffer- Inspire Pharmaceuticals
* Sam Taylor – NC Bio
* Norris Tolson- BioTech Center

The WWFH campaign has been running nationwide quietly for several months.  The WWFH NC group’s kick-off was held April at GlaxoSmith Kline RTP headquarters.  The keynote speaker was Richard Burr who claimed that healthcare reform was bad for the drug industry and that effective cost-control by Medicare and Medicaid was to blame for escalating private healthcare costs.

Sophisticated online efforts are being coordinated by 720 Strategies, formerly known as E-Advocates, self-described as “an award-winning, grassroots advocacy and political persuasion firm, specializing in integrated communications campaigns”.  The Company manages about 400 domain names for various integrated online campaigns.  Michael Cornfield of 720 Strategies presents a set of 14 online webinar videos for “grassroots” training in influence of Congress specifically for the WWFH campaign which is also on Twitter.

WWFH Videos include Town Hall: Mastering Town Hall Meetings, Sculpting Facts: How to Carve Argument-Winning Points Out of Data, and most recent, The Time Has Come: Communicating With Congress During the Summer of Health Care Reform.

All of which makes one wonder about the involvement of the NC Biotechnology Center.  At a time when budget cuts are increasing the rolls of underinsured and uninsured people why would a state-funded organization be legitimately advocating against proposals to provide these people with a safety net?

That same year NC Realtors and Homebuilders fought tooth and nail at the Legislature to prevent counties from having a transfer tax option to pay for the infrastructure demanded by housing growth. Although unsuccessful at the Legislature in 2007 they have since spent millions to defeat transfer tax proposals at the polls in local referendums.

Proponents of the transfer tax argue that it relieves some of the burden of property tax by deferring it until a sale when cash flow is available, especially for existing homeowners on fixed incomes with over-inflated home values. Realtors and Homebuilders argued against it saying “Fight the Home Tax – It’s a Bad Idea”. Now faced with unsold inventories of speculatively built houses NC Homebuilders have turned to the Legislature for relief from “some of the burden of property tax by deferring it until a sale when cash flow is available.”

House Bill 852, “Defer Tax on Builders’ Inventory“, has sailed quietly through the House, 106 votes to 8, and through committees, and is calendered for a Senate vote Wednesday July 8th, with little opposition expected. In fiscal years 2010-11 and 2011-12 combined this bill is projected to have a negative effect on county and municipal revenues of $40-$45 million.

“A builder may defer the portion of tax imposed on real property that represents the increase in value of the property attributable solely to improvements resulting from the construction by the builder of a residence on the property.”

Homeowners will find no such relief and local governments will have to cut services or raise revenues to make up the $40-$45 million shortfall. Realtors and Homebuilders have argued that taxing the equity in homes is a bad idea but now they argue that “It’s a Good Idea” when it comes to builders who overbuilt in the boom years straining infrastructure and local revenue streams. The NC Homebuilders make a great case for the transfer tax.

Whether through ignorance, invective or indifference, Stam and the Christian Action League have been falsely equating sexual orientation and gender identity with sexual disorders or deviations and have perpetuated a myth originated by the American Family Association that incorrectly references and misquotes the DSM-IV-TR. The American Psychiatric Association would describe this as “irrational discrimination based on gender or sexual orientation.” The Christian Action League compounds the error by variously attributing the bogus “list” to the American Psychological Association and to the American Psychiatric Association, two separate professional organizations.

The DSM-IV-TR (DSM-IV Text Revision) describes sexual orientation as sexual attraction to males, sexual attraction to females, sexual attraction to both or, sexual attraction to neither. It does not describe sexual orientation as a mental disorder.

According to the DSM-IV-TR gender identity refers to an individual’s self perception as male or female. “The term gender identity … should be distinguished from the term sexual orientation.” The DSM-IV-TR does not describe gender identity as a mental disorder.

The School Violence Prevention Act, SB 526, would require local school administrative units in North Carolina to adopt policies prohibiting bullying or harassing behavior.

“Bullying or harassing behavior includes, but is not limited to, acts reasonably perceived as being motivated by any actual or perceived differentiating characteristic, such as race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, gender, socioeconomic status, academic status, gender identity, physical appearance, sexual orientation, or mental, physical, developmental, or sensory disability, or by association with a person who has or is perceived to have one or more of these characteristics.”

The sexual orientation and gender identity of a heterosexual male, with a self perception as male and sexually attracted to females, would be protected under this Act. Nobody would accuse Skip Stam of bestiality or necrophilia, except perhaps while flogging the dead horse that is, or should be, demonization, dehumanization and “irrational discrimination based on gender or sexual orientation.”

According to the American Psychological Association:

“Prejudice and discrimination against lesbian, gay, and bisexual people are reflected in the everyday stereotypes of members of these groups. These stereotypes persist even though they are not supported by evidence, and they are often used to excuse unequal treatment of lesbian, gay, and bisexual people.”

The American Family Association, has claimed the existence of “30 different sexual orientations” attributed to the American Psychiatric Association. This is patently false. An examination of the DSM-IV finds that there is no such enumeration of 30 sexual orientations and no description of sexual orientation per se as a mental disorder.

“The Hate Crime law, S.909 (and HR1913), will make 30 sexual orientations federally-protected. The American Psychiatric Association (APA) has published 30 such sexual orientations that, because of Congress’s refusal to define “sexual orientation,” will be protected under this legislation.
These 30 orientations are listed in the APA’s “Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders,” Fourth Edition, Text Revision (Washington: American Psychiatric Association, 2000), pp. 566-582 (DSM-IV), which is used by physicians, psychologists, social workers, nurses, and psychiatrists throughout the U.S. It is considered the dictionary of mental disorders.”

This false statement has been echoed by the Traditional Values Coalition an anti-gay organization with past connections to Jack Abramoff.

· Protecting 30 Bizarre “Sexual Orientations” And “Gender Identity” — Ever-Expanding Definitions
· Traditional Values Coalition on Sexual Orientation & DSM

· San Francisco Chronicle: ‘Lucky Louie’ throws the dice
· Washington Post on Jack Abramoff and Louis P. Sheldon of Traditional Values Coalition

These are the sources of the lies being perpetuated by Rep Paul Stam and the Christian Action League which have been debunked by FactCheck.org in the context of the Federal Hate Crimes Bill.

The American Psychological Association position is that

“Sexual orientation is an enduring emotional, romantic, sexual, or affectional attraction toward others. … Sexual orientation exists along a continuum that ranges from exclusive heterosexuality to exclusive homosexuality and includes various forms of bisexuality.”

· Sexual Orientation and Homosexuality
· Better Understanding of Sexual Orientation & Homosexuality

What Stam and the Christian Action League refer to are nowhere described in the DSM-IV-TR as “sexual orientations”. Rather they are “paraphilias” or sexual disorders or deviations that are independent of sexual orientation or gender identity. Notwithstanding the fact that these references are inapplicable, the DSM-IV-TR clearly states in introductory pages under a cautionary statement that the diagnostic criteria are offered as guidelines to enhance agreement among clinicians and investigators and that the inclusion of diagnostic criteria does not imply that a condition meets legal or other non-medical criteria and may not be wholly relevant to legal judgements.

The following is a chronology of documented references to the bogus multiple “sexual orientations” claims. Stam repeated the claims in a news conference May 26th and in committee.

Christian Action League:
Bill included categories of “sexual orientation,” “gender identification,” and “gender expression.”
Carrboro Housing Discrimination Bill Amended
posted on Friday, April 24th, 2009 at 10:32 pm
Rep. Paul Stam (R-Wake) liberally passed out a handout provided by the Christian Action League to Committee members that explained that the American Psychiatric Association names no less than thirty different “sexual orientations,” some of which are considered criminal activity.

Bullying Bill to be heard in House Education Committee on Thursday
posted on Tuesday, May 26th, 2009 at 10:44 pm
Senate Bill 526 would create a new protected class under North Carolina law for homosexuals, cross-dressers, and 29 other “sexual orientations” (as listed by the American Psychological Association) ranging from bestiality to heterosexuality to pedophilia. Many of these behaviors are illegal, yet the bill does not differentiate between these “sexual orientations.” Outlawing bullying motivated by illegal behaviors of the victim, tends to give those illegal behaviors legal sanction or approval.

House Committee Passes Anti-Bullying Bill Masquerading Advancement of Gay Rights through NC Schools
posted on Friday, May 29th, 2009 at 8:22 pm
Senate Bill 526 would create for the first time under North Carolina law specially protected classes for persons identifying as homosexuals, bisexuals, transgender, and 28 other “sexual orientations” ranging from pedophilia to bestiality. Even though many of the 30 “sexual orientations” identified by the American Psychological Association are illegal, Senate Bill 526 protects them all without any differentiation.

Download the Christian Action League’s insert for your church bulletin by clicking HERE Use this bulletin insert to get as many people as possible from your church to contact their NC House Representative.
posted on Friday, May 29th, 2009 at 8:22 pm
Senate Bill 526 would create a new protected class under North Carolina law for homosexuals, cross-dressers, and 29 other “sexual orientations” (as listed by the American Psychological Association) ranging from bestiality to heterosexuality to pedophilia. Many of these behaviors are illegal, yet the bill does not differentiate between these “sexual orientations.” Outlawing bullying motivated by illegal behaviors of the victim, tends to give those illegal behaviors legal sanction or approval.

Anti-Bullying Bill Continues to Pose Urgent Threat
posted on Friday, June 5th, 2009 at 6:29 pm
Senate Bill 526 poses as a policy that would protect school children from being bullied, but in fact is a means by which “sexual orientation” (which includes homosexuals, bisexuals, and 28 other “sexual orientations” ranging from pedophilia to bestiality) and “gender identity” (transsexuals) will become protected classes under North Carolina law.

Bullying Bill to Be Voted on Tuesday and Wednesday
posted on Monday, June 15th, 2009 at 9:24 pm
Sponsors of the Anti-bullying bill have staked the entire future of the anti-bullying bill on the inclusion of a clause enumerating special classes of victims of bullying, including “sexual orientation” and “gender identity.” These two terms define homosexuality, cross-dressing, and 29 other variations of “sexual orientations.”

Most recently the conservative Christian organization Called2Action issued this alert, linking back to the Christian Action League:
NC House trying to pass radical “Anti-Bullying” bill!
Called2Action alert:
Posing as a bill to end bullying, the Anti-Bullying bill would actually normalize homosexuality and cross-dressing in public schools
This “anti-bullying” bill is really about promoting sexual anarchy in our public schools and the normalization, if not outright promotion, of deviant sexual behavior. Don’t be fooled by the “Anti-Bullying” language – it is a Trojan Horse! “sexual orientation” and “gender identity.” These two terms define homosexuality, cross-dressing, and 29 other variations of “sexual orientations.”

Please take action against bullying and homophobia:

EqualityNC Action Alert:
NC House to Vote Monday on Anti-Bullying Bill

The NC House will debate and vote on SB 526, the School Violence Prevention Act during their session Monday night at 7:00 PM. The vote Monday night will make or break our effort to pass effective and inclusive anti-bullying protections, and it will be the toughest yet. Equality NC calls on our supporters to take action to shore up support for the bill.

More Links:
Prevent School Violence NC
EqualityNC
Equality NC Blog