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by Cliff Clark

General Manager/Editor

cclark@civitasmedia.com

Ashe County Republicans broke bread at Shatley Springs on Saturday to hear from their leaders, a candidate for the U.S. Senate and recognize one of their own for his efforts to build the party.

“This person has been a leader in our get out the vote effort, especially in the last year’s election,” said Ashe County GOP member Tom Pope, when speaking to the assembled group of over 30 party members and leaders, when he announced Ed McClearen was being presented with the Lois Bare Award, given annually to recognize outstanding service to the party.

“It takes a special person to do the hard work needed,” said Pope just prior to announcing McClearen as the recipient for 2013

McClearen, when accepting the award, thanked the assembled group.

Before the announcement of the Bare Award, U.S. Congresswoman Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) and N.C. House Rep. Jonathan Jordan spoke briefly to the party faithful.

“The House is doing its work and the Senate isn’t doing anything,” said Foxx to nods of support from the audience.

She also said that because of the political impasse currently between the U.S. Senate and U.S. House, she doesn’t even bother to read bills that originate in the Senate.

“There is just no use reading them,” said Foxx.

She also explained the recent Farm Bill, which was the subject of intense debate over the last week in Washington.

She acknowledged the House had failed to pass the bill and said Democratic representatives, who had initially supported the GOP bill, pulled their support in the minutes before the final votes were casts.

Foxx said the bill proposed significant reforms to the program, including spending cuts for the food stamp program, also known as SNAP, or the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

She added, however, there was group of legislators that would like to have SNAP removed from the farm bill.

“A lot of us would like to see the two divided,” said Foxx.

She also said she had successfully included three amendments to the failed bill. One would prohibit any able-bodied person from receiving SNAP benefits, another would have required drug testing for those applying for SNAP benefits, and another would have required SNAP recipients to perform at least 20 hours of community assistance work each week.

In closing, Foxx said, “We’ll continue to do our jobs; half in investigations and half in legislation,” mentioning the current investigation of the Internal Revenue Service’s targeting for closer scrutiny applications from 501-c3 groups seeking tax exempt status that appeared to be “Tea Party” related, and the investigation of the White House’s response to the assassination of the U.S. Ambassador in Benghazi, Libya.

Jordan then offered an overview of what has been happening in Raleigh during the legislative session.

He explained the decision made by the legislature and the governor to turn down the Medicaid expansion offered by the federal government that would have offered approximately 500,000 of the state’s poor health care coverage.

Comparing Medicaid to a ship and the significant drain it has on the state’s finances, Jordan said, “The ship is leaking. If we added 500,000, the whole boat will sink.”

He also explained the changes in the unemployment benefits program offered to the state’s jobless and why the decision was made to reduce the amount of time the jobless can receive benefits, the decrease in weekly benefits and the increases state businesses will see in unemployment insurance.

Jordan said North Carolina owed the federal government over $2.5 billion for its assistance with paying jobless benefits during the recession, which needed to be paid back, and the changes in the program were needed to help attract new jobs to the state.

He also said the bill he crafted to allow hospital security officers to detain patients without fear of a lawsuit had been adopted, with Wilkes and Cumberland Counties being included in the legislation.

And finally, Jordan said the House had approved his bill to rescind the state’s Constitutional Convention Clause, which drew applause from the group.

The guest speaker at the luncheon was Dr. Greg Brannon, a Cary OB-GYN, who is running for U.S. Senate.

Brannon, a strict Constitutionalist, and a pro-Second Amendment, pro-life and family values candidate, said the U.S. should go back to the principles written by the country’s founders in the original documents.

“We now have the rule of men, not the rule of law,” said Brannon.

Party Chairman Mary Desautels closed the luncheon with an appeal for help financing the local party and getting the message out.

“Take the message back to your pastor. Any pastor can have a candidate speak in a church,” said Desautels, who also asked every Republican who voted in the last election to donate at least $1 to the party.