Sunday, March 20, 2016

Mike Causey, the Harold Stassen of North Carolina: Tan, rested, and ready for another campaign.

If there were a political book of truths then it would certainly include this one: 

If you run for an office more than once and lose twice for that same office, then you're done with that office.
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What about if you've run for the same office four times and lost four times?  (Not to mention a bid for Congress and for the state legislature, losing both of those other campaigns as well?)

Mike Causey perhaps should be the photo in the dictionary beside the phrase "perennial candidate."  In fact, he's included as one of many examples of "perennial candidate" on Wikipedia.

Thinking that Mike Causey had finally gotten the signal from the continuous rejection by voters during his six prior campaigns for office, this blog went into hibernation after the 2012 election campaign.

Little did anyone know that Mike Causey would be back.

And this time he's running for the same Insurance Commissioner office while holding a full-time, paying state job awarded him by the Governor as a thank-you consolation prize. 

By the way, during his 2016 primary race two other Republicans competitors challenged him.  One of those competitors started asking whether Mike Causey's latest campaign runs afoul of the federal Hatch Act because of Causey's current state employment with the Department of Transportation.  I don't know if it does and I'm not saying that it does or not, but the perception is not good for ol' Mike ... His campaign finance problems in 2012 were swept under the rug by the new Republican board of elections, and now he recently spent six months or more campaigning for office while on the state dime in an agency that receives significant funding from the federal government and he'll be campaigning another seven more months while on the state payroll as well.  It's also noteworthy that he's now in charge of Adopt-a-Highway signage along state roads ... Will he be putting up Causey for Insurance Commissioner signs along the way?  Surely he wouldn't do that. (If someone else doesn't discuss these and related issues with Mike Causey's background and platform, then I'd be shocked.)

For now, scroll back to the posts from 2012 and refresh your recollections about perennial candidate Mike Causey.

The Harold Stassen of North Carolina is back.

Sincerely,

Trust but Verify