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D'Annunzio campaign loses adviser
Veteran strategist Jack Hawke cited the GOP candidate's blog as one reason for his departure
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Published: March 10, 2010
CHARLOTTE - Jack Hawke, a veteran political consultant and former N.C. Republican Party chair, did something last week he said he hadn't done in 45 years -- left a campaign.
Hawke was a top adviser to Tim D'Annunzio, one of six Republicans running for the 8th District congressional seat held by Democrat Larry Kissell.
Hawke said he parted ways in part over D'Annunzio's posts on a blog called "Christ's War," which combines politics with Biblical references and end-times theology. Hawke said he advised the candidate to take it down after a February Observer story quoted passages from it.
It disappeared from public view for a while but then reappeared. Another news story about the blog ran Thursday in Raleigh's News & Observer.
"He took it down, told me it was down and down to stay," said Hawke, who advised former Gov. Jim Martin and gubernatorial candidate Pat McCrory. "Next I knew it was in the N&O telling me it was back up. ... I don't think any candidate should get up at 3 or 4 in the morning, sit down in front of a computer and pour your heart out. It's just not a smart thing to do."
Hawke says the two "mutually parted ways." D'Annunzio spokeswoman Lauren Slepian said, "No one was fired, and no one quit."
"The change was initiated by Tim, but agreed to by Jack, that Tim would take full control over future strategy," she said in an e-mail.
"Jack is still an informal advisor. ... We're taking his advice on a new TV ad that we'll have up on the air by Monday."
Only four congressional candidates in the country have put more of their own money into their races than D'Annunzio, a Hoke County businessman who has invested at least $553,000 into his. His own polls show he has a 2-1 edge over his nearest primary opponent.
In the "Christ's War" blog reported last week, D'Annunzio laid out what he called a "four-year plan for the revitalization of the US Federal Government."
"Abolish the Departments of Education, Health and Human Services, Agriculture, Energy, Labor, Housing and Urban Development, Interior, Transportation, Treasury, and Home Land Security," he wrote.
"Any duties remaining that are Constitutional should be rolled into other Departments. Social Security and Medicare should be...given to the control of the states....A private safety net system should be encouraged for those who fall through any possible cracks in this system. (Church)."
Combined with the more conventional stands of D'Annunzio's TV ads, Hawke said, such posts send voters confusing messages.
"Right now people are looking for somebody to solve the jobs problem, they're looking to someone to control spending and worried about the next generation," Hawke said. "They have issues that they want solved on the national level. It's not just 'I'm against the entire federal government.' ... The message was on the verge of getting muddled."
Tension at convention
On Saturday, D'Annunzio got into a flap with officials at the Cumberland County Republican Convention in Fayetteville.
During a forum, candidates drew cards with random questions. When rival Lou Huddleston of Fayetteville was asked if he supports eliminating federal agencies, he replied without mentioning D'Annunzio.
When D'Annunzio tried to respond, organizers told him according to their ground rules, he couldn't. Party chair Suzanne Rucker took his microphone. He walked off the stage.
On his blog, D'Annunzio said the forum was "put together to enable the home town candidate to attack me while not giving me any opportunity to respond with the truth."
He called the unidentified questioner an "attacker ... typical for these types of destroyers."
Huddleston issued a news release about the incident on Tuesday.
"The manner in which we handle challenges and disagreements on the campaign trail foreshadows how we'll represent you in Congress," he said. "Eighth District families deserve a leader who's capable of maintaining an even temperament and the constructive mindset necessary to get things done."
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