At his campaign kickoff, Pat McCrory called on his relatives for help.
"To the other members of my extended family, my brothers and sisters, and nieces and nephews, you'd better get ready to help Uncle Pat and Aunt Ann," he said.
As it turns out, one relative has been helping for a while.
McCrory's nephew, Patrick Sebastian, has posted a dozen comments on Under the Dome and The Charlotte Observer's Web site and even wrote a letter to the Greensboro News-Record on his uncle's behalf, as first noted by Tom Jensen on the Public Policy Polling blog.
The comments were made under the screen name packpat1, which is part of an e-mail address used by Sebastian and until recently was listed on his Facebook page.
Sebastian, a sophomore at East Carolina University, called for Republicans to recruit a candidate for governor with "good name ID," defended a poll by McCrory, called McCrory's mayoral rival Beverly Earle "corrupt" and another Republican gubernatorial candidate "a desperate man."
He also called Mike Easley a "do-nothing governor."
"Agree with that," said McCrory advisor Stan Campbell. He said that Sebastian doesn't start work until next week. He said any comments were not done officially for the McCrory campaign.
"He likes politics, and he's probably inclined to help his uncle," he said.
After the jump, Sebastian's comments on Dome.
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Comments made by packpat1 on Under the Dome:
June 16, 2007: On Gov. Mike Easley: "It would be great if the Observer reported on how Easley is a do nothing Governor. Does he ever come out of the Mansion or answer questions in public?"
June 27, 2007: In response to a commenter who said McCrory raised taxes: "Why lie like that? I know for a fact that there has only been one tax increase during his tenure and that is the increase that he was against. Get your facts strait."
June 27, 2007: In response to criticism of McCrory's run for mayor: "That's a little bit of a strange comment considering he's won 6 terms now."
Aug. 6, 2007: On the GOP candidates: "Have you guys ever considered that none of these candidates has a chance? The best thing we can do is recruit a real candidate that has good name ID."
Sept. 17, 2007: On state Rep. Beverly Earle: "How Corrupt is this lady!? Is this really the best that Charlotte can produce for the democrats?"
Dec. 13, 2007: On questions about a poll by McCrory: "The numbers were included."
Dec. 26, 2007: On a commenter calling McCrory a "diehard evangelical": "Can we have mandatory drug tests before people are allowed to post?"
Dec. 26, 2007: On a post about the pros and cons of McCrory's campaign: "Apparently the people of North Carolina disagree with you and are behind McCrory. He leads both Perdue and Moore in a brand new Rasmussenreports.com poll. Isn't it funny that they didn't even waste their time polling the other repubican candidates?"
Jan. 4, 2008: On McCrory's donations to other Republicans: "McCrory and Orr do not have millions to just give all over the place. McCrory will not buy the governor's mansion."
Jan. 16, 2008: On a flap over a spelling mistake in McCrory's announcement: "Is this really the best "news" you can get? We have a Governor that has hid in the mansion for 8 years and refused to talk to the press and ya'll are talking about a spelling error. I did not see a print article on Perdue's spelling mistake like the McCrory article today. You people really need to get over this. It was a mistake."
Jan. 17, 2008: On Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob Orr: "This is a desperate man that is in last place. He has gone on the attack and needs to go ahead and just drop out if he doesn't want a run-off."
Jan. 23, 2008: He attacked a poll showing Democratic candidates beating McCrory for having sampled more Democrats than Republicans. He later deleted the comment.
Comments
Re: Lending a hand to Uncle Pat
January 25, 2008 - 6:24am — FFC1304So glad we have a GOP candidate this strong for CHANGE in NC!!!
Unless Barbara Howe runs again, McCrory is the guy to LEAD NC out of the oppressive abyss caused by 4 decades of democrackkk oppression, manipulation and CORRUPTION!!!
Re: Lending a hand to Uncle Pat
January 25, 2008 - 1:23am — ncpoliI'm not sure how they define "working for", Ryan, but he was sitting about 3 rows behind you at the WRAL debate with the other McCrory staffers.
Oh for crying out loud
January 24, 2008 - 9:46pm — Isaac136Oh sure, it's kind of sweet that widdle nephew wants to stick up for his unkie-unk. But as one who grew up in a political household, and as one who was, at a young age, (and still is at a considerably older age) passionate about politics, I had then and have held to this day a belief that advocacy and ethics are not incompatible.
I, too, thought (and to this day think) highly of my own relative-who-was-in-and-running-for-office, but I didn't lose sight of the example he set for honesty and integrity. He would have been ashamed of me had I NOT disclosed my identity when I wrote an opinion piece, so it wasn't something I could consider.
It's interesting how low standards have fallen these days.
I wasn't willing then -- so many, many years ago, and I'm not willing now to say that it doesn't matter that you model what you would expect your hero (whether cousin or sister or brother or uncle/aunt/mother/father) to exhibit were he/she given the privilege of serving the public interest.
No, I have no sympathy for the little jerk who didn't think disclosure was relevant. Hope his uncle didn't set the example of disregard for honesty that his family member has demonstrated.
Re: Lending a hand to Uncle Pat
January 24, 2008 - 5:49pm — deepthroatHe is still a very tactful and passionate kid, and you've gotta give him props for going out on a limb for his Uncle. I underestimated the Mayor, especially his sincerity and moderate positions he has taken over the years and presents for the future..he adds integrity and authenticity to the Republican race, which clearly is lacking in the erroneous, divisive, and unfounded Fred Smith campaign; and even more so in the inexperience, paradoxical, false front which the Graham camp is trying to create and make us believe -- I read somehwere today that he met with the Mullah's in Iran, and was able to persuade them to keep their price per barrell of oil at $90 for a year, without considering the mechanisms of the free market, while also securing the guarantee of spendthrift commodities brokers and speculators in America to not trade oil on the open markets -- all for just North Carolina -- but, he was unable to spend enough of his own money on commercials to persuade the North Carolina legislature from rolling back the gas tax 2 cents when it had already been capped..however, in his mind, that was victory!-??? Yet it could go on and on...lets just make sure to stop the hypocritical tyrant Bev Perdue and keep her out of power.
Re: Lending a hand to Uncle Pat
January 24, 2008 - 4:54pm — calI agree. It's not likely that he was actively trying to hide his identity (and maybe the assumption that he was is why he's getting so much attention). The simple fact is that he made an accusation this morning that was met with a firm and effective comeback. Tough luck, but not a big deal.
Besides, lets put it in context. It's not as if he's writing anonymous opinion columns in the New York Times or the Wall Street Journal. He was simply commenting on a blog. Not exactly a medium always held to the highest standards of political discourse.
Re: Lending a hand to Uncle Pat
January 24, 2008 - 3:30pm — MeckDeckRTB -- Actually Packpat1 was active over at Meck Deck last fall as well, where it fairly quickly became obvious he was a relative, likely a niece/nephew/cousin.
This drew little interest then, but like I said, in a statewide race, the standards are a little different.
Let's not skewer the kid for being vocal, he was not and presume is not, on staff. If going overboard defending Uncle Pat is the most reckless thing he's ever done, he's got several notches of sane on me.
JAT
Re: Lending a hand to Uncle Pat
January 24, 2008 - 2:15pm — hayek66Did he find the dog?