A Ham Horton Story
When someone you respected passes on, a good story is always in order. Here's a good Ham Horton story.
The convention of the Fifth Congressional District GOP was held one year while the controversy over the proposed Major League baseball stadium was in high gear. Ham was selected to be the chairman of the convention that year.
I had drafted a resolution in opposition to the stadium based on the government funding of it. It was nothing more than corporate welfare intended the line the pockets of a few area developers and businessmen. Mark McDaniel was the NC Senator from Winston-Salem who was backing the legislation to get state and local funding for it and to establish a stadium authority and a tax. Ham Horton was also opposed to the stadium authority and the tax.
The resolutions committee for the convention had been given the heads up about potential resolutions and they played fast and loose with the convention rules. They sent the guidelines for submission out less than 24 hours before the deadline expired. They also only sent it to county chairmen. Our chairman was in favor of the stadium and he knew about my plan for a resolution. Needless to say, I never saw the guidelines or knew when the deadline had passed.
I took my resolution to Ham and he read it and liked it. He said he couldn't do anything about the rules, but he did have leeway in the agenda. He then pulled off a parliamentary trick that was pretty brilliant. He told the convention that a late resolution had come in and that he wanted the convention to vote on whether it should be accepted into the agenda or not, he then took a chairman's prerogative and said he wanted the resolution read to the convention. I read it, and Ham conducted the vote on whether to allow it into the agenda. Of course the issue failed miserably since the NC05 leadership was heavily in favor of the stadium. But it didn't matter, the resolution was read and I looked right into Mark McDaniel's face while I read it. I think at that point he knew his little quest was doomed. Even though the measure failed, it didn't fail by a landslide and he was publicly held accountable in front of the whole party organization. From that point on, he knew it wasn't a just kook fringe who opposed his little plan.
McDaniel got creamed in the next election, by the way.
The convention of the Fifth Congressional District GOP was held one year while the controversy over the proposed Major League baseball stadium was in high gear. Ham was selected to be the chairman of the convention that year.
I had drafted a resolution in opposition to the stadium based on the government funding of it. It was nothing more than corporate welfare intended the line the pockets of a few area developers and businessmen. Mark McDaniel was the NC Senator from Winston-Salem who was backing the legislation to get state and local funding for it and to establish a stadium authority and a tax. Ham Horton was also opposed to the stadium authority and the tax.
The resolutions committee for the convention had been given the heads up about potential resolutions and they played fast and loose with the convention rules. They sent the guidelines for submission out less than 24 hours before the deadline expired. They also only sent it to county chairmen. Our chairman was in favor of the stadium and he knew about my plan for a resolution. Needless to say, I never saw the guidelines or knew when the deadline had passed.
I took my resolution to Ham and he read it and liked it. He said he couldn't do anything about the rules, but he did have leeway in the agenda. He then pulled off a parliamentary trick that was pretty brilliant. He told the convention that a late resolution had come in and that he wanted the convention to vote on whether it should be accepted into the agenda or not, he then took a chairman's prerogative and said he wanted the resolution read to the convention. I read it, and Ham conducted the vote on whether to allow it into the agenda. Of course the issue failed miserably since the NC05 leadership was heavily in favor of the stadium. But it didn't matter, the resolution was read and I looked right into Mark McDaniel's face while I read it. I think at that point he knew his little quest was doomed. Even though the measure failed, it didn't fail by a landslide and he was publicly held accountable in front of the whole party organization. From that point on, he knew it wasn't a just kook fringe who opposed his little plan.
McDaniel got creamed in the next election, by the way.
posted by Anonymous | 11:45 AM
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