REYNOLDS — An impassioned dispute over whether the Buncombe County Republican Party must follow the stricter North Carolina GOP Plan or Organization versus the freer Buncombe County GOP Plan of Organization — afer much verbal wrangling — was addressed May 20 by a narrow 18-16 vote of those in attendance on a motion by Ken Hawkins, sending the issue to the NCGOP’s Arbitration Committee, with an agreement among those present that whatever that panel decides on the matter is final.

The action followed two hours of angry or emotional outbursts by those accusing BCGOP Chair Jerry Green and the BCGOP Executive Board of executing a silent, nonviolent coup d’etat by unfairly imposing the NCGOP Plan of Organization on the BCGOP, stripping other party leaders and members of a vote on anything other than proposed expenditures exceeding $250. 

Green and the executive board remained calm and expressed conciliatory sentiments, but as the discussion heated up, apparently to no avail at one point, several attendees walked out en masse in apparent disgust.

The issue was addressed during a meeting that drew about 50 people to the conference room at Reynolds Volunteer Fire Department.

The first in a series of two stories

HENDERSONVILLE — A national threat is posed by Muslim jihadis working with Marxists, Chris Gaubatz told a gathering of about 50 members of the Asheville Tea Party and their guests on the afternoon of May 17 in Hendersonville’s City Operations Center.

 The address marked Gaubatz’s return to Western North Carolina after addressing similar topics in the area on Feb. 12 and 13, in Skyland and Hendersonville, respectively. His talk in Skyland, which the Daily Planet covered, prompted profuse  criticism of the newspaper for covering what Ibrahim Hooper dismissed as an “Islamaphobe.” Hooper is national communications director and spokesman for the Council of American-Islamic Relations.

Originally, Gaubatz also was scheduled to speak May 16 at Skyland Fire Department in Buncombe County, and the next day in Hendersonville, but Jane Bilello, chair of the ATP and ATPAC, said she decided to cancel the Skyland appearance and consolidate to just one talk — for those in Buncombe and Henderson counties — in Hendersonville. Gaubatz spoke in Haywood and Transylvia counties the next day and night.

In his Hendersonville address, Gaubatz spoke on “Experiences Undercover in the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas” and “Red-Green Axis: Exposing the Left Working With Jihadis to Undermine Our Nation” — and other topics.

Besides speaking, before and after his talks he sold and signed copies of  “Muslim Mafia: Inside the Secret Underworld That’s Conspiring to Islamize America,” a book written by U.S. investigations special agent Paul David Gaubatz, (Chris’ father) and investigative journalist and Hoover Institute fellow Paul Sperry. 

The book tells of Paul Gaubatz’s training of his son (Chris) to work undercover, posing as a Muslim convert, and tells of the evidence that Chris Gaubatz uncovered.

From Staff Reports

Once again, former U.S. undercover agent Chris Gaubatz, who returned to speak in the area in mid-May, was branded an “Islamaphobe” and “a hater” by Ibrahim Hooper, who is national communications director and spokesman for the Council of American-Islamic Relations, better known as CAIR. 

Asked for his response to some of Gaubatz’s assertions during his May 17 speech in Hendersonville, Hooper said in a March 26 telephone interview with the Daily Planet, “This is the guy who said, ‘Islam is evil.’ He has the right to be a bigot.”

Hooper, who is an American convert to Islam, noted that “there have been Muslim-majority nations for centuries,” where, he said, the religious minorities have lived in peace “for centuries,” just as there have been non-Muslim-majority countries, where Muslims have been allowed to live in peace “for centuries.”

He also contended that, in the Koran (the Islamic sacred book), “there is no compulsion for Muslims to re-establish the caliphate,” a political-religious state under the dominion of Muslims, contrary to Gaubatz’s assertions.

Regarding Gaubatz’s claims that there is a real threat of jihad against the United States (radical Muslims waging a holy war in the name of Islam), Hooper said, “It’s just making things up out of whole cloth.”

As for Gaubatz’s contention that CAIR is a front group for a Hamas organization, Hooper said, “If you accept his bizarre conspiracy theories, why am I talking to you now?”

He elaborated by noting that, if CAIR was part of Hamas, he would be in big — possibly fatal — trouble for speaking with its critics, or with news media seeking a response.

From Staff Reports

U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders fired up a gathering of his supporters during a midday rally May 17 at Salvage Station, a riverfront event space in Asheville’s River Arts District.

The Democrat presidential candidate addressed more than 2,000 people, castigating what he termed the hypocrisy of Republicans, while declaring his campaign to be one of love and optimism.

His Asheville speech marked his first public appearance in the state for his 2020 presidential bid. Asheville also was the first stop on his recent campaign swing through the Southeast. 

He is also the first Democratic candidate for president to visit the mountains during this campaign.

“Now, I was told coming to North Carolina wouldn’t make much sense. It was a Republican state. Doesn’t look like that today,” Sanders said, according to Asheville’s television station WLOS News 13.

“Salvage Station owner Danny McClinton said the initial maximum capacity was placed at 2,000 people but an approved amendment allowed the venue to increase that number to 3,500. He said more than 3,300 people were in attendance,” WLOS reported

“Western North Carolina is a place that has served Sanders well. He won the 2016 presidential primary, defeating Hillary Clinton with 62 percent of the vote. She earned 35 percent. Of the 80 precincts that make up Bucombe County, he won all but three, losing by 12, 21 and 53 votes in those contests,” WLOS noted.

The Vermont senator, who is officially an independent but caucuses with Democrats, called President Donald J. Trump the most dangerous president in modern history.

Sanders’ own campaign opposes what he called ugly anti-U.S. sentiments, such as racism and sexism, he said, as he explained how his administration will be based on the principle of justice for all.

Sanders criticized recent anti-abortion efforts by Republican legislatures in Georgia and Alabama, who, he contended, are “denying women the right to control their bodies.”