From: "John M. Blust" 
Date: Wed, 3 Mar 2004 16:03:25 -0500
Subject: Fw: Stating the Obvious

From Rep. John M. Blust, Joint Republican Caucus Leader

Sometimes, something can be so simple and obvious that it can be overlooked.
In such instances it can be useful to state the obvious.

House Co-Speaker Richard Morgan has explained that he had to make his
Co-Speakership deal with Democrat Speaker Jim Black because Reps. George
Holmes, Leo Daughtry, Ed McMahan and others were about to make their own
deal with under which Black would be sole Speaker and Holmes would be the
Speaker Pro Tem. Morgan told the Southern Pines Pilot he acted to "save the
Republican gavel."

If there were a better deal for Black than Morgan's deal, Black would have
accepted that better deal and turned down Morgan's deal!!  That has to be
absolutely obvious to anyone who considers this matter.  If Holmes, Daughtry
and others offered to sell out to Black, Black would have accepted and would
have been elected as the sole Speaker of the House as he had been the
previous two terms.  Anyone who believes Morgan’s story that he acted to
help save the Republican gavel must believe Black is stupid!

I challenge anyone who supports Morgan to explain why Jim Black, being of
sound mind, would have turned down the great deal he was alleged to have
been offered by the Holmes group in favor of the deal he was offered by
Morgan!

Please distribute this e-mail as widely as possible and let's all listen as
the Morgan supporters explain why Black accepted the lesser of two deals.
If there is no explanation forthcoming, then the truth will be obvious to
everyone! And if the particular claim by Morgan that he had to act to save
the Republican gavel is false, doesn't it logically follow that the rest of
Morgan's explanations are also false?

If Morgan is the one protecting Republican interests on redistricting,
perhaps he and his supporters can also explain why Morgan has joined Senate
President Pro Tem Marc Basnight and House Speaker Jim Black, (who clearly
demonstrated their antipathy toward Republicans in the two gerrymandered
plans they authored that have already been found to be unconstitutional by
the courts) in suing the Republicans over the plans Morgan, Black and
Basnight passed during Thanksgiving week of 2003!  Do Morgan loyalists
really maintain that Morgan, Basnight and Black are looking out for
Republicans more than state Republican Chairman Ferrell Blount, former
chairman and gubernatorial candidate Bill Cobey, Senate Minority leader
and gubernatorial candidate Patrick Ballentine, Republican stalwart Art
Pope and others?

I have some ocean front property in the mountains I will sell to anyone who
will publicly say they believe the Morgan story line!