A union-backed group in North Carolina has collected enough petitions to put an independent candidate on the November ballot to challenge incumbent Rep. Larry Kissell, a Democrat.
This is the second time the North Carolina Families First (NCFF) group has tried to ouster the moderate Mr. Kissell, citing in particular his vote against President Obama’s health care legislation.
The group - backed by the Service Employees International Union and the State Employees Association of North Carolina - failed to collect roughly 85,000 signatures last month to start a political party to challenge Mr. Kissell and Reps. Heath Shuler and Mike McIntyre, fellow Democrats who also voted against the health care reform bill. The three won their respective primaries this year.
“That the congressman is being attacked by the most strident and irrational forces on both the right and the left is proof-positive that he has steered a moderate, common-sense course,” campaign manager Christopher Schuler said.
Mr. Kissell is “standing with the people rather than with outside special-interest groups with millions of dollars to burn,” he said.
The group this time needed 16,929 signatures by Thursday night. State election officials reported that 18,190 were submitted by the deadline.
The race is one of a series in which restive labor unions have broken with the Democratic Party establishment to challenge incumbents. In Arkansas, union groups contributed heavily to Lt. Gov. Bill Halter’s unsuccessful bid to oust two-term Sen. Blanche Lincoln in a Democratic primary runoff last week.
The North Carolina race has gained the most attention because of the intense political infighting and the unusual strategy of seeking to form an entire new political party to voice liberal unhappiness.
The North Carolina dissidents are recruiting Wendell Fant, an Iraq war veteran and former Kissell staffer, to run for the seat. He has clashed with his ex-boss over the circumstances of his dismissal, amid charges he used his government computer and position when sending e-mails to track a personal claim for benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Mr. Kissell, a first-term congressman, sent a letter recently to the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct about the matter. The letter also said that Mr. Fant failed to report his side job as recruiter for a mortgage marketing company.
“I’m stung,” said Mr. Fant, who remains unsure about whether he will become a candidate. “He hurt me. I’m destroyed by this. He was not only a boss but a mentor.”
Mr. Fant said he was just checking on his own mortgage and the VA claims, but that he regrets his actions.
“I would have done it differently,” he said.”
The state Democratic Party has publicly opposed NCFF’s efforts, saying the group misled voters into signing the petition.
Meanwhile, Tim D’Annunzio and Harold Johnson are locked in a bitter runoff battle for the Republican nomination for the 8th District seat.
Mr. D’Annunzio, a favorite of local “tea party” activists, filed a defamation lawsuit June 7 against establishment-backed Mr. Johnson. The lawsuit claims that the former TV sportscaster made false statements related to TV and radio ads accusing him of a life of crime and drug use.
Republican Robin Hayes held the House seat for five terms before he lost to Mr. Kissell in 2008. The district is made up of counties east of Charlotte.
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