Mumpower threatens to halt his campaign

GOP Congressional candidate Carl Mumpower says he plans to stop actively campaigning in the 11th District until the Republican Party unites behind the party’s core principles.

“Sometimes you need to turn over tables to get people’s attention,” Mumpower said Monday. “I have decided enough’s enough. I want to get people’s attention.”

Mumpower is running against freshman U.S. Rep. Heath Shuler, D-Waynesville, for the 11th District seat. He said he wants to hold Republican elected officials accountable for not adhering to the core principles of the Republican Party.

He e-mailed a letter to Republican leaders and precinct chairmen asking them to commit to a list of 10 principles, including individual rights, freedom, responsibility, equal opportunity, free enterprise and limited government. Mumpower said he will put his campaign on hold until at least half of the district’s 15 county chairmen support him and unite behind the party’s core principles.

“I am not actively campaigning in the Republican Party unless they get serious about our principles,” he said.

Mumpower planned to meet Monday night with GOP representatives of the 11th District. GOP officials said anyone who was not affiliated with the party would not be allowed into that meeting.

Steven Duncan, 11th Congressional District Republican chairman, said he does not believe Republicans object to the core principles. But he said Mumpower has not conveyed to Republicans in the district the best way to follow them.“He has a view and a vision on how he wants to apply these principles,” Duncan said. “We support them and need to figure out how they support us in our day-to-day lives.”

Asked how Republicans can support the principles, Mumpower said they could do something as simple as sending Sen. Elizabeth Dole a short e-mail criticizing her vote on a bill, Mumpower said. They do not have to make a public spectacle, he said.

Mumpower, an Asheville City councilman, said he believes the Republican Party has lost its way and does not practice the principles of smaller government and individual freedoms. He has battled local Republicans lately and called for the impeachment of President Bush for not enforcing immigration laws.

Duncan said many Republicans agree that the party has problems and needs to return to its principles. He said the party put itself on a moral platform but did not live up to the principles with recent scandals in Washington.

“There is a concern that the Republican Party is the Democrat Party with a different name,” Duncan said.

He said Republicans are willing to listen to Mumpower, but the candidate must understand his place within the party.

“It is not exactly his party,” Duncan said. “He is the nominee.” Henderson County Republican Party Chairman Robert Danos has disagreed with Mumpower in recent weeks, but said he supports Mumpower’s decision to stop campaigning. Danos said most Republicans in Henderson County support the core principles of the Republican Party.

“He is calling for the suspension of his campaign, which is a good thing, especially in the summer,” Danos said. “All he has asked us in Henderson County to do is commit to supporting our core principles ... I wouldn’t imagine Henderson County Republicans have a problem recommitting to these principles.”

The Shuler campaign greeted the news with glee. The congressman has been working to shore up his conservative credentials and plans to run an aggressive campaign in the fall. “Mr. Mumpower is entitled to run, or in this case, not run his campaign however he sees fit,” Shuler spokesman Andrew Whalen said in a press release. “Congressman Shuler remains focused on working for the families of Western North Carolina.”

Some Republicans greeted Mumpower’s announcement skeptically. Polk County Republican Party Chairman Cheryl Every was not aware that Mumpower was speaking at the 11th District meeting Monday night. Polk County Republicans have sparred with Mumpower over the Bush impeachment statement. The party banned him from the county’s Coon Dog Day parade float and canceled a speaking engagement he had planned for the Polk County Republican Women’s Club.

“I am not going to comment on Mr. Mumpower,” Every said. “Mr. Mumpower is going to run his own campaign, and we are going to run our campaign.”