Vernon Robinson

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Vernon Ibrahim Robinson is a 1977 graduate of the United States Air Force Academy and is currently an American politician in the Winston-Salem, North Carolina area, who, in two high-profile Congressional races, has been attacked for running controversial campaigns.

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[edit] Politics and public service

Robinson's numerous campaigns for office have included runs for North Carolina Superintendent of Public Instruction (1996), state Senate (1998), state House of Representatives (2002), U.S. Congress (2004, 5th District, NC), Chair of the NC Republican Party (2005), and U.S. Congress (2006, 13th District, NC). He served two terms on Winston-Salem's City Council as one of only two Republicans. In 2005 he was defeated by Democrat Molly Leight, garnering 922 votes against her 1,665. Criticism mounting up to his loss included his 2004 placement of a 1-ton Ten Commandments and Bill of Rights monument at City Hall (which had to be removed with city money), his poor attendance record, a campaign flier which some felt implied Hispanics were criminals, and a sense that he cared more about running for other offices than about serving the people of Winston Salem. Robinson congratulated his opponent and spoke of his service as a councilmember. "I'm proud that I was sort of a watchdog on the council," he said.[1]

According to a November 1, 2005 Winston Salem Journal article, of the 15 public safety committee meetings held during the preceding 2 years, Robinson missed seven, even though he was the committee's vice chair. During the same time period, Robinson also missed 20 of the 22 meetings of the public works committee, of which he was a member.

[edit] 2004 congressional race

Vernon Robinson was a candidate in the 2004 primary for the Republican nomination for North Carolina's 5th congressional district. He placed first in the July 20 primary before losing a runoff in August; the seat was being vacated by Richard Burr.

During the campaign, the Winston-Salem Journal, in an editorial criticizing Robinson, declared: "Jesse Helms is back! And this time, he's black." The Journal was attempting to chastise Robinson by comparing him to the very conservative ex-U.S. Senator, Jesse Helms. This editorial actually encouraged conservative support to rally around Robinson. Moreover, Robinson's campaign adopted the quote as a campaign slogan.

His 2004 campaign highlighted several issues, especially illegal immigration. In fact, his campaign really began a year earlier when he was the keynote speaker at an anti-illegal-alien rally in front of the Mexican consulate in Raleigh. His campaign, once underway, included one radio advertisement that was temporarily removed from radio stations due to concerns regarding Federal Election Commission and Federal Communications Commission regulations. The advertisement ended with a message in Spanish which translates to "Yo, gringo! This episode of 'The Twilight Zone' was paid for by Robinson for Congress." The radio station, WSJS, was concerned that the FEC and/or FCC might take issue with the non-English disclaimer, as the rest of the ad was in English. To avoid possibly being construed as biased, WSJS pulled all ads for the 5th District Primary.[2] After Robinson decided to change the disclaimer to be in English with the above text, WSJS restored the modified ad, and with it, all 5th District ads. The guideline with which WSJS was concerned required the organization paying for a political advertisement to be disclosed. In defending his ad, Robinson said, according to the Winston-Salem Journal, "I think there might be a debate about 'paid for' (being understood), but 'Robinson for Congreso' is clear."[3]

Robinson takes a socially conservative stance on a number of other issues. He campaigned at gun shows in the 5th District. Robinson frequently charged his primary opponents as being big tax-raisers, homosexual rights supporters, felons, possibly exaggerating the truth of their records. Although many prominent Republicans initially endorsed his candidacy, one, Jack Kemp, withdrew his endorsement as the bitter primary fight ensued.

In an eight-way primary for the Republican nomination, Robinson pulled 24% of the vote, finishing first and ahead of well-funded candidates but falling short of the 40% threshold required to avoid a runoff. Therefore, in August, Robinson faced off against second-place primary finisher Virginia Foxx, who also was a social conservative (yet Robinson compared her to Hillary Clinton). He polled 45% against Foxx. Foxx went on to win the general election over Democrat Jim Harrell, Jr..

[edit] 2006 congressional race

In early 2006, Robinson announced he would again seek to become a member of the Congressional delegation from North Carolina. He sought to run against Congressman Mel Watt in the heavily Democratic 12th Congressional District. Although he does not live in the 12th, his children go to school in the 12th's portion of Winston-Salem.

On February 28, the last day to file for office in North Carolina, Robinson withdrew as a candidate in the 12 District and filed to run in the more competitive 13th District, against incumbent Congressman Brad Miller. The 13th doesn't include any part of Winston-Salem; while members of the House are not required to live in the district they represent, it has become a strong convention that they do so. Robinson defended his candidacy in this district by saying he had several donors from the 13th in 2004 and that he was motivated by a desire to defeat Miller. Winning 63% of the vote, Robinson won a May 2 primary against two relatively unknown candidates.

Robinson's campaign featured:

  • immigration issues, including a radio ad that features mariachi music and states "If Miller had his way, America would be nothing but one big fiesta for illegal aliens and homosexuals."[4]
  • his opponent's personal life, alleging that Congressman Miller was a homosexual because he married somewhat late in life and has no children. Miller had to explain that his wife was unable to conceive due to a hysterectomy she had to undergo prior to their marriage.[5]
  • challenges to Miller's priorities, accusing him of "deny[ing] our soldiers the body armor they need" and "instead of spending money on sickle-cell research", voting to spend "money to study the sex lives of Vietnamese prostitutes in San Francisco"; FactCheck "found the ad misleading on several counts."[6]
  • a soundbite from Bill Cosby in an ad called a "lesson in tough love" that ends with the assertion that "the biggest problem facing blacks today isn't slavery or racism, it's the destruction of the family; the answer isn't racial quotas or a government handout, it's personal responsibility"[7]

On November 1, 2006, Robinson addressed the North Carolina State University College Republicans, and is reported to have iterated, among other things, that multicultural acceptance was a "stupid notion," that Spanish speakers had no place in the United States, and that "the lives and suffering of foreigners" weren't worth "one drop of American blood."

On November 7, 2006, Robinson was defeated by Democrat Brad Miller in the race for North Carolina's Thirteenth Congressional District. Robinson garnered 36% of the votes to Miller's 64%. Robinson subsequently announced that he would not seek elected office ever again[citation needed].

[edit] References

  1. ^  "WSJS SUSPENDS ELECTION AD SPOTS; SPANISH DISCLAIMER PROMPTS TEMPORARY HALT OF POLITICAL ADS." Winston-Salem Journal (Winston-Salem, NC) (June 1, 2004): B2.
  2. ^  "ROBINSON RADIO AD REVISED BEFORE GOING BACK ON AIR; WSJS DECIDED ORIGINAL SPOT DID NOT MEET FEDERAL CAMPAIGN REGULATIONS." Winston-Salem Journal (Winston-Salem, NC) (June 2, 2004): B1.
  3. ^  "Leight beats Robinson: Control of South Ward will shift to Democrats" November 9, 2005, By Bertrand M. Gutierrez, Winston-Salem Journal. (accessed June 15, 2006)
  4. ^ http://www.newsobserver.com/630/story/445032.html
  5. ^ http://factcheck.org/article442.html
  6. ^ Bill Cosby Radio Ad (in MP3 format), from the Radio and TV ads section of the Robinson website
  7. ^ Brad Miller's Mariachi Party ad (in Flash format), from the Radio and TV ads section of the Robinson website

[edit] External links