Coble to retire from Congress in 2014

Credit: Quentin L. Richardson

US Rep. Howard Coble, announced today that he is retiring from Congress because of health reasons.

The 82-year-old Republican lawmaker has represented the 6th Congressional District, which covers the northern Piedmont including a large portion of Greensboro, since 1985.

Coble's announcement is likely to set up a breakneck race among Triad Republicans to replace him in next year's congressional primary. The veteran congressman said he's not endorsing any candidate as a replacement.

Former Guilford County Commissioner Billy Yow, Guilford County Sheriff BJ Barnes, Greensboro City Councilman Zack Matheny and former Forsyth County Republican Party Chairman Nathan Tabor are among the names getting tossed around as potential candidates.

And Greensboro Mayor Robbie Perkins, the last of dying breed of liberal, urban, business-minded Republicans, might be looking for a job after his defeat at the polls earlier this week. But a Perkins candidacy would undoubtedly run into the buzz-saw of tea party antagonism.

PHOTOS: Workers press Coble for immigration reform

Dozens of workers and immigrant allies rallied outside of US Congressman Howard Coble's office in Greensboro today, calling on him to support comprehensive immigration reform. The event — organized by Working America, the NC AFL-CIO, SEANC, Teamsters Local 391, Guilford County Association of Educations, Immigrant Rights Working Group of Guilford County and the Greensboro NAACP —began as a rally before the coalition delivered petitions to Coble's office.

Photos by Eric Ginsburg

Candidate profile: Howard Coble

I sat down with US Rep. Howard Coble and his chief of staff, Ed McDonald, this morning at the congressman’s office on North Elm Street in Greensboro.

From my experience as a reporter, Coble consistently offers 30 minutes of his undivided attention in response to interview requests. This morning, the 79-year-old congressman thanked me for an e-mail I sent to his chief of staff in February expressing concern following Coble’s fainting spell in High Point, and apologized for not recognizing me at business networking meeting a week ago in Greensboro. Part of the congressman’s style is assiduous attention to personal relationships, which extends to the press.

McDonald sat through the interview. He said he tries to make it a practice to be anywhere in which the congressman interacts with the press. Friendly and helpful as his boss, the chief of staff corroborates colorful anecdotes.

For the first time since winning the District 6 seat in 1984, Coble is facing a primary. This year, five Republicans are challenging the veteran lawmaker for the seat.

Following his fainting spell while delivering a speech to the High Point Rotary Club in February, Coble spent one night in the hospital, underwent a battery of tests and was released with a bill of good health. Coble told me his nephew, a veterinarian with a history of heart problems, reviewed the readings from his tests and said, “I would kill to have these numbers.”

Coble’s five Republican challengers share some several commonalities: a conservative outlook, a desire to restrain spending and cut taxes, and a pledge to show responsiveness to constituents. Those are all strong qualities in the Coble brand.

“About the only complaint they’ve had with me is the fact that I’ve been up there too long,” Coble said. “They’ve had no problem with my voting record.”

The congressman said several weeks ago a constituent came up to him and said that although he agreed with 85 percent of his votes he would not be voting for him this year.

“One word: Incumbent,” Coble said. “Well, there may an incumbent or two you’d like to keep around.”

The one legislative decision challenged by one of the conservative candidates in the race is Coble’s affirmative vote in favor of the Troubled Asset Relief Program to bail out the banks at the tail end of George W. Bush’s presidency in late 2008. Candidate Jon Mangin said he would not have voted for the program.

Coble and McDonald emphasized to me that at the time of the vote there was panic and uncertainty about whether the financial system would survive. Before the first vote — in which Coble voted no — the congressman said almost all his constituent calls were coming from people opposed to the bailout. Afterwards, as the stock market teetered, the majority of the callers favored taking action.

McDonald recalled the father of a former staffer screaming at him over the phone, questioning Coble’s judgment over his vote against the first bailout because his stock portfolio was “cratering.”

Coble added that the president of Elon University urged him to vote for the bailout because he wasn’t sure the university would be able to make payroll otherwise.

The congressman told me that if he had to do it again, he probably would make the same decision.

Coble told me he faults president Obama for pursuing healthcare reform instead of staking more political capital and energy on job creation.

“Our three priorities are jobs, deficit spending and reckless spending,” Coble said. The congressman is pessimistic about Republicans playing much role in setting policy until after the November election, when they hope to pick up seats if not take control of the House.

He said he is not all that vexed about the climate of partisanship in Washington.

“It is as bad as I’ve seen it,” he said. “In a system where there are two major parties, you expect partisanship on issues. You expect argument. The fact that there’s partisanship doesn’t concern me.”

Asked if he considers it a problem that government can become dysfunctional when partisanship goes too far, he allowed that it might be.

Coble said he believes Congress will have to tackle entitlement reform to keep Social Security and Medicare solvent by, at the very least, raising the retirement age and possibly reducing benefits. I asked him what he thought about President Bush’s failed initiative to privatize Social Security, including allowing citizens to invest retirement funds in the stock market.

“I was not averse to it then, and I’m not averse to it now,” Coble said. “Let each beneficiary, if they opt to do it, they assume that risk.”

While the president’s priorities are difficult to predict, Coble and McDonald speculated that Obama might try to push through cap and trade legislation to reduce carbon emissions and legislation to make it more easier for workers to unionize through a card-check process.

Coble’s opposition to both is firm. He voted against cap and trade last year, and he showed off a lapel pin given to him by the National Right to Work Association.

I asked Coble why he wants to serve another two years.

“I think we’ve represented the district fairly,” he said. “I still have the energy to be accessible to constituents. I go to practically every reception in Washington that involves District 6. I’ve had very little attrition on my staff, and so we’re very stable. I’d like to give it one more go.”

I followed up by asking what he wants to accomplish in the legislative process in the next two years.

He rattled off a handful of tasks. Among them are getting $300 million allocated to replace the Yadkin River Bridge on Interstate 85 between High Point and Charlotte, appropriating funds for offender reentry programs in the Second Chance Act, and shepherding a patent reform bill through the House once it clears the Senate.

Triad Elections '10

Starting the day with Howard Coble

I caught up with Rep. Howard Coble, the Republican who represents North Carolina's 6th Congressional District, at an 8 a.m. meeting with about a dozen people from a small business networking group at the State Farm Insurance office in northwest Greensboro.

The congressman obligingly responded to questions from the group, which included a couple professional photographers, folks in marketing and publishing ventures, a senior care business owner, a commercial real estate broker and a financial advisor. Most of their questions reflected national preoccupations: healthcare reform legislation, the breakdown in civility, the impact of the Tea Party movement on national politics, economic recovery and maintaining the solvency of entitlement programs.

One of the small business owners expressed the view that healthcare reform was needed, but the bill signed by President Obama undermines the good of reform by killing jobs. Another asked the congressman how he would design healthcare reform if it were in his hands.

"I would start all over," Coble said. "First of all, none of this ram-ram, 'you're gonna have it whether you like it or not.'.... From what my Republican colleagues have told me, it was a one-car, one-party funeral."

Several of the participants were concerned that the ugly tenor of some of the rhetoric from grassroots conservatives has discredited an otherwise sound message. Coble briefly discussed the Tea Party movement, which he described as "spirited" and "frustrated," but indicated he sees unaffiliated voters as a more formidable political force.

Coble is facing an unprecedented five challengers in the Republican primary this year. None has explicitly aligned themselves with the Tea Party movement, but all emphasize solid conservative credentials. Their campaign themes variously stress urgency, common sense and returning government to the control of the people.

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell has pledged an effort to "repeal and replace" the healthcare reform bill signed by Obama, but Coble counseled against unrealistic expectations. He predicted that no action will be taken until at least 2012, when Obama faces reelection. Like every other Republican member of the US House in the North Carolina delegation, Coble has urged NC Attorney General Roy Cooper to join a legal challenge against the healthcare bill on the grounds that it is unconstitutional. "As to whether they'll prevail," Coble said, "I don't know."

As usual, the congressman regaled his audience with folksy anecdotes. After one woman revealed that her husband had worked for Lorillard Tobbaco Co., Coble noted that he was a former user of Big Red chewing tobacco, "made by Lorillard — local product."

"I'm very high on Lorillard," Coble said, adding that he quit chewing tobacco after a tough conversation with his doctor. "He 'splained something to me."

A question about Greensboro's prospects prompted the congressman to go on at length about his friend and campaign treasurer, who also happens to be the city's mayor.

About Greensboro's outlook, Coble said, "I think favorable."

Then he noted that Mayor Bill Knight was mentioned in The New York Times.

"I was in the Coast Guard with Bill Knight," Coble said. "I've known Bill Knight for four decades.... I introduced him at the Natural Science Center. I said, 'During the time he was my accountant, I served not one day in jail.'"

The congressman's district schedule today included an 11 a.m. stop at the grand opening of the Precor manufacturing plant in Whitsett, and a string of appointments in Burlington, including lunch at Hursey's Barbecue, a 12:30 p.m. speech to an honors class at Walter M. Williams High School and a tour of the Firequip plant. The congressman will hold prescheduled appointments with constituents at his office in downtown Greensboro beginning at 3 p.m.

Coble receives NRA endorsement

Howard Coble, the incumbent candidate in US House District 6 who faces five primary challengers this year, has received the endorsement of the National Rifle Association Political Victory Fund.

Here's what Chris Cox, chairman of the outfit, says in a prepared statement:

While serving in the House and as a senior-ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, Congressman Coble has consistently supported the constitutional rights of law-abiding gun owners and sportsmen, and has demonstrated a strong commitment to the Second Amendment and our country’s rich hunting heritage. Because of his unwavering pro-gun support and his leadership role in advancing Second Amendment issues in Congress, Howard Coble earned an ‘A’ rating and endorsement from NRA-PVF.

And here's how the Coble campaign describes the congressman's track record on defending the rights of gun owners:

Rep. Coble voted for legislation enacted to prohibit gun confiscation during states of emergency and prevent bogus lawsuits aimed and bankrupting the firearms industry. He is also a cosponsor of the national Right-to-Carry reciprocity bill which would allow any person with a valid concealed firearm carrying license or permit, issued by a state, to carry a concealed firearm in any state. Rep. Coble helped restore self-defense rights in Washington, D.C. by voting for the D.C. Personal Protection Act, as well as signing the pro-gun congressional amicus brief to the Supreme Court in the historic Heller case. Most recently, he signed the pro-gun congressional amicus brief supporting the Second Amendment’s application to state and local governments in the McDonald v. City of Chicago case now before the Supreme Court. Finally, Rep. Coble cosponsored legislation to force reform at the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Triad Elections '10

Web-only scuttlebutt

Retired US marshal runs for sheriff
Democrat Harlon Costner, a retired US marshal, has announced he will challenge incumbent Republican BJ Barnes for the position of Guilford County sheriff. “I think it’s time to get some new leadership,” Costner said Monday. “I have some ideas about how the office should be run to save on the budget, and implement a training program for crisis intervention.” Costner indicated his approach to immigration enforcement will not markedly differ from that pursued by Barnes. “Once an inmate has been arrested and incarcerated, 287(g) would be a tool to identify whether that inmate is or is not an illegal alien,” he said. “I will not be assigning deputies to go out in the field and look for illegal aliens.” On his website, Costner says he will put more emphasis on inter-agency cooperation and community policing. The candidate appeared at a campaign event for Greensboro mayoral candidate Yvonne Johnson in September and said he will actively campaign between now and the primary next spring.

Triad representatives vote along party lines on healthcare legislation
Votes among the Triad delegation for the healthcare reform bill that passed the US House of Representatives, 220-215, on Nov. 7 broke down along party lines, with Democratic Reps. Brad Miller and Mel Watt voting for the legislation and Republican Reps. Howard Coble and Virginia Foxx casting votes against it. Watt said in a press release that final passage of the legislation would benefit 129,000 uninsured individuals in his district, which stretches from Greensboro to Charlotte. Speaking against the bill on the House floor, Coble said, “The majority of my constituents believe the United States has the best delivery of healthcare services. I concur. These same constituents are not averse to reform, but they fear the Pelosi healthcare plan will leave the gate wide open for introduction for overwhelming government involvement. I believe that fear is well founded.”

NC delegation weighs in on AIG bonuses

We're action packed this week, so some material prepared for print is getting bounced on to the blog. Posting for Keith T. Barber here....

In response to reports that employees of American International Group will be receiving $165 million in performance bonuses, members of North Carolina’s congressional delegation offered harsh criticism of the company’s actions. Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan issued a statement March 17 touching on the American public’s response to the failing financial services company using the $170 billion in government bailout money it received to reward its employees. “I share the public’s outrage at their taxpayer dollars being used in this manner. At a time when working families are struggling to make ends meet, this is atrocious use of our money,” Hagan said. A number of senators, including Hagan, demanded AIG give the money back. Rep. Brad Miller, the Democrat who represents North Carolina’s 13th Congressional District, joined Hagan’s call to hold AIG executives accountable. “It should be a condition of any future contract with taxpayer money to deny these kinds of bonuses,” Miller said. Rep. Howard Coble, the Republican who represents the 6th Congressional District, said the reason he opposed the second $350 billion payout from the Troubled Assets Relief Program was that it provided no guarantees that taxpayer money wouldn’t end up in schemes such as the bonus payouts issued by AIG.

Bratton's German teenage sex gaffe

Okay, so it was maybe not the best anecdote to set up her argument. And apparently it wasn’t entirely accurate.

“Right now, in Germany, they’re paying teenagers to have sex when they go to rock concerts to have sex so they can have more babies, okay, because they need more young people to be workers,” Dr. Teresa Sue Bratton, Democratic candidate for US House District 6, told an audience at Holy Trinity Episcopal Church during her Oct. 21 debate with Republican Rep. Howard Coble.

“We have a tremendous number of immigrants who are coming in and ready to work," she added. "I think we should make them documented and have them work." The statement was a response to a question from moderator David Olson about how to keep Social Security solvent.

The audience roared with laughter, but when Olson turned to Coble to ask if he wanted a rebuttal, the 77-year-old congressman demurred with a “no comment.”

At the end of the debate, NC Rep. John Blust, who is running unopposed, exercised his privilege to introduce himself as a candidate, and then added, “I just want to know where to find these concerts.”

Bratton told me today that after the debate she and her husband tried to track down the source for her anecdote, to no avail. A Google search turned up no references. She said the information was published in a newsmagazine some time ago, but “certainly not in the last several years.”

The article “mentioned that they were in Germany," she said. "I don’t know if ‘they’ was the German government or some other group. They were setting up tents for the teenagers to have a private area in which to hook up, but I don’t think they used that term. I don’t know what the reward was, whether it was money or they were giving away prizes.”

Bratton said she suspects the practice is not currently taking place; otherwise it would be widely reported.

In hindsight, she would have said something else.

“It was not relevant to the point I was making,” Bratton told me. “I should have said that Canada has forty or so embassies around the world trying to recruit people to come to Canada. It would have been a better choice. The point is that in Canada and Western Europe they have a much lower ratio of contributors to beneficiaries. In this country we are not having as much of a problem because of immigration.”

Coble family's partisanship issues

Republican incumbent Howard Coble (right), who represents North Carolina’s 6th Congressional District in the US House, debated Democratic challenger Teresa Sue Bratton today at a luncheon hosted by the League of Women Voters at Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in Greensboro.

Both candidates tried to make the case that they were comfortable reaching across the aisle by telling stories about political differences within their families.

“I gave the eulogy at my mama’s brother’s funeral at Coble’s Lutheran Church earlier this year," Coble recounted, "and I said to his son after we adjourned: ‘I believe your daddy voted for me reluctantly.’ He said, ‘Howard, I hate to tell you that, but he never voted for you.’”

NOTE: Video coming

UPDATE: OCT. 22, 8:07 a.m. Here's the video:


Howard Coble at Holy Trinity Episcopal Church from Jordan Green on Vimeo.

Democratic debate in NC 6

I had the honor of asking questions with my colleague, Robert Boyer of the Burlington Times-News, at the third debate between the primary candidates in North Carolina's congressional District 6 contest in Burlington on April 11.

It's shaking out to be an interesting contest, with the candidates fleshing out differences of tone and nuance, and sometimes staking out different positions on the issues. Still, in what is the most Republican leaning congressional district in the state, it's hard to imagine any of these candidates mounting a credible challenge to the congenial Republican incumbent, Rep. Howard Coble.

Boyer and I tried to nail them down on some specifics, and we were pretty satisfied with their responses. For the record, all three candidates — Teresa Sue Bratton, Johnny J. Carter and Jay Ovittore — say they would vote to cut off funding for the war in Iraq, and Carter and Ovittore oppose granting immunity to companies that cooperate with illegal warrantless wiretapping of American citizens. Bratton said, "I would not want to give them immunity unless somebody high in the Democratic Party, big, said this was warranted."

All three candidates expressed a distaste for belligerent posturing against Iran, with Carter taking the most emphatic stance: "I would not attack Iran under any circumstances."

Bratton and Ovittore said invading Afghanistan in 2001, in the wake of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, was the right thing to do, while Carter said that "the intelligence to stop 9-11 was there."

Ovittore concurred.

"We knew it was going to happen," he said. "The intelligence was there, but we dropped the ball because we had an inept and incompetent president."

Taking a cue from Sen. John McCain's widely publicized confusion about the respective roles of the Sunni and Shi'a sects of Islam, an audience member submitted a question about the difference between the two and which comprises the majority in Iraq. None of the three candidates were able to answer the question. For the record, it's the Shi'a Muslims who comprise the majority.

Ovittore attempted to demonstrate his understanding of the nuances in Middle Eastern politics, culture and religion. "The Lebanese people aren't Muslim in a majority," he said. "There's a large number of Christians."

In fact, the CIA World Factbook's entry for Lebanon states that the country is 59.7 percent Muslim, including members of the Shi'a, Sunni, Druze, Isma'ilite, Alawite and Nusrayri sects, although Maronite Christians make up a sizeable enough group that by formal agreement they are assured control of the presidency."

The young Ovittore and the homespun Carter took some jabs at each other, but their differences are as much a matter of style as substance.

"I would like to correct Mr. Carter," Ovittore said at one point. "It's not 'these people.' It's 'the people of Iraq.'"

In his rebuttal, Carter feigned ignorance of Ovittore's distinction and repeated the phrase "these people."

Ovittore called the Quran "a good read."

Carter riposted, "If you'll go to my website, I have passages of the Quran quoted, and you'll see that Islam is a violent religion."

A variance on what stance the United States should take with Venezuela's populist-leftist president, Hugo Chavez, also emerged.

"He has not done anything illegal," Bratton said. "He has sent money to Boston."

"For some countries, democracy might not be the best thing," Ovittore said. "It might not matter that much to them. For Chavez, it doesn't seem that it does."

Carter responded: "As far as the Latin American countries go, it should be diplomacy first, and if any of these countries make a move we should hit them with everything we've got. None of those countries are sophisticated enough to pose a threat to us."