IN CASE YOU MISSED CONNIE'S FORMER
PERSONAL REPUBLICAN LIFE FERRELL!

And Where Is Rachel's Get Well Card For Her Tumor Ferrell?
Raleigh N & O Comments Under the Dome?

Dear Friends and Voters,

It appears that opposition to my campaign has reached new lows. Not content with attacking me personally, they have now gone after members of my family.

As usual, the article is incorrect. What really irks me is that the day before the story ran, Connie and I sat down for an interview with Andrea Weigl. She is from Pittsburgh and so am I. She pretended to be nice and my buddy. We Pittsburgh girls have to stick together, right? She could have asked us for any comment. She did not. And Connie sent her a statement about the situation. Did she use his comments? Not too many.

Here is the story as well as I have been able to piece together. Connie was convicted long before I met him. What was done was done and I could only decide whether I wanted to have a relationship based on his current conduct. He was very upfront about the situation. After hearing the story, I am convinced that no real criminality occurred and that this was nothing more than a political witch hunt. Perhaps you will agree.

Connie has been many things in his life. He was a college and professional athlete. He worked for an oil company. He had his own businesses. In the course of his life, he became involved in politics. He was a candiate for many Republican offices in Marietta, Georgia. He was the man behind the "Contract with America" and Newt Gingrich's "Republican Revolution." He helped propel Jesse Ventura into the governor's mansion in Minnesota.

He also made many political enemies, especially after the Republican Revolution, which fizzled after the Republicans were elected to office and he witnessed the Republicans and New Gingrich turn on him. And so his enemies watched and waited for their chance. Oh, they had tried unsuccessfully to get him earlier, but their efforts had failed. But in 1994, his sister died of a brain aneurysm. Two months later, his wife also died of a brain aneurysm. While these losses would be enough to make one depressed, he was diagnosed not only with lymphoma but with stomach cancer. He had surgery, radiation and chemotherapy. I have undergone some of these procedures and can only imagine how hard the chemotherapy must be. It saps your will to eat. It saps your will to live. It makes you incredibly depressed.

Because of the medication and the deaths, it is an understatement to say that Connie was not himself. It was while he was at his weakest that his political enemies decided to strike. They called him after his wife's death and said "we are going to get you." And so they did.

A mutual friend who had talked to the district attorney admitted that he had trumped up charges. So much for justice. This was about settling a score and Connie had it coming. Connie was essentially accused of stealing from himself, which any first-year law student knows that you cannot do. You can steal from another, but not yourself. And anyone who has read "The Hunt for Confederate Gold" knows how easy it is for the government to accuse anyone of criminal misdoing.

An old expression is that "you can indict a ham sandwich." The jails are full of innocent people put in jail for all kinds of crimes which they did not commit. So don't say that it cannot happen in America. It can and does happen here every day.

The then district attorney made the charges and pulled other dirty tricks, like switching judges. Connie was tired and unable to effectively fight. He entered a plea of nolo contendere and was sentenced. But his enemies did not stop there. They even tried to assist him in dying in prison. You see, Connie has extreme vascular and heart problems. He can't even walk fifteen feet without beginning to limp. His nerves and vascular system are shot with disease and, one day, he will lose his right leg due to the poor circulation.

Unfortunately for his enemies, Connie proved to be a tough old bird. He did his time and when he got out, it was time for payback. The district attorney left town to pursue another calling and Connie helped elect a new district attorney who is still there. I've met him and talked with him and Connie. Now, would a district attorney who thought Connie was guilty do that? Newt Gingrich was suddenly gone as well. All his enemies were soon out of power.

Connie retired from politics and later was introduced to me. And he would still be retired; he has seen enough of the ugliness not to want to be involved any longer. But it was through my insistence that he got back into it, first helping another candidate and then me.

There were comments that Connie can put out yard signs but that he cannot vote. First, he is not putting out yard signs for me. I was told that a Supreme Court candidate cannot put signs on the roadway. Obviously, this rule is not followed by the candidates and most of them violate it. I also decided that it is meaningless to pay someone to drive up and down the highways of this state to put up road signs. What is meaningful is to see signs in yards and I see almost none. Besides, road signs do not win elections; that much was established in 2004 in the race between then Justice Parker and Judge John Tyson. Tyson had road signs all over; I did not see a single Parker sign. She trounced him handily. And yard signs only clutter the environment. That is why I do not have yard signs.

More importantly, Connie can vote. N.C. Gen. Stat. § 13-1 governs the restoration of the right to vote. It says that "[a]ny person convicted of a crime, whereby the rights of citizenship are forfeited, shall have such rights automatically restored upon the occurrence of any one of the following conditions: . . . (5) With regard to any person convicted of a crime in another state, the unconditional discharge of such person by the agency of that state having jurisdiction of such person."

As far as I know, Connie was discharged, unconditionally, by Georgia. Georgia allows people who have completed their sentence the right to vote. No application, no nothing. Its automatic. Connie can vote in Georgia. Connie can vote in North Carolina.

Voting is one of the few constitutional rights that we have left to exercise. However, it has been part of the Republican strategy to disqualify votes. But to disqualify votes prior to the election? It is unthinkable, yet we have it here in North Carolina as the attempt to disqualify Connie demonstrates.

To all those detractors like Ed Cone, John Hood, Doug Clark and others who say that Connie should "come clean" and talk to the media, I say no he could not. When the media will not ask you for comment and will not print what you have to say about it, why bother? And who are the "credible sources" that the N & O chose to rely on for their article? A person with a psychopathic obsession with me and my campaign and operative of the mafia-like NC GOP and old articles at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, a real authoritative source. Given the NC GOP's prior tactics in which they have tried to intimidate Connie by sending someone identified as "The Fixer" who fixes "problems" for the NC GOP, I can only conclude that such tactics are more apropos of Tony Soprano and other members of the Bada Bing Club than they are of a political party. "The Fixer" is acquainted with the obsessive person who does not appear to have a job in any field, let alone one in which he would be credible as it relates to Connie or the criminal justice system.

Regarding the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, this too is not exactly a credible source of information. I realized early in attending my father's trials that the trials I attended never quite matched up with accounts in the newspaper. This was confirmed later when I worked for the courts and handled high profile cases. I looked at the evidence and knew what happened. The newspaper got it wrong and blatantly so. They are so wrong about judicial/legal matters that I have come to conclude that they cannot be trusted on anything at all and I get my news from other sources. So it does not surprise me that the N & O chose to rely on half-truths printed by another paper. Repeating them does not make them any more true.

No, it is not sad that I receive so much publicity, most of which is negative and has been ginned up by the mainstream media. It is a sad day when this kind of sloth and ignorance passes for bona fide journalism. It is no wonder the voters are apathetic and news subscriptions are declining.

Rachel Lea Hunter