A New Year's Update from Rachel Lea Hunter

January 19, 2005

Dear Friends and Voters:

Now that the holidays are through, its time to get back to business. I have some good news and some bad news to report.

On the good news front, Dr. Christina Jeffrey has advised me that the foundation is on track. It takes time to select the right people for board membership. However, Dr. Jeffrey has found an executive director and others to serve on the board. We anticipate that the foundation paperwork will soon be completed and that the foundation will be up and running. Progress has been made on founding the PAC as well. In fact, several people have approached me about becoming candidates and we are working on that goal.

I have had the pleasure of communicating with former Republican and Carteret County Commissioner Jack Dawsey. He has authored two outstanding works. For a total of $17.00, Mr. Dawsey will personally mail his 300-page 4-color paper-back, 21st Century, and his 24-page treatise, Religious & Political Culture, Self-Destructing? And, Mr. Dawsey will also kindly pay all costs of shipping/mailing.

Send $17.00 check to:
Jack Dawsey
209 Taylor-Notion Road
Cape Carteret , NC 28584

And now the bad news. Notwithstanding that the campaign is long over, a small but vocal faction of the NCGOP have continued their vitriolic attacks. I believe in free speech rights. However, with rights come responsibilities. As any first year law student knows, no one is allowed to yell "fire!" in a crowded theater. Nor is anyone privileged to defame another.

The attacks have accused me of committing crimes (harassment, stalking and money laundering), have accused me of mental illness, and they have impugned my fitness to practice law. None of these allegations have a shred of truth to them.

The people who would dare make such statements are what another commentator calls "red-state fascists." People who are red-state fascists can brook not even the slightest criticism of our commander in chief or his policies, even if someone honestly believes them to be in error. Red-state fascists are not only intolerant of any critique of our president, but some have even advocated death to the wayward soul who dared utter such heresy against him. I watched a program on the History Channel about Hitler the other evening. That is how the people viewed him.

The red-state fascists are in control for the moment. As Abraham Lincoln once said, "a house divided against itself cannot stand." If a more tolerant attitude is not adopted, if we continue to devour our young energetic people, if new leadership is not quickly brought to the fore, the NCGOP will continue to lose seats in our legislature, council of state and the courts and will continue to its downward spiral.

My final piece of news relates to my health. During the campaign, I suffered a loss of hearing in my right ear and had a ringing sensation therein. At first I and the doctors thought it was just tinnitus and that I would have to learn to live with it. However, the doctor has notified me that the cause is actually something that is called an acoustic neuroma. Although benign, it is a slow growing tumor that will cause death if left untreated. The treatment is surgery or radiology. I will be meeting specialists and will be out of commission for about a month following the surgery.

Having surgery, especially brain surgery, is no picnic. But I will devote the same energies to fighting this as I would any other legal or political battle and I will keep the viewers posted as to my progress.

Thank you to those who have given me many well-wishes during this trying time. I am always very appreciative of your support - whether it be personally in times like this or in restoring honesty and integrity to our political system by electing good candidates.

Very best wishes for a great and prosperous new year!

Best wishes,

Rachel Lea Hunter
Candidate for NC Supreme Court Associate Justice