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Representative Morgan? |
The elected members of our State House are called
“representatives”; the reason for this is obvious, they
are elected to represent their constituents.
Representative Richard Morgan is one of the most
powerful members of the House. Morgan’s power to affect
legislation in favor of his constituents is without peer
among Republicans. As such, one would expect his
constituents to be among the best represented in North
Carolina. Unfortunately, for the residence of Pinewild,
this in not the case.
Pinewild is a small community near Pinehurst, the famous
golf and retirement mecca. Pinewild is a self sufficient
community, independent of Pinehurst for everything but
(federal) postal service. Like so many communities in
our state, Pinewild is being threatened with forcible
annexation by its larger, neighboring village.
Pinehurst’s annexation of Pinewild would offer nothing
to Pinewild’s residents save higher taxes. Pinewild’s
tax burden would more than triple! For this reason, the
residents of Pinewild are nearly unanimous in their
opposition to annexation by Pinehurst.
In his last campaign, Rep. Morgan won by a mere 254
votes. Of those votes, 152 can be attributed to the very
politically active community of Pinewild. Reason would
dictate that when the people of Pinewild took their
nearly unanimous complaint to Representative Morgan, he
would act quickly on their concerns. However, reason and
Rep. Morgan have never been close companions.
The following is a letter sent to Rep. Morgan by a
designated resident of Pinewild, and Morgan’s response:
Dear Mr. Morgan:
You are now aware that a formal association of Pinewild
residents has been formed to aggressively resist
annexation and we NEED your support. You are also aware
that Pinewild residents were instrumental in your
surviving the last primary challenge. In addition, you
are aware that your associate recently lost an election
to an individual who ran on an anti annexation platform.
The help which we seek is not unreasonable; to have the
legislature act on the bills to defer annexation until a
study can be conducted.
Should you not help us, your chances of winning the next
primary are extremely slim. It would be unfortunate for
your political career to end because of your
unwillingness to help us.
Don Schneider
13 Linton Court
Pinehurst, NC 28374
Dear Mr. Schneider,
I acknowledge receipt of your most recent email.
You should know that I do not take kindly to your
repeated threats. You should also know that the
legislation you seek is unreasonable.
Sincerely,
Richard T. Morgan
Speaker Pro Tempore
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