GOP mega-donor backs eastern NC Rep. Jones’ primary foe

The No. 2 Republican mega-donor in the country has again waded into politics in eastern North Carolina, where a spirited rematch is unfolding between a longtime congressman and a challenger nearly half his age.

Paul Singer, a New York-based hedge fund manager, has put his money behind challenger Taylor Griffin – one of U.S. Rep. Walter Jones’ primary challengers who came close to forcing the seasoned House member into a runoff two years ago. Singer is the second-largest Republican donor so far in the 2016 election cycle with his contributions to GOP and conservative candidates, groups and committees totaling more than $11.3 million, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

Jones, from Farmville, is seeking an 11th term during a tough political climate for incumbents.

A third candidate, Phil Law, a Marine Corps veteran from Jacksonville, also threatens to pull votes away from Jones in the June 7 primary. But Law lags badly behind in fundraising – a necessity for political newcomers to raise their name recognition.

Both Law and Griffin have ran strong ground games in North Carolina’s 3rd Congressional District, knocking on doors, attending community events and calling likely Republican voters.

Singer’s money and influence has helped even the playing field for Griffin’s bid against Jones. A big-time donor to groups like the conservative Club for Growth and those who advocate for immigration reforms, Singer also supported Sen. Marco Rubio’s presidential campaign before the Florida politician dropped out.

Singer has his own political action committee – the American Unity PAC – which backs Republican candidates who support same-sex marriage and other LGBT rights. The PAC has called for the repeal of North Carolina’s House Bill 2, which critics say is discriminatory for not allowing transgender people to use public bathrooms that match their gender identity. Supporters say HB2 is necessary to protect privacy in restrooms like those in government buildings and schools.

Singer’s money and donations from his business associates and family members total more than 15 percent of the $248,000 Griffin had raised through May 18, public campaign finance records show. Singer’s pro-LGBT rights PAC did not donate money to Griffin’s campaign.

Griffin, from New Bern, N.C., supports HB2 and says gender identity should not be made a protected class in federal nondiscrimination laws. He told McClatchy this week that he’s never met Singer and doesn’t know why the investment guru is supporting his campaign. Singer also donated to Griffin’s failed effort to unseat Jones in 2014.

“You’d have to ask him,” Griffin said of the donations, adding that he and Singer have the same views on U.S. foreign policy related to Israel, an area he says Jones has been “tepid” in.

The winner of the Republican primary will face one of two Democrats, David Allan Hurst or Ernest T. Reeves, in November.

Candidates split on Dodd-Frank regulations

Griffin has never before held elected office but he isn’t new to Washington, D.C., politics. He was a regional spokesman for President George W. Bush, worked on Arizona Sen. John McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign and started his own D.C. public relations and lobbying firm before moving back to New Bern.

Griffin also served as a U.S. Treasury spokesman – a gig that’s helped him rake in campaign donations from the banking industry.

Those ties have left Griffin vulnerable to attacks from Jones’ campaign. Jones says Griffin is “part of the establishment” and gets money from Wall Street and Washington lobbyists – both groups Jones has annoyed in recent years with votes for increased financial sector regulations and calls for sweeping campaign finance reform.

“We have to cast a wide net,” Griffin has said about fundraising for his campaign.

Much of Griffin’s campaign donations have come from outside North Carolina which he says shows how frustrated other Republicans are with Jones’ occasional breaks from the GOP during key votes in Congress.

Jones is the only House Republican still in office who supported stiffer financial industry regulations through the 2010 law known as Dodd-Frank. Griffin says the broad regulations are burdensome on small banks and hamper the ability of investors to keep capital moving through the economy.

Law also has reservations about Dodd-Frank, saying some banks and investors on Wall Street – the “bad players” – should be punished but “we don’t need to punish the whole market.”

On Dodd-Frank, Jones said he tried to remove a provision that imposed new regulations on small, community banks but he couldn’t find enough support.

“I did not vote to bail out the banks,” Jones said. “I think there are those, who quite frankly, owe the taxpayer time in jail – those on Wall Street, who manipulated the Congress and the American people ... Something had to be done.”

In contrast to Griffin, most of Jones’ campaign contributions have come from North Carolinians. Backers outside the state include sugar industry PACs and a national trial lawyers lobbyist group.

“I get support from the sugar farmers of America because they represent American jobs and I have a long history of fighting to keep our jobs here,” Jones told McClatchy, noting his votes against “bad trade deals like NAFTA and CAFTA that have taken jobs away from the American citizens who need them most.”

Jones said of his support from the American Association for Justice PAC that the group shares his “belief in the United States Constitution and the Seventh Amendment – the right to trial by jury.” The AAJ PAC has been a powerful lobby against tort reform legislation and historically has given more money to Democrats than Republicans.

Challengers irked by Jones NDAA votes

Griffin and Law both have criticized Jones’ hard-nosed record of voting “no” on federal spending measures, charging that he should introduce amendments and make changes to legislation in committee hearings before floor debate and votes. Jones has routinely voted against military funding legislation due to what he calls out-of-control government spending.

This month, Jones broke from his own near-annual tradition of opposing the National Defense Authorization Act, a bulky piece of legislation that supplies money to the Department of Defense.

“I still have great concerns that we’re spending and wasting money in Afghanistan,” Jones said. “There’s nothing we’re going to accomplish by spending billions and billions in Afghanistan. Still many young men and women lose their legs – some get killed.”

He supported the NDAA this year, Jones said, because it included an increased pay raise for military service members and a resolution clearing the names of two Marine pilots who had been blamed for a deadly 2000 military aircraft crash in Marana, Arizona.

Military issues are big in North Carolina’s 3rd district – home to the Marine Corps’ Camp Lejeune, Cherry Point Air Station and New River Air Station. With more than 100,000 active or retired armed-services members in District 3, the U.S. military is one of Eastern North Carolina’s largest employers.

Law says Jones often touts his portfolio of co-sponsoring and writing veteran’s affairs and military legislation but there’s another side to his record – “no” votes on the NDAA – that hasn’t helped North Carolina. Both he and Griffin pledge to put military priorities first, if elected.

Jones is a senior member of the House Armed Services Committee and his campaign says he has used that position to protect North Carolina’s military bases from realignment or closure.

This story was originally published May 27, 2016 at 6:35 PM with the headline "GOP mega-donor backs eastern NC Rep. Jones’ primary foe."