I Am every Man - Reprint

Early voting started today and to honor that the Charlotte Observer printed an attack piece on me. Bless them. It is all a rehashing of what I told everyone about and posted here several times several months ago.

From my 22 March post:

My political opponents have engaged in a smear campaign using rumors and false accusations, and have insinuated that I have and will hide mistakes of my past. The paradox is that the only way they know about any of my past missteps is because I have told people from the start. When I began my campaign eight months ago, I interviewed political consultants and spoke with many Republican Party insiders. I fully disclosed my past and understood that the political attackers would use the information to eventually do what they do – destroy – as the last resort in the presence of their void of ideas.

Several of these folks now work for my primary opponents and others are still Republican Party insiders or officials. They have done and are doing as I knew they would. But I am going to do what needs be done. That is to tell the truth and not fear them or their tactics. You see, I believe in redemption. I believe that a man can be born again.

In 1973 at the age of fifteen I left home and joined the Army. I did it to escape an inner city culture of drugs, gangs, crime and violence.

After completing basic training, infantry school and jump school I was assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division at Ft. Bragg. By then I had turned 16 but had also decided I didn’t want to be in the Army any longer and left, unauthorized, for home. Several months later I returned and was discharged as if I had never enlisted. The discharge was a General under Honorable conditions.

Once home, I fell back in with the same crowd and it wasn’t long before I was in trouble with the law. I was arrested on several misdemeanor charges and eventually served several months in the County Jail. These no longer even show up on my record, but in the name of the whole truth I mention them.

Upon again seeing that there was no future for me in Philly, in 1977 I again enlisted. After over 7 years of service and being honor graduate or the highest achiever of every one of my military endeavors, and a member of the U.S. Army Parachute Team, the Golden Knights, I was discharged, Honorably, in 1984 after testing positive as having smoked Marijuana.

In 1992 I was returning home from dinner one evening and rolled my truck. I called the accident in and the wrecker and the State police came. The officer was required to give me a breathalyzer. I tested at exactly the legal limit. I was charged with DUI. In the next several days the DA reviewed the circumstances and the evidence and all charges were dropped.

In 1994, while going through an ugly divorce and the collapse of my business I underwent a religious conversion. I was born again. Being born again means I stopped doing all the wrong things and committed to a real change in my life. When I was a child, I acted as a child and I spoke as a child, but when I became a man I put away childish things.

In 1995 I was (unjustly) arrested as I have already posted on my blog back on 10 February 2010. The post is pasted below.

From 10 February 2010 post

“I was just made aware that now “anonymous” on one of the attack blogs is asking the question, have I ever been convicted of a crime, have I served time and the accuser then goes on about character and integrity.

My crime was, 15 years ago, showing up, as scheduled, to visit my children.

Here is the story, several days earlier I informed my X wife that I was going to marry my now wife of 15 years. Saturday morning I showed up to visit my children as I always did. My X wife answered the door and said I couldn’t see them any more and that I should leave. I told her I was going to sit in the drive way while she reconsidered. Next her boyfriend showed up in his police car and in his police uniform. He told her that if she said that she told me to leave and said that I refused he could lock me up for a mandatory two days. She did and he did.

I was charged and it went to court. They asked me and I agreed that according to the legalistic determination of domestic trespassing I was guilty. I refused to lie and plead guilty.

That is the truth. That is my character. Go to my web site if you want to see pictures of these children and our entire family. Or come and see us any day at any time and you will see the five generations of our family that lives here with us in Raeford.

Now the rest of the story; The only people who know these things are political consultants that I told this to and they then went to work for my republican opponents. Hey anonymous, give your name and tell with the same truthfulness which candidate you are working for.

Character matters and these hooded leaders of the lynch mob just proved my original point.

I have reconciled with and am friendly with the people involved in this very painful episode of my very distant past and therefore I will not answer any other anonymous accusations. I refuse to reopen these healed wounds.” (end)

I have also had many other experiences in business that will most likely be mischaracterized. If and when they come out, please understand they are exaggerations that I will be more than happy to tell the truth about. That is how I will respond, and have responded to attacks – face to face, head on with the truth.

Now, what do you believe? Can a man be born again and be forgiven?
The truth is life.