A memo with the warning “It is CONFIDENTIAL to Blueprint, so please be careful – share with your boards and appropriate staff but not the whole world” was recently leaked to the Charlotte Observer and it showed how Blueprint NC, a ‘non-partisan’ nonprofit group was gearing up to attack the newly elected Republican Governor and Republican leadership by outlining ideas for how progressive groups should attack Republicans who now control NC state government. Below are their recommendations:
• “Crippling their leaders (McCrory, Tillis, Berger etc.).”
• “Eviscerate the leadership and weaken their ability to govern.”
• “Pressure McCrory at every public event.”
• “Slam him when he contradicts his promises.”
• “Private investigators and investigative reporting, especially in the executive branch…”
Because of this Blueprint NC risks losing a good portion of their funding from their parent group who says they are disappointed in the group and will get to the bottom of this:
Leslie Winner, executive director of the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation, said she was “surprised and disappointed” by the actions of Blueprint North Carolina.
“(Z. Smith Reynolds) believes in robust debate on issues of public importance, (it) does not support attacking people,” Winner said. “We were disappointed to learn that Blueprint is advocating this strategy…
“We are taking this seriously. We are determining our options and our obligations. We will get to the bottom of it.”
The Foundation is providing $400,000 of Blueprint’s nearly $1 million budget, Winner said.
NC Gov. Pat McCrory was on with Fox and Friends this morning and said the memo was shameful and may indicate illegal activity among nonprofits who are not allowed to operate in partisan ways.
Here’s the full interview which begins with McCrory discussing how Obama doesn’t want to help NC get in the energy business: