McHenry opponent touts conservative views

By: Jim Mcnally | Statesville Record & Landmark
Published: August 15, 2010

Tenth District Congressional hopeful Jeff Gregory is a Democrat — sort of.
Gregory openly admits to his ardent conservatism; affiliation with the politically right Tea Party movement; and that he switched from the Republican to the Democratic party a few months ago just to avoid an early confrontation with incumbent Patrick McHenry, who ultimately and handily won a four-person GOP Primary in May.
“I knew I couldn’t have beaten him in the primary,” Gregory said during a talk with the R&L in the hallway of the Charles Mack Citizen Center Thursday, just outside the auditorium where McHenry was hosting a town hall meeting.
Gregory, a retired postal worker from Shelby, is not exactly shouting his new party connections from the rooftops.
“This isn’t about the party,” he said. “It’s about the people. And I think the people are tired of playing party politics.”
Indeed, Gregory said that if he is elected he would not be part of the Democratic caucus.
And while some party faithful may see acronyms DINO and RINO (Democrat/Republican In Name Only) as derogatory, there is perhaps no more apt description of Gregory.
“It’s time to stop voting as Democrats or Republicans and start voting as Americans,” he said.
In the Democratic primary, Gregory won over Anne Fischer by just over 1 percent of the vote. He said his opponent was “way too liberal.”
Gregory also said a higher power may have played a role in his win.
“She doesn’t even believe in Jesus Christ,” said Gregory, who lists “Christian family values” as a bullet point on his campaign literature.
In an in candidate questionnaire posted on the website WSOCTV.com, Gregory calls the health care reform package signed into law by President Obama earlier this year “unconstitutional” and wrote that “the states have been forced into unwanted costs.”
Gregory would not be alone there as two area Democratic members of the House of Representatives — Larry Kissell and Heath Shuler, of the 8th and 11th districts respectively — were among the 39 Democrats nationally who voted against the legislation, which passed by five votes.
His position on immigration is also one generally regarded as being on the right side of the political spectrum.
He says laws should be enforced that “protect us from illegal immigration.”
During McHenry’s five and half years in Congress, he has established himself as being among the chamber’s most conservative members.
But as Gregory distributed literature outside the McHenry town hall, his quick message to passersby was that he wanted to challenge the incumbent for that title.
“I’m Jeff Gregory,” he said, “a conservative for Congress.”

McHenry opponent touts conservative views

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