Blust wades into a turf fight
That John Blust. Lately, he's always in the middle of something.
Now it's a turf fight between a couple of other Republicans -- state Rep. Julia Howard of Davie County and former state Rep. Frank Mitchell of Iredell County.
Howard, in her ninth term, serves a district that includes her home county and part of Iredell. Mitchell lives just outside it -- or did until he bought a mobile home and claimed it as his address.
No good, Howard says, challenging Mitchell's residency.
Her attorneys hired a private investigator to find out where Mitchell really stays.
He has a chauffeur who drives him to his mobile home some nights, Howard told me today.
The Iredell County Board of Elections held a hearing on Howard's complaint Wednesday, and scheduled another for March 13.
Representing Mitchell at the hearing was our own John Blust, a Greensboro lawyer and legislator.
"I was surprised to see him come into the room," Howard said.
Well, maybe she shouldn't have been.
Howard is a political ally of Richard Morgan, the Republican who worked out a co-speakership deal with Democrat Jim Black back in 2003. Blust is a persistent critic of Morgan and Black.
Blust thinks Mitchell got a raw deal when his district was redrawn, throwing him into the same district as Republican Rep. George Holmes.
Mitchell didn't care to run against Holmes so, two years ago, he challenged Howard. She said he was using his step-daughter's address in her district, but she let it go -- and beat him in a GOP primary.
This time she's trying to get him thrown off the ballot. His mobile home isn't his legal address, she claims.
Blust said it's a "nice manufactured home," and he advised Mitchell: "Don't be playing games." In other words, really live there. He does, Blust contends: "That's where he sleeps every night."
Howard said she's not responsible for how the districts were drawn but thinks the rules should be followed. "We have enough ethical problems in Raleigh. We don't need more," she said.
This isn't just political for Blust. When he was dealing with a broken leg a few years ago, Mitchell would pick him up and drive him to Raleigh, then help him get around town.
No word on whether any legs might get broken as a result of this tiff.