More McHenry News

While looking over the activities of Michael Aaron Lay during the 2004 election year my attention was drawn to a traffic ticket that he recieved in March of 2005. Originally, the ticket drew my interest because Mr. Lay continued to show his voter registration in North Carolina, but on the day of the ticket his residence, his vehicle registration and his license were all from Tennessee. Out of curiousity I pulled the ticket from Gaston County, and I noted the time of the infraction. Michael Aaron Lay was pulled over at 4:57 am on a Thursday morning heading down Highway 321 in Dallas, Gaston County. Presumably Mr. Lay was leaving his "home" in Cherryville on his way to I-40 and Knoxville, TN where he was attending law school. My question is this: Is it really appropriate and seemly for a 29/30 year old Congressman to be sharing his home with a 23/24 year old law student on a weekday/school night such that the young college student is up at 4:30 am and headed back to school at 5:00 am. In my opinion there are only a few good reasons for a young man to drive 3 1/2 hours on a Wednesday after classes to spend the night with someone and then get up the next morning at 4:30 and drive the 3 1/2 drive back to make his classes. I cannot imagine what legitimate tasks in this "Age of Information" could not be accomplished over phone, fax and internet. If this young man's visit was not for inappropriate reasons, at least our Congressman should realize and avoid such an obvious "appearance of impropriety". Michael Aaron Lay is a young man compared to Patrick McHenry. It should be obvious to the Congressman and anyone else that a single man in Patrick's position would be well advised to avoid overnight guests who find it necessary to scuttle out of town on a school night before the sun is even up.

McHenry Encourages Underage Drinking

Patrick McHenry Celebrates With Drunken College Students After Stealing Election Affidavits filed with the North Carolina Alcohol Law Enforcement agency detail McHenry’s involvement with a party of underage students where beer and wine flowed after McHenry returned from the 2004 Catawba County Lincoln Day dinner. In the photo above Patrick accepts a large red sucker as his prize with the underage students in the background cheering him on with beers in hand. The Catawba County event was marred by the McHenry camp as they violated the rules and bused in dozens of College Republicans from their annual convention being held up the road in Charlotte. Patrick was a speaker earlier at the College Republicans’ convention, and he rounded up the students afterwards to help him win the straw poll in Hickory, North Carolina (Is this sounding familiar?). Afterwards many of the underage college Republicans returned to Charlotte where the victorious McHenry celebrated with the beer swigging teenagers. Later, the ALE was alerted to the underage drinking and ALE agent Scott Minderlein questioned those attending the event. Statements given to the ALE by students in attendance asserted that the beer was provided by the McHenry camp. Whether or not McHenry provided the alcohol to the students is not known to this writer, but certainly he was aware of the company that he was keeping and the appearance of impropriety. Over the past year Charlotte has seen a number of tragedies involving underage drinking, and the community has rallied to help law enforcement and prosecutors work to avoid future deaths. It is a shame and a disgrace that a United States Congressman would lend his implicit approval to such conduct and thus encourage an activity that so many of us are working so hard to fix. Of course, McHenry’s largest contributor last year was the National Beer Wholesaler’s Association ($28,000).