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).