So NC Secretary of Transportation Tony Tata went on Sean Hannity and then got into a twitter fight? Who does he think he is? Sister Toldjah?
Saturday, on Hannity’s show, Tata blasted Obama for negotiating with Iran. Raleigh political consultant and activist Perry Woods tweeted to Tata that he should “focus on your day job.” Tata responded, “Radical left pol hacks hate freedom of speech.”
I’ve got a lot thoughts on this exchange. First, why is Pat McCrory sanctioning Tony Tata to go on Sean Hannity? Hannity is the best example of what’s wrong the political dialogue. He’s a guy who built his career demonizing his political opponents and will oppose anything proposed by Obama or the Democrats regardless of its merits. Characterizing Perry Woods, who I’ve known for about 25 years, as “radical” indicates that Tata buys into Hannity’s brand of politics.
Second, what is the Secretary of Transportation doing getting into a twitter fight? It brings back memories of thin-skinned Thom Tillis‘ lonely tweets. People in positions of power should understand that criticism goes with the territory. Tata’s response suggests that he’s another egotistical windbag who’s paying too much attention to his critics and not enough attention to his job.
Finally, a high ranking public official accusing some one of hating free speech is blatant hypocrisy. He quite clearly is trying to shut down someone else’s free speech through intimidation. I’m not worried about Perry Woods. He can take care of himself, but other people might be silenced by bullying comments like Tata’s.
Pat McCrory needs to reel in his Secretary of Transportation. Tata’s actions are as much a reflection of the administration as they are of Tata. Regardless of what Tata might claim, his book tours, his Fox News diatribes and his petty twitter fights hurt his perception as a mature leader. He looks a lot more like a thin-skinned, loud-mouthed ideologue than a serious leader. That’s not the image McCrory should be promoting.
Thomas Mills is the founder and publisher of PoliticsNC.com. Before beginning PoliticsNC, Thomas spent twenty years as a political and public affairs consultant. Learn more >
Look who his boss is. The guy who hired a bunch his Campaign workers, children who he gave salaries of 85,000 and up when we lowly State Employees can’t get a decent raise ever and wasn’t Tot Tot as in being all over the place instead of running the office he was hired to run, in some other office where he did nothing and got a bunch of money for it. He is an opportunist
This is a mere example of the gross negligence the McCrory administration have commenced to since being established. From the DHHHS, to the State Board of Education, to the Department of Transportation, this version of governance has been rampant from the state level. The way that we can combat this ‘inaction’ and critical continuum of political divisiveness is to get the vote out in 2016 to get these people who only have an agenda of “ME” at the expense of the people out of office. North Carolina used to be a ‘beacon’ of post-secondary and higher education; over the course of three years it has become the place to poach good educators while you can because the education system that was once pumping out quality teachers has been dismantled.
Tah! Tah! Tata. We don’t need you.
There’s a stretch of I-440 westbound that could use his attention a lot more than Sean Hannity.
Tata is not now nor has he ever been a serious leader. He is an opportunist and a charlatan. He was parachuted in by the GOP by the absolutely useless GOP led Wake County Board of Education until being handed his walking papers by the newly elected majority. The GOP had to give him some little something so that they propped him up in the Transportation position. He does not give a twit about NC Transportation needs anymore than he did about educating kids in Wake County. Rather than concern storm impact on NC roads or the lack of anyway to pay for the coming needs of highway funding he prefers to stroke his ego on Fox or pushing his book.
I suppose a guy who did a crap job as a County School Super and a no show State Transportation guy must really have the chops and knowledge of the ongoing Iran talks to pontificate on a national Cable News channel. Wow.
Amen!
He is not a serious leader. A serious leader would be keeping himself parked in his office in Raleigh trying to figure out how best to pay for our transportation needs. A serious leader would not have have time to write books and go on book tours. A serious leader would stick to what is suppose to be doing instead of spouting off about Iranian policy. A serious leader would be trying to figure out how another lane of I-77 can be built other than by a bankrupt Spanish company who will charge the dickens out of people to drive in that extra one lane (when I-85 has 6 to 8 lanes free of charge from Durham to the SC line). However, he will still keep his “day job” because McCrory does not have the guts to fire him just as he did not have the guts to fire Wos. So much for “the buck stops here”.
Tata’s being out-of-state during a major storm (affecting NC roads) to promote his book, plus his Fox News appearance to blast Obama’s Iran policy shows poor personal and professional judgment, as well as a failure to understand his role as the NC Transportation Secretary and a state employee, PLUS signs that he has sipped some of the extreme brand of GOP neo-con KoolAid. Yes, McCrory should reel him in, but don’t hold your breath—the gov has done nothing to oust the incompetent DHHS secretary Wos.
Nothing TaTa does is free: he arranges to be paid for everything he does.