Facing the voters: Kelly Hastings - 110 NC House District

By Chuck Thompson | The Shelby Independent

Rep. Kelly Hastings

EDITOR’S NOTE: The reporter for this article does not live in the 110 NC House District.

Also, in a previous version of this article, a typo made it seem he had endorsed his opponent which he clearly stated he had not. This “was” has been changed to “wasn’t” - the correction has been made.

Rep. Kelly Hastings grew up in Shelby; his wife, Anika, is from Cherryville, which is where they live today.

Hastings is the incumbent for the 110 NC House District and is currently up for reelection, facing off against Caroline Eason in the primary on March 3, of this year.

Hastings has a long history of political service, but things didn’t start out that way.

His father is from Delight, and his mother is from Newhouse. He said his dad was a math teacher and eventually went to work for Dover Mill. This move sent Hastings to Dover Elementary, eventually going to James Love, and then to Shelby High School.

“A lot of my being is shaped from growing up in those areas of Cleveland County."

He graduated from high school in 1979 and worked, as he put it, “Regular life experiences and then I decided to focus on going back to school. I went to Appalachian State and graduate from there.”

During his time in college, Hastings served in the Marine Reserves, went to Paris Island in the summer. “Sand fleas have to eat too!” he laughed, reminiscing of the miserable summer heat at Paris Island.

Hastings worked as a parole officer for a bit before going to work for Lieutenant Governor Jim Gardner, when Gardner ran against Jim Hunt in the 1992 North Carolina gubernatorial election.

Held on Nov. 3, 1992, Hunt (D) narrowly defeated Gardner (R) to secure his third term as governor. The race was characterized as highly competitive, with Hunt winning with roughly only 53% of the vote.

In 1993 it was revealed that cordless landline and cellular phone conversations had been allegedly illegal monitored to gain sensitive information on Lt. Gov. Gardner’s campaign. Hasting was working for Gardner at this time. The event was known as ‘Scannergate.’

“This helped to the opposition to have events before Gardner had them, which allowed them to upstage Gardner,” Hastings noted, recalling the time period.

Individuals allegedly adjacent to the Hunt campaign used radio scanners to monitor and record private phone calls of political figures and their employees. The scandal primarily targeted former Lieutenant Governor Jim Gardner. Investigations at the time focused on whether the recorded tapes were used for political leverage or possibly blackmail. There were significant legal questions regarding what Governor Hunt allegedly knew, or did not know, about the taping activities. The spying scandal highlighted vulnerabilities in cellular privacy during the early 1990s and led to intense public and legal scrutiny of political ethics in North Carolina. Hastings said there were arrests made in the case due to the actions of those allegedly working for Hunt’s campaign.

Family man, husband, and father; he’s lived in Cherryville now for close to 20 years.

“The longest period of my career has been in real estate” he noted. “I first worked for Ed Hamrick, and then after he passed away, I went to work for Coldwell Banker.”

Hastings has served in the General Assembly since 2011. He said his experience has been “One of the most satisfying things. To help residents who are having a hard time with the red tape or bureaucracy and have us intervene and help get the right resources - that is just a satisfying feeling.”

With the scuttlebutt of Hastings planning to retire from the General Assembly after this current term and plans changing, he addressed the concern and confusion some might have about his reason for running again, after stating that he would not be seeking reelection.

Recently there have been several political shots 'fired across the metaphorical bow' by both Hasting and his opponent – either from usual campaign rhetoric expected during election season or whether it dates back to the non-retirement issue is unclear. Hastings explained his viewpoint on the matter in a phone conversation with The Shelby Independent.

(Kelly Hastings continued below..)

Hastings said a lack of candidates and miscommunication left his team scrambling to make a decision without being aware of Eason’s intentions at the time.

“All of a sudden other people couldn’t run and that left us scrambling to find someone to run,” explained Hastings. “I was really ready to delegate it and hand it off – names for the vetting processes.”

He said his opponent’s name was one of those being considered but then he was under the impression she was going to run for school board. But he clarified, it wasn’t an endorsement, but merely the vetting process of looking into potential candidates’ backgrounds.

“So, when we didn’t have a commitment, a number of people asked me to run again, and I said I would if my wife would let me,” Hastings said he agreed to run again. He let his opponent know, but then she decided she was going to run after he had already decided to seek reelection, stating communication failure as big part of the issue.

The communication just wasn’t there” he said, of Eason’s decision to run and him not aware at first. “I thought she was still planning to run for school  board, so I had to make a choice.”

He said he wasn’t hiding it and was open about it, but there was just many people involved in the decision, “You’ve got a lot of people involved and sometimes a person might be left out of the communication – not intentionally – but you can’t talk to everyone about every conversation, and it’s unfortunate when that happens."

In the General Assembly, he’s been the lead and primary sponsor of over 50 bills that become law and resolutions that had been ratified.

“Caylee’s Law” is one bill that he is very proud of, “We had so many people call about that, and when we did the research we found there was a loophole in North Carolina,” explained Hastings. “There wasn’t a time limit on reporting a missing child.”

That particular bill Hastings sponsored increased the penalty for concealing the death of a child and for making a false, misleading or unfounded report to a law enforcement agency or officer for the purpose of obstructing an investigation of a missing child or child victim. It also criminalized the failure to report the abuse, neglect or death of a juvenile due to maltreatment. “That bill and that law got national attention,” he added.

Hastings closed by stating, “I’m socially and fiscally conservative, and through the years I have kept my promises to the constituents. Ultimately, at the end of the day, the voters decide whether they hire me, or fire me, and I respect the will of the people. It’s been an honor to serve, and I hope to continue to serve the people of my district.”

He encourages people to get out and vote and he encourages people to use early voting in the event of an emergency. “You never know when an emergency might arise and you can’t get to the polls on March 3^rd, so try to vote early to avoid missing the primary,” said Hastings.

The Primary is March 3.

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Chuck Thompson is a reporter and columnist for The Shelby Independent. 

The Shelby Independent.