User:Edgarde/Tim D'Annunzio

Timothy Bruce D'Annunzio (born January 14, 1958) is an American businessman and political figure from Raeford, North Carolina. He is best known for his campaigns for United States House of Representatives and Senate seats

D'Annunzio is a conservative who favors gun rights and small government, including privatizing the social "safety net". He has a history of publicly denouncing Barack Obama, among others. While his candidacy has been popular the Tea Party movement, he has not been favored by the leadership of the North Carolina Republican Party.

A former Army paratrooper, Tim D'Annunzio is also a professional skydiver and sponsors Paraclete XP skydiving team.

Early life
Born in Darby, Pennsylvania, D'Annunzio admitted to having "a troubled upbringing" on the streets of inner city Philadelphia. His actions led to several teenage arrests and jail time in 1973, and a 1996 trespassing charge during a domestic dispute. In an attempt to leave life of gangs and drugs, D'Annunzio relocated to North Carolina at some point in the 1970s to join the United States Army. He graduated Infantry One-Station Unit Training as an Infantryman and eventually became a Parachute Rigger. He later became a member of the U.S. Army’s elite Parachute team, the Golden Knights, and traveled the nation and world representing the Army. In 1985, he received an Honorable Discharge with the rank of Staff Sergeant. He credits a religious conversion sometime in the 1990s for turning his life around.

D'Annunzio has six children and two grandchildren. His second wife Colleen is also a veteran.

Business
D'Annunzio started several business, including Paraclete Armor & Equipment, which manufactured body armor and equipment for police and the U.S. Military. In 2006, shortly after Paraclete received over $26 million in federal contracts, D'Annunzio sold it for $30 million to Mine Safety Appliances. He went on to found Paraclete XP Skyventure LLC, which makes a vertical wind tunnel used to simulate skydiving.

In Christianity, the word Paraclete refers to the Holy Spirit.

Political advertising
In 2004, D'Annunzio's company Paraclete donated $2,000 to Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. In 2008, D'Annunzio went on to fund and produce his own political commercials, including four ads attacking then-candidate Barack Obama on taxes, abortion, Rev. Jeremiah Wright and Bill Ayers. Along with web distribution, D'Annunzio purchased television time for at least one of his ads.

2010 candidacy
While largely self-financed, D'Annunzio raised more money from individual contributions than any of his opponents during the Republican primary.

A collector of semi-automatic weapons, and an advocate of the right to keep and bear arms, D'Annunzio publicized his campaign by hosting two "Machine Gun Social" fundraisers at area shooting ranges. Video of these fundraisers was picked up by television news outlets across the country.

In March 2010, former state Republican Party chair Jack Hawke left his full-time advisory position in the D'Annunzio campaign over disagreements about D'Annunzio's web log, Christ's War, which Hawke felt conflicted in tone with the moderate themes Hawke wanted to advance in the campaign's advertising. When D'Annunzio insisted he would continue blogging, he and Hawke agreed to part ways, though the D'Annunzio campaign says Hawke continued consulting in an unofficial capacity.

While D'Annunzio was backed by the local Tea Party group, We the People NC, his main rival Harold Johnson was endorsed by most local GOP party leaders, including state GOP Chairman Tom Fetzer, former Charlotte Mayor Richard Vinroot, former Governor James G. Martin, and former 8th District Representative Robin Hayes.

In the May 4 Primary election, D'Annunzio received a plurality of the Republican votes cast, 37 percent of the vote compared to 33 percent for Johnson. Since no candidate got over 40 percent, the two frontrunners competed in a runoff election June 22, 2010 to determine who would face Democratic incumbent Larry Kissell in November.

North Carolina Republican officials continued to put their weight behind Harold Johnson, with national party leaders John Boehner and Eric Cantor coming out in support for Johnson.

During the runoff campaign, The Charlotte Observer published statements based on court documents released by the North Carolina Republican Party that alleged D'Annunzio was a former heroin addict, had been imprisoned three separate times following criminal convictions for burglary, robbery of a post office van, and assaulting a police officer, and had been honorably discharged from the U.S. Army after testing positive for marijuana. In a 1998 court ruling related to D'Annunzio's failure to pay child support to his ex-wife, judge Richard Brown wrote that D'Annunzio "described the government as the 'Antichrist'." His ex-wife had also alleged in 1995 that he was a daily user of marijuana, had claimed to be the second coming of Jesus, traveled to New Jersey to attempt to raise his step-father from the dead, claimed have found the Ark of the Covenant in Arizona and prophesied that "God was going to drop a 1,000-mile high pyramid" on Greenland to create the New Jerusalem. D'Annunzio did not deny the latter allegations.

Tom Fetzer told the Charlotte Observer that "By my personal observation of his behavior, and by acquaintance with his record and background, I consider Mr. D'Annunzio unfit for public office at any level. What he could do to the party as our nominee is secondary in my view to what he could do to the country if he got elected. If he got elected, for crying out loud, that would be a disaster."

In response, D'Annunzio held a press conference, naming Tom Fetzer as the origin of the alleged libel. He subsequently called for Fetzer to resign his position, claiming abuse of his office, and citing the State Republican Plan of Organization which prohibited party officials from choosing sides in a primary election.

D'Annunzio lost the runoff election to Harold Johnson by over 20 points. Upon losing the election, D'Annunzio refused to endorse Johnson's candidacy against Kissell. In the subsequent 8th district general election, Harold Johnson lost to Democrat Larry Kissell.

2012 candidacy
Endorsed by We the People of the Sandhills, a Tea Party group in Fayetteville, D'Annunzio won the GOP primary in May 2012, beating Jim Allen of Burlington (who took 35 percent of the vote) and George Frank Hutchins of Raleigh (with less than 20%). In the general election he lost to Democratic incumbent David Price (U.S. politician).

2014 candidacy
In February 2014 D'Annunzio filed as a candidate for the U.S. Senate as a Libertarian party candidate having changed his party affiliation after becoming disillusioned with the national Republican Party.

2016 candidacy
On December 7, 2015, D'Annunzio filed to run as a Republican for North Carolina's 2nd Congressional District, facing in the primary election incumbent Renee Ellmers, former Chatham County Republican Party Chairman Jim Duncan, former congressional staffer Kay Daly, and radio talk show host Frank Roche.

(While North Carolina's Presidential primary election was on March 15, 2016, the primary election for U.S. House of Representatives is on June 7, 2016 due to delays caused by redistricting. )

Positions
D'Annunzio calls for the elimination of most departments of the Federal Government. "Abolish the Departments of Education, Health and Human Services, Agriculture, Energy, Labor, Housing and Urban Development, Interior, Transportation, Treasury, and Home Land Security. Any duties remaining that are Constitutional should be rolled into other Departments."

D'Annunzio proposes collected Social Security and Medicare monies be divided proportionately, and delegated to the states, to be replaced by a new, private savings based system.