Comments | Eastern NC Now

ONe of my brothers is a retired marine biologist. He has had the opportunity to observe first hand how these shrimp "farms" overseas work during his travels around the world in that profession. As a result, he says he would not even think about eating imported shrimp.

What is really curious is that about the same time as the Shrimpgate bill was being put forward in the state Senate, there was a seafood importing company that mainly buys from Red China undergoing a big expansion in the Norfolk area. One wonders if that had any connection to Berger's bill. They would have been in the right place to serve coastal NC restaurants cut off from our own local shrimp.

Unfortunately, we now have "pay to play" operating heavily in our legislature, especially in the state Senate. The interface with the special interests is from the leadership, not individual members. They make the deals, get the money, and then tell other senators what to do, using their control of campaign money to enforce their edicts. That is how so much liberal legislation has been passing through a "Republican" legislature.

The situation is better in the House because the present Speaker is not so wound up in pay to play like the Senate leadership is, and because the House Freedom Caucus is there to fight this stuff if they don't. How Berger's jihad against the Freedom Caucus leadership in this primary plays out will have a lot to do with how much the House resists pay to play going forward. If Berger's move against House conservatives fails, it will do a lot to stiffen the spines of House members on standing up to Berger, but if Berger succeeds, it will lead to his getting his way in the House more often, as members will be afraid to stand up against him. What happens in six House primaries around the state will make a huge difference on what sort of legislation gets passed in the General Assembly, and I would add Berger's own senate primary will have a major impact, too.

Commented: Monday, December 29th, 2025 @ 8:50 am By: Steven P. Rader

Speaking of PACs: The Beaufort County Republican Party operates like a PAC instead of like a political party. Executive Committee? Just ignore them! They are a completely rogue outfit.

Commented: Sunday, December 28th, 2025 @ 8:27 am By: Van Zant

I am going to be watching which special interest fills my mailbox with postcards for their candidate or against the other one through their PACs. That will tell who the special interest candidate is.

Commented: Saturday, December 27th, 2025 @ 9:23 pm By: Bubba

Amen Van Zant!
And I say that every elected person who habitually doesn't respond to our emails should be voted OUT, at next election!!
Maybe then, some of them will learn that "the little guys," who aren't part of a LOBBY still matter!!

Commented: Saturday, December 27th, 2025 @ 4:29 pm By: Washingtonian

The candidacy of Darren Armstrong represents Raleigh insiders trying to pick our legislators for us. Jimmy Dixon, working for Phil Berger, openly bragged about recruiting Armstrong, who had no previous political experience here. Candidates like that are easy for the insiders to control if they make it to Raleigh. Dixon, a liberal anti-gun RINO is not from Beaufort County but from Duplin County down near Fayetteville.

Dixon was a surrogate for Berger in interfering in other local legislative races, in both House and Senate. In the State Senate seat being vacated by Senator Bobby Hanig, who is running for Congress, local party leaders recruited conservative retired Superior Court Judge Jerry Tillet to run for the seat. Tillet is very savvy in politics, actually working in the State Senate before he was appointed a judge. The Berger clique decided they could not control Tillet, so they sent in Jimmy Dixon to find a primary opponent. Dixon recruited a big farmer with no political background or experience (easy to control) to primary Tillet. To rain on Dixon's parade, however, a small farmer who is in raw milk farming, saw red over a Dixon-backed candidate and jumped in, too. Dixon had tried in the last legislative session to put the raw milk farmers out of business, something Keith Kidwell and the Freedom Caucus had blocked.

We do not need RINO operatives of the Raleigh establishment interfering in our legislative races in the east.

Berger has said he will dump $4 million of special interest money into his sponsored challenges to six House Freedom Caucus leaders, and that does not include what he will spend against Tillet in our adjoining state senate district. Berger's consultants usual routine is to use various PACs they control, some of them calling themselves "conservative" (nothing connected to Berger is even slightly conservative) to bombard the district with attack mail pieces.

Berger's consultants have already spent $14 million in special interest money in his own district attacking his conservative primary challenger, Sheriff Sam Page with very nasty attack pieces. Despite that Page is still ahead of Berger in the polls by ten points.

Conservatives need to defeat the Berger RINO bullies at all levels in this election, starting with Berger himself.

Commented: Saturday, December 27th, 2025 @ 6:28 pm By: Rino Hunter

Depending on the location, 81% to 89% of Somalis are on welfare. They are also massively into fraud on our taxpayers. It is past time to send the lot of them home.

Commented: Saturday, December 27th, 2025 @ 3:22 pm By: borderhawk

The key special interest that Darren Armstrong is tied to is very very weak on enforcing immigration laws. That is Big Ag. Armstrong is a big farmer himself, and most of his financial backers are big farmers. Two of the three "dignataries" at Armstrong's fundraiser are Big Ag - Troxler and Dixon - and the third is a Big Ag wannabee, Frankie Waters, who lacks the assets to actually be Big Ag but loves to pal around with them and pretend he is part of the club.

Big Ag thinks they are the sole voice of farming, but their positions are often at odds with small farmers. Dixon's own legislative career is a clear example of that.

One big objective of Big Ag is to keep illegal aliens in the country. Border security and deportation are NOT on their agenda. If ICE came to town, one wonders how many illegal aliens they would find being harbored by our own big farmers? How many at Darren Armstrong's own farm?

Keith Kidwell has always been a strong advocate for robust enforcement of our immigration laws. Maybe that is part of why Big Ag is after him.

If you like illegal immigration, you will love Darren Armstrong and his Big Ag mafia.

Commented: Saturday, December 27th, 2025 @ 10:30 am By: borderhawk

"Perceived associations"???? Jimmy Dixon has openly bragged about recruiting Armstrong. Dixon, Waters, and Troxler were all front and center at Armstrong's fundraiser. NC Board of Elections reports show Armstrong was a four figure contributor to Marc Basnight. That he was a Democrat in Hyde County is also public record. It is also well known in Raleigh that Phil Berger is running candidates against all six top leaders of the Freedom Caucus. Shrimpgate and their role in blocking it is only one of the reasons. There are lots of others like blocking Berger's corrupt casino bill and stiffening the spine of overall House GOP leadership in saying NO to Berger's tax increase budget. Woe be unto North Carolina if Berger succeeds in stomping out the conservative leadership in the House.

Commented: Saturday, December 27th, 2025 @ 8:40 am By: John Steed

Soooo, I was looking at a map of NC and saw the borders of Beaufort County marked. Next to it were the words: Beware, here be Monsters. I thought that must be why there is so much ugliness in govt around here. The hatefulness of the alias commenters I see at NOW is explained. Haters who are willing to lie,distort,spread gossip and use innuendo, and use perceived associations to smear a GOP candidate who dared to democratically challenge a lobby-serving Rep Kidwell. Kidwell who has soured against his own local voters to the point he thinks he doesnt need them, and thinks that he is elite enough to destroy local ppl who simple volunteered and won election to serve on our School Board. Its not exactly a high flying title, with perks, but Kidwell was willing to destroy Ms Stacey Davis. WHY???? How many other locals has he thought insignificant and thus ignored or harmed??
JUST SAY NO TO KIDWELL!

Commented: Friday, December 26th, 2025 @ 9:31 pm By: Befuddled

I don't co-operate with mafia tactics.

Commented: Friday, December 26th, 2025 @ 2:37 pm By: Van Zant

VZ, unfortunately, the Beaufort County Republican Party is rife with personality conflicts, and that is the root cause of what you refer to. When it comes to conservative policy issues, Kidwell is rock solid. and that is the important thing. Armstrong clearly is NOT given the people he has around him and those who recruited him to run. There is an old saying that "birds of a feather flock together" and all you have to do is look at the flock around Armstrong - Frankie Waters, Jimmy Dixon, Steve Troxler, Phil Berger. Kidwell may not be perfect, but he is head and shoulders above Armstrong on what matters most - conservative policy.

Commented: Friday, December 26th, 2025 @ 2:06 pm By: Conservative Voter

Here is part II of the Shrimpgate video. It shows how things work in Raleigh, and why we do not need legislative candidates tied to the special interests and to the RINO leadership. It was the good guys who stopped this travesty, and Kidwell was a leader of the good guys in the House, working with Bobby Hanig who was the leader of the good guys in the Senate. www.youtube.com

Commented: Friday, December 26th, 2025 @ 12:55 pm By: John Steed