Comments | Eastern NC Now

I saw on Facebook a reel by Nick Fritz who said that the City Council went into closed session and voted to ask Jonathan Russell, the City manager to resign.
Isnt it interesting that all of the City Council members except two, are Now asking for his resignation here at this time, at the END of their time supporting him through it all... thus giving him a big severance paycheck as a send off! How convenient for him and maybe them!! How much money is it? I wouldnt doubt there is more corruption in this as well.
As manager of the Govt, he ran what I termed a secret cabal, a committee of TOP bureaucrats under his command, who made most decisions AHEAD of it being presented to the Council. This decision making body operated out of the public view. I may be wrong, but I dont think that is legal. If the new council want to know more, I can show them.

Commented: Sunday, November 23rd, 2025 @ 8:12 pm By: Befuddled

RoadKill Part 2: From a business and financial viewpoint, the REAL politics of Kidwell and others have actually prevented business owners from investing locally.

A smart business mind would invest in an area that has their s*** together and can talk to anyone who sensibly comes to the table with an "out of the box" approach. He wouldn't invest in an area where you've got B-movie actors trying to play "grab-ayse" and move up in LOCAL politics.

Why do we have elected STATE officials obsessed with dominating a LOCAL COUNTY GOP? Is Raleigh not a big enough conquest? I think the guy out there at the flea market, who sells Savane 52x23 (The Keith Kidwell Collection) pants, has withdrawal support and moved on to another spot.

We'll see.

Commented: Sunday, November 23rd, 2025 @ 3:47 pm By: John Valley

Part 1:
Its more concerning to me what a BIG State Representative does to the "small" pple of a town of less than 10,000. The majority of such local people r powerless over what a strong-armed city STAFF mentality of, "us against them," against those bothersome humans...its about what the city govt's small minds can do to its powerless citizens acting with a complicit State Rep.
Continued next post:

Commented: Saturday, November 22nd, 2025 @ 4:16 pm By: RoadKill

If someone is officially admitted as a "refugee" they are entitled by law to welfare, which probably needs to be changed, but that too often does not stop them from claiming more than they are entitled to. If they were not officially admitted as refugees, then they were not entitled to welfare at all. Our taxpayer money should not be going to a terrorist group. President Trump is to be commended for eliminating the Temporary Protected Status for Somalis.

Commented: Saturday, November 22nd, 2025 @ 3:15 pm By: borderhawk

Trump is reversing a lot of the damage that Biden did to our economy, but the MSM media refuses to cover much of it. We need to get the word out.

Commented: Saturday, November 22nd, 2025 @ 12:51 pm By: Conservative Voter

Speaking as a Beaufort County Conservative, we are being put in a difficult position. We are not fans of the Phil Berger machine. I know I plan to contribute to the Sam Page campaign. It appears Berger has sold out long ago and he really should be brought up on disloyalty charges for things he has done in recent years. If the North Carolina Republican Party had any credibility left that would happen.

At the same time, our own Keith Kidwell while voting mostly right in Raleigh is utterly hostile to conservatives back home in Beaufort County. Kidwell's close associations with characters at home that hate conservatives is very problematic. Some of his friends in the Beaufort County Republican Party leadership should be brought up on charges also for their own crimes.

We are between a rock and a hard place. If he and his associates would just leave us alone, we could find some way to coexist with the power mad egomaniac. As long as he and his associates are attacking us, we are being forced to pick our poison.

Befuddled: I have heard something about a primary. I don't know much, but I'll be looking into it. Again, local conservatives are being forced to explore options.

Commented: Friday, November 21st, 2025 @ 10:39 pm By: Van Zant

For anyone who stands with Berger in ANY of his challenges to House conservatives, I have one thing to say - when you lie down with dogs, you get fleas. Berger has pushed leftwing policy in Raleigh as hard as Roy Cooper has, and indeed they were often pushing the same leftwing agenda. The only place they got pushback was in the House, which sometimes stopped Berger and sometimes he overcame their opposition. They have gotten better at stopping Berger's nonsense in the House like with Berger's casinos and Berger trying to do a solid for the radical environmentalists by putting our commercial fishermen out of business.
www.beaufortcountynow.com

If Berger takes any scalps among the 6, so far, conservatives in the House he is trying to replace with his yes men, then it will intimidate others in the House from standing up to him. Anyone who sides with Berger is working ABAINST conservatives. Berger is the worst establishment power bully in the state. He already has almost all of the Senate Republicans completely intimidated and now he is trying to push the same poison in the House. That simply must be stopped or conservatives will be totally screwed in Raleigh. Local politics are downright petty compared to the huge impact these Berger challenges can have in Raleigh.

Berger is having a serious primary challenge himself from a conservative and may get taken down, hopefully, but that does not make his challenge to this group of House conservative leaders any less dangerous. Berger has cleared out any meaningful conservative voices in the Senate, and the departure of stalwart conservative Bobby Hanig to run for Congress, they will all be gone. If Berger goes down in the primary, it will be a Berger 2.0 that takes his place, playing the same game with the Democrats and special interests. Any of Berger's lieutenants would be as bad as Berger and we do not need opposition to them in the House to be intimidated.

Incidentally, liberal Berger lap dog Jimmy Dixon has also recruited a Berger-friendly candidate for Hanig's state senate seat to run against conservative retired judge Jerry Tillet in the primary. There may also be a second conservative in that primary which would split the conservative vote and let Berger's poodle win the primary. The Berger machine MUST be stopped. It is as evil as evil as Thom Tillis and has a lot more power.

The most rotten politician one could send to Raleigh would be a Berger Boy.

Commented: Friday, November 21st, 2025 @ 11:32 am By: John Steed

Stein is just toeing the party line. This "Party over people" has got to stop.
And the only way we have to stop it is to vote the rascals out. There is no Democratic Party. A radical socialist takeover has replaced it. To maintain their individual power, they still have hangers-on like Stein.

Commented: Friday, November 21st, 2025 @ 9:54 am By: Buzz Cayton

Steed: I trust no politician of any kind as....they're politicians; they're skilled at selling you one left shoe for the price of two and convincing you that "it's for your own good."

Both Berger and Kidwell need to go Audi 5000; they are perfect examples of what's wrong with the GOP. Both of them think they know everything when, in fact, they are the biggest bull**** artists this side of Raleigh. If Kidwell is playing a big part in trying to bend the County GOP to accommodate his agenda, why is he really doing it?

Does he know, in the back of his mind, that his time in Raleigh is coming to an end? If he treats people in Raleigh like he treats people here in BOCO, he's not the champion that some of these Boomers portray him to be.

Give him five minutes, in a Q&A, with the right "one"; he'd start short circuiting and claim that he's being set up by the democrats....typical Kidwellism when he's being hammered and there's no way out.

Commented: Friday, November 21st, 2025 @ 9:40 am By: John Valley

The Phil Berger machine, the sellout uber-RINOs of the General Assembly are who is out for Kidwell because he has been a key to blocking some of Berger's liberal crap in the House. The Berger machine is out to replace at least 6 conservatives in the House who have stood up to Berger, and Kidwell is one of them. Working hand in glove with him is liberal "Republican" House member Jimmy Dixon, who is notorious for blocking key pro-gun legislation. The Berger machine has targeted all of the leaders of the House Freedom Caucus to try to decapitate conservatives in the House. Kidwell, as chairman of the Freedom Caucus is at the top of their target list. Kidwell and the Freedom Caucus have been the key people in blocking Berger's casino bill and Berger's attempt to pander to radical environmentalists to put our commercial fishermen out of business. Berger wants yes-men and patsies in their place who will go along with his liberal schemes.

Berger is a complete traitor who was the key player in getting the top legislative priorities of Roy Cooper through the legislature. That started with repealing HB2 so that biological men could again go in Womens restrooms and locker rooms, and moved on to the Obamacare Medicaid expansion and the Green New Deal.

Berger, and his little lap poodle Dixon, are Undocumented Democrats, and their support of anyone SHOULD be the kiss of death for conservatives have anything to do with that candidate.

Commented: Friday, November 21st, 2025 @ 8:36 am By: John Steed

Befuddled: Ha. No need. I'm confident they are on it 24/7. I'll bet he and his friends on that shadow committee are working as we speak to call the dogs out on all Beaufort County Conservatives.

Commented: Thursday, November 20th, 2025 @ 10:48 pm By: Van Zant

Jimmy Dixon, who has been identified as recruiting these Berger candidates in the east, is VERY VERY weak on illegal immigration issues. I would not trust a one of these candidates. He is a big farmer and likes having illegal aliens around for cheap labor.

Commented: Wednesday, November 19th, 2025 @ 4:09 pm By: borderhawk