Comments for The Purge is complete and official | Eastern North Carolina Now

Comments for The Purge is complete and official

Here we see the seeds of disunity in the local GOP and why it is there

As bad as it might seem for Beaufort County Conservatives, this will be the greatest opportunity to lead willing folks toward a far more constructive path forward - 56patriots.com

This fledgling platform, yet to be fully formed, is designed for many issues, not least of which is rooting out government /political corruption.
Commented: Saturday, April 1st, 2023 @ 10:05 am By: Stan Deatherage
Stan, You're right. A lot of the people we see now I'd never heard of then. But on the other hand, plenty of the folks are still around.
Commented: Saturday, April 1st, 2023 @ 8:17 am By: Charles Hickman
Charles: There is a big difference between those days and these days ... Few of those people, today, so angry about the prospect of mayber sharing the party with the far stronger Republicans, were are a party to the Beaufort County GOP then.
Commented: Friday, March 31st, 2023 @ 1:50 pm By: Stan Deatherage
Steve, I well remember the 2013 Beaufort County Republican Convention, because I was the outgoing chairman in that convention. You're right. A different faction was well in control that year and it was very tempting to close access to the party to those who had treated many of us so atrociously very recently - including me. We had the power to do it, but we didn't do it. We didn't do it for the good of the party and for the good of our community.

More mature people need to step up and be leaders in this regard, for the good of the party and for the good of our community.
Commented: Friday, March 31st, 2023 @ 9:59 am By: Charles Hickman
Hood doesn't have a billion dollars. Trump gets away with it because of the money. If you dont have the money then treating people poorly comes off....different.
Commented: Friday, March 31st, 2023 @ 9:24 am By: Big Bob
Bubba: It goes deeper than that. There are some Trump supporters, who sense it is fashionable to be that way in Beaufort County; who are quite derisive of The Hood. Maybe if Commissioner Richardson had done a very popular reality show, it would be different for them.

I will agree to this, like the President, The Hood is a lighting rod that better serves as a divining rod for the best path to good self-government.
Commented: Friday, March 31st, 2023 @ 7:58 am By: Stan Deatherage
This is just like national politics. The Never Hooders are the same breed of cat as the Never Trumpers. Both groups put style over substance, and both groups expand their hatred to lots of others than the targeted politician. Trump and Richardson are much the same, dependable supporters of the taxpayers and America First principles but who are sometimes rather shrill and sometimes do a bit too much name calling. Both make posts on the internet that are sometimes controversial. That gets the establishment's panties in a twist. Look for a local version of the twisted Lincoln Project. Maybe they will call it the Sherman project or the Langley Project. Richardson should be called the Trump of Beaufort County.
Commented: Thursday, March 30th, 2023 @ 8:35 pm By: Bubba
Big Bob: It was Kidwell, and yeah, your ending comment was a little bit funny ... at least I thought so.

One has to give credit where credit is due. Humor is elixir of commonality.
Commented: Thursday, March 30th, 2023 @ 4:03 pm By: Stan Deatherage
I'm curious, in an earlier posting it was said one man was walking around the meeting with a gun on his hip. I forget who. Is that allowed? If so, you should all do that at the next meeting. You know, just to be safe.
Commented: Thursday, March 30th, 2023 @ 3:33 pm By: Big Bob
Politics should be about policies and principles, NOT personalities. When politics get driven by personalities, it leads to factionalism and devisiveness. Unfortunately in the last few years we have been seeing the personality demon raise its ugly head, and it has been coming from both directions here in Beaufort County. Neither group is innocent, although only certain individuals in either group are the main sources of discord. If we are going to maximize our Republican vote in the critical 2024 election, we need to unite the party and drive a stake through the heart of the personality monster. That is going to take some work from both sides if it is to succeed.

We have seen people with solid conservative records on both sides falsely denounced by some on the opposing side as "RINOs" (Republicans in Name Only). Granted that there are some liberal Republicans who would seem to fit that definition, but the term has been applied also to some of both sides who clearly do not. There are players on each side that want to completely eliminate the other from county politics. There are some who want to denounce anyone who does not join their own hatred of a major player on the other side and even broadly apply derisive names to them. None of this is healthy for building a united party to beat the Democrats. We need to find a foumula to tone down the fighting and name calling and start working together.

The first Beaufort County Republican convention I attended in 1979 was a good example of how things ought to go. In spite of a rather personal battle between the Wilkinson and Ratclliff factions, after the county officers were elected, all the key players of both groups were welcomed onto the executive committee and the party went forth united to battle the Democrats. That has been the way it has been with most county conventions since that time and the way it should be.

The stakes are incredibly high in 2024. Our base Republican vote in Beaufort County is high enough that the danger of actually losing the county is virtually non-existant, but we must maximize the GOP vote in counties like Beaufort if we are going to carry the much closer state of North Carolina. A divided party is less able to do that.

The first set of GOP conventions, county to state, that I attended in 1973 was a formative experience for me as to the imperative of avoiding factional bloodbaths. That year the new Republican governor, Jim Holshouser, decreed he was entitled to handpick the state GOP chairman, and many in the grassroots cried BS on that. That led to bitter "take no prisoners" winner take all battles in many counties and districts in the state to totally eliminate whichever side ended up in the minority in that particular county.

I had a front row seat to all of that because state GOP chairman Frank Rouse appointed a College Republican to each of the state convention committees and as state CR vice chairman, I drew the Credentials Committee. I heard many hours of credentials challenges and what happened in county after county. Our committee meeting adjourned about 4AM. My own county, Mecklenburg had been relatively peaceful because our county plan of organization was structured so that a total cram down by one side was not possible, so I was shocked and appalled by what I was hearing from so many counties around the state.

I also had a front row seat for the consequences of that intra-party bloodbath that played our in the 1974 election. As the new state chairman of the College Republicans, I had a seat on the state Republican Central Committee for that election. A bitterly divided party could not get its act together to properly support our candidates. We lost 14 of our 15 state senate seats, 27 of our 35 state house seats, 2 of our 4 congressmen, and our one statewide incumbent on the ballot, Attorney General Jim Carson, as well as having our US Senate nominee trounced.

Both sides comprehended that we needed to get things back together, and representatives of both agreed to back Bob Shaw of Greensoro as a unity candidate for state chairman in 1975. At county and district conventions, those who had been kicked out two years before were welcomed back into the fold and the party started to heal and build back.

Having watched that play out in 1973-74, I am not at all pleased with seeing the same demons arise in my own county.

This convention, I stayed out of the chairman's race to concentrate on major issues with the plan of organization I cared deeply about. One was preserving a formula for the at large members of the county executive committee that was crucial to preserving party unity. I had successfully led the fight to stop a similar change at the 2013 county convention that came from a different group. Unfortunately, this time with a more polarized convention, we were not successful. The other involved a provision on party disloyalty that butchered a provision that I had myself written during one of my stints on the state Republican plan of organization committee. Unfortunately, standing up for principle on the Plan of Organization seems to have put a target on my own back.

If we want to maximize our Republican vote from Beaufort County in 2024, it is time to bury the hatchet somewhere other than in the back of the other side. We need to find a formula to get people back together and concentrate on fighting the Democrats.
Commented: Wednesday, March 29th, 2023 @ 4:41 pm By: Steven P. Rader
John Steed: Instead, the local party spends great effort granting succour to so-called Republican commissioners, the ones who work within a long established, Beaufort County GOP legitimized Center - Left Coalition to work in their bipartisan effort, with 2 Democratic Socialist commissioners, to govern on issues of budgeting, policy, oversight, while power sharing by the slimmest of margins when there is a 5 to 2 "Republican" majority.
Commented: Tuesday, March 28th, 2023 @ 6:55 pm By: Stan Deatherage
Our country is facing an existential threat from the far left that wants to destroy our Constitutional Republic, and local Republicans are involved in this sort of catfight?? It should be all hands on deck to stop the radical Democrats.
Commented: Tuesday, March 28th, 2023 @ 11:42 am By: John Steed
True Republican: Please share the video you say you have!
Commented: Tuesday, March 28th, 2023 @ 10:39 am By: Chicken Farmer
It is real simple. True Republican is lying, not just a little bit; all of that is a lie.
Commented: Tuesday, March 28th, 2023 @ 6:34 am By: Hood Richardson
While the RINOs beat their chests about "party loyalty" at that convention, their ranks were swelled by people who had been Republicans for Corey Rogerson, either contributing to Rogerson, backing him on Facebook, or otherwise supporting the Democrat running for sheriff. That included Frankie Waters, Paul Varcoe, Jimmy Whichard, Al Klemm, Kerry Cox, and others. Some of them were even among the RINOs placed on the county party executive committee. The RINOs owed their victory to the Republicans for Corey Rogerson.
Commented: Tuesday, March 28th, 2023 @ 7:34 am By: Rino Hunter
"True Republican": You are NOW given your space here to speak your truth, and I presume you sincerely believe it to be true.

My advice to you: Make sure you get that truth right from the onset, especially when making strong allegations against substantive people.
Commented: Tuesday, March 28th, 2023 @ 12:34 am By: Stan Deatherage
Due to the total dishonesty of this article, and the sore losers skewing the facts, instead of a complaint about harassment from Richardson, there will be formal charges pressed tomorrow for communicating threats. I was there as a Beaufort County Republican, helping with refreshments, lunch and clean up.Rochardson found who he thought would be his easiest target in the room, and marched his red faced self over to the drink area to threaten me, telling me he should slap or slug me, and that i better watch my ass. There are many many witnesses to this including a deputy, the Sherriff himself and Representative Kidwell. It is also on video tape.,, goodness, cohesiveness, the progression of the party, all won Saturday. If people left in disgust, I bet it was disgust at the name calling by Richardson and the " hoodites".....I was disgusted too, but my country, starting at the grass roots level, meant enough for me to stay, work and clean up. That was the most well run meeting,legally.
Commented: Monday, March 27th, 2023 @ 8:43 pm By: True Republican
That convention sounds like it was a three ring circus. Mr. Richardson ought to take out a warrant for being assaulted.
Commented: Monday, March 27th, 2023 @ 6:56 pm By: Bubba
Keith Kidwell and Frankie Waters? That is a REAL political odd couple. Kidwell is always pushing to cut taxes and cut spending, while Frankie Waters is a big spender who likes to keep our taxes higher than they ought to be. Keith Kidwell was all over the radio running ads to support Scott Hammonds for sheriff, while Waters contributed to the Democrat candidate for sheriff. What gives?
Commented: Monday, March 27th, 2023 @ 5:10 pm By: Concerned Taxpayer
Conservative Voter: Steve Rader WAS involved in Representative Kidwell's first campaign, even requested that my SNI create a leading edge website, which we did at a most affordable price, while at the highest quality.

In my 32 years of Beaufort County GOP opinion, most of it as an elected public servant: Steve Rader should be consulted as a valuable resource by anyone, any group who wishes to make any real difference in attaining wise and prudent political direction to further a purposeful pathway, where The People are the constituents, and not the various ignoble splinter groups of the self-interested.

Continuing this stated truth, who would have ever believed that something as simple to understand as Party Disloyalty would be locally redefined so that those aforementioned textbook Disloyal Republicans could now feel safe to govern as, or with local Democrats, while still wearing the Republican cloak, the GOP brand that their betters built long before their self-interests could be satisfied, and made possible by the noble efforts of others long before them.
Commented: Monday, March 27th, 2023 @ 1:57 pm By: Stan Deatherage
Emotional Men walking around with guns at a political meeting. What could go wrong?
Commented: Monday, March 27th, 2023 @ 10:16 am By: Big Bob
Too often, we have good conservatives who get elected to office and then let power go to their head, becoming part of the establishment. Until now, I have been extremely proud of our state representative Keith Kidwell, but these events make me wonder if he is starting to go off the reservation. I hope that he does not continue down that path as he has been one of the real breaths of fresh air in Raleigh. And, as I recall, Rader was heavily involved in Kidwell's first campaign.
Commented: Monday, March 27th, 2023 @ 11:19 am By: Conservative Voter
That convention felt more like a dictatorship to me. It was do as we say or else!!The meetings I had been to in the past were nothing like this and the fact that they changed so many rules unexpectedly was shocking!
Commented: Monday, March 27th, 2023 @ 10:26 am By: Jann
The Democratic Socialists have this nasty habit of projecting their foibles upon their opposition in grand hyperbolic style, while continuing to practice their classic terrible behavior; then screaming at those honest folk among us, 'they must NOT speak the truth of what is real.' Regardless of the inconvenience of blunt force truth, tt is the guaranteed right of the public, and a Free Press to counter that type of dishonest behavior, regardless of political party ... so Beaufort County GOP, you will not be above that careful reproach, a correcting discussion of what is real.

Here at Eastern NC NOW, we will always allow the public the Free space (though moderated in post format) to shine a bright light on what is real, while disdaining the hypocrisy of abject dishonesty at every turn where it rears its fat ugly head. Here on this massive, highly functioning platform, truth reigns supreme.

Freedom of speech is the right of every American citizen, and the reserved right for a constant and correcting Free Press, which we have always been, and shall always remain. We welcome all that appreciate that reality, and all who wish to share their careful, but accurate voice of what they know to be true.
Commented: Monday, March 27th, 2023 @ 7:49 am By: Stan Deatherage
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