What's behind the RINOs supporting building a new jail in Chocowinity? | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Publisher's Note: This article originally appeared in the Beaufort Observer.

Larry Britt on new jail: I'm in favor because I don't like Hood (maybe that's because he lost so badly to Hood in the last election)

    If you've ever wondered why the Republican Party in Beaufort County is so divided you need look no further for a prime example than the March monthly meeting of the Board of Commissioners. Here's the background.

    Several people spoke during the Public Comment section of the agenda. Among them were Kathy Vasquez, Helen Eckman and Larry Britt. All are principals in the Beaufort County Republican Club, a.k.a. as the Republican In Name Only (RINO) Club. Larry Britt and Al Klemm are the nominal leaders of that troop. Klemm has been the deciding vote on the jail issue in recent months. He has taken a political beating for being the lone Republican who votes with the Democrats to move the jail project along. For whatever reasons, Klemm has chosen not to run for re-election. Had he done so the feeling of a number of observers is that he would have been soundly defeated.

    Britt ran for Commissioner in 2012 and contended that "the jail is the number one concern for the county." He lost badly. He polled only 426 votes in the Primary, compared to Hood Richardson's 1444. Since then he has constantly levied personal attacks against Hood Richardson in letters to the editor, at meetings of the RINO Club and in comments to the Board of Commissioners. Talk about being a poor loser...

    Thus, his comments in the video below must be viewed in that context. However, the comments are not only "sour grapes" but disingenuous. Well, to put a finer point on it, they are lies. Here's why:

    Britt claims Richardson was "for the jail before he was against it." He contends that because Hood made a presentation some months ago to show that a jail could be built behind the Courthouse. He did so because Klemm and others had contended there was not enough room to build behind the Courthouse. As an engineer, he drew up plans that showed that it could be done. His point in presenting the plans to the Board was that the Gang of Four supporting building the jail outside of Washington had not considered all of the options when they voted 4-3 to build a new jail in the Washington Industrial Park (WIP). Those plans to use the WIP went down the tubes when it was later learned that the site could not be used for a jail.

    Then Klemm and the Democrats voted to build it at the Chocowinity Industrial Park (CIP) seven miles from the Courthouse. The Observer has recently learned that they made that decision just as they did with the WIP. They did not check on the zoning for that site. Now that they have contracted to pay architects two million dollars for design work, we have learned that they have yet to get land use permits for putting a jail in the CIP.

    The lie that Britt is making here is that Hood has ever supported building a new jail. He has consistently said we do not need a new jail at this time and has offered substantial documentation to support that position. One of his contentions is that Klemm and the Democrats have not studied all of the alternatives. That is why he made the presentation to show that they were wrong in contending the site behind the courthouse was not adequate.

    But what Britt also knows when he tries to make it look like Hood has changed his position is that since Hood's presentation the current jail has undergone a $500,000 renovation. Britt, however, conveniently overlooks this fact in trying to make it appear that Hood changed positions. He knows better. That is why we characterize his comments a lies. They are inaccurate and he knows they are inaccurate.

    As for Vasquez and Eckman we will simply say that at some point every reason they give for building a new jail has been refuted. We'll spare you the list, but one we will comment on.

    They contend that the current renovated jail is not safe because it is a fire hazard. They too know that is not true. The jail meets state jail standards. They talk about a fire hazard. Yet those who favor spending $20-30 million for a new jail do not tell you that the problems causing the evacuation of the jail recently were the result of improper maintenance of the equipment. And we have asked, but no one including the Board of Commissioners, can produce any documentation to show that regular fire drills are conducted in the current jail/courthouse. One has to wonder if "they" were truly concerned about prisoner/staff safety why they have not required the Sheriff to conduct such drills. A part of such drills would presumably include having the Washington Fire Department respond with smoke extraction equipment. The WFD is only two blocks away. The fact is that when the recent electrical problem occurred, the prisoners were evacuated safely. Twice.

    Note that the WFD is a fulltime professional fire/rescue service. The Chocowinity jail would be served by a volunteer fire department but to our knowledge none of these advocates has assessed the ability of the Chocowinity Fire Department to respond as effectively as would the Washington Fire Department.

    So one has to wonder "where they are coming from" in supporting Klemm and the Democrats. Given that Vasquez and Britt choose to justify their support with personal attacks on opponents of a new jail in the CIP, one has to assume that the issue is purely political rather than substantive.

    We would contend that the jail issue in Beaufort County is simply a whipping boy for the conflict within the Republican Party. It is a RINO vs. Conservative battle. Or maybe it is "We Hate Hood." And the reason it has become personal is that Britt and Klemm have come up on the losing side within the Republican Party. We don't think Klemm could have been re-elected had he run. It has been amply documented that, since he was last elected, his votes have cost the county taxpayers over thirty million dollars in wasted money, including economic development boondoggles, poorly planned school construction, not to mention the jail. And we know Britt pulled less than 10% of the votes cast in the Republican Primary when he ran last time. So the voters have soundly rejected the arguments these RINOs present. So rather than try to gain support by showing they have better ideas, they are only left to try to tear down the Republican Party in the county or whine about Hood. That assumption would appear to be supported by the position the RINOs have taken on a number of other issues other than the jail. It would appear that they are simply struggling to be relevant. We'll be reporting on those in the near future. Stay tuned.

    We predict this RINO vs. Conservative split will be a key driving force in the upcoming elections. It will play out in the U. S. Senate race, the House 3 and 6 races and the commissioners' race, as well possibly in the Sheriff's race. Should be an interesting spring.

    Now with that background, listen to the Pro-Jail presentations:



    Click here to watch Hood's presentation and decide whether you think Hood is "for a new jail" as Britt claims.

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