Reading the tea leaves of the May 6 Primary | Eastern North Carolina Now

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

Beaufort Observer endorses incumbent county commissioner, Stan Deatherage, as its top pick for the Republican nomination for commissioner, with Candidate Keith Kidwell as their second choice.

    Voting in the May Primary began Thursday, April 24, 2014. Primary elections are important. Both Republicans and Democrats set the tone for what issues are important and what issues are not important to the public. The motives, political goals and character of every candidate should be examined and weighed by every concerned voter.

    The past two years have brought a new political dynamic to Beaufort County politics. The rise of conservatives, whether Tea Party, Republican or unaffiliated has presented new opportunity to people who are genuinely interested in the future of government. The same rise in conservative values has presented opportunity to those who are self-serving, deal makers, or interested in being a soldier in a controlling political machine. Voters beware. You are at great risk.

    The best Beaufort County example of this is the chief RINO (Republican In Name Only): Al Klemm. For years Klemm, along with his RINO buddy Jay McRoy, have masqueraded as Republicans. Then McRoy was unseated during the 2012 elections as a result of being exposed for what he was: A RINO. Then the political mask came off Klemm who had to carry the entire RINO load as the fourth member of the Gang of Four. Three Democrats, Langley, Booth and Belcher along with Klemm make up the Gang of Four. As long as McRoy was on the board we had the Gang of Five. Three Democrats and two RINOs. McRoy and Klemm voted with the Democrats on major issues over eighty percent of the time. This confused many observers of county government. Confusion is the RINO's friend. It is now clear to see the ultimate RINO, Al Klemm, is the driving force behind the waste being proposed in the form of a new jail. With Klemm clearly in the spot light, everyone can see he is not a Republican. Klemm decided not to run again. He likely could not be elected dog catcher. Now he is teaming up with the Democrats as a lame-duck to cram a new jail down financial throats.

    Meanwhile, because of the conservative swing, political opportunists have come out of the woodwork, like moths to a flame. They are the hired guns trying to turn a buck on the situation. During 2012 we suddenly were confronted with Arthur Williams "seeing the light" and changing his registration from Democrat to Republican when he and his handlers concluded that he could not beat Bill Cook, a true conservative. At the same time, the Gregg Dority-Ashley Woolard-Bill Tarpenning gang announced that Williams was to be the new political messiah for Eastern North Carolina. They had the word from powerful leaders in Raleigh, namely the Tillis crowd, that Raleigh was supporting Williams for the North Carolina Sixth District House seat.

    Into all this mix there was preaching from Robin Hayes and Claude Pope, the State Republican Party Chairmen, that all eastern Republicans should support who the Republican Party in Raleigh hand-picked for us or otherwise just be quiet.

    These tactics did not sit well with old line Republicans, conservatives and Tea Party activists. Turns out Williams paid one of his primary opponents, Jeremy Adams, to be a "consultant." Trouble was, the payments came within days of Adams throwing his support behind Williams. The original deal was for Adams to run against Mattie Lawson, a long time Tea Party Republican, in order to split the vote, specifically in Dare County, so Williams could win. It did not work. Williams lost the primary. Adams lost the primary. Lawson won. However, the defeated Republican team of Dority-Woolard-Tarpenning continued to campaign against Lawson in the November general election and she lost by about 400 votes. This is about the number of hard core RINOs in the Sixth House District.

    Now we come to the 2014 elections. Guess who is still trying to be a big player. You got it. It is the Dority-Woolard-Tarpenning gang. They have become "political consultants." As nearly as we can tell from campaign filings they call themselves The Washington Strategic Group, located at 4201 Wilson Boulevard #110-363, Arlington Virginia 22203, phone 202-255-9708. This information came from public Board of Elections filings but is incomplete. Telephone calls to this number are unanswered at the time of this writing. One has to wonder what they are trying to hide. But it's not hard to connect the dots.

    This group has made a sick attempt to introduce humor into local campaigns. They degrade, ridicule and make fun of Republican opponents by trying to use a warped sense of humor. As children, most of our parents taught us not to make fun of others in a degrading impolite way. Ridicule is a dangerous weapon. One humorous item within an entire post card could be acceptable. Producing an entire mailer based on humorously degrading a fellow Republican is not acceptable when while trying to get a chuckle the author of the mailer fails to explain what the candidate's positions are on major issues. This tactic proves that neither the candidate nor his paid consultant have the intelligence to identify and deal with significant issues of concern to the public.

    Candidates who do not take government seriously, cannot talk about issues and those who associate themselves with people who want to control the political landscape will not be able to render constitutionally conservative decisions when elected. Candidates who clown around while campaigning will clown around when elected. Their handlers will tell them how to vote. Sending in the clowns is not a good idea in politics.

    The Dority-Woolard-Tarpenning Gang are looking for candidates they can either extract several thousands of dollars from by promising them they will win the election for them or someone they can control.

    Recall how the Tillis-Pope machine wanted to tell us who to vote for. Dority-Woolard-Tarpenning were on that team. The public should not vote for their stable of clowns or candidates. Another indicator of what is going on is Ashley Woolard's campaign signs are often set beside the Tillis signs. Now we know who is in bed with whom.

    Starting at the top of the political slate we recommend Gregg Brannon for the US Senate. The public attitude has swung to conservative. Kay Hagan and her incumbent money machine will defeat any other Republican candidate. A true conservative will give the voters a real choice. Hagan has voted with Obama more than 90% of the time. Gregg Brannon has said he will vote against ObamaCare and other illegal violations of our inalienable rights as Americans. Tillis has failed to articulate precisely what he stands for and has been caught in duplicitous positions and statements over and over again. We just don't think we should send someone to Washington that we don't know how they will vote. Although Tillis is raising a lot of money, we hope voters will not vote for a cheap substitute to replace the Washington controlled Senator Kay Hagan. Conservatives, after the disasters with John McCain and Mitt Romney, will not vote for liberal Republicans who are more interested in "going along to get along" than in standing on principles. The days are over when the Republican Party can dictate who to vote for. The Republican Party label is faded and stained because it has not offered the voters a clear alternative to the socialistic "redistribution" programs of the Democrats. We think Brannon will be an alternative to stand on the Founding Principles that made this nation the greatest in human history.

    Vote for Walter Jones for US House District 3. Walter is being punished by the liberal Republicans in Washington for not towing the line and doing as he was told. While we have not always agreed with Jones, the present campaign against him is untruthful, unfair and violates every aspect of a free republic. Walter is not a yes man. He has not only stood up to Obama, but he has stood up to the leadership in his own party. He is an independent man of principle and we think we need more like him in Washington.

    Vote for Mattie Lawson in the North Carolina House race with Ashley Woolard. Woolard has not discussed the first issue that we are aware of. He has trouble showing up and staying through an entire event. His close association with Tillis and failure to support Lawson in 2012 indicates that he is either a liberal or will do what he is told by his Republican handlers if elected. Ashley has a fatal flaw. He wants to be liked by the Power Brokers in Raleigh. That we don't need. We need someone who stands on principle and Mattie Lawson does just that.

    Because of the limited voting law is Beaufort County we are giving a ranking for commissioner candidates. The limited voting system permits each voter to vote for only one candidate to fill three seats. Three candidates will survive the primary to run against three Democrats this fall. Our order of preference is: first Stan Deatherage, second Keith Kidwell, and third Frankie Waters. Stan has a solid conservative record. We think it significant that those who have attacked him, presumably because they view him as the front-runner, have not, to our knowledge, offered a single issue that he has voted wrong on. It is all "style" or personality that they criticize. Keith has a strong business background and has made a career out of fighting for taxpayers against the IRS. He knows how much people are hurting and has pledged to fight to reduce excessive government spending. He was against the jail before being against the jail was "kool." Frankie Waters also has taken a strong position against higher taxes and opposes taking on more debt to bed a new jail in these hard economic times.

    We are not recommending Ron Buzzeo and Don Cox because of their association with the Dority-Woolard-Tarpenning Gang. Neither Cox nor Buzzeo has been willing to take well defined positions on issues. However, Buzzeo has recently been running ads saying he is opposed to the jail. Only Kidwell and Deatherage have taken strong positions that they will vote to stop the jail if elected.

    We like Donald Dixon for Sheriff because he has been unwavering in his opposition to the new jail from day one, even before he knew which way the political winds were blowing on the issue. Dixon has considerable law enforcement experience. He is a business owner. Dixon has also taken positions on issues the public has been most concerned about. He will assign more officers to investigate crimes, investigate every case, welcomes civilian oversight, and has pledged to make the present jail work. No other candidate has addressed these issues in such a positive and well defined way.

    Electing Harry Meredith and Russell Davenport will insure a continuation of the present bad management provided by Alan Jordan. Both Meredith and Davenport either now work for or have worked for Jordan and have been careful not to criticize or disagree with Jordan in any way. We do not need more of the same. Dixon did work for Jordan but has criticized Jordan and left the sheriff's office when he saw the need for considerable change.

    Think about it. When was the last time you've seen Alan Jordan go to the public to explain what he is doing to give us a more effective Sheriff's Department. His mantra, when we have heard from him, usually through one of his surrogates has been "give me more money." The taxpayers have doubled his budget since he took office and think about the last time (any time) you have ever heard him explain what we got for all that additional spending. We think it time from a major change in that department.

    Our perception is that the major change that is needed in the Sheriff's Office is to change the organizational culture of that department. Under the current crew, including Davenport and Meredith, the department has lacked leadership. This lack of effective leadership has resulted in a closed culture that refuses to be transparent, accountable and communicate effectively with the community, the press, other agencies and Commissioners. Those of us at the Observer who cover county government know full well about the lack of transparency in the Sheriff's Office. There is an arrogance exhibited that is unacceptable and we see both Meredith and Davenport as complicit at best, and perhaps major contributors of the abuse of public trust we see constantly in the Sheriff's Office. We see in Dixon the best chance to provide leadership that is responsive to the community's needs and establish a culture that citizens can respect.

    Vote for the true conservative, Jeanette Doran for Associate Justice of the State Supreme Court. She has been on the front lines of a lot of the conservative issues and has a proven conservative track record. Electing her to the Supreme Court is essential to keeping a conservative balance on that court.

    Sample ballots are available on line at the Beaufort Observer. Just click on the button on the right sidebar and follow the links.

    This primary and general election are extremely important to the future of our county, state and nation. We sense that many citizens are fed up with politics as usual, whether it be in the Sheriff's Office, Raleigh or Washington, DC. We are convinced that the people now want leaders they can elect and know how they will deal with whatever issues come down the road. We have an outstanding cadre of candidates that will fit that need and therefore we have a chance to make a real difference in our government at the county, state and national level if we vote for real change and not for "show."

    In this election you can't honestly say "we don't have a real choice." We do. And that is why we've tried to show the choices we have.
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