Beaufort County Commissioners Pick a New Chairman | Eastern North Carolina Now

    And this year, we really did pick a new chairman of the board. For the last 5 years, the Beaufort County Commissioners have elected Commissioner Jay McRoy to the position of chairman of the board of county commissioners by a margin of 5 to 2, with Commissioner Hood Richardson and myself dissenting each and every year. Each year, without fail, we would vote for each other for chairman and vice chairman, as a protest to the continuing regimen of the “King Chairman” in Beaufort County, which assured that deals were cut within a familiar coalition, to assure certain special interest needs would be met in the pursuit of the ongoing county’s business.

    This year Jerry Langley, who has served as the board’s vice chairman during the McRoy reign, was elected as the board’s chairman by a vote of 5 to 2, with democrats Ed Booth and Robert Cayton, joining Commissioner Langley, voting with republicans Hood Richardson and myself to make the Vice Chairman the new chairman. I was elected vice chairman by a of 4 to 3, with Commissioners Richardson, Langley and Booth voting along with me for me, and Robert Cayton switching to vote for Commissioner Al Klemm as Vice Chairman.

    No deals were cut this year, other than there had to be a Vice Chairman, and that Vice Chairman had to be a conservative Republican; and Hood did not want the position. He was welcome to it. I accepted the nomination understanding that my duties would be limited to serving as chairman if Commissioner Langley was indisposed, and to participate in a new seating arrangement at the center of the dais - my first seat change in my now nearly 14 years as a county commissioner. That is the extent of Vice Chairman‘s duties; merely a figurehead.

    Becoming this year’s vice chairman was no reward for me voting for Commissioner Langley. My voting for Commissioner Langley did, however, break the “King Chairman” stranglehold of the board’s top seat, and that was well worth my vote. In my 14 years sitting on the county board, the chairman’s position has historically gone to the commissioner that would cut the most deals to get and keep that seat. To Jerry Langley’s credit, he cut no deals - none with me.

    When I moved to my first new seat in my four terms, I expressed to Jerry, giving him a congratulatory handshake, “Jerry, you are a good man and I wish you success as chairman, and I will pray for you to succeed. But do not get to use to the seat. The “King Chairman” is officially dead in Beaufort County.”

    In short, I will not vote for Jerry Langley to be chairman next year. I will only vote for someone who has not yet served as chairman, and that person must be someone qualified, and someone I respect. Currently, there are only two qualified candidates, and I have already been voting for those two guys for 11 of the last 14 years anyway.