Things That Make Noise in the Night, Part XVI | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Politicians who have been elected before usually know how to remain reasonably calm and not make election loosing mistakes. One of the good things about political campaigns is they are exposed to the full view of the public. Everyone has the opportunity of examining the ability and to some extent the character and intentions of candidates. Some candidates are bold and some just want to run stealth campaigns. Everything a candidate does or does not do makes a statement about his ability and agenda once elected. Some of those campaigns are designed to fool the public. If you have not been fooled, you have not voted.

    Another noise in the night... There is the confusing situation in Pamlico County with Greg Piner running ads saying a vote for Roger Bullis is a vote for Greg Piner. Bullis claimed Republicans threatened him so he would drop out. Piner ran an add that said unknown people ask him to run and his wife gave him permission. I thought the Democrat Executive Committee had to give him permission to stand in for Bullis. Poor Christine Mele, having to put up with such infantile tactics.
Beaufort County Commissioner Hood Richardson keeping folks informed: Above.     photo by Stan Deatherage
    Paul Tine, Democrat candidate for NC House District 6, is trying to spin the meager amount of assistance Republican Mattie Lawson is getting from the State Republican Party to make her look like she is buying the election. Tine is actually the big spender. Tine has a liberal tax and spend platform. Tine is also, by Eastern North Carolina standards, a big contributor to Obama having given more than 2,000 dollars to his campaigns. Now you know the conservative candidate is Mattie Lawson.

    Democrat Robert Cayton, native of Beaufort County, is squaring off against Republican Tea Party and Constitution advocate, Michael Speciale. Cayton sounds like a cookie cutter Democrat. He supports good schools, better roads, jobs, safe communities, motherhood and apple pie. But, he never tells how to improve or get the things he promises without raising your taxes. Speciale advocates smaller government, lower taxes, personal freedom and the right to bear arms.

    I dislike using this old argument, but I will anyway. If in doubt about who to vote for in state wide elections, vote for Republicans. The reason is that, the polling now shows, the Republicans will sweep the Governors race, and both the House and Senate will be dominated by Republicans. Newly elected Democrats will not have much effect on the legislative work in Raleigh during the next two years. If the Republicans do not do a good job we could swing back to Democrat in the next two year elections.

    Then there are county-wide races. The Beaufort County School Board races are dull thuds. The district system has a lot to do with that. I wish there would be some hotly contested races. The bad job educators have done with our children during the last 50 years is enough to make my blood boil. Our graduates lack a proper education in math, English and history. Basically the school system has given us two generations of socialists who do not realize what they are. All our graduates are trained in radical environmentalism.

    The Beaufort County Commissioners race among Republicans is colorful but sadly misguided. The least experienced candidate and smallest vote getter in the primary, Gary Brinn, is attacking the most experienced and most conservative candidate, Hood Richardson. Richardson has focused his campaign during the past year on eliminating the most liberal Republican who is Jay McRoy. McRoy controls the Gang of Five and votes with the Democrats 84 percent of the time when there's a split vote. Yet, he calls himself a conservative Republican. The Beaufort Observer website, Beaufortobserver.net, has information about McRoy's record of bad decisions that has cost the county millions.

    Brinn has launched adds in the Washigton Daily News calling Richardson a liar using the crutch that Richardon was once registered as a Democrat. Brinn is sending post card mailers trying to spin Richardson's record. Brinn's campaign advisors, Ashley Woolard, Bill Tarpenning and Gregg Dority, have been associated with similar capers. Rumor has it that Dority was a shill in the Council of State primary election that took out former Senator Fern Shubert and allowed the inexperienced liberal Republican to win. Tarpenning and Woolard managed the ill fated Arthur Williams campaign.

    Pundits are speculating that Gary Brinn is sacrificing himself by trying to take the heat off Jay McRoy. Brinn has been disinterested in the workings of county government. He has not attended a County Commissioner meeting since he announced he was running and is clueless as to how the Board of Commissioners functions. Donald Dixon has attended every monthly Commissioners meeting since he announced he was a candidate. I guess Jay McRoy is telling Gary Brinn the same thing he is telling the four other Commissioners he controls...that he will tell Brinn how to vote. Richardson advises voters to vote for either himself or Donald Dixon.

    Keep watching and the candidates will definitely entertain you from now until Election Day.