Two Republican Parties in Beaufort County | Eastern North Carolina Now

We have heard it since the mid 1990’s.  Our experience tells us it is true.  There are two Republican parties.  One is the true and tested organization that adheres to the Constitution.  The other is infested with RINO’s.  That is true at the national level and at the state level in North Carolina.  That’s why Roy Cooper is Governor, and not Dan Forest.  The same is true in Beaufort County.   We suspect there are two GOP’s in every other county in the United States.  There were two Democrat Parties at one time.  Just like the present-day Republican Party, there were conservative Democrats and there were liberal Democrats.  We know how that worked out.  The liberals won, drove out the conservatives and now the socialists, with a strong element that are actually communists  control the Democrat Party  They believe government should own and control everything.  Unless major changes are made in the Democrat Party, it is in a death spiral.

All those conservative Democrats became Republicans or independents (unaffiliated).  The Republican Party split when conservative Democrats and RINO’s (Republicans in Name only) joined.   Some of these RINO’s do vote conservatively but every once in a while their roots show their natural color.  Many RINO’s do not even try to cover up except, when they are running for reelection.

There is no better example than the Beaufort County GOP.

The situation in the Beaufort County Republican Party during the last 20 years has been one of conflict between RINO’s and conservative Republicans. When elected to the Board of Commissioners or the School Board, liberal Republicans formed alliances with the Democrats to control things.  The present collaboration of Frankie Waters and John Rebholz voting with Democrats Langley and Booth has brought us many disappointing situations. 

They refuse to control our out-of-control Sheriff.  Commissioners appropriate the money but the gang of four (Waters, Rebholz, Booth and Langley) just cannot say no to the sheriff or any other big spender.  We have wasted millions in the sheriff’s department alone, to say nothing of the water department, the 1.6 million  spent for building a jail at Chocowinity and the loss of the hospital in Belhaven. 

Money is piling up in the coffers of the county but the gang of four are so greedy they cannot bear reducing taxes.

Outsiders like Senator Bill Cook and Paul Varco, along with their friends who recently moved to Beaufort County, got control of the Beaufort County Executive Committee three years ago.  They seized power using methods not contained in the Party Plan of Organization. Bill Cook created a super executive Committee which exists to this day.  They circumvented the will of the full executive committee by deciding the officers of the party would make all of the decisions.  That is the chairman, Vice Chairman, Secretary and Treasurer ran the party without bringing the business of the party to the executive committee.  The super executive committee spent money the way they wanted to spend it.  They used the party to support their Republican candidates and to work against the conservative element in the party.  They used the party machinery to campaign for John Rebholz and defeat Tandy Dunn.  The result is Rebholtz and Waters vote with the Democrats.

There is no provision in the rules (Plan of Organization) for the super executive committee to exist. Bill Cook started this and it is a violation of party rules.

Because of the redistricting lawsuits, there is very little time to campaign in the primary elections this year.  Early voting begins in less than two weeks.  The liberal Republicans do not have time to manipulate the party apparatus.  For example, many workers in the  Republican head quarters instructed visitors on who to vote for in the primary.  The short amount of time available in this off-year election means a lot of people will not visit the head quarters or be available for telephone and email solicitation. The liberal Republicans  have to be more visible to get their job done.

The liberal players have identified themselves.  Several liberal Republicans, like Bill Cook, are throwing fundraiser parties for their favorite candidates.  The designated liberal  Republicans are Dawn Slann and Frankie Waters.      

Dawn Slann was asked in a public meeting if she would support a Republican Commissioner Chairman without joining with Democrats if she were elected.   She was ask 3 or 4 times before she mumbled an answer that sounded like she “maybe” would.  She has made other statements about “reaching across the aisle.” Usually, most politicians will vote for a good idea regardless of party.  To campaign about cooperating with Democrats is our first clue that she cannot be depended on to support the Republican platform, (which is conservative).

Republicans need to be aware that there are only two truly conservative candidates running in the primary.  They are Stan Deatherage and Tandy Dunn.  Both have announced that they support a ten percent reduction in taxes.  The money is there. The reduction can happen without having to reduce any services.  So why not give the public their money back?

Neither Frankie Waters nor Dawn Slann have announced that they will vote to reduce taxes ten percent.  That tells you, the Republican Primary voter, all you really need to know.  You should know that a vote for a RINO is a vote for the Democrat control of our County Commission which means ever increased spending, more backroom deals and bigger government.  If you are fed up with politicians saying one thing when they are running and then voting the opposite once elected, then you should vote for true conservatives…Stan Deatherage and Tandy Dunn.

Electing Stan or Tandy is the right thing to do if you are conservative.  But it is just as important that four conservatives—a majority--be seated on the next County Commission. 

With the limited voting system each voter gets one vote for County Commission.  In this election the top three vote getters will be seated.  Conservatives need to get two of the three seats.  One way to do this is for a block of conservative voters to “pair” their vote.  That is, one person votes for Stan and gets another conservative to vote for Tandy.  For example, a husband/wife team could pair their votes for Stan and Tandy.  Ideally, the person you would get to pair your vote with would otherwise not be voting in the election.  If enough conservatives get these “hesitant voters” to actually vote it could make a world of difference.  We could end up with a conservative County Commission.