Republican Primary, Why Vote? | Eastern North Carolina Now

BY:  Observer Editorial Team

Many registered Republicans and unaffiliated voters don’t get around to voting in primary elections. These elections are just as important as the general election to be held during November of 2024.  The primary election is where the undesirable Republicans, the riff raff, the opportunists and the RINOs (Republican In Name Only) are eliminated from holding office.  Too many people complain that there are not enough really good candidates in the November election.  The primary election is where we pick those really good candidates.

Early Voting begins on February 15 and runs thru Saturday March 2. Then, the election day is Tuesday March 5th.  The hours are 8:00 AM to 7:30 PM.  The polls close early, at 3:00 PM, on Saturday March 2nd.   Unaffiliated or Independent voters may pick either the Republican or Democrat Primary to vote in.

This year the primary will be dominated by Republicans.  This is mainly because the majority vote in most eastern North Carolina counties is conservative.  There are important battles within the Republican Party.  This is because many new Republicans and Northern Republicans who have moved into the area are liberal, resembling Democrats.  

We presented, in an article last week, our recommendations for conservative Republicans.  There is a pre-marked sample ballot available at Hood Richardson’s office at 110 West Second Street in Washington.

Candidates drive issues.  If you want to change government, you have to change the people who are running government.

Some very expensive issues in Beaufort County Government that will be coming up during the next two years are: subsidized housing, county expanded Medicaid, a new jail and the funding LGBTQ and other woke issues in the schools.

Commissioner John Rebholz is chairman of the Beaufort County Affordable Housing Committee.   Commissioner Randy Walker is a member of this committee.  They last met on Tuesday February 5, 2024.  Rebholz and Walker are talking housing to be built on surplus Beaufort County land.  The rent proposal is $800.00 per month including washer and dryer with free utilities.  Work out the numbers and we believe it is impossible to provide this service without the Beaufort County taxpayers paying part of the expense.  Other issues are: who is eligible for this freebie, and will the County create a new department to manage this welfare program?  

Most of us thought Obama Care took care of socialized medicine in the United States.  Recently the State of North Carolina expanded MEDICAID to include many people who had not worked enough to qualify.  Again, we thought that was as far as socialized medicine could go.  Not so.  The Beaufort County Department of Health is proposing to provide MEDICAID health care.  This is being proffered as an administrative hoax.  That is, they are not asking permission, they are announcing they are providing it and unless the Commissioners object, it will be a done deal.  There are a multitude of reasons not to do this. Some of these are undefined medical liability, the difference between public health and private health, increase in the number of County employees, competition with established medical practices, etc, etc. John Rebholz presented statements supporting expanding County MEDICAID when the issue was raised during the February Commissioner meeting.  Commissioner Randy Walker seemed to support County expanded MEDICAID.

Commissioner Jerry Langley has not given up on a new jail.  With the wheeling and dealing that is already going on among the RINOs like Rebholz and Walker you could expect these three voting together with Fake Frankie Waters so all could all have what they want.  The jail is not full.  The COVID epidemic forced jail administrators to do what Commissioner Hood Richardson advocated and greatly reduce the jail population.

Beaufort County provides about 18 million dollars per year for education. The present Board of Commissioners provides the money with no explanation from the school Board as to how it was spent.  The School Board comes back each year asking for MORE without accounting for what they did with the money last year.  This has allowed wasteful spending and funds to be used for LGBTQ, CRT and other woke promotional materials to be placed in the schools.  Programmed curriculums with imbedded propaganda, that require little lecture time by teachers are being purchased. With the method the Board of Commissioners uses to fund schools, once they adopt the budget the schools can then pretty much spend that money the way they wish.  The only practical restrictions are that current expense and capital outlay expenditures cannot be moved from one Fund to the other without Commissioner approval.  As a practical matter, once the Board of Commissioners approves the budget, the School Board and Superintendent can do what they want with the money.  Put another way, there is virtually no oversight of how the money is really spent.  Budget development is a kabuki dance to fool the voters.

The Conservative Commissioner Team, consisting of candidates:  Tandy Dunn, Steve Carawan and Hood Richardson are promising to do the following: 1. Vote only for Republicans for Commissioner Chairman and Vice Chairman, 2. Reduce taxes ten percent the first year in office, 3. Stop growing County Government, 4. Stop paying for CRT, LGBTQ and other woke programs in the public schools, and  5. Eliminate wasteful spending from the continuation budget.  You can vote for only one commissioner candidate.

There are three conservative school board candidates in the primary.  They are:  Brian Wood for the Pinetown District, Raymond Start for the River Road District and Stacey Davis for the Old Ford District.

Randy Walker is on the County Commission and Carolyn Walker is on the School Board.  They are married.  While there is nothing illegal about this, it certainly raises some ethical and collusion issues.

Republicans are embroiled in a controversy in the Register of Deeds race.  A newly appointed Register of Deeds, within four days of taking office, stopped hard copy filing deeds, deeds of trust, powers of attorney and other important papers.  She put all of them on the internet as the sole place to obtain copies. There is no question about how unreliable the internet is. In doing this she violated a law, the budget ordinance of Beaufort County.  Tim Melton is running for Register of Deeds.  Tim Melton promises to file these important documents in hard-copy books in the Court House.

We believe the above issues are important enough that every person who is eligible to vote in the Republican Primary should do so and that is especially true for Unaffiliated registered voters.

Saying it again: If you want to change government, you need to change the people who have been running government.