Kings and Queens | Eastern NC Now

Kings and Queens

BY: HOOD RICHARDSON

Politics is a strange game in which the ignorant, the uninformed, the politically uneducated, the politically naïve and the politically corrupt make up the rules as they go. To many, politics is viewed as a con game. Can false politicians convince people their crazy ideas should be believed and voted for? It is not unusual, in our democracy, for politicians to assume powers they do not have and to delude themselves into believing they can order people around. Many ethically challenged politicians build a power base (a mutual admiration society) of other politicians who support their behavior whether good or bad.

The Democrat Party has been particularly adept at mutual admiration societies. If someone becomes unhappy with an elected Democrat official, they declare him to be a bad person by making a public attack. At that point almost all other Democrats join in the attack. Bullying is a reasonable description of this kind of behavior. Democrats use this tactic on Republicans as well as themselves. It has not worked well in either party during the past ten years because the policy drift in the Democrat party has moved so far to the left into communism. Many Americans recognize communism for what it is. However, there are plenty of die-hards in the Democrat Party which is adrift without the emergence of a sophisticated leader.

The Beaufort County Republican Party has experienced an incident of Democrat behavior during this past week. Stacey Davis, a mother of three school age children and an elected member of the Beaufort County School Board, stopped a school bus on Friday September 12 in order to recover a set of ear buds belonging to one of her children. Admittedly, this may not have been the best way to handle this situation. However, school buses are stopped by parents for a variety of reasons each year. There are laws that have to do with stopping school buses.

The School Superintendent, the Big Cheese, lobbied law enforcement to bring charges against Stacey Davis for stopping the school bus. Several attempts were made to convince the District Attorney to prosecute Davis for this low-level misdemeanor. Finally, apparently, late Tuesday afternoon on September 16 the District Attorney published an email that said, “As I said earlier today: Based on my experience, there is insufficient evidence, given the totality of the circumstances, to prove beyond a reasonable doubt to a judge or a jury that the individual would be found guilty of any crime.” Apparently, there were several attempts to convince the District Attorney to prosecute Davis.

It is unusual for an employee of any board to bring charges against any board member. The Big Cheese is an employee of the School Board. By a majority vote of the Board, he can be fired. The Big Cheese covered his back by talking the Sheriff’s Department into signing the complaint. So, what is this about? This is about our nationwide education policy. Liberals who want to indoctrinate children into DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) and CRT (Critical Race Theory) teachings, abolish cursive writing, impose sexual orientation teachings, a warped view of the Constitution and Bill or Rights, etc., etc...

There are three School Board members who practice conservative policies. Stacey Davis is one of them. She asks helpful, intelligent questions at meetings. She defeated a long time Democrat, Mac Hodges, who always supported the Big Cheese’s liberal agenda. Mac Hodges did not attend, or participate in many school board meetings, but he was always there when the Big Cheese needed his vote.

The Big Cheese had the Board attorney, who is also the chairman of the Durham County Democrat Party, send Republican Stacy Davis a threatening letter about using the “BCS” logo in her advertising when she was running for school board. That complaint went nowhere; it was intended to hinder her campaign.

Stacey Davis is one of the people who was recruited and supported to run for School Board by The Conservative Club. The Conservative Club is dedicated to electing conservative people to public office.

During the 2024 elections the Beaufort County Republican Party was accused of supporting the Democrat Mac Hodges, Stacy Davis’s opponent, instead of Davis. The Beaufort County Republican Party frequently opposes Republican candidates recruited by the Conservative Club.

Now comes the part that separates the RINOs (Republican In Name Only) from the (Conservative) Republicans. Both Representative Keith Kidwell and Beaufort County Republican Party Chairman, Carolyn Garris (also the Register of Deeds) asked for Stacey Davis’s immediate resignation for stopping the school bus. The first contact to Davis was by telephone demanding her resignation and giving her a deadline to resign.

This is premature and ridiculous behavior because Davis is not even charged, much less convicted.

Neither Kidwell nor Garris are empowered by any law or an organized body or custom to make any public statement asking for the resignation of any elected official. Garris may claim to represent the Beaufort County Republican Party; however, she can only act with the approval of the Beaufort County Republican Executive Committee. That committee met on September 11, before this incident. These requests go to Kidwell and Garris’s personal feelings and have no authority from any of their elective standings. Who died and made Kidwell King and who died and made Garris Queen?

Therefore, there is a question of how loyal these individuals are to the Republican Party, elected Republicans and individual registered Republicans as compared to their personal self interests. Their behavior, in attempting to publicly damage a fellow Republican, harms the Republican cause as set out in the Party Platform. What are they thinking, when they support liberal causes, in a county that votes 2/3 MAGA (Make America Great Again) Republican.

Both Kidwell and Garris have to sign up to run for their respective offices during December of 2025, only three months away. It is not smart to start supporting liberals and Democrats this close to primary elections. It is true that the pompous Kidwell votes as a conservative in the legislature, however he is a political bull in a china shop after that. Garris kept her Beaufort County Republican Party chairmanship by only one (unaudited) vote during the last Republican County Convention. Both are vulnerable as to their questionable judgment and Republican loyalty.