City of Washington Municipal Election Postmortem | Eastern NC Now

City of Washington Municipal Election Postmortem

BY: HOOD RICHARDSON

This election has been both a blessing and a curse. The blessing is that conservative Republicans took the majority of the seats on the City Council. The curse is the inept, uncivil, and meddling in a nonpartisan election by the Beaufort County Republican Party. The behavior of the Republican Party Chairman and other Republicans who believe their presence is a blessing to mankind is embarrassing to those of us who practice Christian ethics in politics.

Municipal elections are nonpartisan. That is, people run for office without having to align with any political party. This encourages all citizens to participate in governance at a very local and close-to-home level. Nonpartisan elections promote civility. Usually, they do not have the bare-fisted, knuckle busting contests partisan elections have. Also, a lot less political dogma is required to keep the streets clean, provide water, sewer and electrical services and police protection than County, State and Federal governments. Political parties should not be deciding whose trash gets picked up first.

The (Beaufort County) Conservative Club is a nonpartisan group that can support conservative candidates in all elections. We are not affiliated with any political party. Our participants consist of Republicans, Democrats, unaffiliated and on occasion unregistered voters. Our goal is the election of conservative candidates who support the original Constitution and subscribe to Christian ethics.

The Club decided to support five of the candidates for Washington City Council. Then, along comes the Republican Party in the form of Chairman Carolyn Garris and Greg Dority. They indicated they wanted to cooperate with us in this effort. They attended at least two of our meetings expressing the need to work together.

The Conservative Club announced support for the “Tax Cut Five” consisting of four Republicans and one unaffiliated candidate. Then, under the banner of the Republican Party, a very negative announcement was made about our campaign manager, Adam O’Neal. They announced that O’Neal was a loose cannon trying to represent the Republican Party without the approval of the party. They stated their campaign was for five Republicans, four of whom were supported by the Conservative Club.

They called their group the “Big Five”. The only candidate different from the Conservative Club was Wiley Woolard. Woolard while being a fine fellow stood very little chance of being elected. Woolard’s campaign was virtually nonexistent. He failed to make personal appearances at public forums or to be present at the polls on election day. His brother, Ashley Woolard, fancies himself as a political guru being a Republican Gadfly. This behavior was no surprise to anyone who knew both Woolard’s.

In addition, Chairman Carolyn Garris, advised Republican candidates that if they supported the unaffiliated candidate, Joe Davis, that they could no longer be Republicans. This came across to Republican candidates as a threat. This threat had an impact on our campaign to get our five candidates elected.

This is an example of Garris’s dictatorial leadership. Without the approval of the Beaufort County Executive Committee Garris tried to punish Tandy Dunn, claiming he was disloyal for picking up his wife at a Democrat relative’s fundraising event. At the same time Garris refused to sanction Fake Frankie Waters for writing checks to Democrats while he sat on the Republican Executive Committee of which she was chairman. The State Republican Party ruled that Tandy Dunn had done nothing wrong.

Chairman Garris became the curse in this election. For one thing, this is a nonpartisan election. Garris in her capacity as Chairman of the Beaufort County Republican Party and not even a resident of the City of Washington had no business being involved in the Washington City election. Garris did not have a vote by the Beaufort County Republican Executive Committee to do anything in this election. The Executive Committee never voted to become involved in the Washington elections. Garris took this on herself and used the Republican Party name and money without the approval of the Executive Committee. She operates with visions of being the Republican Queen.

Joe Davis is registered unaffiliated. However, his parents, whom I have known for more than 30 years have always been Republicans. They have sponsored fund raising events for Republican Candidates.

Adding to the curse of this election is the “ringer” (Wiley Woolard) that Garris and Dority put in to defeat the Conservative Club. Woolard’s candidacy caused two Republican Candidates to lose their election. They are Sheri Clark and Andrew “Tex” Melton. Had these two people had the votes Wiley Woolard skimmed off they would have won their election, and we would have four Republicans and one unaffiliated on the Washington City Council. Wiley Woolard got 345 votes from people, who, if they knew him, would not have voted for him, and Clark and Melton came up a total of 121 votes short. Garris and Dority worked the polls on election day to make this happen. This, divide and defeat the conservative vote, is a technique used by Dority several times in the past. The Democrats should thank Garris and Dority for getting two of them elected.

The Republican Party should always support their candidates even in nonpartisan elections. However, the leadership of the Party should have the judgment, taste and diplomacy to know how to do this without producing negative results. Threatening Republicans, reneging on agreements, using Party money and entering campaigns without the approval of the Executive Committee serves to tarnish the image of the Party, and all of our candidates. The Republican Party and the Democrat Party should be neither seen nor heard in nonpartisan elections.

Candidates for the November 2026 election are to sign up between December 1st and 19th of 2025. The Conservative Club believes the primary election process is the best way to select candidates for the 2026 elections. We are actively recruiting candidates for Commissioner and School Board. We are also interested in candidates for the NC House and Beaufort County Register of Deeds. Contact myself, Adam O’Neil or any member of the Club if you are interested in running. Contacting the Republican Party is not wise if you plan on running against an incumbent.