Chaotic Republican Party Executive Committee Meeting Ends After Police Called | Eastern NC Now

    The Thursday, January 8th meeting of the Beaufort County Republican Executive Committee ended after Washington City police were called to the Beaufort County Ag Center at the request of Committee Chair Carolyn Garris. This stemmed from a dispute between three committee members who refused to leave when the meeting was to be called to order following a break. These individuals, according to Garris, were no longer members of the committee as she had unilaterally removed them from the committee late Tuesday evening, the 6th. Garris stated that Executive Committee 2nd Vice Chair Janet Knight, former Washington City Council candidate Sheri Clark and Commissioner Hood Richardson had been removed from the committee for reasons of party disloyalty.

    Prior to police arriving on the scene, Garris called the meeting to order only for the reason of adjourning the meeting officially. Former county commissioner Rebholz made the motion to adjourn that was then voted upon and approved after a divided vote. This was an attempt by Chairwoman Garris to avoid having to record anything in the committee's official minutes, which must be turned in to the NC state level Republican Executive Committee, regarding the call to the police over the unilateral decision to remove the three individuals. This brings into question Garris' motives and why she was reluctant to have anything recorded. It is possible she was seeking a way to avoid holding the meeting at all in order to avoid discussion of several topics regarding recent issues involving the Executive Committee. Instigating an issue over the ability of Richardson, Clark and Knight to attend the meeting, something that would most likely be contested, created an excuse to cancel the meeting.

    Following the meeting being called to a close, responding police officers said that an incident report would be filed because they responded to the call. However, no criminal charges were pressed against anyone. The officers said that they did not see any evidence of wrongdoing or of a crime being committed by the members who refused to leave.


    Garris has a long history of acting unilaterally while serving as chair of the committee, particularly if those members are perceived opponents or conservative members of the party. Some will remember Garris calling for the resignation of former Washington Mayor Sadler and current Republican school board member Stacey Davis. Both of these actions were done unilaterally without the input or authorization of the Executive Committee as required under the party's Plan of Organization. The attempt to expel Knight, Clark and Richardson is another example of such behavior and the hypocritical double standard in how Garris attempts to run the committee.

Garris calls for Davis's Resignation: Above.    Garris calls for Sadler's Resignation: Below.

    It is necessary to know about some of the issues currently facing the committee in order to understand why Garris feels the need to limit control and participation. The committee is currently facing a pending lawsuit from Adam O'Neal concerning an attack ad placed against him during the Washington municipal elections. Garris received notice from Mr. O'Neal's attorney; however, she did not notify any members of the committee of the pending suit. Members of the committee were not aware of the suit until they received letters directly from Mr. O'Neal's attorney. Garris had failed to respond to the suit and still had not informed the committee as late as the committee's meeting on December 18th, 2025. At that meeting she stated she had retained individual counsel for herself regarding the case but had not for the committee. A motion and contested vote were taken to not discuss the issue further, despite the time sensitive nature of the issue, and nothing further was discussed regarding the suit.


    The slander ad against Adam O'Neal raises many questions. It appeared during the Washington municipal election. Why did the executive committee choose to become involved in a non-partisan municipal election? There was never a vote of the committee to approve the decision, set strategy or vet or approve candidates during that election. The committee never voted or approved any video, Public Service Announcement, or messaging targeting Adam O'Neal. However, Chairman Garris posted such statements unilaterally on her own Facebook page and that of the Beaufort County Republican Party Facebook page (of which she is the administrator by her own admission). The messaging in these posts is similar, if not identical, to the narration of the attack ad posted against Mr. O'Neal. This brings into question again who actually developed the initial messaging, approved it, created the video and posted it. The evidence would suggest this was Chairwoman Garris acting unilaterally as chair in the name of the Republican Party.

Garris's Facebook post against Adam O'Neal Above.
    The next question concerns where the money came from to pay for the creation of the ad against Mr. O'Neal. The executive committee reported it paid $4,500.00 for radio ads to Inner Banks Media, $2,100.00 to AI Business Services LLC and $4,024.00 to the Media Corporation during September and October. This total expenditure of party funds in the amount of $10,634.00 was done without the knowledge or approval of the Executive Committee. Who authorized the expenditures? Who authorized the projects on which these funds were spent? These appear to be unilateral decisions on the part of Chairwoman Garris or a small group of chosen confidants. They certainly were not sanctioned or approved by the committee as a whole.


    There are other concerns regarding the campaign finance reports and party expenditures. The Beaufort County Republican Executive Committee campaign finance reports are currently being reviewed by the state auditor's office. There were a number of discrepancies or irregularities, between 30 and 40, that the auditor's office requested information on dating back to March of 2025. The chair and treasurer of the party had not responded to this request as of December 2025. This was brought up at the December committee meeting, but not addressed, and requested as an agenda item for the January meeting. Again, this raises concerns regarding a serious lack of accountability if not outright disregard for following the rules and regulations set forth in the Party Plan of Organization and state statute by Executive Committee leadership.