Queen Garris Breaks Her Losing Streak, Maybe | Eastern NC Now

Queen Garris Breaks Her Losing Streak, Maybe

BY: HOOD RICHARDSON

Queen Garris, Chairman of the Beaufort County Republican Party, got a small win this week. She successfully excluded me from a Republican Party meeting. There was treachery in her win. She deliberately scheduled the meeting for the same night and time as the Conservative Club meeting. This is not the first time she has backstabbed the Club. There are many Club members who are also voting members of the Executive Committee. We moved our meeting to the night before the Executive Committee meeting and had a very good turnout.

All meetings of the Beaufort County Executive Committee are open to registered Republicans. This is encouraged by and stated in the rules of operation of the Beaufort County Republican Party. Queen Garris has long ago trashed the written rules on how the party operates. She makes up the rules as she goes along. None of the business that is supposed to be approved and voted on by the Executive Committee has been allowed to be heard because Queen Garris will not allow the business of the Party to come before the Committee.

Garris claims the business of the Republican Party was delegated to the secret “Victory Committee” several years ago. This is simply not true. A new Executive Committee is picked every two years (on odd numbered years). New leadership means all sitting committees and appointments are dissolved. This Executive Committee (elected during March of 2025) has never authorized a “Victory Committee”. For that matter it has never authorized any other party business. Only two things have been voted on. Ashley Woolard motioned to change the name of the Reagan Day Dinner to the Trump-Reagan Day Dinner and Steve Rader made a motion to present something about funding campaigns. The spending of the money collected in the name of Republicans has never been approved by the Executive Committee. I have attended every Executive Committee meeting during the past two years except the March 2026 meeting.

Queen Garris does not want me in these meetings because my 30 years of experience in Beaufort County politics means, I call out her corrupt practices. I have also served on Republican Executive Committees in South Carolina and Virginia.

Queen Garris’ trick to keep me out of the March Executive Committee meeting was to have the meeting at the open gun carrying, defeated House of Representatives member, Keith Kidwell’s home at 35 Elks Road in Chocowinity. She tried on two occasions to get the City of Washington police to remove me from meetings simply because she demanded it. That did not work. One has to do a criminal act for the police to act. Queen Garris and King of his house, Keith Kidwell, reasoned that trespassing at someone’s house would require the Sheriff to arrest me.

These two geniuses did not realize that when Kidwell opened up his home to the Republican Party Executive Committee that all Republicans may attend as specified in the Rules of the Party. Had I attended this meeting, I would surely have been charged with trespassing. However, after spending several thousand dollars on lawyers, the charges would have been dropped by the judge. Queen Garris embarrassed herself again by declaring this public meeting was closed and only for voting members. Once again, she trashed the rules of the Beaufort County Republican Party. There is no provision in the rules for closed or secret meetings. What do you think of any political party that has secret meetings?

Complaints were made to the State Republican Party in Raleigh and Queen Garris has suddenly decided the next Executive Committee meeting will go back to the Ag Building at the airport on Thursday April 9 at 6:00 PM. The Republican public is invited.

The Executive Committee has serious financial reporting problems with the State and County Boards of Elections. The reports do not balance. There is incomplete information. Who donated the money? What was it used for? There are numerous letters of complaint from the authorities.

Those who donate money have no idea how it is used. There is the more than ten thousand dollars used to go after conservatives during the municipal elections of 2025. Some of the targets were not even running for office. The spending of this money was never approved by the Executive Committee. Should the people who authorized the spending of this money have to pay it back to the Republican Party? Is it theft for a few unknown people to spend the money without Executive Committee approval? Queen Garris refuses to identify the secret “Victory Committee”. Now that things are getting hot, I cannot find anyone who will admit to being a member of the “Victory Committee”. On whose authority is David French, the treasurer of the Executive Committee, writing these checks?

The 2026 Beaufort County Republican Convention is to be held on Thursday March 26 in the Superior Court Room at the courthouse. It should be a hoot. Queen Garris has again trashed the operating rules of the party.  She declared that only those who attended her forced precinct meetings several weeks ago would be allowed to be a voting delegate at the convention. The rules of the party clearly state that it is not necessary to attend a precinct meeting in order to be a delegate at the convention. She did this so she would know exactly how many votes may be present to support her corrupt practices.  Again, complaints have been made to Raleigh. It is possible she may have to have another convention because of her corrupt practices.