Queen Garris and Free Speech | Eastern NC Now
False interpretations of Party rules used to retain control within the county Executive Committee.
Queen Garris and Free Speech
BY: HOOD RICHARDSON
The entire issue of the corruption within the Beaufort County Republican Party revolves around free speech. In order for the RINO faction that is composed of the secret Victory Committee to support their liberal and disloyal candidates, they must shut down the right of anyone to expose their political sins.
Free speech is guaranteed to all legitimate citizens of the United States by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. Quoting the First Amendment: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” Notice this is plain limited language without any legalese.
Within the Republican Party and all other United States political parties there is no probation against speech. Every registered Republican has the right to ask questions and expect answers from the leadership. How can any political party in the United States have rules that are contrary to the US Constitution and expect to survive?
The Beaufort County Republican Party leadership it trying to tell me not to speak and what to say when I do speak. The people who are doing this have never been elected to a public office. Their election was by less than 50 people. Queen Garris and her followers are trying to use the good name of the Republican Party to install RINO’s into public office. An example of who they support is Fake Frankie Waters and RINO Randy Walker. Both have formed an alliance with the two Democrats on the Beaufort County Board of Commissioners and refuse to lower taxes while millions of dollars pile up in the County bank account. Frankie Waters sits on the Beaufort County Executive Committee and has made donations to Democrats. The Walkers (Carolyn and Randy) ask Democrats to change registration so they can support them in the Republican primary elections.
It is Fake Frankie Waters and RINO Randy Walker who have voted not to reduce taxes for at least the last three years.
Back to free speech. During the Republican Convention I was told by the appointed Chairman of the Convention the word “secret” could not be used by me, and I would be thrown out of the convention if I used it. I was complaining about the meeting the Executive Committee held at King Keith Kidwell’s house. It was a secret meeting because it was held at a private home for the sole purpose of denying me access and also the public. According to Queen Garris only those who are voting members would be allowed to attend. There could be no attendance by other registered Republicans. If that is not secret, tell me what is.
A total of six resolutions were presented for the consideration of the March 2026 convention. The Mighty Michelle Nix ruled all of them out of order except one presented by Buzz Cayton. His motion was for the Secretary of the Party to present at the April 9 Executive Committee meeting a list of the active or voting members of the Executive Committee along with their addresses and phone numbers. Queen Garris has not presented such a list during the past year. This is public information according to the party rules. Queen Garris has kept this secret for a lot of reasons. There are attendance rules. Many people who support Queen Garris never show up but remain voting members while conservative Republicans must tow the line on attendance. Also, Queen Garris does not want members to talk among themselves because someone may figure out who is on the secret Victory Committee. Keeping committee members isolated from each other allows the secret Victory Committee to flourish.
I had a motion to require Queen Garris to identify the Victory Committee. The Mighty Michelle Nix declared my motion moot because Queen Garris says the Victory Committee was identified at the secret meeting at King Keith Kidwell’s house. The Mighty Michelle Nix said my motion was moot because the names of the Victory Committee would be in the minutes of the secret meeting at King Kidwell’s house.
The Mighty Michelle Nix declared that four other resolutions could not come before the convention because she alone had determined them to be in conflict with the State rules. This is another violation of free speech rights. All resolutions properly presented to the convention and in compliance with the rules of the convention must be heard by the convention. Only the person submitting the resolution can withdraw it. Sometimes they do withdraw for various reasons. No other single person has the authority to make this declaration.
There was a resolution to require the rules of the 2027 Republican County Convention to be presented for the approval of the Executive Committee 30 days before the convention. Presently, Queen Garris sends out the rules only a few days before the convention. This suppresses participation in the convention and puts Queen Garris in control. The Mighty Michelle Nix is simply wrong, just like she totally misinformed the convention about having to attend the precinct meeting in order to attend the convention.
Another resolution required the Executive Committee to approve in advance the dates of Executive Committee meetings. The Mighty Michelle Nix declared this to violate the State Rules. Another untruth.
Another resolution required that whenever possible the Executive Committee meeting not be scheduled for the third Thursday of the Month. This is the regular meeting date of the Conservative Club. Queen Garris schedules meetings on the same date as the Conservative Club. This is backstabbing. The Mighty Michelle Nix lied again.
Another resolution would require Queen Garris to present the names of the Chairman of the 2027 Republican County Convention and the Parliamentarian to the Executive Committee a minimum of 30 days before the convention. Until now we have had a very good, appointed chairman of the convention. The Mighty Michelle Nix was the parliamentarian of the 2025 convention. She did a lousy job because she tried to help defeat the motion about how we elect members of the Executive Committee. My opinion is she is very unfair and unqualified to either be the parliamentarian or the chairman of the convention. I fear she will return in one of these positions at the 2027 convention. This resolution does not conflict with the state plan because Queen Garris (the county chairman) serves with the “advice and consent of the County Executive Committee”. That means with our approval. Queen Garris has never asked for the approval by the Executive Committee of anything she has done. She does as she pleases. The Mighty Michelle Nix is wrong again.
Beaufort County will be well served if the Mighty Michelle Nix never crosses the county line again.
There is a meeting of the Beaufort County Executive Committee on Thursday April 9 at 6:00 PM at the Ag Building at the airport. This meeting is open to every registered Republican in Beaufort County.
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Valid questions. And if they're asked, i'm sure there will be an answer.I might not even agree with the answer.My point is that the way Mr Richardson conducts himself doesn't get to that answer.Because he turns everyone off, including people like me who might otherwise be natural allies.
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So, it took a year for the Executive Committee formed in the 2025 county convention to find out that the mysterious Victory Committee is composed of Paul Varcoe, Ashley Woolard, Keith Kidwell, Steve Rader, and Carolyn Garris with Greg Dority as a consultant.
Hum, three questions: 1) Why wasn't the Vice Chair brought in? That is an ex-officio member position for all committees. 2) What were those items authorized by the Victory Committee? Advice and consent is a function of the overall Executive Committee. 3) When, if ever, will the sub-committee report their activities to the elected Executive Committee? Yeah, this is about as transparent as mud. |
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Keith Kidwell specifically stated they were not there, and it was also said that Greg Dority sometimes adviced. So it was disclosed at the last meeting.
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There were two not present. Paul Varcoe and Ashley Woolard. Steve Radar, Carolyn Garris, and Keith Kidwell. I know because I asked who the missing members were.
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I've been asking people I know on the Executive Committee about that disclosure of Victory Committee members at the last meeting at a residence. They all said that when the sub-committee was brought up, the Chair did ask the Victory Committee members to stand. My sources said that in the crowded residence they could see some and could not identify others. When exec. committee members asked about clarification of some that were not there, no response followed. I'm told that Mr. Hickman complained about the lack of transparency and then there was a discussion that wandered away from anything pertinent.
To put this all in perspective, that meeting was in March 2026. This Executive Committee was formed from the Beaufort County Republican Convention of 2025. It has been a year, and this committee is still not sure about who is on the Victory Committee and what they have improperly authorized. I'm not even sure the Executive Committee before the 2025 convention knew. There is plenty of spinning going on, but it is clear to me that this is not a healthy Republican Party Executive Committee. People are going to great lengths to keep things hidden over extended time periods. |
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If its not been given to ask your wife.
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Here we go again. My name is out there. Those of you who are lying are doing it in secret. You will not be held accountable by the public for your deception.
The Conservative Club has never wanted to be associated with the Republican Party because of what is going on now. Several Chairmen of the Beaufort County Republican Party have tried to have the State Republican Party shut us down during the past 20 years. They cannot do it because we have deliberately not affiliated with the Republican party. We are free to speak the truth. You are lying about my being uncivil. Your definition of uncivil is any disagreement with you warped socialist thinking. The disruptions are caused by he you and Queen Garris when your world stops turning because I have anything to say. Another lie. A list of members of the secret Victory Committee has never been given tome or the Executive Committee. This Executive Committee never appointed the Victory Committee. This isa serious violation |
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It sounds like you are not sure there would be good answers to my questions either, but since it is Mr. Richardson involved changes everything. That's where I disagree with you. Using a personal hatred mania is a poor excuse for ignoring important issues and hiding deeds that need to see the light of day. In Mr. Richardson's defense, refusing to leave a meeting he has a right to attend is not poor conduct whatever you may think of the man otherwise. It is certainly not stalking. What is worth so much to go to these extremes in order to not have to deal with the questions?
Convenient excuses do not make good excuses. Poor conduct is dreaming up far-fetched concocted reasons someone is no longer on a committee. That applies to Mr. Richardson as well as a growing list of other people deemed by one person using little real evidence and absolutely no due process. This is both poor conduct and awful leadership. The supporters of this one person using these tactics are responsible too. Of course, the Executive Committee as a whole is completely left out of everything. So much for advice and consent.
Why are people so afraid of hearing Mr. Richardson's questions and concerns? For the record his concerns are my concerns. In fact, many people want answers to these questions. I believe leadership is afraid because they are legitimate concerns about abuses of power. These circumstances demand real accountability.
People do not have to like each other to work together. Using and not abusing the rules paired with sound ethics and a level of professionalism is the only way to approach these matters. I can't see that happening with this group of people. They're not mature enough to do it. That's a shame because the times we live in need a good moral Republican Party.