Republican Party Begins Sanitizing Itself | Eastern NC Now
Updates to the State Plan of Organization should bring needed change to the local Party.
Republican Party Begins Sanitizing Itself
BY: HOOD RICHARDSON
For those who have suffered through my articles complaining about the leadership of the Beaufort County Republican Party, it seems the same corrupt practices have caught the eye of the State Republican Party. At the State Convention held in Greensboro during the middle part of June a multitude of issues were addressed in the State Plan of Organization. This effort is important in addressing corrupt conditions in Beaufort County because the Beaufort County Plan of Organization must be in conformity with the State Plan. The County can be different in many ways, but it cannot be in conflict with the regulations in the State Plan.
Changes are broad and far reaching. There is a three-page summary of changes that references 48 changes, some are entire chapters. There is more detail in an 8-page report titled “Summary of Changes in the 2026 Committee Report Draft Plan”. Also, there is a 48 page “Plan of Organization Committee Report”. The 48-page report is a draft of the final plan that will be approved, probably by the State Executive Committee. This committee has several hundred members representing almost every county in the state.
My casual read of these documents tells me the Republican Party is putting in writing how provisions of the Plan of Organization are supposed to work. With the decline in education and the failure of the education system to teach students the meaning of democracy, fair play and Christian ethics, many recent leaders have applied a literal (and selfish) interpretation (reading) of the Plan of Organization that fits their liberal agenda. Consequently, many County Parties have drifted toward dictatorships. The most glaring example is County Chairmen have ignored Executive Committees because the Plan did not specifically say each item they do is under the supervision and approval of their Executive Committee. This issue was historically (I have been doing this for 30 years) handled with the phrase “with the consent and approval of the Executive Committee” in the paragraph describing the duties of the Chairman. Because directions requiring the approval of the Executive Committee were not attached to each of their other responsibilities as Chairman, Executive Committees were ignored. There is and has been a lot of secrecy within the leadership of the Beaufort County Republican Party. This issue is clearly corrected in the new plan.
One example of corrupt practices in Beaufort County is the appointment of the secret “Victory Committee”. This committee has attacked conservative Republicans, spent money without the approval of the Executive Committee, and ran secret campaigns for and against Republicans. It took considerable public pressure to get Queen Garris to identify the members of this committee. They were identified during the Spring of this year. The admitted members are Carolyn Garris, Ashley Woolard, Steve Rader, Paul Varcoe, and Keith Kidwell. Greg Dority is identified as a consultant. Dority has a checkered background, having entered campaigns to split conservative votes. There are a few other collaborators who are in hiding.
Beaufort County votes almost two thirds conservative (MAGA) Republican. The Victory Committee represents themselves as conservative Republican. However, they have campaigned against conservative Republicans and for RINOs. They campaigned against conservatives: Stacy Davis (school board), Tex Melton (city council), Sheri Clark (city council), Hood Richardson (commissioner), Stan Deatherage (commissioner), Travis Martin (commissioner), Tandy Dunn (commissioner), etc. They campaigned for RINOs: Fake Frankie Waters (commissioner), Randy Walker (commissioner), Carolyn Walker (school board), Daniel Hudson (school board), John Rebholz (commissioner), Ashley Woolard (commissioner), Wiley Woolard (city council), John Edwards (commissioner), etc.
They allowed Fake Frankie Waters to donate money to Democrats while sitting on the Republican Executive Committee while Queen Garris filed charges of disloyalty against conservative Republican Tandy Dunn for picking up his wife at a Democrat fundraiser held for her relative. Fake Frankie is still on the Republican Executive Committee. Tandy Dunn won his case.
Queen Garris has tried every trick in her unethical book to get me removed from the Executive Committee. This includes declaring me not to be an ex officio member and declaring that I have automatically resigned from the Republican Party. All lies! None of this worked so she filed false charges against me for sexual harassment and stalking. That trial was a hoot. Her complaint in front of the judge was that I attended meetings and asked questions. It took the judge about six seconds to make a decision.
None of these corrupt practices would have come into being had the Plan of Organization been followed as intended by the framers. The absences of Christian ethics, fair play and common decency allow the liberals and even communists to have their way in government. Our school system is a disaster because the Republican Party has supported liberals and people who are communists and are so ignorant they do not know that they are communists. Taxes in the City of Washington are through the roof because the Beaufort County Republican Party defeated two conservatives which opened the door for two liberal Democrats to be seated on the council. The Republican Party supports the arrangement between the two Republicans on the County Commission to vote with the two Democrats. Taxes and spending are raised every year.
I am hopeful that a cleaned up, honest and ethical Republican Party will provide candidates who are conservative and will reduce spending and taxes. Property taxes are sky high. Many people will lose their property should there be a downturn in the economy.
Unless we return to the democratic principles of the Republican Party we are headed toward a political dictatorship. The Executive Committee has to regain control, start vetting candidates, root out the secrecy and return us to Christian ethics.
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Steve, I did not endorse all of the changes. You have some good argument on the issues you presented. The corruption, the secrecy, the manipulation against conservatives and the un ethical use of party funds is still there in in the Beaufort County Republican Party, and many other county parties.
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Wondering. Has the most recent "Victory Committee" ever reported to the Beaufort County Republican Party Executive Committee?
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Hood, your view on the new NCGOP Plan of Organization is very different from most NC conservatives.
A few weeks before the NCGOP state convention, I was one of five panelists on the subject of the then proposed new Plan at a statewide meeting of the Conservative Coalition of North Carolina (CCNC). Two panelists supported the Plan, with reservations> Three of us felt the concerns outweighed any benefits. After the panel, the CCNC as a body voted unanimously to oppose the new proposed Plan and circulate flyers on its flaws. Generally, the new Plan of Organization continues to increase the top-down control of the party at the expense of the influence of the grassroots. Some of the objections were: - Until now, there has always been at least one path to offer Plan amendments from the convention floor and pass them by simple majority. Now that has been raised to 2/3rds and only then after first submitting the amendment 15 days in advance to the Plan of Organization Committee. - the Arbitration Committee is no longer objectively established but instead is personally handpicked by the state chairman for each case. - Until now, party chairmen at all levels have had "general supervision of the party with the advice and consent of the executive committee". The new Plan removes the language on the the advice and consent of the executive committee.- - until now, the Plan has had roles for various party committees in legislative candidate recruitment. Those are all removed in the new Plan. This comes as legislative leadership, which historically has not been that conservative has been working to assert itself as the source of legislative candidate recruitment instead of the party structure doing it. Party activists tend to look for candidates who will represent local interests and conservative principles, while the legislative leadership is looking for yes-men who will do what they are told. - it makes amendments to the Platform and to the Resolutions report much more difficult. These can no longer be offered from the convention floor unless submitted 15 days in advance to the committee (and the party these days has not even been offering contact information on committee leaders). Most delegates have not even read those reports by that time, so they are denied an opportunity to participate. The new Plan also requires a 2/3rd vote to change anything the committees have done, compared to a simple majority vote now. There is lots more. I have been attending state GOP conventions since 1973 and served on the state Plan of Organization Committee myself five times, chairing it twice, and this ranks as the worst proposed Plan I have ever seen, even worse than last year's failed Plan. As to the Victory Committee, the local Republican Party has had something like it for a long time. When I was county GOP chairman in the 1980s, we called it the Campaign Committee. These committees operate to support all Republican candidates at General Election time and do not get involved in primaries. - |
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To see how effective the Victory Committee has been just look at the results. Most of the supported candidates have not turned out well. Look at our City Council. Look at our school board. Now we have a proposed new member for the County Commission whose claim to fame is running a golf tournament but a disaster as a leader in the republican party. The Executive Committee just appointed an interim member for the School Board that has a past record of being a teacher in leu of a person who has had management experience. So, we continue to have a rotten school system, shrinking population in our county, no growth direction, missed opportunities like our airport and the Southern part of our county development. The list goes on. Change the method, change the results. But we keep doing the thing of insanity. (Doing the same thing over and over expecting different results.)
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Many years ago a call went out for volunteers to come together to promote good things for the schools & students. After the introduction, they asked for volunteers to go sit at the table that best suited their personal goals. We did that. Shortly after a young woman with one of the elite surnames of the town came and sat with us, saying her name, and that she would be our chairman. I said "Hold on, dont we vote for our chairman?" She looked stunned and stated she was assigned to this position and knew nothing more. Sooo she was a puppet too. We had our meeting, but I didnt come back.
It appears this is the way the local GOP Party functions as well. Its full of "useful idiots" on the one hand and "powerbrokers" on the other. One then has to wonder, WHO are the local "powerbrokers" working for... those who are bosses above them?