Maybe it is not Republican Sanitizing, Maybe it is Sanitation | Eastern NC Now

Maybe it is not Republican Sanitizing, Maybe it is Sanitation

BY: HOOD RICHARDSON

I hope my article last week woke up some people to the reality that the Republican Party leadership is not at all synchronized with the rank and file. The leadership and the rank and file are two different things. The party leadership makes much noise that they are conservative and completely in sync with the MAGA (Make America Great Again) movement. What leadership says is one thing and what they do is something else.

If this were not true things in Washington, DC with the House and Senate would work a lot more smoothly than they are. Witness Republicans in the Senate trying to restrict and diminish the powers of President Trump in handling the Iranian war. The Senate Republicans backed down quickly when confronted by Trump. The Senate is weak and indecisive. Take a look at Senator Thom Tillis.

Then take a look at Senate Candidate Michael Watley. The party bosses handpicked Watley to run against the former Governor, Roy Cooper, who is a flaming liberal and should easily be taken out by a conservative. Watley is now double digits behind. Watley is more of a Casper Milk Toast than a Donald Trump. The public is not excited about Watley because the Party Bosses have been picking Senate candidates and not supporting any open, fair debates that welcome all primary candidates. This has been going on in North Carolina for more than 20 years. Many are afraid we are being handed another RINO (Republican In Name Only). The Republican leadership does not understand that the primary election process has many facets. Among these is to expose all candidates to the public, to see who has the strength and dedication to stand up for us, and to generate a lot of public participation and enthusiasm to come out and vote and work for candidates. The rank and file is beginning to recognize the lack of democracy in the Republican Party. A few of these RINO smart boys manipulating the process is suddenly not working very well.

Donald Trump is the conservative MAGA part of the Republican Party. When his term ends, we will go back to the RINO party. Leadership will say they are conservative, but their actions will be milk toast and high handed. As the Democrat Party moves to the left toward socialism and communism the leadership of the Republican Party drifts to the left with them. That is weak leadership.

The Beaufort County Republican Party actively campaigns for and supports liberal unproven candidates who do not like conservatives. King Keith Kidwell and Queen Garris along with the other members of the secret Victory Committee go after conservatives using the name of the Republican Party and Republican money. They could not wait to attack conservative Republican Stacey Davis on the school bus issue. They used money collected from Republicans to run ads and campaign against conservative Republicans who ran for Washington City Council. The behavior of the Beaufort County Republican Party resulted in two Democrats winning the election while two people who would have calmed the waters of City Government were defeated.

The local Republican Party allowed Fake Frankie Waters to donate to Democrats while they attacked conservative Republicans.

The State Republican Convention being willing to make meaningful changes to the Plan of Organization indicates that there are serious problems that concern a lot of rank-and-file Republicans. While some of the changes may be counterproductive, please keep in mind these rules can always be changed and improved by the State Convention. More Republicans being involved will make changes come quicker. All Republicans are invited to participate. The process begins at the (voting) precinct level. If you are new or shy this is the place to start.

We are missing the basics of Christian ethics in politics. Honest people do honest things. Unethical people refuse to acknowledge the rules or to follow them.

It was very necessary to change the wording in the Plan of Organization because the County Chairman is not empowered to be a dictator. That has happened in many counties. The dictators ignored the phrase that the Chairman runs party affairs “with the consent and approval of the Executive Committee”. That phrase has been removed. However, stronger language specifies that certain things must have the approval of the Executive Committee. It is about checks and balances and denying dictatorships.

Party building requires the cooperation of all Republicans. All of us need to be of the same mind. When a few people in the party can dictate events and raise money under the pretense that they are conservative (MAGA) Republicans from a trusting public, the party will ultimately fall apart. Every Republican deserves fair and honest representation in the running of the Party.

The mishandling of money has caught up with the Beaufort County Republican Party. They are being investigated by the Board of Elections for irregularities in money handling and the filing of reports. The complaint was filed about five weeks ago. Since then, Queen Garris has not scheduled an Executive Committee meeting. It is doubtful that Queen Garris will call another Executive Committee meeting until this ugly issue is resolved. There is an audit committee for the Beaufort County Republican Party. What have they been doing?