Queen Garris Doubles Down on Finance | Eastern NC Now

Queen Garris Doubles Down on Finance

BY: HOOD RICHARDSON

The Beaufort County Republican Executive Committee met on Thursday July 9 at 6:00 PM at the Ag Building at the airport. These meetings are scheduled for the second Thursday of each month at 6:00 PM at the Ag Center. They are open to the public. Time and date can vary. Verify before attending.

This meeting was conducted by Queen Garris, the chairman of the Beaufort County Republican Party, in the same dictatorial manner as past meetings. That is, unless you are in complete agreement with what Queen Garris and her Victory Committee want to hear, every hostile effort imaginable is used to shut the speaker down. For example, Representative Kidwell objected to my being able to speak at all. There is a definite hostile division that separates the conservative Republicans from the Queen Garris crowd.

Hostility toward conservatives who ask questions has resulted in many conservatives dropping off the Executive Committee. This suits Queen Garris and her ilk perfectly. It makes their presence more powerful. I would say “their vote” but every effort is used to avoid voting unless Queen Garris has made sure her people are there. Some people rarely, if ever, attend. If they support Queen Garris, they are always excused. If they are conservative, they must toe the line or be removed from membership.

The members of the Victory Committee identified by Queen Garris are Ashley Woolard, Steve Rader, Paul Varcoe, Keith Kidwell and Greg Dority. Take note of how many of these people have run for office during the past year or are running at this time. They have remained on the Victory Committee even though our rules specifically state they should not.

The charges about noncompliance with the State of North Carolina Election rules came up. Treasurer David French reported that he thought his books were in order because of the bank statement. He also reported that he had talked with Election Board officials in Raleigh and they did not have an answer to his problem. His problem is that he has not accurately reported all of his donations and expenditures for many months. In my opinion their response was more like: “This is your problem and you need to file amended reports to balance your books and disclose where the money came from”.

The issue of how money is authorized to be spent remains unresolved. One conservative member of the committee raised this question. Queen Garris tried to confuse his question but never answered.

Queen Garris is trying to clean up her act by appointing an audit committee. The Audit Committee is important with the charges about improper campaign reporting. A clean Audit Committee report could be used by Queen Garris and Treasurer David French to try to convince the Board of Elections that there are no violations of the election laws. We know there are violations because the reports to the State Board of Elections are not complete and the Executive Committee never approved any campaign spending. Queen Garris appointed Gail Breed, Keith Kidwell and Jimmy Whichard to the committee. All of these people are loyal to Queen Garris. I requested that the Audit Committee be enlarged to include at least two conservatives. There was an immediate motion to adjourn from members of the Victory Committee. It was seconded and we adjourned.

The tactic of making a motion to adjourn when there are motions or business being discussed is not in compliance with Robert’s Rules of Order, which is the rule book used to maintain order for Executive Committee meetings. This is a corrupt practice when the motion is made with an immediate second, no discussion, a voice vote is called by Queen Garris with no opportunity to call for a division of the vote. A division of the vote would mean that there would have to be an actual count of who voted for and against the motion to adjourn. A vote was not taken on who will serve on the Audit Committee.

When Robert’s Rules of Order are used properly, meetings are conducted fairly, honestly and with all persons interested having an opportunity to be heard.

Queen Garris and her cronies are far from doing the things that build confidence within the public. Holding dictatorial power is of great importance to Queen Garris and her Victory Committee.