Comments by Van Zant | Eastern NC Now

Both Carolyn Walker and her husband Randy were actively opposing conservative Republican School Board candidates in the last primary. Their fingerprints are all over the progression of the School Board becoming more and more liberal. Their work resulted in liberals winning two of the three seats they targeted. Pretend Republicans Carolyn and Randy are the Democrat Party's best weapons in Beaufort County.

On primary election night both Walkers were at the Board of Elections crowing about their wins and badmouthing the conservatives that lost as well as the conservatives that won. Part of their public display was a phone call they were carrying on with the former School Superintendent while at the Election Board.

Commented: Sunday, October 11th, 2026 @ 8:00 am By: Van Zant

Sub committees of committees are (or should be) accountable to the overall committee. They cannot legitimately be formed without the advice and consent of the overall committee. They cannot legitimately operate in secrecy or semi-secrecy. There must be a level of transparency, especially fiscal transparency. In the case of a Republican Party Executive Committee, they cannot operate outside the bounds of the Republican Party Plan of Organization. Organized Republicans cannot allow a sub-committee of an official committee to be the mechanism for getting around official rules and regulations as well as basic ethical rules of conduct.

Commented: Thursday, October 8th, 2026 @ 4:35 am By: Van Zant

Stan: As you well know, you are you and I am me. You. Me. Two separate individual people.

Those local GOP squawkers lack perception in this as well as many other things. If they would stop attacking my friends and keep their grubby hands out of my pocketbook I would leave them alone.

Like Ronnie said, "Southern Man don't need [them] around anyhow." and "All I can do is write about it."

The local GOP has an ad on the radio now using the chairperson's voice. In this one she mentions the sheriff race, the congressional race and two local judge candidates. Meanwhile, the local GOP is using a Facebook and shadowy whisper campaign against general election conservative Republicans, specifically in the county commission race. Their agenda is not aboveboard and is not party oriented. In a general election a party should be pushing the vote for their party's candidates as a whole. These wayward party leaders seem to dislike conservative Republicans more than they dislike Democrats.

My take on many of these people running amuck in the local Party is that they really seem to lack maturity, but even worse is their total disconnection from basic ethics. Some of them are just plain mean. Barring a miracle at the next convention there is a very good chance this bunch has absolutely destroyed the local GOP.

I'm going to keep on voting for conservatives no matter what happens with this stupid party stuff.

Commented: Wednesday, October 7th, 2026 @ 7:48 am By: Van Zant

If conservatism is important, the breakdown of the Beaufort County Commission race seems to go like this:
1. Deatherage
2. Woolard
3. Edwards
4. Booth
How that might break down in a limited voting system election is anybody's guess. The Deatherage conservative record speaks for itself.

I don't understand everything about this Victory Committee. Steve Rader seems to be the only member of that committee on good graces with most all of the factions of the Republican Party in Beaufort County. He's probably made more of an effort in that regard than anyone that I know of. I suppose the only exception would be the faction led by liberals like Carolyn and Randy Walker. These two have been more and more active in school board races outside of their own district in recent years working against conservative candidates every time.

I suppose the takeaway here is beware some of these "Republicans" that have recently switched over from the Democrat Party. But it's not only that. Beware some of the recently arrived in town "Republicans" also. Some of them seem to despise conservatives too - especially native conservatives. Under present day leadership beware of the local Republican Party in general. They are openly hostile to conservatives.

Dealing with the Republican Party is getting more and more like walking through a minefield. That's true not only locally but also statewide and nationally too. The local party here is the most flagrantly hostile local party to conservatives that I'm aware of.

Commented: Friday, October 2nd, 2026 @ 7:46 am By: Van Zant

Considering the makeup of the Victory Committee it would seem they have a dog in the County Commission race fight. The actual Beaufort County Republican Party Executive Committee may as well officially disband. They are just the clapping seals and sometimes worker bees for the Victory Committee.

Commented: Thursday, September 24th, 2026 @ 7:36 am By: Van Zant

How is a report that selectively reports a report?

Commented: Wednesday, September 16th, 2026 @ 8:29 pm By: Van Zant

To Ed Booth's credit he is not the fraud. He is what he is, a liberal Democrat.

Frank Waters claims to be a Republican these days. He has spent most of his life, until recently, as a Democrat. He votes with the Democrats on the County Commission. He continues to write checks to Democrats. When he first ran, he claimed to be with the no new jail people and sought their endorsement. He said, if you "...like Rush Limbaugh you will love Frankie Waters." He even said, "If you like Hood, you will love Frankie Waters." He said he would not increase taxes before he was elected. None of that turned out to be true. None of it.

Frank Waters is telling everyone he can that he is behind John Edwards. It stands to reason that Edwards will not be taxpayer friendly either.

People that will not learn from experience are destined to repeat the same mistakes.

Commented: Sunday, September 13th, 2026 @ 6:26 pm By: Van Zant

SD: I agree. The local GOP should have stayed out of the Washington municipal elections. The trouble is that it is even worse than that. It appears the Executive Committee had very little to do with any of it even though the weight of the Party was presented to the public as being behind it.

The people that have been having their way with the local GOP, at least since the 2019 County Convention, had their feathers ruffled at the 2025 Convention when delegates successfully fought for a return to grassroots inclusion on the Executive Committee. The response from the power mongers was to further castrate the Executive Committee and let the unaccountable and shadowy Victory Committee take over the real work while being accountable to no one. It is Victory Committee fingerprints all over the Washington municipal elections.

There are people on the Executive Committee that know better and tried to do better. They were bitterly opposed by the power mongers. It seems a slight majority of the Executive Committee is made up of those that are fine with corruption and some that are too dim witted to know the difference.

A healthy, functioning Executive Committee would not have made the mess in the Washington municipal elections that was made this time around. This is what you get when schemers, egomaniacs, clowns and weaklings run an organization.

Commented: Sunday, September 6th, 2026 @ 9:19 pm By: Van Zant

The NRSC has been doing this sort of thing for a long time. This model is more and more setting the stage for how the GOP is working at all levels against conservatives.

Commented: Monday, August 31st, 2026 @ 9:14 pm By: Van Zant

Rino Hunter makes a very good observation. How does conservative voting Beaufort County end up with a majority liberal voting School Board that is becoming more liberal? It is becoming more liberal because 2 teachers union members have been added from the last Republican primary. Mind you, this board presently consists of 8 Republicans and 1 Democrat. I propose that this happens the same way we have a county commission with 5 Republicans and 2 Democrats that is controlled by the 2 Democrats.

On the County Commission 2 of the 5 Republicans are recent changes from the Democrat Party that switched for election purposes. Surprise, surprise, they are the ones aligned with the Democrats on the Board that give the liberals the Board advantage.

The situation on the School Board lately has been immensely interesting:

In District 8 Conservative Donald Shreve was defeated in a crowded primary field by a teacher union candidate that has already shown herself to be a liberal.

In District 6 an interesting progression of events transpired. When Conservative Gary Carlton moved there was an appointment process by the local Republican Party Executive Committee in order to fill the seat. Executive Committee members residing in School District 6 got to vote on the applicants that filed for the position. Highly qualified conservative Steven Rader asked to be considered. In response, at least two presently serving Republican School Board members from other districts worked on finding an opponent. For sure we know one was involved, because Mrs. Carolyn Walker made the motion for the other candidate. Mr. Rader prevailed on the vote.

When Mr. Rader sought to defend the seat in the recent primary, Ive been told that Mrs. Walker worked on recruiting another candidate to oppose Rader in District 6. We know for certain that she worked at the polls for that District 6 opponent. That's a lot of meddling in other districts by Carolyn Walker. In this instance her teacher union candidate won the primary.

In District 2, Republican Charles Hickman won the general election back in 2022. I do not believe a Republican had ever run in that district before. Hickman won over an incumbent Democrat that had held the seat for decades. In the most recent primary, elements of the local Republican party suddenly got interested in the 2nd District for the first time and produced a candidate in opposition to Mr. Hickman. Again, with support from outside of this district also, including School Board member Carolyn Walker and her husband Commissioner Randy Walker who campaigned at the polls against Hickman. I hear that the notorious Ms. Forrest from Philly and pal of Chairman Garris was involved too. Could it be that those folks were not motivated to oppose a Democrat but could not stand a conservative Republican in the seat? Mr. Hickman prevailed in this one.

I don't know what to make of the SB District 4 race, so I'll leave it alone.

Conclusion:
1. The local Democrat Party seems to have little to do with this continuing move to the left on Beaufort County Boards and Commissions - Not overtly anyway.
2. A faction of the Beaufort County Republican Party (which seems to be the controlling faction) is highly invested in this move to the left of our Boards and Commissions.

There is certainly more than just circumstantial evidence to support such a conclusion.

Commented: Saturday, August 22nd, 2026 @ 10:47 am By: Van Zant

These clapping seal RINOs are hilarious. All I know is Hood Richardson has been a Republican way, way, way longer than Randy Walker and Frank Waters.

Commented: Tuesday, August 18th, 2026 @ 9:19 am By: Van Zant

Regarding the Ray Leary disclosure, it begs the question: Where is their Plan of Organization Committee? Is anyone even trying to come into compliance with the new state plan? If they had a PoO Committee, would the committee even report back to the overall committee? I think the answer is, Chariman Garris makes it up on the fly with her dictates while her clapping seal supporters allow it to happen. And think about it. When has the Victory Committee EVER reported to the Executive Committee.

Talk to people that have served on real committees of this type. I have. They have never heard of such mess as what happens in Beaufort County. Hood's criticisms are well founded. In answer to Rationality Observatory, maybe the articles would stop if the abuses stopped happening.

These articles are a public service. The community needs to know how screwed up this organization really is.

Commented: Sunday, August 16th, 2026 @ 8:52 am By: Van Zant

First of all, I am not Stan and I am not Hood. I am someone that recognizes that Stan and Hood are right about how a committee should function. The GOP is an extreme example of a county party committee operating incorrectly. Truly, they are not a committee at this point at all. They are a mob.

The Plan of Organization is there for a reason. Leaders justifying horrendous actions with gaslighting and extreme acts of hypocrisy culminating in acts of cruelty against party foes and no penalties for guilty party friends are not fit for leadership by a credible organization. It is not just for committee members exercising the duties of membership to be harassed and brought up on false charges while simultaneously protecting members that have committed egregious acts. There is no functional due process in this committee. They've made a mockery of the Plan of Organization, and it is in effect been put aside. There is only a manipulator (or two) using the mob to get their way.

Then there is the constant campaign against conservative Republican officeholders and candidates. This is taboo for a political party. This is the antithesis of what a political party is supposed to do. If people are interested in wild attacks on same party candidates in primaries and general elections, they should do it in a political action committee. It is wrong to do it as an actual political party made up of party officials using the party as a platform for doing it. These unethical people on this committee want their cake and eat it too. A functional executive committee would have shut this down. A rabid mob like we have in Beaufort County will not.

It is sad to know we have reached a new era of carpetbaggers and scalawags here in Beaufort County. This could have been stopped if more good people had stood up against these wrongs. Thanks to the people that did stand for right. It takes courage to stand for right in the face of a mob.

Commented: Wednesday, August 12th, 2026 @ 7:22 pm By: Van Zant

These Garris-ites are the biggest hypocrites and gaslighters ever. They make a mockery of the Plan of Organization in ways that attack Conservatives and protect their friends. They've made it clear that their number one mission is to oppose Conservatives in both primaries and general elections. They will not deal with relevant party issues and will go to absurd lengths to keep from doing so. They have no shame about running the Executive Committee in the most crooked, non-transparent manner possible.

Examples of what I am talking about abound in these comments. Instead of working through these very relevant issues, they persistently harp on one personal attack after another (as shown by many of these comments). We get it. They hate Hood and anyone else with questions they do not want to answer. The problem is that hate is not reason to run an organization in the manner this one is being run. That's not a legitimate excuse.

They are actively and under the Party banner working against Republican candidates in a general election. That is the party disloyalty they accuse others of. This behavior is disgraceful.

I once hoped these people would blink and evaluate where they have taken the party. People in this for the right reasons would not have gone down this road. To say the least, their priorities are misguided and warped. Truely, their behavior is abysmal. People with other reasons than helping the community really should not place themselves in these positions. We all suffer harm because of it.

Commented: Tuesday, August 11th, 2026 @ 7:16 pm By: Van Zant

I think Bobbie is praying for the next ice age.

Commented: Monday, August 10th, 2026 @ 9:59 am By: Van Zant

JS: If you are referring to a cat fight between conservatives and the self-proclaimed "True Republicans" it is important to recognize that the "True Republican" party leader in Beaufort County, and her minions, are publicly attacking conservative Republican candidates in a general election season. It is not right to be doing this under the banner of the local Republican Party. There is abundant evidence pointing this out. You seem to be minimalizing her behavior. It is clear that this is just not appropriate especially in a general election season. Her behavior has brought us to a point well beyond any possibility of a credible vote of confidence. This is the reality of this sorry situation.

Commented: Wednesday, August 5th, 2026 @ 10:13 pm By: Van Zant

Someone, tell me if I've got this right. Several conservatives went on the Beaufort County School Board back in 2022. They persistently worked on becoming more active in curriculum matters by strengthening policy and were joined by two more conservatives in 24 and 25. Long story short, they were led on over time and everything culminated just lately when Mr. Rader brought some prepared proposals and was backed by Mr. Hickman. Supposedly, the two had verbal commitments by the majority in a previous meeting and just needed to prepare and formalize in a future meeting. Last month they did just that and were completely shot down by the Board. I'm told that several members stated that they didn't want any say on curriculum matters and that it should be left to the experts (staff).

So, we've got eight Republicans on this board and only about two or maybe three are conservative?

Commented: Friday, July 31st, 2026 @ 10:13 pm By: Van Zant