Comments by Van Zant | Eastern NC Now

Not true. Names have never been provided. Victory Committee members were asked to stand at the last restricted EC meeting. Questions asked following were not answered. There has never been a Victory Committee report to the Executive Committee.

Commented: Tuesday, March 31st, 2026 @ 1:31 pm By: Van Zant

What have we learned?
1. Without doubt Edwards is the commission candidate picked by Democrat in Drag Frankie Waters.
2. Woolard is saying some of the right things except for his incorrect statements here that are a red flag. He is also a Victory Committee member which is not a badge of honor either.
3. Deatherage has an actual conservative record.
This shouldn't be hard for informed conservatives.

Commented: Tuesday, March 31st, 2026 @ 11:12 am By: Van Zant

I've been pondering the attack on Stacey Davis: There is the Cheeseman, Garris, Kidwell and possible Victory Committee plot for favors part. Lord knows a Victory Committee report to the Executive Committee is long overdue. I know some of the Executive Committee members have important questions for them. They've got a lot of explaining to do across the board. They need to start with this and other bizarre attacks on individuals and then the unauthorized spending.

The other part to this is some of the Republican School Board members themselves, led by Ms. Walker. This trail extends to the County Commission and her liberal husband, too. The ultra-liberal Walkers have been and are becoming even more active in a multitude of Republican Party primary races.

I hear Mr. Hodges has changed his registration from Democrat to Republican. I checked. It's true. This is connected to some not-so-secret discussions among RINO school board members that have been overheard. On the other hand, Ms. Carolyn and Mr. Randy are up for re-election in two years themselves. Also, Mr. Dority says he is no longer on the Victory Committee but hangs around as a consultant. Um, um, and Um.

Beaufort County conservatives are being assaulted on multiple fronts from non-Democrats. It is disgusting when the local Republican Party provides a staging area for ultra-liberals like Carolyn and Randy Walker to launch their attacks on conservatives. I believe the Victory Committee is hoping to capitalize on the Walker scheming, but I suspect both groups have different ultimate plans for School District 5. What both groups agree on is to get rid of conservative Stacey Davis.

Conservatives need to rally around Ms. Davis. She has been a strong leader for District 5 and for all of Beaufort County. Like vampires, the schemers need to be forced into the sunlight.

Commented: Friday, March 27th, 2026 @ 5:18 pm By: Van Zant

The special interest money spent in District 79 primary race is a tremendous red flag. It was a very big factor in the Kidwell loss. Probably the biggest factor. Not the only factor though.

A lot of people have been wondering why such a high priority has been put on controlling the Beaufort County GOP. Why did Kidwell work so hard with Ms. Garris to make the party an exclusive party? And maybe that was actually Ms. Garris helping Kidwell with the execution of that task. I suppose they transformed the local party into a political machine, but the price was the destruction of the party in its traditional role. Even bigger than that was the alienation of a group of conservatives that actually appreciated Kidwell's record in Raleigh but felt attacked by his actions at home. Some of that group still voted for Kidwell in the primary - others did not.

The other thing was the simultaneous public attack by Kidwell and Garris on Stacey Davis. What was that about? Why were they involved at all? Remember Superintendent Cheeseman immediately released a redacted tape to the press before he even spoke with the Board of Education. In fact, I've found that the Board of Education to this day has never acted on the situation. They finally got to see the unredacted tape well after the fact. That is strange to say the least. In fact, I know several people involved that say this unilateral action by the Superintendent resembles a set up more than anything else. Why did Kidwell and Garris jump into this so quickly? Is there some connection with Cheeseman? Could it be so mundane as a potential political appointment favor to a Victory Committee faction? Perhaps both? One has to wonder. Is it something along this line or something else? Finally, is it something rotten or is it just coincidentally stupid?

So many negative things going on in the local Republican Party creates severe weaknesses.

Commented: Tuesday, March 24th, 2026 @ 3:58 pm By: Van Zant

Get real. Whatley and Tillis are joined at the hip!

Commented: Friday, March 20th, 2026 @ 5:38 am By: Van Zant

Carolyn Walker not only has used this process of bringing Democrats into Republican primaries for her own benefit, she has also recently been active in the recruitment of these Democrats that have switched to Republican candidates in other school districts than her own. She and her husband were actively working in other school district primaries trying to defeat conservative Republicans. Have either one of these characters ever publicly badmouthed Democrats like they did several Republicans recently?

Commented: Thursday, March 19th, 2026 @ 10:59 am By: Van Zant

I know people that were hoping that Kidwell would wake up at this point in time. This meeting situation seems to have answered that situation. He's doubling down with Chairman Garris. They are circling the wagons.

This shameful period needs to end. The Victory Committee needs to be disclosed and disbanded. Restitution should be made. The guilty leaders need to go. Ethical leaders willing to rebuild the party need to be identified. Short of that this trainwreck of outlandishly bad ethics will be the end of a credible Beaufort County Republican Party. One way or the other this version of the local GOP must not continue.

Commented: Tuesday, March 17th, 2026 @ 8:08 am By: Van Zant

CT: I agree the major task before us is the general election and that what happens in the dysfunctional party will largely have to be dealt with in conventions. But I also disagree somewhat. I do think that those of us who know should warn those in the public that do not know about a local GOP that has gone off the rails in a very big way.

I one hundred percent agree with JS and what our priorities must be going into the general election. With all due respect, the intrigues within the local GOP are largely caused by the leadership of the local GOP. They made their own bed. Let them be responsible for the mess they have made.

CV is absolutely right about Randy Walker. He changed his party registration in order to get elected. He did not change his party philosophy as a public official. He governs as a liberal. He is a liberal pretending he is not at election time. It's time for that farce to end. Same for his ultra-liberal wife on the school board.

Commented: Sunday, March 15th, 2026 @ 7:55 pm By: Van Zant

From a conservative perspective, the Beaufort County School Board has gone backwards, because of the outside and inside meddling of the two Walker board members. Carolyn and Randy Walker have worked on the inside of the local Republican Party and from the outside of their own school district. One of these ultra-liberals (Carolyn) serves on the School Board and the other ultra-liberal (Randy) serves on the County Commission. They both are registered Republicans and are in the good graces of the corrupt local Republican party leadership. People that pay attention have long known that the Walkers serve as ultra-liberals on their respective boards.

Two of their three school board recruits for other districts than their own, (District 6 and made it through the primary. The third candidate was trounced in the district 2 primary despite the heavy involvement of the Walkers. The two that made it are both former teachers and members of the NCAE. The NCAE is a radical left organization. For example, the present NCAE chairperson was quoted recently in relation to ICE agents in North Carolina. She said, "And to be clear, we do not want them here."

Commented: Friday, March 13th, 2026 @ 8:31 pm By: Van Zant

The primary race at the top of the ticket was a huge disappointment for conservatives too. Don Brown was a good candidate. A worthy candidate. Michael Whatley and Thom Tillis have done more than any I can think of to turn North Carolina blue. The corrupt North Carolina GOP has worked hard to give us this crap.

Locally, we can see the same thing with the corrupt Beaufort County Republican Party. With party leadership embracing ultra-liberals and shunning conservative officeholders, we are witnessing a recipe for party disaster. It's time for conservatives to recognize the situation and react on our own. This party is a long way from representing anything remotely connected to Jesse Helms, John East, or Lauch Faircloth. The party platform has been thrown out the window. The party plan of organization has been flushed. We can't be nice to these horrible, incompetent, corrupt people any longer. It's not like they are nice to us. They are destroying our community.

If conservatives do not organize and react to this situation, we will be a blue state for a long, long time and our community will be too corrupt to fix.

Berger may be on the way out, but we still have a lot of work to do.

Commented: Sunday, March 8th, 2026 @ 11:12 pm By: Van Zant

I believe special interest PACs did play a significant role in this primary. Another factor was our non-functioning local Republican Party that played a key role in the conservative bloodbath also.

Kidwell's insistence on building a local Republican Party around him where he could be the only conservative and all others were seen as threats came back to bite him. Ironically, a healthy local GOP might have saved him. I wonder if there is more than megalomania to the Kidwell story, but I just don't know. It's a shame though.

The other consequence of a sick GOP characterized by pushing conservatives away and welcoming suspect liberals in was the creation and emboldening of characters like the Washington Walkers. Geniuses like Garris, J. Forrest and others fostered this atmosphere within the party in order to fulfil corrupt aims, to attack people they did not like, and for outright stupidness. Embracing the hostile ultra-liberal Walkers into the party was like dragging a Trojan Horse into the organization. Real Republicans were hurt by these terrible decisions. If this is party building give me no more of it. Maybe the local GOP can rebuild itself over the timespan of the next two county conventions. Maybe not. Presently, they are nothing good and should be avoided in every way other than supporting those within trying to survive and save the good worth saving.

In the meantime, conservatives need to rally around the conservative survivors like incumbents Deatherage and Hickman. Also, the conservative heroes of the Washington municipal elections and other municipal new faces should be remembered and rallied around. There are at least two very promising and accomplished candidates that did not make it through the primary this time but have much to offer. This core and the addition of conservative officeholders not up for election this time is a very impressive group to build around. Beaufort County needs to start. We have a lot of broken stuff to fix.

Commented: Saturday, March 7th, 2026 @ 7:36 am By: Van Zant

Conservatives in Beaufort County need to get their act together. A lot of special interest money was in this campaign. Even so, I think Kidwell could have weathered the storm if he had not thrown his weight around in Beaufort County opposing local conservatives and allying with that corrupt Garris woman. In my mind he lost his race at that point.

Local conservatives need to come to some sort of understanding. Maybe we need to separate the wheat from the chaff and think about the big picture.

Commented: Thursday, March 5th, 2026 @ 8:58 am By: Van Zant

My point is that the folks controlling the Beaufort County GOP are behaving like a Political Action Committee or a private political club during this primary. That is inappropriate behavior for a political party in a primary. All the while these hypocrites are badmouthing one or two private local political organizations as if they have any authority over them. I also hear them ranting about a PAC. I'm not aware of an actual PAC in existence that would fit that bill, so they are probably substituting that for one of the organizations.

Unless the Beaufort County Republican Party finds new leadership, they are well on their way to self-destruction.

Commented: Monday, February 23rd, 2026 @ 9:28 am By: Van Zant

In this primary season, who is on Facebook using the Beaufort County Republican Party name giving thumbs up to some Republican candidates and ignoring other Republican candidates? I wonder who authorized this. You know it wasn't the Beaufort County Republican Party Executive Committee. If it was (but it wasn't) they would be out of line too.

Commented: Sunday, February 22nd, 2026 @ 7:19 am By: Van Zant

In Beaufort County:
Calm Authority - NO
Fair Process - NO
Emotional Restraint - NO
Institutional Respect - NO
Relentless Focus on the Mission - NO
Stays Calm Under Provocation - NO
Does not embarrass opponents or silence dissent - NO
Separates personal feelings from organizational decisions - NO
Rules evenly applied - ??? What rules; Dictator rules only

Seems to be a clean sweep in Beaufort County. To salvage this will take something worthwhile to rally around. Leadership is needed.

Commented: Wednesday, February 18th, 2026 @ 8:58 am By: Van Zant

Stan: The Beaufort County GOP is of NO use to you or any other proven Conservative candidate or anyone likely to fit that description. I have it on good authority that several conservative candidates in this primary are working very hard to distance themselves from the local GOP. Of course, the local GOP is also working very hard to undermine conservatives also; subtly or any other way they can get away with. The local GOP picks its favorites outside of primaries and during primary season. More and more people are catching on that the Beaufort County GOP is without doubt a rouge organization.

Commented: Tuesday, February 17th, 2026 @ 3:10 am By: Van Zant

GM: I think you're right. Those presently running the Beaufort County GOP have no clue about the party rules or the party platform. Worse yet they really have no regard for those things either. It's ironic that they are the ones serving as the "official" representatives of the party locally.

Commented: Monday, February 16th, 2026 @ 5:56 am By: Van Zant