Comments by Van Zant | Eastern NC Now

A kindergarten mental case judge would have dismissed this action, too. This legal attempt by Chairman Garris is one of the looniest things I have ever heard of. Are there any bounds to the lengths these scoundrels will go to in order to avoid any consequences for their unethical behaviors in a real meeting of the executive committee?

Fruit Loop Garris and her zombie goon followers need to answer the 12 questions presented here to the totally in the dark and left out executive committee. At this time this mess has reached a point where the general population of Beaufort County Republicans need to hear those answers also. This "leadership" has lost credibility with any thinking Republican. It is past time to come clean.

Two more questions need an answer at this time:
1. Who are the members of the unauthorized Victory Sub-Committee that has illegally taken over executive committee duties?
2. Is Kidwell still on board with all this unethical nonsense?

This episode needs to come to an end other than being swept under the rug.

Commented: Tuesday, March 10th, 2026 @ 4:46 pm By: Van Zant

CV: Question about your school board assessment. When you broke down the conservative, liberal and swing vote categories I certainly agree about who the four conservatives are: Rader, Hickman, S. Davis, and Shreve. I get a little fuzzy with the rest although the liberals are without a doubt led by Mrs. Walker and Mrs. Booth. I think Williams is a swing vote, but I'm not sure what category to place Allen and Hudson. Which one do you consider the liberal and which one the swing?

For obvious reason the two new primary winners appear to be coming from the left.

In the county commission race Deatherage is the only proven conservative. His record speaks for itself. I'm hopeful about Woolard. Edwards has some red flags for conservatives. He needs to better explain his economic development comments. We've seen this movie before and already know how it ends for taxpaying residents.

I guess we'll have to see about the state house situation. We had better keep our eyes open on that start to finish.

In the congressional primary we are once again the victims of too many candidates in a 30 percent threshold race. Damn.

Commented: Sunday, March 8th, 2026 @ 9:29 am By: Van Zant

RMB: The Beaufort County GOP not only did nothing about the county commission frauds they embraced them. Furthermore, they took every opportunity to shun the actual conservative Republicans, not only on the county commission but also in other positions. The local GOP is not looking after party interests. Rather they are operating as an exclusive club of opportunistic insiders. They do not work for the benefit of Beaufort County or for the benefit of Republican Party principles. They do way more harm than good.

Commented: Thursday, March 5th, 2026 @ 9:32 am By: Van Zant

piratefan: According to my sources the Walkers are establishing quite a pattern of recruiting candidates for and campaigning in other school districts than their own. They are inviting retaliation and it would be warranted.

Commented: Thursday, March 5th, 2026 @ 6:05 am By: Van Zant

It's odd that Garris and her illegal in the shadows committee pretending to be the Beaufort County Republican Party Executive Committee are accusing a private political club of pretending to be the local GOP. This criminal element is accusing others of doing what they are doing. There has got to be some controlling authority in the state GOP or in the state Board of Elections to shut down this criminal enterprise. This is massive fraud on so many levels.

Commented: Sunday, February 22nd, 2026 @ 7:50 pm By: Van Zant

Stan Deatherage is the proven conservative in the commission race. Over the years he has operated honestly and transparently. Not many in Beaufort County politics can say that. If Deatherage can be re-elected and one more like him gets through the commission election, Beaufort County can enter a new day in governance. A better day.

Commented: Saturday, February 21st, 2026 @ 6:41 am By: Van Zant

Stan: That seems to be about it. They are telling some whopper lies trying to evade any consequences for their corrupt actions. They have no regard for the people they are hurting along the way. I imagine they are going to do even more bizarre and harmful things to people if there is no intervention very soon.

Commented: Tuesday, February 17th, 2026 @ 5:21 am By: Van Zant

The only people disrupting these meetings are Garris and her devotees. The ones she is claiming to be disruptive are only politely trying to have a legal meeting. Having a real meeting is the last thing Garris and her zombies want, because they have been operating illegally and have essentially been caught. They are performing acrobatics in order to keep this out of any official record in an attempt to wiggle out of this tight spot they have put themselves in. Their arrogance knows no bounds.

In the meantime, Garris and the illegal shadow committee are unilaterally making decisions to exclude and harm conservatives. The people that have hijacked the Beaufort County Republican Party are essentially acting as outlaws at this point in time. Some external controlling authority needs to come and review this sorry situation.

Commented: Tuesday, February 17th, 2026 @ 2:51 am By: Van Zant

One thing that is not followed AT All by these present-day leaders of the Beaufort County Republican Party is the Republican Party Plan of organization. Some higher level of the party needs to come down and fix this. The people here are not capable of doing it. As things are, the party will not survive this.

Commented: Sunday, February 15th, 2026 @ 4:18 pm By: Van Zant

Ms. Garris is in total violation of the party rules. She unilaterally expels members she does not like at will. She conducts business without the advice and consent of the Executive Committee. She has formed an illegal secret committee that the Executive Committee hears no report from and does not even know who they are. She and her fellow criminal treasurer are spending unauthorized party money on unauthorized projects. The majority of the actual Executive Committee are made up of a mixture of low character people and outright morons. Almost half of the committee seems to be made up of good people that are being kept from doing business by the others. The leadership thugs will not even hear them at meetings. The party has hit rock bottom.

It is unbelievable that there are not enough people of character to right the ship in Beaufort County. It is equally unbelievable that district and state levels of the party are allowing this lawlessness to tar the reputation and credibility of the GOP. This is so bad it has become necessary for other state entities to step in.

To restore anything of value they must:
1. Stop rewriting party rules.
2. Stop illegally and unilaterally expelling members.
3. Stop illegal closed sessions to cover up their crimes.
4. Disclose the roster created at the last convention and explain how it has been destroyed.
5. Disclose the members of the Victory Committee and entertain a report from them to the Executive Committee.
6. Explain their illegal actions and spending during the municipal elections.
7. Take responsibility for individuals using the weight of the local GOP and the local GOP Woman's organization in their local activities including social media. These individuals should only have the authority to use the weight of their individual names and not the actual organizations.
This is only a sampling of the crimes these thugs have committed using the name of the Beaufort County Republican Party. It is also clear the leadership will not deal with any of this.

The things these people are hiding need to have the light of day shined on them. Candidates with their fingerprints on any of this should not be supported by grassroots Republicans. This is a very bad organization.

Commented: Friday, February 13th, 2026 @ 9:49 pm By: Van Zant

SD: We have to wonder. Case in point: I heard you were at the forum at the community college. I heard you did well. I haven't seen any coverage of it with you in it. They have their featured personalities that they push and then others of various categories. Some are ignored. They say they are non-partisan in the primaries. BS. How these hypocrites charge others with disloyalty (illegally) is beyond me. There are paragraphs of examples. These folks don't have the character to be in the positions they are in.

Also, being a conservative in line with the Republican Party Platform automatically puts you at odds with these people. They brag about being "true Republican" but when you get them alone, many of them will candidly admit they lean liberal. So much for honesty and transparency with the public.

Commented: Wednesday, February 11th, 2026 @ 4:51 pm By: Van Zant

Thank God for the Beaufort County Conservative Club. As long as the Beaufort County Republican Party operates like the most unethical version of GOP Establishment insiders there will be a need for the Conservative Club. Even if the GOPe started operating under their own rules and became less corrupt, an entity such as the Conservative Club could be a real asset as a partner. I can't see that happening though. The Beaufort County GOPe is just too soulless and rotten.

Commented: Tuesday, February 10th, 2026 @ 6:29 am By: Van Zant

Just to add: In North Carolina, the Open Meetings Law requires that meetings of public bodies, including political party committees, to be conducted openly to ensure transparency. Exceptions are very specific: The only exceptions to this are generally related to personnel matters and very specified examples listed in the statutes. Pertaining to political meetings only internal campaign strategy and situations when political committees are working in conjunction with official bodies on situations such as filling vacancies. There is NO exception for general business or anything outside of the very specific things listed.

So, what are these people trying to hide? I would wager they are working very hard to hide the crimes that have been exposed by the articles on this site and by the long list of victims that are protesting the wrongs that have been wrought on them.

This sorry situation is a textbook example of why transparency is so important and why honesty and virtue are things to look for in our leaders.

Commented: Wednesday, February 4th, 2026 @ 9:30 am By: Van Zant

What hogwash. The Chair and her inner circle do not have the legitimate power to be the Executive Committee unilaterally. I've spoken with many of the Conservative Republican Club members that are also on the Beaufort County Republican Party Executive Committee. They all said that in Conservative Club meetings, they have given the recusal vote speech on some matters because of conflict of interest so many times that most of them don't even do it anymore for the sake of time. They just don't vote or vote recuse. If the present-day Beaufort County Republican Party would have a hearing this all could come out, but that is not what these power mongers want. They want an exclusive party and sole control of it.

The way this is going under the 'leadership' of these monsters, an executive committee meeting will be listening to speeches from their favorites, finish running all (those undesirable-to them), conservatives off, sing a little self-congratulation song, and let that shadowy "Victory Committee," who-ever-they-are, handle all the Executive Committee business and report to no one. This is not an executive committee operating under the Plan of Organization. It is the Mafia.

These people have illegally erased the results of the last county convention and are now illegally running the party with an illegal shadow committee. They are not operating under any legal Republican Party Plan of Organization.

Commented: Sunday, February 1st, 2026 @ 12:02 am By: Van Zant

T be T just keeps saying stuff not based on anything. She's like a petulant child only more dishonest.

Commented: Friday, January 30th, 2026 @ 5:46 am By: Van Zant

It is incredible that these RINOs are attacking private citizens and private clubs when they are illegally running the local Republican Party, a sanctioned Republican organization. They are working well outside of their own plan of organization and the state plan of organization. These RINOs have hijacked the legitimate Party and excluded the legitimate Executive Committee while illegally removing elected members they do not like and cannot control. It appears that, "Heil Hitler" was an appropriate response.

Commented: Tuesday, January 27th, 2026 @ 6:15 pm By: Van Zant

We agree. The present-day Executive Committee is not being allowed to conduct the business of the local Republican Party. The local Republican Party has been turned into a political machine for insiders.

Commented: Monday, January 26th, 2026 @ 7:17 am By: Van Zant