Beaufort County, TOO ???? (The ABCs of meddling)
I am sensing a pattern here : Beaufort, Craven, Davidson. (You folks in Edgecombe, Forsyth, Franklin, Granville and Guilford better get ready.)
Controversy between a county GOP organization and the state GOP has been becoming quite common. It now appears to be rearing its ugly head in Beaufort County. Things have come to a head with the resignation of Charles Hickman, a longtime county GOP leader, from the board of elections:
For those who may not know — “Dr. Blinson” is Delma Blinson, a longtime educator in the area and a Tea Party devotee. He edits the very popular Beaufort Observer news web site. I have come to be acquainted with Dr. Blinson as a colleague on the starboard side of the blogosphere. I’ve found him to be tough as nails — the kind of guy that politicos interested in shenanigans do not want in a position of influence. More:
As background — Ashley Woolard was a campaign strategist for former GOP state House candidate Arthur Williams. (Dority was a GOP candidate for auditor who, surprisingly, refused a runoff and stuck the state with Debra Goldman.) Williams was a former Democrat legislator who was reportedly talked into switching parties and running for his old seat by speaker Thom Tillis. Williams and Woolard were frequent targets for criticism by The Beaufort Observer. (The Observer also later linked Dority to the Williams campaign. ) MORE:
Claude Pope used the theme of counties ”owning their own sandbox” in his campaign for state chairman. I cannot think of anything that would be more of a county’s own sandbox than the county board of elections. If Pope is serious about local control, he needs to help ferret out who was responsible for this outrage at NCGOP and summarily fire them. Counties do not need sandbox bullies from Raleigh interfering in their affairs.
I have heard that NCGOP monkeyed around with BOE appointments in three other counties as well. Beaufort may be just the first one where the push back is coming.
They also got involved and tried to micromanage the appointments in Davidson County as well. I was floored with the way they came in and took over, but assumed we were alone. This is very interesting.
Who needs Democrats? The NC Republican Party is doing a fine job of killing itself.
This article includes the statement on the issue by the Beaufort County GOP chairman:
http://www.beaufortobserver.net/Articles-NEWS-and-COMMENTARY-c-2013-07-11-267833.112112-Recently-appointed-local-Board-of-Elections-member-Charles-Hickman-resigns-from-the-board-in-protest.html
From the Hickman letter, it appears that the two ringleaders of this maneuver to backstab the county executive committee, were the losing candidate who was defeated by a wide margin at the March convention for county chairman, and his campaign manager. Someone at the NCGOP could not comprehend that they would have ulterior motives?
I used to think the conventions were kind of a “gathering of the tribes” so to speak, where we debate and hash out a common agenda.
But more and more (after the RNC rules cram down last year, and the various meddling by the NCGOP in local primaries and appointments) I’m beginnign to think that the leadership views itself as “Buger King corporate” and that the county chapters are just local franchises.
Your local Burger King can make minor managerial changes, like set up an employee recognition program, or decide what brand of liquid soap to buy for the bathrooms. But make no mistake, you’re running a Burker King, and are expected to follow the corporate “brand”.
I wonder why I’m still in the party, frankly. Duplicity and abuse of process sound like union hall tactics, and I thought that belonged in the other party.
With respect to your last line, I could very easily say the same thing. In fact, four years ago, someone talked me out of going Libertarian with some very sound reasons.
Your comment is universal among a lot of hard-working grass-roots people who are utterly exhausted from seeing everything they try to build damaged by our office holders who seem utterly uncaring about the damage to our brand and the undermining of our efforts. Many have already left the Party within the last several election cycles and we are the poorer for it.
But I think the answer to your question is simply that we are the last barrier against tyranny, thus it is necessary to resign ourselves to the fact that we are going to be in a two-front war for years to come….we fight the socialists in the other party and we also have to struggle against the establishment types who are in it for the gamesmanship and self-serving purposes while we are in it for our liberty.
I agree. Those of us in this as advocates for the principles of liberty are in a two front war. That is the reality we face.
I hate to say it but the GOP is now reminding me of the scene in the movie “Caddyshack” when the caddies got to use the country club pool for the day. The poor ol’ GOP sure does seem to be making a mess of things.
Must be hard to come in from the cold after such a long time. It is painful when your fingers and toes start to warm up.
Charles is one of my favorite Republicans anywhere.
Why?
The man has integrity and therefore, he well recognizes integrity in others.
If Charles, who is a pretty gracious guy, doesn’t respect you, there is credible reason. The man’s a fine barometer of what is real and what is just plain wrong.
In fact, Charles is a fair “canary in the coal mine” and me thinks he smells something rather foul.
Stan, your comments on this fiasco in Beaufort County Now are spot on:
http://beaufortcountynow.com/post/8125/on-limited-voting-a-corrupted-nc-gop-and-ones-desperate-need-to-seek-political-absolution.html
Chairman Pope ignores the county party, listens to cronies with little local standing, and appoints a local scoundrel that has just been exposed and voted off the county commission? POP goes the WEASEL!