Former Beaufort County Republican Chairman Resigns from Board of Elections | Eastern North Carolina Now

For Immediate Release:

    Yes, it is true that Charles Hickman has declined the appointment to the Beaufort County Board of Elections. His letter has been received by the State Board of Elections and they are in the process of responding to it. I was hopeful, and still am, that we can resolve this issue so Mr. Hickman can serve on the Board of Elections.

    It is also true that his withdrawal was caused, as he says in his letter, by some controversy about how these appointments have been handled. I share his concerns.

    Several months ago we knew the appointments would be coming up. I recommended a process to our Executive Committee to be used to make the nominations to the State GOP, as provided for by law. That process included the appointment of a search committee that solicited nominations and volunteers to be considered. Everyone who submitted an application was screened by the committee using a uniform set of criteria. The committee's recommendations were reviewed by the Executive Committee and the Executive Committee voted to recommend Mr. Hickman, Delma Blinson and Jay McRoy. As established by state procedures, those names were ranked in order, and as determined by the local Executive Committee according to the votes of the Executive Committee. The names were submitted ranked in that order.

    Somewhere at the State Republican Party headquarters the ranking of the names was changed. We do not know at this point who made the change or why, although we have some suspicions. We are now seeking to determine the truth about how the Executive Committee's nominations got changed.

    That's all I have to say about that process at this point, except to say that my own feeling is that the issue here is not who the nominees were or even who serves on the Beaufort County Board of Elections representing the Republican Party. The issue is why the process was not adhered to.

    We had a fair and honest search and selection process. The Executive Committee acting as the Beaufort County Republican Party made a deliberate decision based on a sound process. The nominations were changed, apparently in the State Republican Headquarters, without any consultation or explanation to the local Republican Party. That is absolutely unacceptable and that is what I believe caused Mr. Hickman to withdraw.

    This is not the first time that "Raleigh" has circumvented local decision-making. And it is for that reason that I say that this issue is not who is going to sit on a local board, but rather whether the State GOP leadership is going to respect local decision-making and whether we are going to follow the rules or allow decisions to be made under the table.

    As I said, we don't have all the facts about this situation yet and I am not going to say more at this time. We will, however be completely transparent once the facts are known and the Executive Committee has addressed the issue.

    CONTACT: Keith D Kidwell

     Beaufort County Republican Chairman
       BCGOPChair@gmail.com


Published Letter from Chairman Hickman to Governor McCrory


    Governor Pat McCrory

    co/Charles Duckett

    Director of Appointments
     Office of Boards and Commissions
     20301 Mail Service Center
    Raleigh, NC 27699-0301


    Dear Governor McCrory,

    Thank you. I'm honored by your appointing me to the Beaufort County Board of Elections. I believe my background and education have prepared me to be a good board member. Actually, I have been an unofficial, but de facto, member of this board in 2012 because of Judge Vosburg's declining health resulting in his death. As a minority party participant, I had a great relationship with the Democrat members, the director, and all employees. I had hoped to continue my work on this board in an official role and in a majority role, but I do have some concerns.

    Firstly, the Beaufort County Republican Party Executive Committee voted on the three candidates, and their order, to submit for your consideration. The results of this election yielded a vast majority of the votes for Dr. Blinson (14) and me (15). The third position in the voting went to Mr. McRoy with three votes. It has raised many eyes in Beaufort County that Dr. Blinson, with his strong support, was left off and that Mr. McRoy, with his weak support, was added. I have spoken with my Democrat friends and acquaintances familiar with this procedure and they all say that such a thing is very rare and done then because of extraordinary reasons. Considering the fact that several of our committee members cut short a group west coast vacation in order to vote for the two preferred candidates and the order of the names to be submitted, I do think we all deserve an explanation. It is not clear to me who makes these decisions and why, in this case, it was made.

    Secondly, an additional quandary in my mind is that I know of few more qualified than Dr. Blinson for the State Board of Elections, not to mention the Beaufort County Board. I have worked with Dr. Blinson before: with a church youth program; in local candidate campaigns; and most recently working very closely together on the Beaufort County Republican Party Executive Committee during my chairmanship when he served as secretary. Had our local vote been accepted, there would have been no better county board of elections in the state, in my opinion.

    Thirdly, the last place vote getter has a record as a public official; a record of organizing with the Democrats destroying the Republican majority on the County Commission; a record of voting with the Democrats 80% of the time and more than that on fiscal matters. I do not relish the thought of being a minority on a majority board masquerade.

    Additionally, it has been brought to my attention that two Beaufort County residents have been actively lobbying against Dr. Blinson with various state level people in Raleigh. The two 2 persons mentioned to me are not members of the County Executive Committee; in fact, both have openly worked in opposition to the local party for at least the last couple of years. They have caused trouble for me in my efforts to promote the party by using the very willing local Democrat newspaper against the County Party, calling the State Party with baseless complaints against me and the local party, publically running Republican candidate campaigns against the local party, and a multitude of other double dealings. Also, the two individuals, Mr. Woolard and Mr. Dority, approached the Beaufort County Board of Elections Director with a scare tactic story claiming that Dr. Blinson and I had plans to make personnel changes that would include firing her. Nothing could be further from the truth. It's a damnable, mean, self-serving, utterly

    despicable lie and is indicative of the lack of character we have learned to associate with these two characters.

    It has been reported to me that the two had four allies and accomplices. I believe three of them are on our current board. Two in that group tend to be on and off again members that many times cause more problems than they are worth in my view and experience.

    It is sad that some people are so intimidated by Dr. Blinson's intelligence, ability, and successes in numerous vocations that they developed a campaign against him and secured the election of a person much less qualified and less preferred by the County Executive Committee.

    The thing that bothers me most is that six people have more clout with state level party leaders than the great majority of the people in the responsible positions at the county level. That is baffling to those of us who sacrifice so much for the party, and it is also very disrespectful to the organized county party leadership. It is this kind of dealing that has inspired me to work against Democrat leadership for over a decade in Republican Party politics at the precinct, county, district and state levels. Now, we

    have Republican majorities, and it pains me greatly to see the same kinds of things, and worse, that I have worked so hard to eradicate being exhibited by our own party. It's quite disheartening.

    During my years as a party activist I have sincerely tried to keep healthy relations and communication with all factions of the party while never compromising core party principles. One thing learned is that many inside our party do not want open dialogue and are openly hostile to it. Another thing learned in all of this is that there are many who do not care at all for anything outside of immediate self-interests whatever the costs. As hard as I have tried to see the best in all sides and to try to build coalitions through honest dialogue to form a somewhat united front against the Democrats and their socialist policies, I must recognize reality and accept that it will not be, because there is no will for it from a certain faction.

    I have held many elective posts within the party over the years, but have sought very few of them. The elections board position is one that interested me. I had hoped to represent my county and my party. But, the turn of events within the party at the county and state levels has forced me to re-assess. Do I want to be a part of a bad tasting deal? With the present political situation in the party, do I want to restrain myself even further than I have already restrained myself over the years with personally imposed standards of decorum? I say personally imposed because I have experienced so many examples over the years of those who have not met proper standards in that regard in our party during the times I have served in previous party positions. This appointment will come with the additional constraints of the State Statues under Article 4A. Do

    I really want to be the face of this party with even more limited say in these times?

    At the conclusion of my county party chairmanship, I was ready to take a step back and take that different role. The events in connection with this appointment have brought me to a place where I am no longer willing to do that. Rather, it's better to remove all chains and only represent integrity and principles; I'll battle side by side with my party against the Democrats or battle within my party for important principles, when necessary, in the future. The Governor's appointments are the Governor's prerogative. The circumstances of this appointment, with all the extracurricular activities, are not something I want to be a part of.

    Delma Blinson should be on this board. For this reason and all the other things I have discussed, I must sadly decline the appointment that has been granted to me.

Sincerely,

Charles Hickman
109 Captains Walk Road
Blounts Creek, NC 27814

(252) 946-7748

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( July 12th, 2013 @ 11:48 pm )
 
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.



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