County Republicans gather, choose officers
By Steve Herring
Published in News on March 29, 2015 1:50 AM
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News-Argus/STEVE HERRING
New officers for the Wayne County Republican Party are, front row, left to right, Brent Heath, chairman; Melissa Watkins, treasurer; and Lisa Swenson, secretary. Back row from left are, Jerry Grantham, second vice chairman; and Thomas Flores, sergeant-at-arms. Not pictured is Ann Sullivan, first vice chairman. They were elected during the party's Saturday morning convention at the Wayne Center.
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News-Argus/STEVE HERRING
Bob Jackson, right, outgoing chairman of the Wayne County Republican Party, was honored for his service during the party's Saturday morning convention at the Wayne Center. Brent Heath, left, the new chairman, presented the plaque to Jackson.
Wayne County Republicans Saturday morning elected new leadership and approved resolutions in support of Israel, calling for the dismantling of the federal bureaucracy and for state lawmakers to change the date of the state presidential primary.
Also, the 50 people at the convention held at the Wayne Center heard from local and state elected officials.
Brent Heath of Mount Olive was elected chairman. Ann Sullivan was elected first vice chairman, Jerry Grantham, second vice chairman, Melissa Watkins, treasurer, and Lisa Swenson, secretary.
Outgoing chairman Bob Jackson received a plaque in recognition of his service.
Jackson was praised for leading the party during a time when Republicans assumed control of the Wayne County Board of Commissioners and put more Republicans on the non-partisan Wayne County Board of Education.
While organizers expressed some disappointed at the turnout, which affects the number of delegates the party can have at the state convention, Heath said it was not unexpected in an off-year convention.
"We hope to be able to get our 94 delegates next year to go to our state and district conventions," he said. "This year, by only having 50 here, we only have 50 that will be able (to be delegates). We want to work in the precincts and get our grassroots people back active, back involved.
"That is what we are going to focus on -- getting all 30 precincts organized and get them to where they have meetings. Not just a county-wide meeting, but precinct meetings where we can have more delegates attending the state and national conventions."
The party also will concentrate on the few upcoming municipal and sanitary district elections as it prepares for the 2016 presidential election, he said.
"We are recruiting people to run in those positions that are going to be open and hopefully we will be able to have more conservative-minded people on some of those boards," Heath said. "(2016) will be on us before we know it.
"That is the purpose of trying to get organized at the precinct level so that we will have more manpower and force to make a change in 2016 and hopefully get us a more conservative-minded president and someone who shares the values that we have."
But before that happens, the local GOP wants the state to change the date of the presidential primary.
According to the resolution approved by the membership, the state's 2013 election law changed the primary date from mid-May to late February.
However, in January 2014, the Republican National Committee changed its rules so that only South Carolina, New Hampshire, Iowa and Nevada can hold presidential primaries before March 1.
Those rules penalize other states that hold their primaries before March 1 by reducing a state's allowable delegates to the National Republican Presidential Convention to no more than 12 delegates.
If the state complies with the national rules, the North Carolina Republican Party would have 72 delegates.
The resolution approved Saturday calls on the General Assembly to change the primary from February to a date that will allow the maximum number of delegates to the national convention.
It also encourages the legislature to specify that the primary for all national, state and local elections be on the same date as the one selected for the presidential primary, which would eliminate the need for additional primaries.
Jackson asked state Rep. Jimmy Dixon of Mount Olive if he had any information on the issue.
"It is my understanding that Rep. Burt Jones, who is one of the chairs of the elections (committee), is dealing with this and in fact has introduced legislation to accomplish this," Dixon said.