I titled the blogpost "The Yella-Dogs Ran Me Out Of The Democratic Party" for two reasons. One, the title is catchy, and (2) I think the title says a lot about the "good-ole-boy" political machinery that has existed in Dare County for far too long.
As far as I know my entire family have always been Democrats, back through as many ancestors as I can identify. However, most of my current and ancestral family have always lived their entire lives in Dare County. I didn't, and therein may lie the single biggest factor in my decision to join the growing ranks of Independent voters a few years ago.
I should stop now and say that if you are looking to find a lot of deep political philosophy in this blogpost, you best stop reading.
During my 30 year career in state government, I had been very much meshed, from a third party/unaffected standpoint (tax auditor) in local and state governmental offices. I audited many local governmental agencies, some state government funded agencies/universities and more politicians than I care to remember. I lived in five eastern North Carolina communities and worked extensively in no less than 30 counties, including southeastern Virginia.
During my job career, involvement in politics to the slightest degree, would have gotten me fired overnight and believe it not, I kept my political opinions to myself and bit my lip many times.
Actually, the first stinging involvement I ever had with yella-dog Democrats occurred about 35 years ago when I was managing a state government office in Edenton, NC. James Holshouser (R) had just replaced Robert (Bob) Scott (D) as the Governor of North Carolina. James (Jim) Hunt (D) was the Lieutenant Governor and working hard towards the next election when he would begin a reign as the state's longest serving governor.
During that period, I made the mistake, or good fortune, depending on how you look at it, of accepting a promotion to manage the state's Greenville, NC office. Hunt was a native of Wilson, NC and Greenville and the surrounding tobacco growing counties was his political stomping ground.
One day, while working in Farmville, NC and abiding by the cardinal rule for all tax auditors, I chose to refuse a set of free tickets to a Jim Hunt barbecue fundraiser held and offered by the chairman of the State ABC Commission, who was a huge Hunt backer. Thus, my first hard experience with hardcore NC yella-dogs and one which would label me as a "Republican" for many years, despite my voter registration. People close to NC politics are aware of the relentless Hunt years.
As my work experiences grew throughout eastern NC I became more and more aware of what I considered the "low esteem" many other counties had for Dare. Politically, many people thought Dare was becoming a county with too much clout (Basnight's power was growing by leaps and bounds) and the rule-of-thumb was that once you crossed the Alligator River Bridge all the rules changed. And, many believed that "making one's own rules" wasn't exactly healthy for the rest of the northeastern part of the State; to wit: a growing separation between two former friends, the Elizabeth City/Albemarle region and Dare County.
I have also lived in Elizabeth City, Edenton, Greenville, and Lillington, NC. And, nowhere in any of these communities and others where I have spent a considerable amount of time have I experienced the coldness of the yella-dogs as in Dare County. And, even while a nonresident for 30 years, I was always aware of the "source", the "families", and what it took to exist and get along politically in Dare County. And, it wasn't surprising that I never sensed this kind of political pressures upon families, workers, and especially local government workers, in any of these other places. So, to say that I returned to my home county, upon my retirement, with some kind of "political attitude" would not be incorrect.
I am certain that all of the above was exactly why I was recruited to write for the Outer Banks
Sentinel after getting settled back in Dare County. The editor, and especially the paper's owners (whom many people would be surprised to learn) knew of my governmental experience and knew I would be willing to "try and tackle" the establishment. And what a ride that was!
After working 60 hour weeks on a 40 hour per week salary, which included having various local advertisers with heavy political involvements threaten ad removals, and visits to the newspaper's owners, I reluctantly left the job to devote myself to the hands on building of a new home in Southern Shores.
No, I wasn't fired from the paper. In fact, I can proudly say that when I left the Outer Banks Sentinel, I had accumulated more state press awards in one year than any other reporter, or so I was told.
Then came the "sand tax" issue, one of the most contentious issues in the history of Dare County. I joined in and we worked hard and we beat the politicians and especially whipped the butts of a lot of yella-dog Democrats. To this day, they are still licking their wounds from that battle.
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| My name is Ray Midgett, and I am not running for county commissioner. http://eyeondare.blogspot.com/2010/09/my-name-is-ray-midgett.html |
Of late, the EyeonDare blog has been one of the most enjoyable writing experiences of my life.
I know I can never be a yella-dog, yet I can never accept the most conservative of most Republican issues. I can only be true to what's in my heart, and it is that neither party is worthy of my total devotion. I guess I can say that I am thankful I moved back to Dare County, for if not I may still be a registered Democrat. So now I am a registered Independent voter and darn proud of it. And, if you want to see real change in Dare County politics, I say, you should give it a try. For, believe it or not, the political winds on the Outer Banks are, indeed, shifting.
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