To the Editor:

I would like to commend Mike Voss for his fair reporting on the dismissal of Dr. Delma Blinson from the Beaufort County Board of Elections. I was presiding at the Tea Party meeting that entertained this motion and also attended the State Board of Election’s meeting in Raleigh.

The last paragraphs of your report needed more information. Dr. Blinson was offered the choice to represent himself at the meeting or have an attorney present. He elected to represent himself and to have two witnesses speak for him. He also asked that he be allowed to question William Buonanno, as his accuser.  Buonanno did not show up for the meeting.

Chairman Joshua B. Howard did not allow Dr. Blinson to finish his comments in his allotted time before starting a belligerent attack of questions and quickly calling for a motion for his dismissal. This was not a hearing but a pre-arranged hatchet job.

About 10 people from Beaufort County took time from work and their busy lives and drove over 100 miles to support Dr. Blinson. Two witnesses, Buzz Cayton, chairman of the Beaufort Patriot Tea Party, and Beaufort County Republican Party Chairman Keith Kidwell were recognized by the SBOE chairman as witness but never allowed to speak.

The meeting uncovered two rotten fish at one time; the Tillis Establishment and the festering local camp that is set to play petty politics to get even with those that do not agree with them. In the process they lost the man who would protect them most on the Beaufort County Board of Elections.

It is unfortunate that we have this kind of thinking continuing to cloud the political process of electing the best man for the job and not more crony petty politicians.

It is more unfortunate that we have a person trying to divide the Tea Party and the Republican Party in Beaufort County. It will not happen. The Beaufort Patriot Tea Party stands for what this country was founded on and that is the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution. That constitution recognized the inalienable right of free speech. Dr. Blinson broke no laws, either Republican Party rules or North Caroline statutes. This was an unfortunate decision by Chairman Howard and a destructive accusation by William Buonanno, who never had the guts to confront the target of his attack.

In my opinion, the one hope that we have is to get rid of the “protect my vote” Republicans and replace them with true patriots who will be brave enough to make the hard decisions to restore our country to its founding principles.

Unfortunately, I suspect we can look forward to more rot being uncovered.

W.L. “Buzz” Cayton

Washington