Friday, December 1, 2023
By Mark Jurkowitz | Outer Banks Voice on November 11, 2023
Bea Basnight, who had previously served 12 years on the Dare County Board of Education, has been selected by the Executive Committee of the Dare County Republican Party to fill the vacancy on the Dare County Board of Commissioners created when Jim Tobin passed away on Oct. 18.Ā The board of commissioners will vote on approving her appointment at its Dec. 4 meeting.
In an interview with the Voice, Basnight said, āIām very honored that the executive committee put their trust in me. Iāve been trying to stay in involved in all kinds of thingsā¦Maybe I can bring a new voice to some of the issues, to offer my voice.ā
If her selection is approved, Basnight will be the only woman on the seven-member board of commissioners.
After spending 35 years as a teacher and a dozen years on the board of education, Basnight, then the chairperson of that board, was defeated in a 2020 re-election bid by Republican Carl Woody in the first school board election conducted as a partisan race. The defeat of the widely respected Basnight, who was running as a Democrat, was seen as a clear sign of the strength of Republican dominance in the county.
Now a Republican, Basnight told the Voice that she switched to an unaffiliated registration about three years ago and then became a Republican about a year ago.
Characterizing herself as āa middle of road personā politically, Basnight acknowledged that the switch to the Republican Party came after she realized that āIf I wanted to throw my hat in the ringā for political office again, āI needed to be an āR.āā
In the Nov. 10 release announcing her selection, the Dare GOPās Executive Committee noted that Basnight is a longtime member of the Roanoke Island Historical Society Board (RIHA) and ācurrently serves on multiple other boards for Dare County.ā
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Topic: Dare EMS – Phase 2 Pre-Bid Conference
Time: Dec 6, 2023 10:00 AM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting
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Meeting ID: 823 9069 2985
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Comments
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Jana Smith
Republican!!!! What would the late Senator Basnight say āāhypocrite
DARERINOASSOCIATION
What? AOC wasnāt available? Pelosi wasnāt available? Couldnāt you dig up Marc? The Dare GOP is a J.O.K.E. A LIFELONG DEMOCRAT. LIFELONG. A true betrayal of every GOP. Ember that has worked long and hard in Dare.
I will NEVER participate or vote for these RINOS again!
Unaffiliated Now
Whoop Whoop. Who else can we put in prime position? Dang it. Bobby Owens didnāt quite have enough time to change his affiliation or he could be warming Jimās seat. Too bad Mrs. Judge didnāt live in the district. She could fill the seat and wouldnāt Warren be proud. When Doug leaves we can elect Sheriff Alan Basnight Moran as the next Republican Sheriff. Congratulations to Dare GOP. You have done more to win over Unaffiliated voters than anyone else.
Republican?
Apparently the Dare County Republican Party couldn’t find even one actual free market limited government Republican to fill this vacancy. I guess a democrat pretending to be a republican can’t be any worse than the Chamber of Commerce crony capitalist republicans we are stuck with now.
Jana smith
Bea blows with the wind. Married to Marcās brother and was ātightā with Marc and his daughters. Hopefully theyāll stand up for their dad and keeps her away from HIS and Sandyās restaurant as they were loyal to The party.
Bianca
Bea Basnight has been a tremendous teacher, community leader and Dare County cheerleader for the past 40 years. The Dare County School system was a perennial top 5 performing school system while she was chairman unlike the current top 25 district that has fallen by several metrics in the last 2 years under the new administration and inept board. Four ineffective chairman have tried to replace her in the past 3 years. Her reputation is impeccable.
Jan
She lost the 2020 election to a highly ineffective former employee who ran for vengeance. He canāt spell Republican but he ran as one. More importantly we should be celebrating the fact that a female has been selected for this high ranking position.
Daisy May
Ms. Bea was my 4th grade teacher who I still adore. I donāt care about party affiliations but what I do care about is Ms. Bea having the courage to work with both sides of the aisle to bring dual language immersion programs, a 5 year strategic plan that met every goal and increased minority hiring of administrators by 200%. Her 2020 opponent was justifiably vilified by the Dare County minority coalition when he took office. Sheās a champion for all children.
cam
” āIf I wanted to throw my hat in the ringā for political office again, āI needed to be an āR.ā’
Wow! Did she say that out loud??!!
Toe Jauber
Bea knows education, whatās best for Manteo schools and which of the 5 current BOE members are unqualified for the position.
Frank
She’s a RINO. She’s not really any different from the guy she’s replacing, who was also a RINO (spend, spend, spend….he voted to spend $500K of taxpayer money on pickleball courts which benefits only 0.660921% of the Dare County population). So, she fits right in with the rest of the board.
One might ask, why would the Dare Republican Party select a RINO? Aren’t there better, more conservative choices that actually are Republicans? My guess is that the Dare Republican party members are also RINO’s. It’s just politically advantageous to have an R behind their name at this point in time.
Voters, if you’re a real R, don’t vote for any of these RINO’s.
Mark Jurkowitz | Outer Banks Voice
Frank, that sure is a herd of RINO’s.
Crash of RINOs
Technically a group of rhinos is called a “crash”, which in this case is the perfect term both literally and figuratively. The Dare County Commissioners (with the exception of one democrat) and the Executive Committee of the Dare County Republican Party all together are one giant fiery multi-vehicle Crash of crony capitalist RINOs.
Kathy
Congratulations!
Dan-O
Wanna’ hear a hypocrite speak? āI believe people should look at the qualities of the individual and determine if they have a heart for education,ā said Bea Basnight, a Democrat and the chair of Dare Countyās board of education, which will hold partisan elections for the first time next year. āWe put our party affiliations aside when we walk through the door because itās about the children.ā ……Classic AFT teacher. Glad my children were able to avail themselves of private education & avoid such “educators.”
Travis
Well, “true Republicans” or whatever you call yourselves, quit your whining and put your champions out there for the next election. Let’s see if you can win a seat with some fire-breathing MGT, Gaetz or Tuberville type of conservative. You know, the highly effective types like Gym Jordan who hasn’t had a single original piece of legislation passed into law since 2006.
Bring out your hard-core book banners, anti-LGBTers and budget busters to fix all the things wrong with Dare County because this such a nightmare place to live that Nags Head citizens feel “speeding” is the most important crime problem in their city.
Moderate Dems ran the county until moderate Republicans were swept into office. I don’t sense there has been a great deal of difference between the two. But, ok, put on your red MDGA (Make Dare Great Again) caps and get to it. Run somebody who’ll push all the issues important to you and let’s see how that goes.
As for Bea…minus points for flipping parties for convenience but bonus points for saying the quiet part out loud.
Surf123
A selection that keeps the inner circle of politicians in charge. Surely they could have found someone who was a career politician.
AffiliationMatter
Yes. Yes. Yes. We all agree that Bea is nice and charismatic. Don’t get your panties in a wad. Bea also hired a school superintendent from a failing district. Our school scores dropped and the majority of the teachers and staff were very unhappy.
Bea is cunning. I have to hand it to her. She took advantage of the situation and slid right into place. Marc would be proud!
Shame Shame Shame on the GOP. A life long Democrat when we had 3 Republican Applicants to choose from: Tillet, Godfrey, and DeāAmbra. Letās spit in the face of those that have worked, volunteered and have contributed to the party. Not to mention that the Dare Party worked liked dogs to wrestle the democratās hold on the county and state. We have all been rewarded by appointing a democrat Basnight.
Why does affiliation matter? The GOP can identify a woman, knows that there are 2 genders, doesnāt believe that CRT should be taught in school, does not believe that children can consent to the mutilation of their bodies, we believe that children should not know about their teachers sexual preference or voting preference. I could go on and on, but hopefully you get the point.
May those responsible for this appointment be called out!
WindyBill
I think that we can be sure that Bea Basnight cried and held her nose when switching parties. She cares enough about Dare that she knows that serving the citizens is more important than a mere lable. (Just for reference, I am a D.)
Crying
@WindyBill, so sorry that Bea had to have a nervous breakdown and change her affiliation so she could be put on the BOC. Hopefully, her tears will dry soon. Let me buy her some tissue.
Just Saying
AffiliationMatter, did you know the beloved Tillett was Mark Basnightās chief of staff and a lifelong Democrat until just before the 2014 election cycle. Where heā¦switched party affiliation to run as a Republican to lock down the election.
It is a sad state of affairs for our Country when voters do not take the time to learn what a candidates views and opinions are, but rather cast votes solely on party affiliation.