The shocking story that follows reveals a crisis for the Polk County GOP that has potentially dire consequences for its leaders.  

Let’s begin here. On the day before the Nov. 5th general election in Polk County, N.C., a decision was made to “censure” a local Republican candidate — a MAGA candidate — and deny her official support at the polls.  

On the day of election, her name was nowhere to be found on the Republican voter guides that were handed out by poll greeters at the polls.  

One of the poll greeters at the Tryon Precinct, also an Executive Committee member of the party, was completely caught off-guard. He was rightfully incensed. 

A censure action is a severe rebuke of a candidate and it was executed, presumably, by the chair, Robin Wierzbicki, with the support of the 11th District GOP Chairperson Michelle Woodhouse. Whomever else may have been involved is unclear.

The story of this reprimand of a popular local candidate took on a more sinister turn the evening of Nov. 14th, 2024. That night, several supporters of the candidate attended a general meeting of the Polk Republican Party. 

During the initial portion of the meeting, the question was asked by a member if the chair would explain why the candidate’s name was taken off the ballot. The chair declined to answer the question. That was followed by other comments and questions from members to the chair and these were met with similar refusals.  

In an unprecedented action, the chair made the decision to end the meeting. The local police were summoned, and at the behest of the chair, law enforcement cleared the building. 

In point of fact, it was discovered later that an attending county commissioner, David Moore, was the individual who actually placed the call to the Columbus Police Department.    

Having successfully resisted any attempts at accountability or transparency for her actions and thrown out opposition, Mrs. Wierzbicki took the matter up the chain of command to her counterpart at the district, Mrs. Woodhouse, and the two of them retained an attorney.  

For what purpose?

Mr. Ethan Trice, general counsel for the 11th District GOP, upon request of these two leaders, sent letters to nine (9) GOP members who attended the meeting that evening in support of the candidate. 

Mr. Trice’s letter contained very malicious, utterly false, arguably reckless and defamatory accusations about each person.  

And in bold letters, he threatens each person with trespass (presumably arrest) if they showed up in the future at any local GOP event or meeting.   

The irony of the situation is that this candidate won her election by a wide margin. She has been sworn-in as a sitting member of the Polk County Board of Commissioners.  

Another odd twist is that prior to Nov 5th, the chair of the GOP was overheard saying that this candidate would likely win the seat despite the censure action.  

So, what was the point of the censure?  

What lingers now is the fate of the nine members of the local GOP who have been barred from participation and whose names were subsequently sent to the local police chief and several elected members of the GOP.   

Mr. Trice made defamatory claims that each of these nine individuals were guilty of misconduct and threatening and harassing behavior.  

These are serious legal offenses and there is video evidence that proves otherwise.