News

Three leaders blow up GOP's executive committee

Michele Woodhouse speaks at a Republican Party meeting on April 15.

By Bill Moss, Published: May 1, 2024

The Henderson County Republican Party remains divided and in disarray after three leaders disbanded the executive committee and rewrote the party’s plan of organization, leaving confusion and bitterness in their wake.

Starting with the party’s annual convention on March 23 and continuing through a raucous meeting of the executive committee on April 15, party members have traded shots, shouted at one another and gotten into physical altercations.

By the time a special called meeting on April 15 staggered to a close, party Chair Brett Callaway and two deputies had deposed more than 35 precinct committee chairs from the executive committee and Hoopers Creek precinct chair Kathy Maney was led outside by a city police captain. Maney had already filed a charge against Callaway accusing him of assault for grabbing her cell phone during a confrontation at the March convention.

“If it weren’t for Kathy Maney revealing the TRUTH,  the communist actions of Callaway & his committee of three would have been forever concealed ‘under the rug’ and would have been very difficult to prove,” Republican Party member Susane Brown wrote on Facebook.

‘Screaming, yelling, using the F-word’

The April 15 executive committee meeting was unusual from the start. Callaway and Michele Woodhouse, who is the Republican chair for the 11^th Congressional District, brought in District Secretary Hunter Clark from Buncombe County to conduct the meeting. The only three executive committee members left standing at that point were Callaway, Cyndy Wiley and Derek Prickett.

Derek Prickett., Brett Callaway and Cyndy Wiley watch proceedings during a Republican Party executive committee meeting on April 15.Order was restored enough for Woodhouse to stride to the lectern and explain that the executive committee members had all been seated improperly at the March convention. Party members booted from the leadership were in an uproar. The Lightning viewed a 45-minute video of the meeting.

“What I’ve seen happening here in my own county over the course of the last five weeks has been heartbreaking,” Woodhouse, who lives in Laurel Park, told the party activists. “It has been disrespectful. What we saw happen at the county convention, with a former elected official using the F-word from the floor to the chair of the convention — unacceptable. Screaming, yelling, women being harassed by men —unacceptable. We are better than that. There have been emails that have been circulating among people who claim to be leaders in this party for weeks — prior to the convention, after the convention and up to and including just a few hours before this meeting. What we saw just happen in the back of this room, this is not how Republicans should be behaving.”

Woodhouse did not grant the Lightning an interview to answer questions about the “disrespectful” and “unacceptable” behavior of party members, responding in an email with a GOP cheerleading pitch.

“NC11 and Henderson County Republicans are unified and focused on delivering a red wave in November!” she wrote, ticking off the candidates from former President Trump to Republicans running for county School Board that 11^th Congressional District leaders would work to elect.

Asked in an email whether she knew the identity of a “former elected official using the F-word” at the convention, Maney responded, “I can’t find anyone who knows who she was talking about. I didn’t hear the F-word used by anyone.”

Callaway, who has been chair since March of 2023, did not respond to the Lightning's requests for an interview via phone, email, text message and a note left at his home in the Dana community.

Chair charged with assault

Based on Maney’s complaint, the sheriff’s office issued a summons to Callaway alleging he committed assault on a female “by grabbing her by the hand and attempting to pull her phone from her hand.” The misdemeanor offense is on a District Court docket next week.

Kathy ManeyA Hendersonville police incident report shows that Capt. Rich Olsen responded to a call for a “security check” at 6:24 p.m. April 15 at party headquarters, which is in the strip center behind Applebee’s on Four Seasons Boulevard. Officer Landon McCraw came to the office an hour and 15 minutes late;  the video the Lightning watched showed at least one sheriff’s deputy there as well. The city officers didn’t leave party headquarters until 8:28 that night.

Maney said that after she was escorted out of the room, Callaway and his top two deputies made a little progress in reconstituting the executive committee.

“They voted for a secretary and a treasurer, so that made five, and then those five, after the rest of us all left the room, they voted for I think five or 10 more members, and then that's it,” she said. “We did have over 40. The rest of us are trying to figure out what to do. It’s all up in the air.”

‘Unity and oneness’ from those booted off

Maney said she was grateful that when Capt. Olsen persuaded her to leave, most of the other committee members followed.

“When I stood up to leave, the majority in the room also stood up and walked out with me,” she said. “I was not alone. I have never felt as much unity and oneness as I did in this group of patriots. Our large group outside, to me, felt like a revival meeting where everyone was happy and excited to be together and supporting each other.”

During the meeting, Woodhouse explained why the county had to start over in organizing the executive committee.

“The general counsel from the state — the NCGOP paid staff — reviewed every plan of organization that was put forward from the 11th Congressional District and what was found was the Henderson County plan was not compliant,” she said. “Additionally, what was found is that at the 2023 convention we did not properly elect our executive committee. That has to be corrected. It is my job as the district chair to make sure every county is in compliance.”

Maney and other Republicans weren’t buying what Woodhouse was selling.

“Because 80 percent of the counties in District 11 have the same issue and the state is not going to kick out all the precinct chairs because of that one issue,” Maney said. “They know that's not the right thing to do because there's no reason to be a precinct chair if we can't have a vote. If we can’t be part of anything, why would we even want to be a chair and they know that. So I think the state is going to figure all this out and update and correct the plan of organization but it hasn't been fixed yet. And so Brett and Michelle — they're using this opportunity right now to just do away with our current plan and make up their own plan.”

Former Party Chair Merry Guy had a similar take.

“Even though out of order, the three-person HCGOP EC voted to abandon the County Plan and replace it with one they wrote,” Guy wrote in a Facebook post. “Never mind that the abandoned plan was properly and OVERWHELMINGLY adopted at the 2024 County Convention. I doubt the folks who voted to keep the plan realize what they were basically told their vote didn’t count. … You have to wonder what’s going on here. (Actually, we can see quite plainly what’s going on.) We expect Democrats to follow the ‘Rules for thee, but not for me’ but when Republicans act like Democrats, we have real problems. Disgraceful.”

As she wrapped up her explanation of the local party’s reorganization, Woodhouse lamented that the GOP activists had been expending their energy on an intraparty fight rather than courting unaffiliated voters, organizing precincts and raising money for county commission and school board candidates.

“That’s not what we were doing,” she said. “We were spending time attacking each other. We were spending time screaming and yelling at a convention because we didn’t understand what was going on. That’s not how we defeat Democrats in 2024. Henderson County is too important in the 11th Congressional District and way too important in the state. If you’re upset by what happened, I’m not dismissing that. I’m just saying, recognize the difference between being upset and thinking that the answer is wrong. The answer that we got is the answer. The NCGOP is above my paygrade. That is the answer.”

The down-sized leadership team has failed to bring everyone on board.

“Brett is an embarrassment to all of Hendersonville as is MW,” Facebook commenter Paul Anderko said in a post on Friday.