Republican Men Host Fred Smith

Fred Smith was the keynote speaker at last night's Beaufort County Republican Men's Club in Washington, NC. He gave a moving testimonial about his plans if re-elected as State Senator, and he spoke movingly of the state of the Republican Party in North Carolina.

Ron Toppin, Fred Smith And Hood Richardson (With Grandaughter)

Senator Smith's opening line set the tone for his speech and his positions, "We must Chart a new course in our state, government must reflect our state's conservatism." Senator Smith is clearly concerned about our people and our state. He was not ambivalent when he said, "I am a businessman. I have to make sure that 700 people get a paycheck. That means I have to deal with reality, not political opinion."

Senator Fred Smith

Senator Smith talked passionately about the lessons he learned from Ronald Reagan, "millions of private citizens want government to treat their tax money with respect."

He spoke about the trends in the state that bode well for Republicans. "Our state is moving from a democratic state to a repubilcan state. In the past two years over 80,000 voters have moved away from the democrats."

He spoke of his frustrations with the 2.4 billion dollar surplus that the democrats spent wastefully. You could sense his mood from the tone when he said "NONE of the surplus was used to take Medicaid off the backs of county government."

He was most moving when he talked about his personal history, growing up in the orphanage where his parents worked and taught, the joy of athletics and competition, serving his country as a officer in the Army, becoming a lawyer and finally a famer and businessman. He has an inspiring personal story.

There Was Very Good Turnout For Last Night's Event

In the close of his speech he tied back into his personal story as he spoke about creating jobs and knowledge workers for our state:

"Famers understand if you are going to create a crop you must prepare the conditions, the land, the seeds, the machinery . . . "

"If we are going to create jobs we must prepare the conditions, reduce regulation burden, reduce taxation, reduce delays in permits, provide roads rather than steal transportation taxes to fund pork for special interests. . . "

There was overwhelming approval of the speech and he received rousing applause. Fred Smith's charisma definitely connected with this audience.


After Senator Smith's speech, Joel Raupe, Ron Toppin and other local candidates adressed the audience with comments on their campaigns.


Check out coverage (on the Inner Banks Eagle) of another of Fred Smith's recent speeches at the North Carolina State Republican Convention where he was the keynote speaker.