By By JONATHAN CLAYBORNE
Staff Writer
A local Republican Party official is launching his campaign to take on state Rep. Arthur Williams, D-Beaufort.
Bill Cook, a resident of the Cypress Landing community east of Chocowinity, is finance chairman of the Beaufort County Republican Party.
He’s expected to make his campaign kick-off announcement tonight at a Beaufort County Republican Men’s Club meeting in Washington.
A retired electric-utility executive from Washington, D.C., Cook said he has lived in the county for about six years.
Cook said he retired from Potomac Electric Power Co. in the nation’s capital after 34 years of service.
“It’s quite a change, but I really love it down here,” he told the Daily News.
Like Williams, Cook said he is a member of the nonprofit Beaufort County Committee of 100, which assists the Beaufort County Economic Development Commission with its job-attraction projects.
Cook said he’s seeking his party’s nomination to challenge Williams because, “I think I can make a difference,” adding, “our liberal friends in the Legislature” have increased state spending along with sales taxes and income taxes.
“I hope I don’t sound too radical, but I think I can do something to stop that in our Legislature,” he said.
The numbers indicate that Cook’s campaign has some obstacles to overcome.
Williams’ campaign committee, Williams for N.C. House, had $77,276.56 cash on hand as of Jan. 1, 2009, well before the usual political fundraising season began.
Cook said he expects to raise around a $100,000, but he hopes to use “as little as possible” of his own money because he is retired and isn’t wealthy.
Williams, a four-term incumbent, is vice chairman of the House agriculture committee and a member of the appropriations committee and the appropriations subcommittee on transportation, according to the N.C. General Assembly’s Web site.
In a June 2002 news release, the then-freshman candidate noted that he had served as Beaufort County campaign chairman for state Sen. Ed Warren, D-Pitt, and Democratic Gov. Jim Hunt.
In 2004, Williams bested Republican Al Klemm, ending the race with 16,192 votes to Klemm’s 13,272, the State Board of Elections’ Web site shows. (Klemm later became a Beaufort County commissioner.)
In 2006, Williams deflected Republican Hood Richardson, a Beaufort County commissioner. Williams won with 10,716 votes, while Richardson tallied 6,368.
Williams ran unopposed in 2008.
Asked this week to comment on the possibility of having an opponent, Williams replied, “I’ll proceed as usual. I can’t help that. It’s just part of it.”
Greg Dority, a local Republican operative, accompanied Cook to the Daily News’ offices for an interview Wednesday.
“This district is rated R plus two, which means it has a slight lean Republican because of the breakdown of the populace,” Dority said, referring to Williams’ House District 6.
The district encompasses all of Beaufort County and a slice of eastern Pitt County.
Dority indicated that the House GOP leadership is targeting District 6 as one of the swing districts needed to tip the balance of power toward Republicans in the Legislature.
Calls seeking confirmation of that were placed to the Raleigh office of state Rep. Paul Stam, House minority leader. The calls weren’t immediately returned.
Speaking of Cook, Dority declared, “He’s a good guy. He’s very interested in this race.”
Reached for comment, Buster Humphreys, past chairman of the Beaufort County EDC and the Committee of 100, endorsed Williams.
“I just know that I trust Arthur Williams, and everything that we’ve wanted from an economic development point of view that we’ve asked for, I know he’s gotten,” Humphreys said. “He has been successful at it, unlike some of his predecessors.”
Speaking of Williams’ re-election chances, he added, “I think he’ll be a lock.”
Asked how he plans to campaign, Cook said he hopes to meet as many people as he can, and anticipates spending a lot of time knocking on doors.
“Folks need to know who you are, put a face to a name,” he commented.
Cook said he’ll try to spread himself evenly between Pitt and Beaufort counties, going where he’ll be needed to make himself better-known.