On Monday, troubled by the direction he feels the county's Democratic party is headed, he switched to unaffiliated.
“Before I was old enough to vote, I learned that if you wanted to have a part in determining what was going on politically in Halifax County, you had to be a registered democrat,” he said in a statement he sent to other commissioners he serves with. “When I registered to vote in June 1961, I registered as a Democrat so that I could have a say in who was the sheriff, clerk of court, register of deeds and county commissioner in Halifax County.”
Said Manning: “I was also told that I was free to vote for whoever I wanted to and could support whoever I wanted to but in Halifax County only people who were registered Democrats would be elected for local offices. Most of these people were very conservative and that was good for the citizens and taxpayers.”
Manning said he has always been conservative and has supported conservative candidates and causes. “If a candidate was conservative and stood for those things that I stood for, I could and many times did support him or her. The party, Democratic, Republican, Libertarian or Independent did not concern me because most of these stood for good government. I looked for the candidate who took a conservative position and who I believed could be elected and I supported them.”
Up until the last year or so, he said, “My conservative position has not ever been an issue. I have found that the current leadership in the Halifax County Democratic Party has made my conservative stands and what I stood for and who I supported an issue.They have and are taking the Halifax County Democratic Party in a direction that I cannot and will not support or be a part of.”
In followup questions to his initial statement, Manning cited several instances he said brought him to his decision to switch.
“One of the people in a leadership role went to some source and put out on email that I had made several contributions to a Republican cause. According to his email it was a total of less than $200. Their argument was that Democrats were only supposed to support Democrats. I very much resent the fact that anyone would make an issue of who or what I contributed to or supported.”
He said there was an attempt to remove him from the county party's executive committee, which is made up of all elected officials who are registered as Democrat. “So, since I am no longer registered as a Democrat, I am no longer on the HCDP Executive Committee.”
Several of the elected officers and leaders in the county party, he said, solicited signatures for a person to run as an unaffiliated candidate for sheriff. “Some of that was done in churches. Another served as his campaign director.”
Then, Manning said, several of the elected officers and leaders in the county party, as well as some on the executive committee, did not support those elected in the Democratic Primary. “Instead, they worked for and supported write-in candidates in the general election. There is an old saying if it's fit for the goose, it is fit for the gander. If they are holding me to a higher standard then they should abide by the same higher standard.”
Asked if his anti-school merger stance played a part in the opposition by the some of the party's leadership, Manning said, “It may be, I am not sure. I don’t think that is all of it. I believe if it wasn't that then they would find something else to tear into or try to tear down.”
His change in party affiliation will not affect his status as an elected county commissioner, he said. “My term runs to December, 2018. I will decide nearer then on whether or not to run for another term. I will still be able to vote in elections and in partisan primaries, though I will have to choose which partisan primary and tell the people at the polls which one I want to vote in. I can and will support candidates that I decide to, whether they be Democrat, Republican, Libertarian or non-affiliated.”
