DATE: Thursday, June 26, 1997               TAG: 9706260404

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA 

SOURCE: BY CATHERINE KOZAK, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: KILL DEVIL HILLS                  LENGTH:   83 lines

DARE COMMISSIONER TO LEAVE FELLOW DEMOCRATS FOR GOP

After nearly three years of open warfare with her fellow Democrats, Dare County Commissioner Shirley Hassell announced Wednesday that she wants to jump ship - and join the other side.

Hassell plans to become what her Democratic colleagues on the board keep accusing her of being: a Republican.

``This has nothing to do with the Democratic party itself,'' Hassell said at a morning news conference at Etheridge's restaurant. ``I still am the same person I was. And I still have the same beliefs as when I was elected to office. And I still have the same goals . . . I hope to stand for open, honest government.''

With her at the news conference were Dare County Republican Party Chairman George Embrey and Republican County Commissioners Cheryl Byrd and Richard Johnson.

Hassell said she will register as a Republican just before the 1998 elections. She added that she plans to seek a second term on the seven-member panel as a GOP candidate.

Hassell's clashes with the then-all-Democratic commission began soon after her 1994 election. The battles culminated in December1995, when Hassell sued County Manager Terry Wheeler - and the county. Hassell charged that Wheeler overstepped his authority to spend taxpayers' money on a drug raid without board authorization. She also contended that the county was withholding public information from her. All parties agreed to a settlement in April.

During months of contentious campaigning before last November's election, Hassell openly aligned herself with Republican candidates, even booing Democrats at a candidates' forum. After Byrd and Johnson joined the board in upset election victories, Hassell joined the Republican minority in a voting bloc.

``I'm just glad to have Shirley on board with us,'' Johnson said. ``People are starting to get more conservative.''

Byrd also lauded the Manns Harbor commissioner's move, saying that Hassell's insistence on openness will be an asset to the Republican party and will help break apart what the county GOP contends is a political stranglehold created by ``good ol' boy'' Democrats.

``There's too much going on behind closed doors,'' Byrd said. ``That's the kind of thing we can't tolerate - it's not good government.''

Embrey said Hassell's pending change in affiliation bodes well for Republicans in the 1998 election campaigns, which he said will be conducted under the motto: ``Dare Go Republican.'' He added that the recent overwhelming defeat of a school bond referendum shows that county voters are fed up.

``It's going to be a positive campaign - I'm convinced of that,'' Embrey said. ``I think this crowd is going to go down in defeat just like the bond issue did.''

Although Hassell said she has been considering switching parties for some time, the board's recent approval of the county budget and a four-year contract for the county manager were straws that broke the camel's back. Byrd, Hassell and Johnson argued that the actions illustrated the Democratic majority's unwillingness to negotiate or debate politically sensitive issues.

Hassell's most powerful rival on the board, Chairman Robert V. ``Bobby'' Owens Jr., said he was not surprised by her turnabout.

``What's new?'' Owens said Wednesday. ``She has been a maverick. She was going her way and doing her own thing, and I have no problem with that. In her three years on the board, she has been looking for things that just haven't been there - and she hasn't proved anything. She's been siding with the Republicans and she's been in allegiance with them every time.''

Responding to the Republicans' contention that they have been shut out of nominations to important board committees, Owens - a commissioner for the past quarter-century - said it's a matter of qualifications, not party affiliation.

``More than anything else, I try to look around for the best qualified, with the most experience. Where I've tried to put people, there's been a fit. Maybe they feel like they've been shut out. But it hasn't been on purpose,'' Owens said. ``I've tried to put round pegs in round holes.''

But Hassell, a lifelong registered Democrat, said she believes the political system in the county has to overhauled.

``It's not the entire party,'' she said of the Democrats. ``It's those few leaders in office that have tainted our Democratic party. I'm disappointed in our leaders. I just don't like to align myself with that kind of leadership.'' ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photo]

PARTY SWITCH

DREW C. WILSON/The Virginian-Pilot

Dare County Commissioner Shirley Hassell, left, will join ranks with

Republican commissioners Richard Johnson and Cheryl Byrd. The

current Democrat will switch her affiliation just before 1998

elections.

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