Commissioner Joe Carr Must Go Now
- Todd McKinley
- Nov 3
- 4 min read
Updated: Nov 7
Memorandum For: Northeast, TN Media Outlets
SUBJECT: Joe Carr Must Go Now!
Kingsport - Sullivan County 5th District Board of Education representative Todd A. McKinley, a Republican, calls for the resignation of 9th District County Commissioner Joe Carr.
I arrived at this conclusion rather easily, after all, Commissioner Carr has a pattern of sick conduct towards women and others. In fact, I was going to call for his resignation back in September just after Charlie Kirk’s assassination after a post he made on social media was brought to my attention where he called for someone who opposed him and Charlie Kirk to also be assassinated in a nutshell. When I saw that post on social media, I had to investigate it further to see if it was true. It was true, and I sent it to several Sullivan County Commissioners and sadly got nothing out of them except to say, “that’s Joe,” like that’s an acceptable reply.
This is not merely a political disagreement with Mr. Carr. After we all witnessed the assassination of Charlie Kirk in September, and many other instances of senseless violence in our nation and throughout the world, the last thing we should expect from our elected representatives is for them to wish murder on private citizens just because we disagree with them politically. Real Republicans who purportedly support the Second Amendment (as I do), do so because we believe in the right to protect ourselves, our families, our homes, our businesses, our communities, our states, and our nation against government, should it become necessary - and if needed, aid in defense of our nation, etc. Calling for violence against our political opponents is nothing more than inciting even more political violence against those we disagree with. This is in fact, exactly what happened against Charlie Kirk. In effect here, Mr. Carr is advocating for domestic terrorism and should not be tolerated by anyone in Sullivan County or anyone in the State of Tennessee and let me be the first common sense Republican to call for the ouster of Mr. Carr for these reasons, and more.
The late President Ronald Reagan had an 11th Commandment, “Thou shall not speak ill of another Republican.” However, this has nothing to do with attacking another Republican over a campaign disagreement. This goes beyond politics at this point. I’ll be honest, when I first met Mr. Carr while he was running for Kingsport BMA, I said to myself, “Here’s a young upstart who has some good ideas, who seemed to comport himself well.” I had no problem driving him around to knock on some doors to assist him, which I did on one occasion. Since then, we’ve run into each other at occasional Republican functions. Outside of that, I’ve rarely had any dealings with him. However, in recent years there have been several occasions when I’ve had to scratch my head and say, “Where’s the guy I drove around a few years ago? What happened to him?”
The next three incidents are in chronological order as to why I have arrived at this decision.
First, during a May 2023 county commission meeting, he called Juneteenth a “woke holiday” and claimed, “We shouldn’t give these people an inch.” While I believe he’s talking about the Left when he says these people, he certainly leaves it a bit ambiguous that he could be speaking of black people in general as well, but let’s not get hung up on that just yet.
While I believe we should celebrate either or both the implementation of the Emancipation Proclamation (January 1, 1863) and the ratification of the 13th Amendment (December 6, 1865), before Juneteenth. Here’s why that’s not happening, and it boils down to the fact we live in the Northern Hemisphere and June falls right in the heart of the summer months, whereas December and January don’t and most people would rather have a holiday in the summer versus winter, so I get it. However, we shouldn’t be celebrating holidays just to have a day off, it should be about remembering the history of what’s being celebrated so we don’t repeat it, but I digress. In a nutshell the state of Tennessee and the Sullivan County Commission voted to implement Juneteenth as a holiday and what was once a Texas holiday is now a national holiday, that’s fine. It’s not ‘woke’, we are just giving hard working Americans a day off to remember and reflect for a good reason. Additionally, voters should look at the commissioners who were on the video cackling and howling as he was saying this. They should also be suspect when it comes to re-election. When the county commission voted on this measure, it only made Juneteenth a holiday one year prior to what the state had already mandated.
Secondly, in June 2024 I saw several posts on a credible individuals social media post that Mr. Carr was involved in an incident at Michael Waltrip brewery. I did not see it happen, but I spoke to several commissioners who corroborated this story. I’m sure the truth could come out regarding this issue, but it would require further investigation. This, coupled with other statements he has made, boggles the mind.
Third, on December 19, 2024 at a Sullivan County Commission meeting, Mr. Carr said, “I will be knocking on the door of every registered Republican in 2030 and telling them that Judge Katie Priester forced our school system to hire back a communist, and not just any communist, but a communist that forced his students to read an article that said their white skin is, and I quote, an existential danger, not just to our country, but to the world and all of humanity.”
My reply to Commissioner Carr at the January School Board meeting was to state that Mr. Hawn is not, in fact, a Communist, and he was due an apology for that accusation. Mr. Hawn is a fellow Sullivan County resident who many may disagree with on many things politically (me included), but no sitting County Commissioner or elected representative for that matter should be calling out a private citizen at an official meeting for simple political disagreements. It’s not the platform for it and it was uncalled for.
Finally, this arrest, thankfully Asheville (at least temporarily) got a predator of the streets.
Todd A. McKinley, BA, MSL
SFC, USA-Ret.
