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Eight other Republicans trespassed, including sitting commissioner

COLUMBUS—A former member of Polk County GOP leadership who was trespassed in November from Republican Headquarters in Columbus was recently charged and convicted with first-degree trespassing after returning to the property.

Former finance chair Eugene Comiskey was sentenced to one day in jail, suspended for three months, after violating a trespass order issued by the NCGOP District 11 general counsel on Nov. 20, 2024, related to a meeting held Nov. 14. Comiskey was a member of the party’s executive committee at the time and was asked to resign.

According to a statement by current Chair Robin Weirzbicki, Comiskey and eight others, including sitting county commissioner Jennifer Hargett, were trespassed after they “refused to let a meeting proceed and displayed threatening and verbally abusive behavior towards attendees.”

According to court documents, Comiskey violated the trespass order on February 6, 2025, when he entered the Republican Headquarters. He stated that at the meeting that led to the trespass, he was attempting to discuss Hargett’s removal from the GOP voter guide before the 2024 election. 

The Polk GOP statement says the party received complaints that Hargett campaigned at churches while representing herself as a representative of the Polk GOP, misrepresented herself as the Polk GOP on candidate literature, and used false credentials to gain access to a Trump rally in August. The party also cited the timeline of her registration as a Republican as not conforming to the NC GOP Plan of Organization’s guidelines. 

The party issued her a cease and desist letter in September and ultimately removed her name from the voter guide and website on October 30. Hargett went on to win a seat on the board of county commissioners with 5,974 votes.

Comiskey also alleges financial non-compliance within the Polk County GOP, which the party says is unfounded.

“Chair Robin Weirzbicki served as interim treasurer from mid-August 2024 to January 2025,” an official statement from the Polk GOP reads. “A new treasurer was nominated by the Chair and ratified by the Executive Committee in January. All late and amended finance reports were submitted in January 2025 and submitted to the State Board of Elections, and the Executive Committee’s response to Cominsky’s complaint was submitted on February 14. All documents are public information and accessible on the State Board of Elections website and provide full transparency of party finances.”

Still, Comiskey says that the party’s Plan of Organization was not followed correctly.

Hargett was formally censured by the party due to her behavior at the November 14 meeting.

The other members who were issued formal trespass notices include Dick Shaughnessy, Susie Shaughnessy, Elaine Greenwood, Jason Allen, Mary Klouda Allen, Mari Cartwright and Rhonda Moore.