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 TODD WETHERINGTON | DAILY HERALD Pam Ward, chairwoman of the Halifax County Republican Party, is pictured during a recent interview with the Daily Herald in which she discussed the events which led to her being asked to resign from her post due to questions concerning her past employment as an exotic dancer. |
ROANOKE RAPIDS - For an entire week, Pam Ward was in a quandary.
Her past as a stripper caught up with her and she was asked to resign her post as chairwoman of the Halifax County Republican Party by the very person she confided in.
She came to the Daily Herald last week to formally announce her resignation from the job she has held for nearly two years but still wasn't sure if she was ready to take that step.
At that point, the 32-year-old Halifax County resident received a reprieve, more so a mandate from the First District Republican Party asking her not to resign.
She always envisioned the potential problems when, at the age of 21 and living in Michigan, she was jobless and needed to make money. “Before I took the step of being an exotic dancer I realized that I needed a job and yes, at the age of 21, this could follow me the rest of my life.”
That dilemma became a mantra. “Will I allow this to haunt me or will I wear it as a crown? Anytime I'm asked about it I'll wear it as a crown because when I wear it I look at that crown as my two children. I have a 10-year-old girl at Gaston Preparatory College and she's well aware of it and stands very proud and highly of her mother because she understands what goes on in the house, she understands what prayer is and who God is. We won't let this harm us. Like I said, this is not the ending, this being brought out. I just want others to know throw the stone if you are without sin. Other than that shut up.”
KUASLAW
Ward's personalized tags have a meaning many people who know about her and her past understand. It combines her stage name and ultimate aspiration in life to become a lawyer.
Her stage name, a legal alias, is Kuas, which stands for kind, unique, accepting and sensuous. Her license tag reads KUASLAW. “That tag has been on my vehicle since I've been here in Halifax County and it's moved from a Nissan Sentra to a Maxima to a truck and where God has taken me.”
She used the name for the seven years she danced in Michigan and in Halifax County.
“I was trying to come up with a reasonable name. I wanted something that represented me. I see that on my vehicle and the majority of people that know me know what that means is from Kuas to law, from stripper to law because that's where I'm headed. It's an example to show our young ladies, black and white and all Caucasians and groups, that just because you are a stripper doesn't mean you have to stay there. We have goals and opportunities out here for us to reach and accomplish and we can reach those goals and I am an example.”
Was it a mistake?
“I'm not and I will never say that it was a mistake because it was not a mistake. It was a job. It was taking care of two children. It was taking care of their needs, their wants as well so I will never say that it was a mistake. I don't regret it. I know I will have to carry the exotic part of my life for the rest of my life and I will wear it as a crown.”
As a lifelong Republican, Ward saw herself as someone who could be of service to the party she is dedicated to.
“I have something to offer. I've seen a difference. I know what Halifax County could be in the next 10 to 15 years. When I took the position as a chairman I was ready to learn, I was eager to learn. Through it all with all the beat bashing from your own people, meaning your own party, I took it. I was ready for it and I've done a great job holding it together.”
She took the job at a time when it seemed the county's GOP was stagnate. Looking back, Ward said, “There's so many things we have accomplished and achieved. Before it was really no active members. There were no functions, no gatherings. Now we have been to three or four festivals. We have set up booths. We have gathered 10 to 20 volunteers. We have knocked on doors. We have achieved a lot.”
With that momentum, the Halifax County Republican Party held a social at Lake Gaston two weeks ago and members looked forward to the 2007 and 2008 local elections with a focus on supporting Halifax County Commissioner Gene Minton to office and getting local attorney Sammy D. Webb a seat. “Our main goal was Republicans taking over Halifax County. That was our mission.”
Much was accomplished
“We got a lot of people that came out of the cobwebs and cleaning the gnats off saying, ‘I'm ready to come to your next meeting. I'm ready to be an active member. I didn't know you guys existed' and so forth. We got a lot of volunteers and e-mail addresses, phone numbers, contacts. That was one of the things we were trying to do.”
That meeting became the point where Ward said Webb, whom she had confided her past to, decided it was time she step down. (Mr. Webb was unavailable for comment.)
“As soon as that party was over I noticed that Mr. Webb, I guess his attitude changed. We were supposed to have been in the (Roanoke Rapids Christmas Parade on Dec. 10).”
A car dealership provided a car and another business provided magnetic signs. “The Republican Party has been more active since I came onboard and that's when I do believe ..., Mr. Webb, decided to realize that, ‘Oh, my God, we can't let her go to this event.' Instead of being very clear with me that day he asked for a meeting.”
A Thursday meeting was agreed upon to go over parade plans but on the Monday before the parade she said Webb began making suggestions she step down.
When Ward advised Webb of her past about six months ago at the Crepe Myrtle Festival in Scotland Neck she was told to keep quiet about it. When the Daily Herald inquired about Ward to Webb in late summer, Ward said Webb again told her to keep quiet about the matter.
“It kind of really upset me. Mr. Webb and other members realized we may have a chance in 2008. Gene Minton spoke to us about our values here as Republicans in Halifax County and so did I. I encouraged our Republicans to be more active because, and I always refer back to our children and grandchildren, that we continue to live here in the county having a chance to better themselves. As we know, this is a large Democratic area. We are so in poverty here, definitely among our blacks. That is one of the reasons of me standing in the Republican Party to encourage more activists and blacks and whites to think twice about their futures and their children's futures and how that we Republicans can help.”
Her situation
It has been about two and a half years since Ward danced in a strip club. She compares her situation to that of a drug addict going through withdrawals. “My withdrawal came upon when times were low. I was out of a job at that point. I knew where I could make money. I didn't have to lay on my back. That's something I didn't agree with. That's something I don't fault them for but that's one thing I don't do. That was my way of hustling and the government sees it as a job.”
Before taking the step to dance she filled out application upon application and nothing came together, no calls for job interviews. “I started doing it in Michigan. My daughter was 8 months (old). I wanted to go to school and I wanted to have that freedom like my father to wake up when he needed to and go out and come in and as a child I appreciated that role model. I basically wanted to be my own employer and I did that for like seven years. I was able to complete school, a four-year degree with being an entertainer and not having someone tell me when I can go to the bathroom and when I come back.”
She now has a job as a case manager in Murfreesboro and plans to re-take the law school application test in 2008 and wants to attend law school in Virginia or North Carolina.
The choices she made were her own, she said. “It's me in my past as an individual. I don't have a criminal record. My record may show driving without a license when she was young because she was dumb but I overcame that. I don't have a felony. I haven't killed anyone. It needs to stop. It really needs to stop. Then they stated ‘I think you should step down before you're an embarrassment to the Republican party.' The Republican Party was an embarrassment before I stepped forward as co-chairman. It was an embarrassment for me to tell anyone I was a Republican in Halifax County but I sucked it up and carried on.
“These are supposed to be my fellow men that's standing behind me and supposed to be making a difference and you want to point fingers? If anything I expected Mr. Webb (and others) to stand up and say ‘That's her past. That's her past and she's doing a good job.'”
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