Political Roundup

Holly Jones

Staff Reports

In advance of the opening of the filing process for public office in advance of the May primary, a number of candidates have announced their intention to run for nomination to various offices in the region.

Buncombe County Commission

Two candidates have now announced for the two Asheville seats on the expanded Buncombe County Board of Commissioners. Keith Young (see profile on page 3) is a newcomer to elected politics, though he has been active with the Democratic Party. Incumbent Holly Jones, who before her election served seven years on Asheville City Council, has announced that she, too, will run for reelection in District 1.

In her re-election announcement, Jones wrote, “It is with great
dedication to the citizens of Buncombe and hope for the future, that I
announce my intent to run for re-election to the Buncombe County Board
of Commissioners. Our remarkable community deserves and demands: an
excellent education system; effective public safety services; responsive
human service delivery; an innovative public health system; and a
government committed to sustainability and environmental excellence.”

Since she was elected in 2008, Jones has been a progressive voice on
the Commission, often balancing the more conservative members whose
constituencies are based outside the city limits. Despite its
ideological diversity, the Commission, she notes, has accomplished a
number of important community goals, which include:

• Dedicated investment in public educators and new schools

• Investment in sustainability and farmland conservation

• Innovation in human services, focused on delivering excellent service to citizens

• Renewed commitment to public health principles and greenway infrastructure

• Focus on jobs retention and recruitment.

Jones lists the many challenges that still face the community, such as
“job creation, income disparity, food insecurity, sustainability,
equality, and access to affordable housing.” Her goal, she says, is to
build upon successes of the previous four years to meet and overcome
those challenges to benefit all the citizens of Buncombe County.

“The way forward demands innovation, collaboration, and transparency,”
she wrote. “There is too much at stake to be without engaged, informed
and accessible leaders.”

In another local race, Marie Hall, a long-time Executive Assistant and
Administrative Officer under retired Buncombe County Register of Deeds
Otto DeBruhl, announced that she will challenge incumbent Drew Reisinger
for the job. DeBruhl retired in 2011, and the Democratic Party
Executive Committee named Reisinger to the post for the remainder of
DeBruhl’s term. He is expected to seek reelection in November.

10th Congressional District

Meanwhile, two Democratic candidates from Asheville have announced they
will run for the 10th Congressional District, which was redistricted
last year by the legislature’s Republican majority to encompass most of
Asheville and a swath of southeastern Buncombe County.

The District is currently represented by Patrick McHenry of Gastonia,
which has traditionally been the heart of the 10th. By placing liberal
Asheville in a solidly conservative Republican district, legislative
leaders who drew the new boundaries hoped to eliminate the city’s
influence and the possibility of any Democrat being elected to state or
national office from west of Charlotte.

Asheville Mayor Terry Bellamy and State Representative Patsy Keever
have both announced their intention to run for the Democratic nomination
to challenge McHenry in November. Bellamy, now in her second term as
Asheville’s first African American mayor, is viewed as a centrist
Democrat, more a traditionalist than a progressive.

Keever is a long-time champion of education (she taught in Buncombe
County schools for more than 20 years) and has prioritized it as a
campaign issue in this race, along with “economic policies that work for
everyone, not just Wall Street,” and an environmental program “that
will ensure clean water and air for our children and grandchildren.”

The city’s removal from the 11th District has also changed the ratio of
Democratic to Republican voters there, making it easier for a
Republican to be elected from the westernmost part of the state.

Three-term incumbent Heath Shuler, who defeated Charles Taylor in 2006
and has led the conservative Blue Dog coalition in Congress for several
years, announced at the beginning of February that he will not run for
reelection, leaving the race wide open.

City Councilman Cecil Bothwell

Asheville City Councilman Cecil Bothwell had announced last spring that
he would challenge Shuler for the nomination, asserting that Shuler was
too conservative and unwilling to support programs needed to pull the
country out of the Great Recession. Even before Shuler’s retirement
notice, at least six Republicans had announced their intention to run
against him. As of press time, no other Democrats than Bothwell have
announced their candidacies, though a number of former officials have
been urged to enter the race.

NC Governor’s Race

In a surprise announcement at the end of January, Governor Beverly
Perdue announced that she will not seek reelection, the first sitting
governor to decide to forego a second term since the state constitution
was changed to allow a governor’s reelection.

Governor Bev Perdue speaks with student Loren Shervington Thomas at the Urban News news conference.   Photo: Renato Rotolo

Perdue said she hoped that by removing herself from the race, she could
focus on her key plan to raise taxes to pay for improved education
programs, a need she asserts is essential in light of the Republican
legislature’s refusal in 2011 to renew the quarter-cent sales tax that
expired last year.

Their budget, she noted, cut education spending by more than $300
million dollars and has devastated local school districts. She hoped,
she said, that she could focus on the issue the rest of this year,
rather than on her political aspirations.

Her chief challenger from the Republican side is former Charlotte mayor
Pat McCrory, whom Perdue defeated in 2008. Three Democrats have
announced that they will run for their party’s nomination in the May 8
primary: Lieutenant Governor Walter Dalton of Rutherfordton, former
Congressman Bob Etheridge, and State Representative Bill Faison.

Senator Kay R. Hagan

U.S. Senator Kay R. Hagan (NC) commented on Governor Bev Perdue’s announcement that she would not seek re-election.

“Governor Perdue deserves the state’s sincere gratitude for her many
years of public service. During times of extraordinary economic stress
and budgetary pressures, she continues to vigorously pursue priorities
near and dear to the hearts of generations of North Carolinians,
including expanding and improving education at every level and a
tireless pursuit of new businesses and jobs for the state.

“Whether the issue is access to the ballot box; a commonsense
jobs-creating business climate; robust support for our military and
veterans and their families; or the guarantee of a first-rate education,
the Governor’s office often provides a critical moderating
counterweight to the backward-looking forces of extremism elsewhere in
state government.”