Candidate Profiles in Two Contested Races
compiled by Moe White
Six Republicans and eight Democrats are running for four seats on the Buncombe County Commission. Some have websites, some don’t; some have put out position statements, others have done little more than announce their candidacies. Herewith are representative statements from or about them, gleaned from web sites, public statements, and campaign materials.
Democratic Candidates
K. Ray Bailey retired after 17 years as president of Asheville-Buncombe
Technical Community College, which under his tenure grew to a
three-campus institution with more than 25,000 students enrolled. A
former teacher and coach at Erwin High School, his focus as a
commissioner will be:
• Good jobs
• Good schools
• Safe communities
• Protection of our environment
More information can be found at his web site, www.kraybailey.com .
Cecil Bothwell is an award-winning journalist who has written four
books and currently edits the Asheville City Paper. His investigative
reporting often focused on government and public officials. He is most
recently the author of The Prince of War: Billy Graham’s Crusade for a
Wholly Christian Empire, a biography of Rev. Billy Graham. Bothwell
describes his platform as “Government in the sunshine. No tolerance for
official corruption. Telling the citizens first instead of letting them
be the last to know.” Bothwell’s web site is www.bothwell4buncombe.com .
Vernon Dover is a retired 40-year employee of Progress Energy. His
final position was manager of commercial-industrial accounts. Dover has
also long been active with the Buncombe County Schools Foundation. A
web search turned up no campaign web site.
Robert E. (Bob) Hill believes that the people “can make a difference if
we stand together.” At a recent forum in Black Mountain, he spoke in
favor of fair and equal taxation and against annexation. A web search
turned up no campaign web site.
Holly Jones is a member of Asheville City Council and Executive
Director of the Asheville YWCA. According to her web site, as a
commissioner Jones would focus on:
• improved healthcare access for working families and their children
• a cooperative, regional plan for growth
• green-collar job creation to boost our local economy
• a county-wide commitment to environmental stewardship
Jones’s campaign web site is www.hollyjones.org.
Carol Weir Peterson, a long-time activist in the Buncombe County
Democratic Party, has served one term on the County Commission. A web
search turned up no campaign web site, but her profile on the County’s
home page reads: “A fifth generation native of Buncombe County and a
retired Director of Vocation for the Asheville City Schools, Carol
Peterson is serving her first term of office. She also serves as the
Vice Chair for Asheville Buncombe Technical Community College Board of
Trustees, Children First, College for Seniors, UNC-A, Juvenile Crime
Prevention Committee, Pack Place Board and Smart Start.”
William F. “Bill” Stanley is, like Peterson, an incumbent Commissioner,
now in his fifth term. He is a retired high school principal and the
former owner of the Barbecue and Bluegrass nightclub. A web search
turned up no campaign web site for Stanley’s campaign.
From his biography on the commissioners’ home page: “In addition to his
local involvement in civic affairs, he is a former President of the
North Carolina Association of County Commissioners and is currently
serving as a member of the MPO, RPO, Land of Sky Regional Council and
the Civic Center Task Force. Stanley was recently appointed to the NC
Advisory Commission on Military Affairs by Senate President Pro Tem
Marc Basnight.”
Keith Thomson is the owner of a small technology business and the
father of two children in public schools. He offers this vision for a
future that supports healthy growth, successful schools, and livable
communities.
“Among the underused and wasted resources we have in Buncombe County
are the nutrient rich wastewater from the Woodfin MSD plant, the
landfill gas from the old County landfill downhill from the sewer
plant, and land that Buncombe County government planned to lease to
Progress Energy for one dollar a year to build a diesel powered peak
electrical generation facility. Combine these resources with the
biotechnology research capabilities of our great university and
community college system in North Carolina and we can create a Green
Energy Park.”
“A promising use of this land, and other currently underused resources,
would be to grow highly productive, oil rich strains of Blue Green
Algae as feedstock for production of biodiesel. Buncombe County
government is already purchasing and blending biodiesel for use in its
vehicles. To carry out a plan to create such a new industry will
attract new investment to our county. Working together, with innovation
and creativity, we can create affordable, clean energy, good jobs,
cleaner air and water, and the most valuable renewable resource of all:
hope.”
Thomson’s web site is www.keithforbuncombe.org.
Republican Candidates
Steve Bledsoe ran for City Council in 2007 as an independent, polling
523 votes, and registered as a Republican for this race. A retired
54-year-old businessman, Bledsoe earned a BS in Engineering from Auburn
University and an MBA from the University of South Carolina. A web
search turned up no campaign web site or other information about his
candidacy, but the issues he highlighted in his previous race last fall
were summed up this way:
“We need to balance the needs to ensure a positive quality of life here
in Asheville with the needs for future growth and development. We need
to ensure that affordable housing is available to those who need it. We
need to address the homelessness problems we have downtown. The water
war with Buncombe County needs to be resolved and quit wasting tax
money on lawyers. We need to look at consolidation where services are
duplicated, such as two school districts.”
John Carroll is president of the Coalition of Independent Business
Owners, a pro-development organization that lobbies to make Asheville
and Buncombe County more business friendly through lower taxes and less
regulation. A web search turned up no campaign web site or other
information about his candidacy.
Joe Dunn is a retired dentist. In 2005 at the end of his single term on
City Council, he ran for Mayor and lost to Terry Bellamy; this campaign
marks his return to the political arena. A web search revealed no
campaign web site or platform information. As a councilman, Dunn was a
reliably conservative vote.
Michael Fryar describes himself as a 28-year business owner who
believes his experience would benefit him in his service as a
commissioner. He was a leader of the Let Asheville Vote petition drive
in 2007, organized in response to Councilman Brownie Newman’s effort to
reinstitute partisan elections for City Council.
Fryar says, “Elected officials have a responsibility to listen to the
people that they are representing. I don’t agree that the County
Commission does not televise public speaking. This television channel
is funded by the taxpayers. People have a right to be heard by the
public and most importantly, by the people that they have elected and
put their trust in.”
Fryar supports district elections for the commission and increasing its
size to seven members from the current five. He is also concerned with
zoning, rolling back the tax rate, and resolving the impasse over water
rights between Asheville and Buncombe County. For more information,
voters can contact him at [email protected].
Ron McKee is part owner and president of the Asheville Tourists. A web
search turned up no campaign web site or other information about his
candidacy.
Don Yelton is a long-time public activist, sometimes described as a
government watchdog or gadfly. He was a conservative Democrat for many
years before reregistering as a Republican.
“I believe in Open Government, Open Books, and just plain, tell it like
it is or as it appears… I was one of the original founders of Citizens
for Change along with Peggy Bennett when “change” was not popular. As a
matter of fact we were ridiculed for the title. Now everyone is talking
about change, and who can bring about change.”
“We need long term thinking, accountability, and constant citizen input
to really solve our problems. Cookie cutter solutions hammered out in
Raleigh for the entire state will not address our problems here in
Western North Carolina. We need our solutions to our problems and that
is my goal for us in Buncombe County.”
US Senate Seat
Five Democratic candidates are vying for the opportunity to challenge
Elizabeth Dole in her bid to retain a US Senate seat. They include a
woman, a gay businessman, an African American attorney, and two white
men.
State Representative Kay Hagan says she will work towards a balanced
budget and fiscal constraints and will demand we follow pay-as-you-go
rules. She will oppose wasteful federal contracts and finding ways to
reduce the national debt.
According to her web site (www.kayhagan.com), she supports tax cuts for
middle class families, favors closing tax loopholes for multinational
corporations, and supports economic programs to create and keep good
jobs right here in North Carolina.
Hagan also promises to strengthen early education, increase access to
higher education, push for incentives and good salaries to train and
retain teachers. She hopes to fix the problems with No Child Left
Behind by providing more flexibility and full funding, while continuing
to push for high standards for all students.
Additional information about her positions on health care, energy,
economic development, global warming, and other issues can be found on
her web site.
Duskin Lassiter offers a bullet-pointed web site long on positions and short on details. It includes:
• Replace the Free Trade Agreement with a Balanced Trade Agreement, and put an end to off-shoring American jobs.
• Bring back Pension Plans.
• Strengthen collective bargaining rules.
• Raise the federal minimum wage to at least $12 per hour.
• Provide health care for all.
• Premiums based on a percentage of income.
• Turn hospitals and health care clinics into non profit organizations.
• Limit pharmaceutical companies to cost +10% profit margin.
• If a Veterans’ Administration hospital is too far away or lacks
capacity, veterans should be allowed to go to a regular hospital, no
questions asked.
• Health insurers cannot decline a doctor recommended procedure unless they can prove the procedure is unnecessary.
Lassiter’s web site is www.duskinlassiter4ussenate.com/economy.html
Jim Neal is a Chapel Hill businessman whose goals are “to spend our tax
dollars here at home on what matters most — providing job security for
middle-class families, ensuring the health of our families, and leading
the fight to protect the air water and soil which sustains us.”
Neal proposes to lower health care costs by using technology, expanding
insurance buying groups, and aiming for a family doctor for every
family. He would replace tax policies that encourage corporations to
ship jobs overseas with new policies that would reward “companies that
invest in America and make our communities better places to live.” His
web site proposes “a crash program for energy independence” emphasizing
renewable energy sources such as solar, wind and biofuels, along with
nuclear power.
More details of his platform are on his web site, www.jimnealforsenate.com .
Howard Staley was born in Camden, NJ in 1955. He graduated from Rutgers
University with a B.A. and graduated from Temple University College of
Podiatric Medicine as a Doctor of Podiatric Medicine. He has practiced
as a Podiatrist in North Carolina since 1981 in communities such as
Rocky Mount, Cary, Sanford, and Southern Pines. He lives in Chatham
County with his wife, Helene, and three sons.
His campaign web site (www.campaignwindow.com/howardstaley ) identifies problems but offers no solutions:
• Health Care Finance – an issue that needs immediate attention at
the Federal level — there is a good chance that this issue will be
addressed in the next Congress. Howard is aware of the increase in the
number of uninsured people, and the increase of copayments and out of
pocket expense for those with health insurance.
• Debt – we can not add this burden to our children.
• Immigration – we need to balance our need for immigrants with our
issuance of entry documents, prevent further illegal entry across our
borders, and use all available means to document or deport illegals in
our country.
Marcus W. Williams is an African American attorney who asserts more
than 28 years of advocacy for the economically disadvantaged and the
poor, including experience in representing families to save their homes
and their farms from foreclosure.
Williams was elected Student Body President at the University of North
Carolina in Chapel Hill in 1974, and in 1978 became the first minority
elected President of the Student Body at the University of Minnesota
Law School. He subsequently became a Reginald Heber Smith Community
Lawyer Fellow, Executive Director of Legal Services of the Coastal
Plains, an eleven-county program based in Ahoskie, N.C. and later as
Executive Director of the seven-county Legal Services of the Lower Cape
Fear, based in Wilmington. His campaign web site is www.mww08.com .
