July 2004
I'd love to hear - in a positive way - who people are voting for in tomorrow's primary. The rules: only write who you are voting for (and why, if you like). Do not refer to any candidates for whom you are not voting. If you do not follow the rules, your comments will be removed.
So, who floats your boat? Or who bugs you less than the alternative?
Today is the day. Orange County Democrat and Unaffiliated voters will decide who our next two County Commissioners are. While there is a general election in November, it is perfunctory in Orange County.
While no one can know just how this race will end, I think I can see that there are realistically only three main possibilities. Here's what they are and what they will mean:
Alternative 1: Valerie Foushee and Pam Hemminger win
I think it is pretty clear what this scenario will mean. Orange County voters are a lot better at understanding elections than we necessarily give them credit for. It may well be that NoMerger.org correctly understands that there is a deep visceral reaction against school merger out there. If Val and Pam win then there is just about no way to look at it other than that the County's voters don't want merger. While Moses and Margaret have their detractors for other reasons, merger will be the only reason that anyone will remember for their undoing.
Tonight, as the results come in, please OP.org readers, come one come all to post on this thread to update everyone on what is happening around the county and comment on how the preliminary results look.
I will go over to Carrboro Town hall at 7:30 to get the preliminary results from the Town Hall precinct and will post them here. Likewise anyone with preliminary numbers from other precincts please post those numbers here (Orange County Commissioner and OC School Board numbers only, please).
This should be fun if a couple of us do it. Blogging is the future of media and we should be able to scoop the newspapers with the commentary and anecdotal data on OrangePolitics.org. So join the fray . . .
because this crow tastes terrible! So much for my career as a political pundit . . . So what DOES it all mean?
I think someone on the Late Breaking News may have hit on something by calling this a referendum on Margaret Brown.
Clearly this is neither a rebuke for NoMerger.org nor an endorsement of school merger.
I said it twice yesterday, the voters are not stupid. I suspect that they saw two good candidates and voted for them. In fact, I spoke to quite a few people who said that they were voting for Moses and Valerie. I just figured they were significantly in the minority.
That said, there were a number of comments on this site from people who said that Margaret rubbed them the wrong way. I still think NoMerger.org did Margaret a disservice by painting her with same brush they used on Moses.
Here are the theories I heard bandied about tonight (I am not saying that I buy these ideas):
1) Margaret was punished for trying to have it both ways on merger (or that she was punished for failing to take a stand).
In the newly ratified version of the state appropriations bill, the Orange-Chatham Judicial District (15B) is slated to get a new, second superior court judge. Here's the language:
"The Governor shall appoint a superior court judge for the additional judgeship in Superior Court District 15B as authorized by subsection (b) of this section to serve until December 31, 2006. The successor to that judge shall be elected in the 2006 election to serve an eight-year term."
The way I've seen it interpreted, this means that the governor has to make an appointment quickly. Rumors are, of course, flying around the courthouses in Orange and Chatham. Who will want this new job? My unscientific poll leads me to the conclusion that, by general agreement, there are three leading contenders and one dark horse:
Leading contenders:
1. Joe Buckner
2. Joe Hackney
3. Lunsford Long
And, as disturbing as this might be, the dark horse:
1. Jill Cheek
Guest Post by Paul Jones
nomerger.org - Foushee and Hemminger
Sierra Club - Brown and Hemminger
Independent - Brown and Carey
CH News - Carey and Hemminger
Breakfast Club - Carey and Foushee
I have I'm sure missed several -- Teachers Associations, Soccer Alliances, and others that didn't get my attention. Several for the Town Council race seem to be missing this time out or I missed them. Housing, Police, CAN, Neighbors Near Campus, Tax watchers. Many of these had not much of a stake in the County race, but others did. Did they matter? Did any of the endorsements matter?
Paul Jones is the director of ibiblio. He is married to Chapel Hill Town Council Member Sally Greene.
Guest Post by Matt Compton
The facts are pretty clear. Barry Jacobs got outspent by about $41,000 on Tuesday. But I’m not so sure that was the deciding factor in the House 50 race. In fact, there were at least three other things that contributed to Barry’s poor performance everywhere north of Hillsborough, and they in turn, led him to lose the race. These are simple observations. In most cases, I don’t have scientific evidence to back up my perceptions, but I think they are valid nonetheless.
1) The "Push" Poll
I don’t think Barry Jacobs had anything to do with the poll that was conducted by the State Employees Association of North Carolina, but it didn’t help him at all. SEANC made it a point to play hardball in this year’s primary, targeting five races, but for the most part, their efforts did more harm than good. Faison showed good political instincts by responding to the charges early and hitting back hard. Jacobs didn’t have a good answer when he was asked about it, and that left a bad taste in peoples’ mouths.
Since this site started last September many of you have called for restrictions on anonymous posting. All of us involved with OrangePolitics.org couldn't agree more. That's why I have been working for over two months on moving the entire site to a different blogging platform that will allow for more control over posting.
The move from MovableType to WordPress will allow us to require and validate real e-mail addresses for every commenter. In case this system is abused, we also have the ability to turn on moderation for all comments. This will be a real bummer for everyone, so let's hope we don't have to resort to that.
The new site is in its final stages of development, and all it needs now is testing. That's where you come in. Soon (this week or next), the subscribers to our reader's digest e-mail list will be invited to check out the new site before it gets launched to the public. If you would like to help with that effort, please join the list by entering your e-mail address in the form on the right side of this page.
According to the N & O, the future vice president of the U.S. might have his home away from Washington in... drum roll please... Carrboro.
"The candidate and his wife Elizabeth Edwards bought 102 acres of land four miles west of Chapel Hill on Old Greensboro Road June 24 for $1,316,500."
Lots of questions arise here. I mean, are we going to start seeing Secret Service agents infiltrating Weaver Street Market's Thursday night music night just before the Edward's family arrives for their tempeh burgers? And are the Edwards children going to be hula-hooping on the lawn?
And the big question.... can they really shut down Horace Williams airport if the vice president needs it to commute to DC?
Hmmmm....
An earlier line of discussion on the "New Jackson Hole" post made it clear we needed a new thread for discussion of the urban growth boundary (or whatever terminology you want to use).
In my limited understanding of the issue, the towns of Carrboro and Chapel Hill have attempted to limit growth by creating a line in the sand and refusing to extend city services, including water and sewer, past that line. Since much of the land north of town doesn't perk and since much of the land west of Carrboro is in the University Lake watershed, this means that only lots larger than 5 acres can easily get through the process for development.
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