appointment

HD-50 Selection Committee Meeting

The House District 50 Selection Committee will meet to select now-Senator Valerie Foushee's replacement. Location TBD. Discuss and learn more about the candidates here.

Date:

Thursday, October 24, 2013 - 7:00pm

Location:

Orange County Library, 137 West Margaret Lane, Hillsborough

Elections

Foushee officially sworn in; HD-50 appointment process begins

With Sen. Valerie Foushee taking the oath of office today at the Chatham County Courthouse in Pittsboro, the appointment process for her replacement to represent House District 50 can officially begin.

If you've been following the news, though, you know that there are already several declared candidates for the seat, and that things have already unofficially begun.

11 vying for the Rich seat: an introduction to the applicants

Filing has now closed for Penny Rich’s vacated Town Council seat. There will be a special public hearing January 14th where the applicants will be allowed to speak. The Council will consider making an appointment to fill the vacancy on January 23rd.

There are 11 applicants to the seat. I believe that this applicant pool is more diverse than in past appointment processes. There are 4 women, one student, one Latino candidate, one African-American applicant, one candidate who identifies (per her voter registration record) as multiracial, and a Republican. Below is a brief introduction (in alphabetical order) to each candidate:

Sally Greene- Sally is a former Council member, having served from 2003-2011. She did not run for reelection because of job commitments, but has a new job now that will allow her the time to serve again. She has written about her candidacy here on OP. In that thread, there is also a copy of the resolution Council passed honoring Sally when she stepped down, which details her accomplishments as a Council member.

Loren Hintz-

Sally Greene to apply for open Council seat

All of us in the local political chattering class have been talking about who will be the successor to Penny Rich, since Penny will be resigning from the Chapel Hill Town Council soon to take her new seat on the Orange County Board of Commissioners. A lot of qualified names have been tossed out, including Maria Palmer and George Cianciolo.

But there is a new candidate in the mix that I believe will eclipse the competition. I heard from a friend that former Town Council member Sally Greene was interested in the seat. I was so excited to hear this that I called her this weekend and she confirmed that she really is interested in returning to the big curved table at Town Hall.

Council should appoint a woman to fill open seat

Unsurprisingly, names have started to surface as possible applicants for Penny Rich's open Town Council seat once she leaves her post to join the County Commission in January. Today I heard via Twitter that George Gianciolo and Jon DeHart likely plan to apply for the position.

While I'm sure either of these men would provide a thoughtful voice for Council, the unpleasant reality is that if either were appointed, the gender breakdown of CHTC would be just two women and seven men (including Mayor Kleinschmidt). Council would be comprised of just 22% women, exactly the same representation as the NC legislature.

It's embarrassing that a municipal government we proudly consider to be a model for progressivism in our state could possibly have the same gender breakdown as our backward-thinking General Assembly.

Another chance at board appointment

Joe Green has resigned from the CHCCS School Board (not that you'll notice that in the lack of media around here)

But I doubt we'll get into another "5th place finisher" fight because I heard MaryAnne Gucciardi moved out of the district as well. But I'm sure there will be interesting questions about whether to appoint another African-American. Or why not a Hispanic- or Asian-American given the large populations (14 and 11% respectively)?

About last night

There has been a lot going on and I can scarcely find a moment to blog about it. Maybe in 6 years when my son starts school and I don't have to work to pay for daycare so I can work so I can... where was I? Oh yeah, so last night three important things happened in local government - we took 2 steps forward and one step back for social justice.

1. The Orange County Commissioners rejected both door number one (a new, expanded landfill) and door number two (a waste transfer station). Instead they will be shipping our trash to Durham, an idea which I never years in literally years of debate about this issue. In any case, this seems to be a huge victory for the historically African-American Rogers Road neighborhood, which has shouldered Orange County's landfill for nearly four decades and which is ready to move on the the next phase of their lives, that is: not being neighbors to any major waste handling facilities.

Chapel Hill Town Council appointment: Do the right thing

Here is a commentary I contributed to WCHL last week (it ran last Friday, but I can't find links to their recordings anymore). It was a little too long so the bit in gray was not on the air.

Much has been said about the abrupt departure of Bill Strom from the Chapel Hill Town Council. Whatever frustrations we may have had with him, at least we can take comfort in the fact that Strom will no longer have any influence on Orange County politics.

As they have done with all other mid-term vacancies in recent history, the Town Council will appoint a replacement to finish Strom's term. The Town Council also has a long-standing tradition of using the appointment process to ensure that there is at least one African-American sitting at the table.

Future of the Town Council Without Broad Representation

By Michelle Cotton Laws, President of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro NAACP
(Also submitted to Mayor Kevin Foy.)

On behalf of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro NAACP, I am writing to express our concerns over what appears to be some post-election jockeying about who the Council should appoint to the vacant seat left by Bill Strom. Buttressing our concerns is the outcome of the recent elections which have resulted in what will be a racially homogeneous Council that does not reflect the broader Chapel Hill community. While some Council members (and their constituents) may feel comfortable with this outcome and argue that “the people” spoke through the casting of their votes, there are others—including the NAACP—who believe that the results of the election have left us in a similar place where the “Founding” American colonists were when they protested against the British Crown through the historical Boston Tea party -- “taxation without representation” for many Chapel Hill residents in particularly a relatively large and deeply rooted African American community.

Will VOE = VOA?

During the election season we heard a lot about why Voter Owned Elections (VOE) were needed in Chapel Hill and how it would put power in the hands of the voters instead of some unnamed "big money forces." We now have had the election and the next test is the appointment to fill the Strom seat.

So for those who say the voters should have control, will they now re-frame their arguments to preclude the voters from engaging in a Voter Owned Appointment (VOA)? The facts are simple; there has not only been a debate over when to have the Council make their decision but also who should be appointed. Some wanted the newly elected Council to make the decision. Some want the candidate on the ballot who came in fifth to be appointed.

Main menu