Word on the street: Asheville attorney Scales will challenge primary winner Williams for Buncombe DA

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Fresh off Todd Williams‘ upset over Ron Moore in Tuesday’s Democratic primary for Buncombe County district attorney, there’s word now of a new challenger: Ben Scales.

Scales is a well-known Asheville attorney, activist and musician. Word on the street is that Scales is launching a campaign to get more than 7,000 signatures to have his name on the November ballot as an independent candidate. In fact, he’s had campaign workers actively seeking signatures already. And there’s a scalesforda.com website, though it appears it’s not complete.

Scales is an interesting candidate for another reason: According to his work website, “Scales has been actively involved in the marijuana legalization movement for many years. He narrows his criminal defense practices exclusively to cannabis related offenses.” That could make him an attractive candidate in the more liberal city of Asheville, but it may hurt him with more conservative voters outside city limits.

Williams handily won over Moore in a contest that saw a very light turnout. Looks like we might have another fun race to cover, and watch, this summer.

More from benscaleslaw.com:

Ben Scales is a lawyer, an activist, and a musician. He has built his law practice on a foundation of protecting his clients’ civil, contractual and intellectual property rights and promoting change in an archaic, unfair, and unjust law.
Ben is a 1991 graduate of the Cumberland School of Law at Samford University, in Birmingham, Alabama, where he was a member of the Cumberland Law Review. Before law school, Ben earned a Bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) in 1986.
Ben is actively licensed to practice law in both Georgia and North Carolina, and maintains inactive status as a member of the Florida Bar. He is further licensed to practice before the United States District Court for the Western District of North Carolina, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, and the United States Court of Federal Claims.
Early in his career, Ben served as Law Clerk to Judge Eric G. Bruggink on the United States Court of Federal Claims in Washington, DC, which adjudicates all contract litigation and other claims against the federal government. While working in Washington, Ben was recruited to serve as Law Clerk to Judge Alex Munson, the Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Northern Mariana Islands, on the island of Saipan. The CNMI’s unique political status as a self-governing commonwealth under the sovereignty of the United States gave Ben a profound education in local, federal and international issues.
Ben relocated to Asheville, North Carolina with his family in late 2002, where they settled into the historic neighborhood of Montford, renovating a classic 1920s bungalow, from where he seeks to reform the laws prohibiting all use of the cannabis plant. Ben is a musician at heart, and is proud of his highly creative family. Cate, his wife of fifteen years, has a prolific career as an interior designer with her company Trio. Together, Ben and Cate raise their three children, all of whom play music, create art, and excel at school and sports.

9 Comments

Nate May 8, 2014 - 10:29 am

Ha! His law firm’s web site is blocked by my office’s web filter software as “Adult Material.” I guess there are some drawbacks to focusing one’s practice so narrowly . . .

John C. May 8, 2014 - 8:57 pm

And that means he’s doing good …

Least he’s not associating with the literal communist crowd that the other guy has backing him.

Matt May 9, 2014 - 9:54 pm

John, what do you mean by ‘literal communist?’

Carlos May 13, 2014 - 7:09 pm

Yeah agreed there are real communists in the Williams crowd, no use to white wash it

Matt Christie May 21, 2014 - 10:08 pm

The Communists are coming!

Matt Christie May 21, 2014 - 9:56 pm

This is hilarious. Who wrote this?

Santa May 8, 2014 - 10:19 am

I’ll sign that petition. I wonder where I can do that?

Carlos May 13, 2014 - 7:11 pm

Santa baby on their facebook page they have where they are https://www.facebook.com/ScalesForDA

skippu May 7, 2014 - 7:27 pm

Sounds good to me!

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