There are some tough criticisms starting to fly in the race for Asheville City Council as the Oct. 6 primary nears, with candidates Kelly Miller, Esther Manheimer and Carl Mumpower taking the brunt so far.
There’s an e-mail circulating titled “Who is Esther Manheimer?” and it links to a web site tagging all three as the “developers’ candidates.” This attack follows old battle lines in Asheville City Council races drawn over how much development is good for our city.
It starts like this:
Esther Manheimer is a really nice person.
But is she right for City Council?
Esther is a development attorney.
She represents big developers in court and in front of City Council. She lobbies City Council on behalf of her developer clients.
Now she wants to BE on Council, thus eliminating the middleman, and making decisions about development directly.
Is this really what Asheville needs?
Check out who supports Esther.
Look at the Board of Elections website. LOTS of her big campaign donors are developers and developers’ attorneys.
Albert Sneed is her LARGEST donor. Sneed gave $1,000 to Carl Mumpower’s campaign in 2005. Sneed has donated HEAVILY to right-wing politicians through the years – he gave over $1000 to McCain/Palin just last year.
Is this really who you want making decisions about your town’s future?
The email goes on to link to a web site that contains more criticisms of Manheimer, as well as Miller and Mumpower. Each have their own page on the site. Manheimer is tagged as a “development attorney” whose law firm represents the interests of big developers and who has accepted campaign contributions from big developers.
Miller is scorched as a politician who has changed his political stripe to boost his chances of winning.
Kelly Miller reports that he’s a Democrat. But his conversion was very recent, AFTER he decided to run or office in a heavily Democratic town.
He voted in the Republican primary last year, choosing between Mitt Romney and John McCain, not between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.
His voting record from the North Carolina Board of Elections shows that he voted in the Republican primary in 2002, 2004 and 2008.
And Mumpower is ripped for supporting a proposal to log our local watershed, for supporting a proposal to build a big hotel in front of the Basilica of St. Lawrence in downtown Asheville and for voting to continue to develop Richmond Hill Park.
Finally, there’s a link on this web site claiming to show the impact of money on the 2007 election. It focuses on how much money candidate Bill Russell spent to unseat Councilman Bryan Freeborn. Freeborn lost the race by 74 votes, but was outspent handily by Russell.
The e-mail has a credit: Progressive Research Group • POB 18802 • Asheville • NC • 28814
Does anybody know who is behind the site?
It looks like the gloves are off. The first votes will be cast in the race for Asheville City Council on Thursday, with primary election day fast approaching on Oct. 3.
21 Comments
Mannheimer is exactly what Asheville needs, a true cultural progressive and fiscal (homebuilding) conservative, almost as good as a Log Cabin (gay) Republican. The gay community has saved me hundreds of dollars in school and childcare taxes and childcare employee benefits and Mannheimer knows this and showed up at Blue Ridge Pride and wholeheardedly promised to initiate domestic partner benefits, which Freeborn, Cape, Newman, and Jones failed to do for years even when they held a majority.
I think you will find vasectomized and childfree Bothwell in closer to the same camp than you realize. He is a homebuilder himself and has never generally denounced development in any wholesale way.
Antidevelopment is not the end all of municipal prgressivism. we need a fresh dose of cultural progressivism here without the NIMBYism, and Mannheimer and Bothewell can provide that.
I love that Mannheimer is now the swing vote, Making a majaority with Bothwell smith and Newman on gay benefits and another majority with Bellamy, Davis and Russell on supply side housing and property rights.
These people ("Progressive Research Group") sent me an email today attempting to trash Kelly Miller. Their filing at Buncombe County Board of Elections at
http://www.buncombecounty.org/common/boe/Elect09_Lite_OrgStmt.pdf
lists only Elaine Lite and Charlie Thomas (Charlie Thomas at 60 Haywood St) as organizers.
Cecil Bothwell’s campaign report (treasurer, Jake Quinn) lists a Charlie Thomas at the same address giving $500 to Cecil.
It appears that Charlie Thomas is earnest in his stated belief in the influence of money on elections.
My question is, is anyone else involved in this "Progressive Research Group" besides a failed City Council candidate from two years ago and a large contributor to a current candidate?
A reminder: It is not "Progressive" to stop all development in Asheville. If you freeze supply (residential or commercial), demand will continue to drive up costs and drive the working folks and small business out of Asheville. Admittedly demand is low now, but so is new supply, new development. So why, this year, when hundreds or thousands of construction jobs have been lost and few are building anything at all in Asheville or Buncombe County, does this group think that overdevelopment is the issue of the day.
Open your eyes and look around, "Progressive Research Group." Jobs is the main issue, not your viewshed.
From the contacts and conversations that I have had with Ms. Manheimer, I would suggest that she ascribes to high ethical values, is very well informed, capable, and capable of being impartial. Her environmental commitment is real. In spite of her professional ties I do not believe her to be beholden to developers and similar special interests. I believe that if elected she will be a fair, honest, progressive, and environmentally conscious representative on Asheville’s City Council.
Just my two cents.
The use of the video of me on the PRG website was done without my consent and has been deleted, at my request.
I like that someone or a group of someones has floated this Web site, but I hope it’s a group of volunteers and not a candidate or a savvy contractor or Web firm hired out using campaign dollars. Although no one appreciates it when candidates think a public will buy whatever they’re told, it’s a worse offense to be rallied by what cloaks itself as independent grassroots only to find out it is not OF the people. I encourage PRG to identify its members and stand with solidarity on an issue it believes in or cease. We’re smart people. We can learn the facts without more propaganda.
Jake and Bryan,
On the question of endorsements in the 2007 election: I was at the Haw Creek candidates forum. When asked who else the candidates would vote for, Elaine Lite replied without hesitation that she would vote for Brownie and Bryan. Brownie said he would vote for Bryan. Bryan used his time to praise Brownie and said he would vote for him and then at the end said, "And a big shout out to Elaine Lite." I might be too old to know the meaning of "shout out" but I do know that it is not an endorsement.
Charlie
Mr. Merchant says above, "I have a pretty good idea who is behind the Progressive Research Group . . .one of the Council candidates is probably at least loosely connected to this group and may eventually suffer blowback should the origins of this group come to light."
Mr. Bothwell says on another Web site, "Progressives, the saying goes, form firing squads in a circle." [ww.mountainx.com/opinion/2008/four_reasons_why_bothwells_should_be_on_city_council]
Is the Progressive Research Group an example of "progressive forming a firing squad in a circle?"
Interesting website. One thing to note is that the screen shot depicting Kelly Miller’s voting history (they could have at least blocked out his address) is not the same screen one sees at the Board of Elections website when looking up voting history.
The image also shows sub-categories such as contact methods, survey responses, etc. This suggests that it is a screen shot from a voter vault. If it is from a voter vault, that means either 1) One of the people behind the website purchased voter history information since November, which amounts to a Bill Russell-like amount of cash to blow on a City Council race, or 2) someone helping with website currently has access to such a voter vault.
Thanks for helping me to decide who to vote for.
Manheimer, Miller, and Mumpower.
Paul… Ms Manheimer can say what she wants, and promise whatever she promises. I have heard such things before.
Reality, however, as we all know, is very different.
I am not calling her a liar, I will leave that for our brethren from the GOP of the state below us.
I am highly dubious.
Bryan,
Well, okay, but I do not know about that. What I do distinctly recall when Elaine was asked at a candidates forum for whom she would vote besides herself, she said "Bryan and Brownie." I also recall that you returned the favor, and that Brownie did not.
And really, the single-shots were not there. While I observed the recounts, it was the many, many voters whose ballots selected Bill, Dwight and Elaine that surprised me the most. Clearly, there was an unusually deep anti-incumbent sentiment, much of which had been created by the upset over partisan elections. I mean, 5022 valid signatures for crying out loud! And then you had the referendum on the ballot. It is that debacle that opened the door to Mr. Russell’s darkhorse victory. Truly.
Jake,
You can say what you want about Elaine, but enough people came to me directly about words that came from Elaine’s and others on her campaign’s mouths to convince me she was far from an ally or someone we would want on our city council. I will say that I never heard anything about you suggesting such strategies.
In a race as close as 74 votes, 39 single shot ballots could have comprised a different council.
Just Saying!
I read your post with interest, Bryan. I admire you for spelling out your views. But, as someone who worked on Elaine Lite’s campaign two years ago, I don’t think your last paragraph is right. Elaine’s campaign didn’t bash you, and the amount of single-shot voting that occurred for any candidate was negligible (I oberved all the recounts, and there were all sorts of candidate combinations, but hardly any single-shots). I can’t say for sure, but I’m guessing that the single most enormous factor in your being edged out, and Brownie coming in second behind Jan, was the bungled partisan election gambit, and we know that wasn’t your idea.
Just saying…
@Bill: "Is anything on that website untrue?"
While I agree with those who say Manheimer has yet to convincingly articulate why she is running, the statement: "Now she wants to BE on Council, thus eliminating the middleman, and making decisions about development directly" is untrue. It implies a desire to run for public office for corrupt reasons.
On Monday at the League of Women Voters / NAACP meet-and-greet, I had an opportunity to talk to Ester Manheimer about potential conflicts-of-interest. She assured me that she would encourage fellow council members to recuse her from development issues that her firm is involved in. And, if that didn’t work, she would abstain from voting.
I felt Ester was sincere, and hope she will make that statement again, publicly, soon.
While I feel Manheimer’s campaign is backed by those who support unrestrained development, and I have concerns about her ability to remain friendly to a progressive agenda when her co-workers & clients can be expected to lobby her constantly in the opposite direction – it’s unfair to compare her to Mumpower or imply she’s a slave to business interests.
Besides, with her legal expertise & connections, she may yet become a powerful force behind helping Asheville transition to a more sustainable future. Developers are far more likely to listen to their own lawyer when it comes to explaining the long-term benefits of transit-oriented development, or the necessity of green retrofits.
On a final note: The "Progressive Research Group" is bringing up important issues that need to be discussed before the election. While I feel they are being harsh, these are legitimate concerns that if Manheimer, Miller, and Mumpower don’t want to be brought up – they shouldn’t be running.
I’m looking forward to reading the attack sites on other candidates.
– pvh
The CTimes ran an info piece a week or so ago on campaign contributors. Seems like Terry Bellamy has accepted money from Fraga, the developer that had the mega hotel ready to be built. Seems like more investigation should go on at the mayoral level as well.
I have a pretty good idea who is behind the Progressive Research Group, but as I don’t know for sure, I don’t even want to speculate publicly. Suffice it to say, one of the Council candidates is probably at least loosely connected to this group and may eventually suffer blowback should the origins of this group come to light.
I suspect that the general message being sent by PRG isn’t far from the truth. The sad thing is, the tone of the message as well its questionable logic taints its credibility. The word "overreaching" comes to mind.
Also unfortunate is that PGR’s website, which has taken the trouble to attempt to expose the organizations behind these candidates, do nothing to reveal who is behind the PGR organization. Such selective sunshine also taints the message.
It’s disappointing when activists who are basically on the same side as I am resort to tactics that may prove to do more harm than good.
Was Miller a republican or an unaffiliated voter? I know a number of people that maintain a Unaffiliated voter registration so that they can pick and choose which primary they vote in. Is that dishonest? Hard to say. So what if he changed his voter registration. That is not really news or anything to make us weary of him. This unknown and unregistered political action group also goes after him for having received contributions from Craig Madison, but did not seem to have a problem when progressive poster child Holly Jones also received contributions from Craig Madison and then voted for his Ellington project. Hmm. Where is the out rage. Really. Come on folks. Don’t be such double standard tools. If you want to hammer Miller, go after the fact that he works for the Chamber of commerce and the TDA. Both of which make him a giant conflict of interest, no matter what our incompetent city attorney says ( when has Bob Oast ever been right). On the Board of the TDA sits a member of City Council. So he serves on council with one of his bosses. Hmm. Seems wrong to me.
They go after Manheimer and her law firm in the most ambiguous and misleading of manners. They have a page dedicated to some pictures of storm water run off with out saying where these pictures are from, what projects contributed to them, or if Manheimer and her law firm had any thing to do with it. They also use quotes from the website of her law firm then add editorial comments next to it that are a reach at best. They also use a video clip of Mayor Sitnick talking about the failure of the the current city council, but this group wants to put Manheimer in with the decisions of the current council. As best as I can tell from the one short clip that they show of Manheimer, Manhiemer not Lite is correct. We do need a objective, not subjective review process. Elaine Lite is advocating for more of the same, while Manheimer is advocating a system that reflects our community vision and master plans.
I know what is like that review large projects before council where it comes down to what ever council decides. Looking at who we have on council now I can honestly say I do not trust council with that decision or the current process. Lets make clear laws with clear guidelines and hold people to it.
They also have a page dedicated to showing you the influence of money on the electoral process. While Russel’s money did help him out. They lost a council member with a perfect PARC voting record simply because Elaine Lite and her campaign bashed me and Brownie, telling there supporters that I was vulnerable and that they would rather have Lite on over me and that she could edge me out and to single shot their votes for Lite. As far as I can tell, PARC and Elaine Lite are one of the biggest contributers to the amount of development that has been approved or rules that have been weakened in the last 2 years.
Just Saying!
Elaine Lite’s videos are on this site. Is she behind it?
ThePhan, you’re correct – Asheville City Council elections are non-partisan. But people still look to a candidate’s political party affiliation.
Bill, far as I can tell, there’s nothing untrue on the Web site. But folks might take issue with the tone. Perhaps the candidates will weigh in. Manheimer, especially, may not like the suggestion that she will favor developers’ interests over others.
How can Kelly Miller be running as a Democrat? I thought council races were non-partisan.
Is anything on that website untrue? I mean, the money comes from where it comes. Ms Manheimer DOES represent developers. Miller did recently convert from the GOP. and Carl? Well, he is Carl.