Jason Sandford
Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.
A few items of note today:
More endorsements
The local daily newspaper hands out Ashvegas City Council endorsements to incumbents Holly Jones and Carl Mumpower, as well as West Asheville carpenter-hippie Bryan Freeborn. The newspaper argued that experience counts, that team chemistry is important and that Freeborn has some innovative ideas.
We do have to take exception to the first sentence of the endorsement, though:
As with this year’s mayoral candidates, the slate of Asheville City Council candidates stands out
as one of the best we’ve seen in some time.
What?! That’s a joke, right? No? Seriously? C’mon. This has been one weak field of candidates that has failed to ignite an inkling of interest in the electorate.
The newspaper also printed a full page of letters from people endorsing various candidates. On that page, we counted seven writers backing Terry Bellamy for mayor and six backing Joe Dunn for mayor. For what it’s worth.
In or out?
RoIn makes a good point, noting that many of the Joe Dunn/Carl Mumpower supporters who have been voicing their opinion actually live outside Ashvegas city limits.
Follow the money
RoIn also notes the letters to the editor mentioning the fact that out-of-state PAC money has been fueling the campaigns of some of the progressive candidates for city council. That PAC, called Democracy for America, is apparently a local chapter of a national organization headed by Howard Dean’s brother, Jimmy “we thought that was a sausage” Dean, who will be visiting Ashvegas Saturday – just in time to get everyone pumped for election day. Interesting, no?
Go here to view local candidates’ campaign finance reports.
Yeah, I thought the Hebb letter was rather odd too — especially the bit about how Dunn and Mumpower haven’t had a majority on council for the past four years. Huh? Dunn and Mumpower have, largely, been in cahoots with Charles Worley and Jan Davis (and before Davis, Jim Ellis) all of whom were the darlings of the CIBO PAC in 2001 and 2003 (and I couldn’t help but notice that both Dunn and Worley got primary campaign contributions from CIBO darling Jerry Sternberg).
Also, Hebb lost the primary last month. If he’s got time to write letters to the ACT, then shouldn’t he have time to remove his signs that remain up all over town (Patton Ave, Hendersonville Rd, Tunnel Road, etc.)?
Love that sausage pun, huh?
My favorite letter of the day was Matt Hebb’s. Is that the most feeble attempt that has ever been made for a write-in campaign or did I misread something?
On the quality of candidates issue, te verdict is still out for me. I didn’t much like the “We endorse incumbents because they deserve a chance to finish” logic of the endorsement. If you couldn’t get it done in the first term (notably for Mumpower because he “sometimes comes across as self-righteous and inflexible and therefore doesn’t always play well with his colleagues on council”), why do you automatically get to keep going? No mulligans in politics, please!
On the other hand, I was impressed to see Freeborn’s mention in a newsletter that primary turnout was UP in the precincts where he did the much celebrated fancy foot work, going door to door, but I haven’t done the comparison myself. And, there are definitely those who follow Robin Cape like a religion. It’ll be interesting to see where it all settles when the ballots are counted. Sometimes I think if as many people voted as bemoan the poor turnout, turnout would improve.
Oh, I also so liked the Mumpower quote in the letters today: “Somewhere between stomping on neighborhoods and giving developers blank checks is a middle ground.” Ah, Man just can’t hide where his heart lies. The truth catches up with us all sooner or later, despite our best intentions.