DTH Endorses in Chapel Hill... and Carrboro

Katrina, I agree with you. Local governments should give residents loads of warning about future annexation. In a previous posting, you stated: "Anyone who'd like an outline of how a responsible municipality annexes new neighborhoods need only look at Charlotte, who announces its annexation plans at least two years in advance."

Indeed. And for an example of responsible government closer to home, we could look at Carrboro, Chapel Hill and Orange County. These three governments entered into the Joint Planning Agreement (JPA) in 1988. This agreement, amongst other things, spelled out which areas would be annexed into Chapel Hill and which would be annexed into Carrboro.

By my figuring, that's 17 years warning your neighborhood got that you'd be annexed. 17 years! Now, THAT's responsbible government.

And, yes I understand that you and your neighbors may not have been alerted by your real estate agents about the annexation area. That's too bad. But real estate agents lie (er, I mean, "are selective which facts they talk about). That's what they do. Sorta like some Texans I could mention.

Ruby,

You've fallen into the dangerous trap we (rather consciously, I think) pledged ourselves not to fall into: Endorsing a student for the sake of endorsing a student. That's something students on campus -- people who are active and engaged at both the University and town levels -- were wary of, and frankly, I'm proud that the board resisted it in favor of what it thought were the four best candidates for students.

Speaking of which: It is my firm belief that we could write an editorial tomorrow calling for the scrapping of Carolina North, expanded Bolin Creek buffers and the razing of Meadowmont and you would still find a way to take umbrage with it, attacking the messengers as opposed to the message.

And I'm OK with that. Used to take it personally; now I'm sort of glad we get under people's skin. (If being right of uber-liberal is wrong, I don't want to be right, though on the other hand I bet you'd be shocked at how much criticism from long-time readers affects how and why we think about things.)

If you want to prove me wrong -- and see that the people I work with do work extraordinarily hard, do pay attention and are fine, engaged residents of Chapel Hill -- our board meetings are open to the public provided that you invite yourself a week ahead of time. 5:30 p.m. just about every Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. (That applies to everyone, of course.)

And yes, Dan -- we appreciated Will's on-campus presence combined with his insistence that students also exercise some pro-activity in getting involved, something we've been preaching all semester.

And if it's a close race, perhaps our endorsement will mean something even with a meager campus turnout. I hope so, anyway -- it's taken up a lot of my time in recent weeks. ;-)

Finally -- you know, because I don't have to shower or go to class or anything -- in 2001 the DTH endorsed Bryan, Harrison, Kleinschmidt and Wiggins. So 3/4 again.

I've tried following the campaign from afar I(though I'm ocassionally on campus and came to one of the candidate forums and talked to all the candidates). As a political scientist, I can say that interest group representation is one of the more important political dynamics. I know when I was on the council, I worked hard to get OTHER students involved, appointed to town boards and commissions, etc.

Chris's states that the board did not want to endorse a student just because a student was running, saying "I'm proud that the board resisted it in favor of what it thought were the four best candidates for students.". They may be the best four candidates for the Town Council in the view of the editorial board, that is their opinion and it may be the correct opinion. But to say they are the best four candidates for students makes the paper less than credible.

Chris,
Ruby isn't endorsing a student for the sake of endorsing a student, and neither are many of the other Chapel Hill citzens who are supporting Jason.

I agree with you that endorsing a student because they are a student is wrong, but if your fear of not being taken seriously because you endorsed a student led you not to choose Jason, then how can people trust the endorsements you have given?

And please, tell us what each of your endorsed candidates have done for the university, because I certainly cannot think of anything for a couple of them.

Correction to my last sentence: I meant "for the students of the university", not the university administration itself.

Yes, and mine is apparently to anger townsfolk.

At any rate, our endorsement stands, I think, on its own. That said, we welcome opposing viewpoints, and at some point (closer to Election Day) we'll likely reserve a large part of the editorial page for endorsement letters. You can carry on the conversation on my DTH blog until then.

One final point I would like to make, though, and then I'll let others continue the discussion: We had no fear of not being taken seriously by picking a student. Far from it. Rather, I think our bias was in favor of student candidates from the start, but when interviews and questionnaires were over and done with, we acted based on what we believed instead of what would have been popular or expedient or in line with our own built-in biases. That's what I'm proud of -- the DTH's editorial independence.

Chris,

I would like to applaud the DTH for providing their rationale for and against each of the candidates. Your endorsements are much more useful than those that simply list a names. While I don't agree with all your analysis, by providing us with that window into your thinking we can object from an informed perspective rather than simply reacting.

Endorsements, schmorsements...

"Those are my principles. If you don't like them, I have others." ~Groucho

The part I dislike most about endorsements is the "And we've even told you who to vote for." part.

Bless the free thinkers who rely on their own analysis!

Tomorrow, my bets are that the DTH group will produce Chilton, Gist, Haven-O'Donnell and Herrera.

This takes me back to a DTH editorial board meeting in March of 1972. We were deciding on endorsements for the Democratic primary for state house. A UNC junior named Pete Tripodi was running for State House. (yes, I was NOT the first student candidate for local office in Chapel Hill, Pete was) The DTH endorsed Trish Hunt and Ed Holmes (Trish and Ed won the Democratic primary in May). Pete came shouting into the paper that morning, wagging his finger at me, saying that the real reason that the DTH did not endorse him was that we (the DTH) and I wanted to control student opinion and that we didn't want an independent voice. The next year, Pete put a gun to his head.

excellent LTE Jason. I hope you'll also post it at
http://apps.dailytarheel.com/blogs/bullhorn.php as Chris suggested above.

Full disclosure: I've donated $100 to Jason's campaign and offered him (hopefully) helfpful suggestions. And the reason I got involved was one of the things my political mentor Al Lowenstein (UNC '49) told me that in return for helping me, I had to do the same for another student at some future time. In fact is was BECAUSE Jason is a student, but also because he understands politics and understands the town and university. I don't apologize for that. Al had applied those criteria to me.

Al was one of the reasons I came to Chapel Hill as a student in 1968. He also in his annual trips to Chapel Hill talked me over the edge SEVERAL times into running for office, saying that "good people never give up". I believe Al also talked to a number of folks in Chapel Hill on my behalf in 1973 even though he had been gone for a quarter-century.

Besides being the pre-eminent student politician at Carolina in the late 1940s, Al started the Dump-Johnson movement in 1967 and served in Congress.
More on Al at:
http://www.commondreams.org/views/032100-106.htm
http://www.infoplease.com/biography/us/congress/lowenstein-allard-kennet...

Reverse psychology on the DTH? I would assume the DTH made their Carrboro decisions days ago. I'm merely making a public prediction-- kind of silly of me...

Great letter Jason--- very heart-felt and deserving of a seat on TC.

Gerry, I didn't write the “And we've even told you who to vote for” line, the DTH wrote that.

I like to think of endorsements as useful information, not instruction on how to vote.

It is ironic: Everyone keeps talking about Jason's youth and he keeps proving his maturity.

Ditto Mark.

We did, in fact, make Carrboro decisions a week and a half ago.

At any rate, I have nothing but good wishes for Jason and his candidacy. We might not have endorsed him, but that doesn't mean we don't recognize his sincerity and his hard work. At the least, he deserves a lot of credit for offering legitimacy in the form of a student candidate, and in retrospect, we should have written that in today's editorial because it is important to Chapel Hill.

Here's a little perspective in the Tar Heel staff. Six weeks before I filed, a reporter from the Tar Heel called my home and asked when we planned on announcing. At that time, we had to respond with no comment, since we were still very much trying to recruit other candidates to run for the board and for mayor.

So, of all the local media sources, the DTH had the best read on what's going on in the annexation neighborhoods, and I imagine that saavy would extend to their endorsement process.

That said, I'd vote for Jason if I lived in Chapel Hill. Having attended numerous forums with him, he would be a great advocate for not just students, but anyone outside the traditional town power structure.

I would put it this way: perhaps the DTH had the most interest in following up on a statement Katrina had made in the paper earlier in the year. The statement basically said that Katrina was part of a small, cohesive group looking for a candidate to sponsor. I personally would not call this follow-up the best read or saavy.

or is Katrina telegraphing to others outside the power structure that they should support Jason BECAUSE he is clearly independent of the power structure, as evidenced by the DTH and Sierra Club passing him over?

I think you are right Gerry. Jason became much more appealing to me today! Get the message he's out, and he might just get in!

Gerry: The DTH is part of the same power structure that includes the Sierra Club? I think Tom and Dan might have some qualms with that …

Oh, and the news and editorial sides of the paper are entirely separate, and neither I nor anyone who works for me had anything to do with calling Katrina about a potential "annexee" slate of candidates. (Is that even a word?)

Saavy, though -- I like that. ;-)

Dan, are we ... agreeing on something?

Duke grads are automatically disqualified, don't you know.

You know, it is not like Jason was running for US Senate with no government experience, or running for President of the United States with no experience. This is town council of a small town. I watched Jason working in a project in 2004 that I was very involved in, and was impressed with the way it ran, his energy level, and with his ability to absorb the details and do it right. I'm experienced enough to know what kind of people can absorb and transfer information, and Jason got an A from me for that, and that's why I decided to help out. Even if it was true as Dan says that Jason has an "utter lack of experience in and knowledge of local affairs" this would not have affected me one bit. Other than being an advocate of the proposed bus system, as a student candidate I CERTAINLY had an "utter lack of experience in and knowledge of local affairs" in 1973, I was active in two issues: 1) voter registration; and 2) getting students involved in politics. The municipal election was the first brass ring that went by me, and Al Lowenstein encouraged me to run.

Oh, and if you want to know if my comment "it is not like Jason was running for US Senate with no government experience" is about John Edwards, that's for a different thread.

Dan,
as with those before me, I'm trying to help develop leadership when I see someone I believe has leadership skills.
I'm not reliving anything, and my glory days from my perspective were AFTER I got off the council.

As a student, I didn't support Mike McSwain and I don't support Jason now. Although I think Jason's politics are closer to where I am and Jason has done a better job than McSwain, Jason still hasn't done a good enough job to support.

I personally like Jason quite a bit, but his campaign has been run -- well, like a student. Jason's support is not very strong on campus, even among the students who are voting. In fact, I think he's actually lost student support over the course of the campaign. His facebook group (for the non-students, this is a college networking site) contains only two people, other than himself and Erin. He's been a very visible presence in the pit, but only to students who know him already. He has cultivated great relationships with select town opinion leaders, but hasn't proven that his grasp on issues extends beyond the "right" position. Lots of folks running for Town Council have the "right" position -- you have to distinguish yourself through vitality, support, character, intelligence and maturity. He hasn't done a great job actually campaigning and in trying not to be the "student" candidate, he has failed to activate or interest students. (To be quite honest, McSwain did a better job activating the campus.) And you can't chalk this one up to student apathy: Mark Kleinschmidt, for example, is wildly popular on campus.

I think that Jason has potential, but he certainly showed to students that his run was a little premature. Good luck to him -- he's a quality guy who will do well, but I just don't see myself supporting him for this position this year.

Overall, good call by the DTH -- having a student on town council who is not prepared will hurt the student cause.

Big, Big Congratulations, sincere and heart-felt, to Alex, Jaquie, Randee, and Katrina for receiving the DTH endorsement!

DTH, on why it chose not to endorse me: "But he faces considerable time constraints as a father, a grad student at Duke University, a law student at UNC and a reservist in the military."

Hey, guys, I'm finishing school in December! I also gave up my job working at a law firm and my consulting business so no one could make the “considerable time constraints” argument against me.

It is true that I am a single parent, but it would be more accurate to say that I am a single co-parent. Morgane's mom, an incredibly gifted mother and good friend (and she's smart, too, working at a lab that does leukemia research at Duke and preparing to start medical school next year) is as much a part of Morgane's life as I am.

As for the military, I am sure there would be some head-scratching going on at my unit if they were informed that I was spending a lot of time there. Yes, I can be deployed at any moment. Yes, I would go if called once again. No, the chances are pretty slim that I would be called again.

The ironic truth which the DTH editorial staff has failed to appreciate is that I will be out of school, unemployed, and marvelously free of any distractions come mid-December. It is the truth by which I timed this entry into municipal politics. It is precisely because I had the foresight to understand that I would finally have the time and ability to give back to this community that I chose to enter this particular race.

All behind me already. Chris, many thanks go to you and all the hard-working members of the editorial staff. I know you guys spent an inordinate amount of time deliberating over this matter. I would hope that you would take a much needed break, but I know that a paper never sleeps, and that the people charged with the enormous responsibility of running it rarely do either. So I'll say, keep up the good work.

Again, congratulations to Alex, Jaquie, Randee, and Katrina!

David-

You are extraordinarily gracious. And you really shouldn't be, because for some reason, the editorial is actually missing an entire paragraph that is sort of central to the argument.

If I can resurrect it, I'll post it here/on the blog.

Shall we all plotz?
Again, what gets me about endorsements is that the endorsers apply some principles to some, other principles to others.
I like the first three choices--- and I suppose the selection of Katrina proves that hard work pays off. Did the DTH staff pick up on Katrina's often disparaging attitude towards Carrboro government? Do you think she is someone who can work well with others?
BTW, my powers of prediction are as off as ever...

I have to say I think Katrina has a point...I think merger of town governments should at least be explored...

I thought everyone was making too big of a fuss yesterday, but I feel like doing the same with Carrboro endorsements. I do think the DTH has drifted to the right in the past few years (or decade?) but generally am impressed with their quality coverage, especially of the local elections.

But I really don't get the Ryan endorsement at all. And I'm surprised they endorsed Alex over Mark, especially because Mark's long ties to UNC and Chapel Hill would seem like an asset.

I do get the Gist and Randee endorsements, and I do get why they didn't endorse Herrera. Reasonable calls on that.

I do also commend them for doing such extensive coverage of Carrboro in particular.

Chris, I'm a bit confused. The DTH editorial blows off David with the comment:

"“But he faces considerable time constraints as a father, a grad student at Duke University, a law student at UNC and a reservist in the military.”, and David rebuts this by saying he is graduating in December and will not be a student at all,
but your repsonse to his rebuttal is simply that "You are extraordinarily gracious".
If two of the facts in the editorial concerning David are simply wrong (and the comment that he is a father seems totally irrelevant and a standard not applied to other candidates) than perhaps does your board either rethink what you have done or at least run a correction?