This week, the Chapel Hill News tried to draw some distinctions between Town Council candidates. It got some stuff right, but what a lot of B.S.! And there's at least one inaccuracy in there. I'll buy a beer for the first person to spot it and post here.
The Chapel Hill Herald's coverage of their own candidate forum was interesting, especially since they raised the issue of conflict of interest for UNC employees. They also wisely didn't ask every question of every candidate. Unfortunately these two good factors appear to have conspired to let Diane Bachman off the hook on this crucial question.
It's not like she's a tenured professor or something. She works in the very same department that has been stomping all over Chapel Hill and is now gearing up for Carolina North, the biggest development our town has ever seen. She claims to not be working on any projects that will be reviewed by the Town, but her boss is Bruce Runberg! How much more compromised could she be? I think I'd rather have someone from the Chancellor's office than Facilities Planning.
Issues:
Comments
Hell, when I ran I was 28 (7
Hell, when I ran I was 28 (7 years older than McSwain, I think) and I was asked that question constantly. Of COURSE I had an answer for it. It's not even much of a leap: new people = new ideas. Duh.
I was pretty surprised people were so hung up on it at the time, since I was 8 years older (and more experienced) than Mark Chilton was when he first ran in 1991.
I am removing all of the
I am removing all of the Gregor Samsa posts from this thread and putting them in their own post: http://www.orangepolitics.org/archives/000040.html
Enjoy!
Wow, lots of interesting
Wow, lots of interesting thoughts. Who are you people? :)
Don't forget, you don't HAVE to vote for four! If I really like those first three, I'm not going to toss off a vote for a another person who I don't like as much who might beat one of the ones I like.
Then again, you could make an argument for doing it to keep those you really DON'T like out...
Did anyone see the LWV forum last night? McSwain got tossed a big, floating softball and choked on it!
Explaining the advantages of
Explaining the advantages of youth does not come easily to the young, I guess. It did have the potential for a spark of interest in what was a mostly mind numbing 11 part recitation exercise, but as you say he booted it.
Ward?
Ward?
Yeah Bayard, I do understand
Yeah Bayard, I do understand your confusion as to why I supported Ward in the last post. But I just can't think of any other candidate that does it for me. Juliano seems to be running on his money bags (see the campaign finance stories), although I do approve of his support for neighborhood preservation in the northern end of town. But, dear God, where is his support and policy geared toward the areas in the South that are under attack? There is still a large window of opportunity to work with UNC on the Horace Williams tract, but the Ghimghoul, Mason Farm, Pine Knolls, Northside, and Cameron Avenue areas have felt the brunt of the university's growing pains for years and must be helped NOW! Ward does seem to have sympathy and a somewhat knowledgable grasp of these neighborhoods and their issues, at the very least (yea, he dropped the ball on the chiller plant and deck issue re: Ghimghoul). McSwain, Bachman, and Schworer — need I say anything. As for Barfield, he seems to favor the door to door method and he hasn't come by mine yet. Terri Tyson is too focused on assaulting the state legislature over this merger bugaboo — if the commissioners have any political acumen at all they will vote against it so stop worrying. But Rohrbacher and Freund, I must admit, do have impressive knowledge of the issues and genuine concern. I was a little turned off by Rohrbacher's initial timidness and Freund the Writer's way of turning a straightforward response into a soliloquy, however these things don't really bother me anymore and I'm ashamed I let superficial, unimportant judgements cloud my opinion of these two folks. My fourth choice will likely be a toss up decision between Ward, Rohrbacher, and Freund. We'll see what comes out between now and November. Greene, Strom, and Hill are still set in stone.
Error -- Bill Strom was the
Error -- Bill Strom was the sole dissenting vote on the Chiller Plant.
Wrong, Flicka joined Bill, and the only reason it wasn't 6-3 was because the mayor scheduled the vote on a day he knew I had to be in Court on the other side of the stae.
DING DING DING - we have a
DING DING DING - we have a winner! I owe you a beer, Mark. :)
Congratulations Mark,
Congratulations Mark, Gregor, and Cam on successfully calling out the errors our local media are making far too often, at least in my opinion. If I may, I would also like to point out a few statments made in the Chapel Hill News article that are a bit inconsistent with fact.
1) Mike McSwain is not the UNC Student Government liaison to the town council, he quit that post nearly two months ago.
2) Yes, McSwain was appointed by the town to work with the Northside conservtion committee, but he has no voting rights in the decision making process and instead of input offers inane questions. Can you be a "member" without suffrage?
3) Why is Doug Schworer consistently referred to as the guy bringing a "minority" point of view to the race? Please reporters, if he offers this as a direct quote, then print it if you must. Do not paraphrase this as a desription of the man. Unless, of course, upper-middle class white men that oppose having moderately priced homes built near their half million dollar houses qualify as the powerless in society (insert gross amounts of sarcasm here).
- Reporters are human and fallibility is not something to browbeat them over, but these errors should not have been made considering the actual facts are common knowledge. Or should be to someone whose job is to society's watchdog. Sheesh, this is especially needed in Chapel Hill right now considering how crucial this election is and how few people attend the forums.
? re. McSwain: Does mixing cocoa into lattes qualify anyone as an expert regarding issues such as the municipal commercial tax base and economic outreach. I in no way mean to condescend him for his job, I applaud anyone that works hard for a living (especially while in school), but how does typical retail experience translate into economic savvy?
Message to voters: Do not vote for Bachman. She is a cleverly cloaked mouthpiece for the most insensitive administration the University has ever seen. Vote Greene, Hill, Strom, and Ward (in that order). Ruby, please run again. I was stumping for those four guys to my mom the other day and she was dissapointed you weren't in the race. She said you chatted her up outside the Varsity in 1999 while campaigning and she thought you made "perfect sense." Cheers to ya
The Bachman Buck doesn't
The Bachman Buck doesn't stop at her UNC conflicts or with her combative boss Bruce.
Let's look at where her truths stop [then move on]:
"I have no part of Carolina North" [but I have plenty to do with expansion on the existing campus]
"As a parent of school age children, I oppose the merger" [but my kids are in a private school]
"I invited 2500 people to my own special forum" [but only 25 showed up]
"I propose a state of the art transportation solution" [but don't expect me to tell you what the heck that is]
"I am a trained architect" [but I work doing construction oversight so don't mistake me for a creative]
Just for starters.
Ruby, I don't think Dianne
Ruby, I don't think Dianne was let off the hook. I said she shouldn't run, altghough it was widely reported that I said no one from UNC should run......I didn't say that. At least some of it was reported even if it was wrong.