The meeting this evening in White Cross, near the top-ranked 'Site H' for UNC air operations after RDU, was very well attended and full of reasonable information, some of which was recently brought out in the Indy. I encourage participation in further meetings organized by http://preserveruralorange.org.
Surprising visits were made by Republican candidates BJ Lawson and Kevin Wolff. Mr. Lawson was well-spoken and friendly, earning a healthy and genuine applause from a crowd that had been fairly riled up for a cause they'd have no reason to assume with which he shared their concerns.
Alternatively, Kevin Wolff humiliated himself by immediately impugning the qualifications of his opponent, Bernadette Pellissier, and whining that he hadn't been invited to the party. He was confrontational with a crowd of concerned citizens meeting in a passionate campaign year over an issue that affects them directly, and was eventually whistled down form the microphone. I was embarrassed to watch it.
Has anyone else seen him act this way? Has he been a viable candidate for any office? I hope he was just having a bad night; othewise his social intelligence is near zero.
Issues:
Comments
No
> Has he been a viable candidate for any office?
No.
Highly successful meeting
Huge crowd of over 300 in the White Cross Community Center. The big story is that the community is fired up and they understand that this airport boondoggle would destroy our community as we know it, add to the tax burden of the entire county, add pollution to the Haw River watershed (& Jordan lake), fall far short of the quick-draft highly optimistic economic benefit study - all for the dreams & schemes of a relatively few high rollers collaborating secretly with UNC.
Par for the course
What you describe is precisely what I would expect from Wolff after his 3 quixotic campaigns for elected office and almost total lack of actual engagement with any off-ballot issues. I've also come to expect Lawson to be friendly and appealing, but that doesn't make his politics any more palateable for me.
Thanks for attending and reporting back for us, DL.
Lawson
My pleaseure. I'm a long time checker-inner on OP, Wolff's behavior was so strange I had to see what y'all thought.
BTW, I'm no real supporter of Lawson, but I have interacted with him a couple times, and feel like he is at least worth having as part of the discourse in Triangle politics. I think his politics are misguided, but I admire his genuine enthusiasm for the campaign process and philosophical conviction.
My lengthy post about the meeting
Too big to put here as a comment. My notes
John Rees