It has been over a month since the Duke Energy coal ash spill and we are still finding new leaks. The cost of cleaning up this ecological disaster will be in the millions and North Carolina taxpayers should not have to shoulder the burden.
The House District 50 Selection Committee will meet to select now-Senator Valerie Foushee's replacement. Location TBD. Discuss and learn more about the candidates here.
Date:
Thursday, October 24, 2013 - 7:00pm
Location:
Orange County Library, 137 West Margaret Lane, Hillsborough
With Sen. Valerie Foushee taking the oath of office today at the Chatham County Courthouse in Pittsboro, the appointment process for her replacement to represent House District 50 can officially begin.
If you've been following the news, though, you know that there are already several declared candidates for the seat, and that things have already unofficially begun.
Just wanted to share Valerie Foushee's new video on public service. It's a powerful look at how, growing up in Orange County, her parents instilled in the values of education and listening.
If you like the video, I hope you'll share it with friends and neighbors. Valerie has been a great representative for Orange County and I'm looking forward to what she does in Raleigh.
With the newly-elected (and newly-districted) members of the Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) sworn in, they have followed their annual tradition of selecting a new chair and vice-chair of the group. This is a leadership structure that is quite different from other elected bodies in the county in that the chair has similar responsibilities as a Mayor would have in a municipality, but the seat rotates among the members in a very egalitarian fashion so that every commissioner in recent memory has served at least one year at the helm.
What I found especially interesting is that this year's chair will be Valerie Foushee (an African-American woman) and the vice-chair will be Mike Nelson (a gay man).
Filing for the Orange County Board of Commissioners election begins February 11th. Of the folks rumored to be considering a run, Chapel Hill-Carrboro School Board Chair Pam Hemminger has been at the top of the list, and on Monday the Orange Chat blog made it official. Another likely candidate is Bernadette Pelissier of the Orange-Chatham Sierra Club (and formerly of the OWASA Board). I've also heard rumbling about an African American challenger from the county, and of course incumbent Valerie Foushee is expected to run for re-relection as well.
An interesting question emerges about which candidates will run in their respective districts, and which will go for the at-large seat. District 1 (Chapel Hill & Carrboro) will be electing 2 seats, while the rest of the county will elect one person from District 2.
With Moses Carey Jr. running for state Senate and two additional seats on the county Board of Commissioners, we'll have some new faces on the board next year.
