What is the most important thing, if elected, you’ll accomplish over the next 8 years?
Adam Stein talks about how he can only serve about 1/3rd of a term (about 2 years).
Monthly Archives: October 2006
Here comes the judge: The Forum – Question #2
What role should political parties play in judge elections?
Here comes the judge: The Forum – Question #1
Importance of community? Your role in the community?
Here comes the judge: The Forum – Openings
Oct. 16th’s UNC Young Democrat Superior Court 15B forum. Candidate openings.
In an effort to clean up the original post and make the page load faster, here’s a playlist version.
Here comes the Judge: The Forum
[UPDATE:] All videos have been uploaded to youTube and are available here.
Tonight, four candidates for Superior Court faced off before 24 folks that appeared to be students (grad or otherwise) and, including myself, two older folk.
Our cup runneth over. Every one of the candidates this evening was quite impressive.
While our choices can be narrowed on externalities, like Adam Stein’s preplanned obsolescence, the character, tenor, experience of these candidates came through…
[UPDATE:]
Posting videos on youTube as I process them. This is my first attempt to film an inside event. I ran into a few problems: dying batteries, filled memory cards, mystery heads popping up, bottle woman, standing candidates, Mr. Tongue clicker, etc.
I apologize to the candidates for clipping various speeches (like Carl’s opening statement which starts late due to a camera glitch). My next effort should be PRO quality ;-).
[UPDATE:]
Moved videos to separate posts to improve page loading times.
- Candidate opening statements.
- Question 1: Importance of community?
- Question 2: What roles should political parties play in judge elections?
- Judge Baddour’s question: What is the most important thing you will accomplish in the next 8 years?
- Mr. Stein’s question: What is your experience?
- Judge Fox’s question: What are we doing wrong that is causing so many [African-American] males to end up in court and what can we do to fix the situation?
- Judge Anderson’s question: How can the current system for selecting our judges (by election) be modified to better serve the public?
The forum wrapped without an opportunity for the folks in the audience to ask a question or two. That said, I appreciated the moderator’s giving the candidates enough time to fully answer.
All in all, a good forum.
I’m using a wonderful open source software (OSS) tool VirtualDub to edit the raw AVI files from my Canon S3 and convert them to YouTube (or is it GooTube) friendly 320×240 MPEG-4 XVids.
Redistricting Referendum: Is Education Enough?
The League of Women Voters has asked me to speak at two forums in the coming weeks as “the opponent” to this referendum (because of my Sept. 2006 Chapel Hill News column “All Quiet on the Election Front”).
Moses Carey will argue for the referendum and I’m supposed to do 5 minutes on my opposition. Of course, I don’t have either the gravitas or the months of background Moses brings to this issue so it’ll be a bit of David and Goliath.
I’m trying to bend my schedule so I can make at least the first forum. More when I know.
Until then, here’s a press release (via Mark Peters and SqueezeThePulp) on the initial education efforts:
October 11, 2006
With upcoming discussions on the District Election Referendum, a web page has been created on the Orange County website to provide basic information. You may wish to consider this as a research source.
The page contains links to the following:
– Simplified wording of the issue
– Questions and Answers
– Maps
– Links to sample ballots (for the exact wording of the referendum)
– Information on educational sessions
The page can be found under “What’s New” from the main Orange County web page or the link below.http://www.co.orange.nc.us/OCCLERKS/DistElectWeb.htm
This link will be updated as additional information arrives.
Within the next week, brochures with much of the same information will be distributed to many public locations.
Here comes the judge, and the judge and the judge and the potential judge
I know, short notice of tonight’s (Wed. Oct. 11th, 2006) forum for Superior Court 15B candidates. The forum is sponsored by UNC’s Young Dems.
From Matt Liles OrangePoltics notice:
The Orange County Young Democrats will hold a forum with all four candidates for Superior Court on Wednesday, Oct 11th at 7pm in Room 4085 of the UNC School of Law.
Directions to the Law School are available at www.law.unc.edu. Parking is available in the lot adjacent to the law school after 5pm and additional parking is also available in the School of Government lot.
The candidates are:
- Judge Allen Baddour – current sitting judge (and a candidate I strongly endorse for November)
- Judge Charles Anderson – who I endorsed in the primary.
- Judge Carl Fox
- Attorney Adam Stein
I hope a few issues come up this evening:
- Mr. Stein’s inability to serve all but a fraction of a term (covered here and here by Duncan Murrell).
- Practical ideas for streamlining the court process (and maybe whack some of the costs out).
- Restoring some humanity to the justice system.
- The incredible amount of monies raised for this race (Stein is on track to beat $100K mark) and the distorting influence that has on future races.
Carl Fox, everyone tells me, has a lock. It certainly looks that way when you he spent the least, $26K, and raised the least, $28K, but was the top vote getter in the primary. That means a 3-way race among Baddour, Anderson and Stein.
Adam Stein has a quite respectable background, a solid list of endorsements, but when I talk to his supporters it always seems like they’re awarding a sinecure for a life of solid and praiseworthy work rather than enlisting someone with a strong vision for the courts future and the wherewithal to carry out the tasks before them.
This is an eight year job. Stein’s problem of a predictably foreshortened career on the bench should be addressed.
I’ve learned a bit about the work of a Superior Court district 15B judge over the last year. It is a tough job.
Our courts system is being battered, unfortunately, by rising demands. Hopefully this evening we’ll hear some innovative, practical ideas for addressing foreseeable stresses on our local court system.
A Measure of Transparency in Local Government
Mark Peters, one of the founders of Orange County political forum SqueezeThePulp and a school-focused activist, created this report card to publicly track local governments fulfillment of their stated goal of greater online efforts to promote e-democracy .
Mark’s site, OrangeRecordings, serves as a clearinghouse for podCasts of school board, council, board of alderman and other public meetings. The archival value of audio recordings and the ability for “time shifting” concerned citizens to “listen in” on proceedings should spur any elected body interested in greater transparency to deploy them.
Unfortunately, while Carrboro leads the way with a %90 rating, Chapel Hill has laid a big fat goose egg (%0).
Chapel Hill’s Town Council is still dragging their feet on using the simplest of technologies to draw citizens into the governance process. Quite unfortunate.
Great work Mark.
Pork-o-polis? Federal largesse in NC District 4
Wonder what federal monies wend their ways back to North Carolina? To local District 4?
The new online database of federal transactions, FedSpending.org, is now open for business.
A collaboration between the Office of Management & Budget (OMB), Zephyr Teachout’s Sunlight Foundation and the conservative OMB Watch, the idea is to promote greater access for persnickety citizens like CitizenWill.
The Sunlight Foundation covers our Dollarocracy.
Let’s turn first to the subject of government contracts and grants. The new database, compiled and put on the web by OMB Watch at fedspending.org, covers all federal contracts and grants issued between the years 2000 and 2005. Just how much money are we talking about here? More than $12 trillion in taxpayer money – that’s trillion with a T, not billion with a B. Not even Bill Gates has that kind of money (though naturally his company did get its share of the pie).
You can search through the millions of records by recipient name, by government agency – even by congressional district. And once you’ve zeroed in on a particular contractor, you can see at a glance which goods and services they provided to the government, and what proportion of the contracts they won were through full and open competition versus no-bid awards.
Here’s District 4 2000-2005 federal contracts.
Sample:
| Parent Company Name | Contractor Name(s) | Total Amount (for this search) |
| RESEARCH TRIANGLE INSTITUTE | RESEARCH TRIANGLE INSTITUTE; RESEARCH TRIANGLE INSTITUTE IN; RTI; SCI APPLIC INTERNATL CORP.; RESEARCH TRIANGLE INSTITUTE (DUNS 004868105); RESEARCH TRIANGLE INSTITUTE I | $186,718,197 |
| DUKE UNIVERSITY | DUKE UNIVERSITY; DUKE UNIV; DUKE UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER; OTA DAVID; DUKE UNIVERSITY (6541); DUKE UNIVERSITY CHPRE; DUKE UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CTR.; TSI MASON LABORATORIES; DUKE UNIVERSITY (0000) | $40,865,839 |
| UNIV OF NORTH CAROLINA SYSTEM | UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA A; UNIVERSITY NC AT CHAPEL HILL; UNIVERSITY NC AT WILMINGTON; UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT CHAPEL HILL; UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT CHAPEL HILL (1393); OFFICE OF SP | $15,158,037 |
| RHO, INC. | RHO FEDERAL SYSTEMS DIVISION | $13,486,940 |
| MCKESSON CORPORATION | MCKESSON HBOC INCORPORATED; MCKESSON CORPORATION; MC KESSON HBOC, INC; Mckesson Pharmaceutical; MCKESSON CORPORATION (7296); MCKESSON CORPORATION DELAWARE; MCKESSON AUTOMATION SYSTEMS IN; MCKESSON MED | $9,920,196 |
| CONSTELLA GROUP, INC | ANALYTICAL SCIENCES INC; CONSTELLA GROUP, LLC; UNITED INFORMATION SYSTEMS, IN; CONSTELLA GROUP LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY; CONSTELLO GROUP, INC. FORMERLY; SSC LARGE BUSINESS-NORTH CAROL; GYMR, LLC.; CO | $9,299,292 |
| PARADIGM GENETICS, INC. | ICORIA INCORPORATED; PARADIGM GENETICS, INC | $6,883,656 |
| CODA RESEARCH INC | CODA RESEARCH INC.; CODA, INC. | $6,041,000 |
| DUKE ENERGY CORP. | DUKE ENERGY CORPORATION; AMERESCOSOLUTIONS, INC; DUKE ENERGY CORPROATION; Ameresco Solutions, Inc.; DUKE SOLUTIONS INC | $5,234,898 |
| HEWLETT-PACKARD CO. | HEWLETT PACKARD COMPANY (3067); HEWLETT-PACKARD COMPANY; HEWLETT PACKARD COMPANY (1436); COMPAQ COMPUTER CORPORATION; COMPAQ FEDERAL LLC; DIGITAL EQUIPMENT CORPORATION; COMPUSA INC; AGILENT TECHNOLOGI | $4,451,695 |
| ALION SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY | ALION SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY; ALION SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY C; Alion Science & Techn.; IIT RESEARCH INSTITUTE | $4,079,767 |
| LIBERTY ANALYTICAL CORPORATION | LIBERTY ANALYTICAL CORPORATION | $3,613,559 |
| NORTH CAROLINA STATE UNIV | NORTH CAROLINA STATE UNIV; NORTH CAROLINA STATE UNIVERSIT; NORTH CAROLINA STATE UNIVERSITY; NORTH CAROLINA STATE UNIVERSITY (0756); N C STATE UNIVERSITY; ITRE/NC STATE UNIVERSITY; NORTH CAROLINA STATE | $3,401,233 |
| MCNEIL TECHNOLOGIES, INC. | MC NEIL TECHNOLOGIES, INC; MC NEIL TECHNOLOGIES INCORPORATED (5583); MCNEIL TECHNOLOGIES, INC; Research and Evaluation Associates, Inc. | $3,052,046 |
| TRC COMPANIES INC | MARIAH TRC ASSOCIATES INC; TRC ENVIRONMENTAL CORPORATION; LOWNEY ASSOCIATES; TRC MARIAH ASSOCIATES INC. | $2,979,438 |
| RAO ENTERPRISES INC | INTEGRATED LABORATORY SYSTEMS,; ILS | $2,912,453 |
| HEALTH DECISIONS, INC. | HEALTH DECISIONS, INC. | $2,452,978 |
By the way, OMBWatch might disagree with my characterization of their organization.
It does bill itself as “a nonprofit government watchdog organization located in Washington, DC. Our mission is to promote open government, accountability and citizen participation” yet the first squib on their sidebar shouts “Save the Estate Tax! Let your senators know you don’t want them to take the bait–keep the estate tax intact.”
Come on!
Durham Literacy on the run…
As reported by local activist and former VISTA volunteer BrianR , the Durham Literacy project has to move and needs help:
The Durham Literacy Center in Durham, North Carolina who helps hundreds of people a year learn how to read and get a high school equivalency is being forced out of their building due to mold. The Hearld Sun has written a good article allerting people to DLCs serious need.
Please consider making a donation at Network for Good to help a program Brian describes as “AMAZING and important…for the Durham community”.
Local ‘bloggers Bora Coturnix and Paul Jones join to beat the drum.
SxSWi: Inciting Self-Organizing Mobs for Local Progressive Activism
I submitted a panel proposal for Austin’s South-by-Southwest Interactive (SxSWi) 2007 titled Inciting Self-Organizing Mobs for Local Progressive Activism
Educated and opinionated, netizens are a fractious bunch. Rarely does on-line irritation translate into “real-world” local activism. With the proliferation of no-cost, net-based infrastructure and the power of the “long tail”, why do so few arm themselves on-line to battle off-line? Or even run for office? Join us in discussing how to rouse your local mob, tap their collective wisdom and promote progressive change.
SxSW is a combined music, film and new media technology (‘blog, vlog, podcast, social networks, etc.) conference spread over nearly two weeks. Local ‘bloggers Ruby, Kirk, ae, Fred, Henry went last year and, I believe, there was total agreement that it was fantastic.
SxSWi organizers have setup a system to let the public at large vote (10 at a time) which panels they’d like to see. I’ll be headed down South next March in any case – working on a panel, though, would be gravy.
Here’s the link if you want to help select the 140+ featured panels.
Voting ends ominously Friday, October 13th.
By the way, Fred has a proposal titled The Long Tail of Identity:
As we embrace social technology, the consequences of sharing our identities on the web are unknown. How will our social network profiles or weblogs affect our future possibilities? Does a search engine or archive really have the final say about who we are online? In the panel, we’ll discuss practical and theoretical approaches to online identity management, how our identity is perceived, and what innovations are serving our yet-to-be-defined identity needs.
Back with a Backlog
Yes, I’ve been gone (thanks for the emails).
I’ve got a backlog of issues, posts, news, updates – enough to keep me going for a couple weeks. I’ll be trying to catch-up as I juggle new developments on:
- This weekend’s ConvergeSouth unconference
- Carolina North and UNC’s Leadership Advisory group
- Updates on “Licensed for the Lawn”, “Madison: Smoozefest or Sleazefest”, “NextBus”
- Bolin Creek restoration efforts and Stormwater Utility updates
- The Downtown Parking task force (of which I’m a member)
- …and some old/new business on Austin’s SxSWi, old/new election news (including campaign reports), etc.
Oh, where did my family and I go?
