Category Archives: LocalPolitics

Local politics as it might or might not pertain to the 2005 campaign.

ChapelHill, CivilLiberties, Elections, LocalPolitics, NationalPolitics, OrangeCounty, Ruminations

Fool me once, shame on you…: Possible Republican Judge Election Trickery

November 1, 2006 WillR 4 Comments

According to WCHL1360 some kind of organized tomfoolery is going on at the Morehead Planetarium polling place

Some students from UNC Chapel Hill are working to get votes for Conservative judges, but are not always transparent in their efforts.

Chapel Hill attorney Bob Epting says a young woman approached him outside the polling place and asked if he was a Democrat. When he said yes, she gave him a list of candidates.

The implication was the list was of progressive judges (essentially Democrats) in this non-partisan race.

Fred Black relates the following over on OP:

Yesterday when I voted at Morehead (#996 since Oct. 23d), there was a young lady on the edge of the parking lot. She asked me if I was going to vote and I replied that I was. She handed me a small piece of paper that listed Duke, Martin, Levinson, Calabria, Bailey, and Stroud. With the DTH and the WCHL story as background, I asked if the named people were all Republicans. She said that she thought so but theirâ€™s are nonpartisan races. I asked her what organization she represented and she said she was just helping her friend who was in class.

More information on this BlueNC and OrangePolitics threads.

With the current vote flipping problems in Arkansas, Missouri, Texas and Florida – all biased towards Republican candidates – one has to wonder if the Morehead trickery is the least of election 2006 problems.

That said, I’ve gone ahead and contacted the campaigns of Duke, Martin, Levinson, Calabria, Bailey, and Stroud in case they weren’t aware of folks scamming the electorate in their name.

Their handling of this mess will be a great indicator of their willingness to cultivate public trust both in the election and judicial process.

Contact information:

Judge Duke – www.rustyduke.com judgeduke@rustyduke.com
Justice Martin – www.justicemarkmartin.org mmartin@justicemarkmartin.org
Judge Levinson – www.justicelevinson.org campaign@justicelevinson.org
Judge Calabria – www.calabria4judge.com amcalabria@nc.rr.com
Judge Bailey – www.judgekrisbailey.com judgekdb2006@nc.rr.com
Judge Stroud – www.judgestroud.com JudgeStroud@aol.com

Mailto link: MAIL the JUDGES.

My email:

RE: Apparent organized effort to deceive Orange County voters
TO: Judge Duke, Justice Martin, Judge Levinson, Judge Calabria, Judge Bailey, Judge Stroud

According to local media reports (WCHL1360 – http://www.wchl1360.com/details.html?id=2124 ) and several eyewitness reports ( http://orangepolitics.org/2006/11/republicans-attempt-to-deceive-orange-county-voters/#comment-65383 ) , an organized effort is being made in Orange County to deceive voters in your name. A list of your names is being presented to Democratic voters in a fashion meant to mislead uninformed voters into voting for you.

Given your current standings as judges, given the responsibility you’ve been entrusted with, given the tenor of all your campaigns, I imagine this tomfoolery comes both as a surprise and a disappointment.

Now that you are aware of the problem, would you please publicly ask the participants to desist? A quick resolution to this problem will serve the public well.

Thank you for your prompt attention,

Will Raymond
Independent, Orange County

CitizenWill, LocalPolitics, Media, Ruminations, Technology

53rd and Falling: Our Free Press

November 1, 2006 WillR Leave a comment

I’ve been thinking quite a bit about citizen journalism of late.

Exemplary reports by BlueNC’s own SouthernDem, Greensboro’s release of the “secret” RMA report detailing the reasons for their police chief’s discharge, commentary from real journalists at the recent ConvergeSouth unconference, the Sunlight Foundation’s key assistance in outing congressional nepotism and revealing federal earmarks have me wondering about the future role CitizenWill.org might play in our local community.

Unfortunately, even as many online researchers/authors/activists are buoyed by rising fortunes, the United State’s professional journalism institutions are on the wane.

Reporters Without Borders Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2006 chronicles our medias plummet from 17th to 53rd place in a short 4 years.

The United States (53rd) has fallen nine places since last year, after being in 17th position in the first year of the Index, in 2002. Relations between the media and the Bush administration sharply deteriorated after the president used the pretext of â€œnational securityâ€ to regard as suspicious any journalist who questioned his â€œwar on terrorism.â€ The zeal of federal courts which, unlike those in 33 US states, refuse to recognise the mediaâ€™s right not to reveal its sources, even threatens journalists whose investigations have no connection at all with terrorism.

It could be worse:

â€œUnfortunately nothing has changed in the countries that are the worst predators of press freedom,â€ the organisation said, â€œand journalists in North Korea, Eritrea, Turkmenistan, Cuba, Burma and China are still risking their life or imprisonment for trying to keep us informed. These situations are extremely serious and it is urgent that leaders of these countries accept criticism and stop routinely cracking down on the media so harshly.

The three worst violators of free expression – North Korea, bottom of the Index at 168th place, Turkmenistan (167th) and Eritrea (166th) – have clamped down further. The torture death of Turkmenistan journalist Ogulsapar Muradova shows that the countryâ€™s leader, â€œPresident-for-Lifeâ€ Separmurad Nyazov, is willing to use extreme violence against those who dare to criticise him. Reporters Without Borders is also extremely concerned about a number of Eritrean journalists who have been imprisoned in secret for more than five years. The all-powerful North Korean leader, Kim Jong-il, also continues to totally control the media.

Strong journalism is a deterrent to tyranny both petty and powerful.

Maybe, in some small way, local folks like BrianR at Yesh, Mark Peters at SqueezeThePulp, Sally Greene at Greenespace, Ruby Sinreich at OrangePolitics, Robert P at CountryCrats, Bora Zivkovic at Blog Around the Clock, Eric Muller at isThatLegal.org, Laurin Easthom at The Easthom Page, Terri Buckner at LocalEcology, Paul Jones at the Real Paul Jones, Kirk Ross at Exile On Jones Street and many more, are filling the widening gap between what we have reported and what we need reported.

Maybe, even, they provide an encouraging example of what a local on-line community is capable of achieving.

CivilLiberties, Community, Government, LocalPolitics, OrangeCounty, Ruminations

Nov. 1st: Carey, CitizenWill and the 2006 Redistricting Referendum in Hillsborough

October 31, 2006 WillR Leave a comment

Iâ€™m once again on the hot seat tomorrow as pro-referendum Orange County Commissioner Moses Carey (and legions of staffers) try to counter my pro-democracy arguments against local election redistricting 😉

Seriously, if folks walk away understanding how this redistricting actually diminishes â€œsmall dâ€ democracy, distorts voter-power, potentially overweights rural influence and that other, better, alternatives were not adequately entertained, Iâ€™ll be satisfied.

Since the last “debate”, Commissioner Carey has reversed his previous assertion that the expansion of the board to seven members and the districting must be done together – it doesn’t. He did assert, evidence to the contrary (look southward to Chatham for instance), that districting isn’t divisive and that this referendum is the best way to promote minority representation. Again, alternatives, like cumulative voting, do a much better job promoting minority voices without sacrificing “small d” democracy.

Finally, based on this WCHL1360 [MP3] interview, Moses appears to have no idea or desire to carry forward with increasing local democratic access to our government if this referendum should fail.

Hey, at least he didn’t use the NC legislature as bogeyman argument.

ELECTION FORUM â€” The League of Women Voters-ODC will host an educational forum on the November referendum on district elections for Orange County commissioners at 7 p.m. in the Orange Water and Sewer Authority conference room, 400 Jones Ferry Road in Carrboro. A second forum is scheduled for Nov. 1 at 7 p.m. in the F. Gordon Battle Courtroom, 106 E. Margaret Lane in Hillsborough.

Map to tomorrow’s meeting.

Chatham, Hillsborough, LocalPolitics, Ruminations

Chatham’s Yes Men

October 31, 2006 WillR Leave a comment

I’m quite interested in the fortunes of our southern neighbors in Chatham County.

As reported in todayâ€™s N&O, local Chatham activist Mark Barroso has put together a great little youTube video on the outgoing Commissioner’s ill-deeds.

By the way, the Chatham redistricting proposal, which everyone should vote NO on, serves well as an example of the divisive nature of districting. Orange County residents should vote NO on our referendum to preclude such inanity.

Via Dan Coleman on OrangePolitics.

LocalPolitics, Ruminations

Orange County Board of Commissioners Campaign Reports

October 31, 2006 WillR Leave a comment

Spoke with the local Board of Elections candidates Alice Gordon, Jamie Daniel and Barry Jacobs reports are in.

I just spoke with candidate Mike Nelson about his report and he assured me it was “in the mail”.

[UPDATE:] Former (and future?) Carrboro Board of Alderman candidate Katrina Ryan has volunteered to scan the latest reports. I’ll post them on Commissioners.wordpress.com when they become available.

Carrboro, ChapelHill, Government, LocalPolitics, OrangeCounty, Ruminations

Superior Court 15B: Prompt Financial Disclosures from Baddour and Stein

October 31, 2006 WillR Leave a comment

Superior Court 15B candidates Judge Baddour and Attorney Stein are first out of the blocks with their 3rd quarter campaign reports.

Judge Baddourâ€™s report (as data, image to follow) is here.
Attorney Steinâ€™s [amended] report (again, as data) is here.

[UPDATE: 1] Leon Bryant is Baddour’s grandfather.

[UPDATE: 2] As of 1PM, Nov.2nd neither Fox’s or Anderson’s reports are posted at the SBOE.

Judge Andersonâ€™s report will appear here.
Judge Foxâ€™s report here.

The promptness of Stein and Baddour (and possibly Fox and Anderson) is quite encouraging.

I hope that since the Oct. 22nd – Nov. 7th reports will be in too late to matter, the candidates will consider pre-releasing their contributions leading into Nov. 7th on the 6th.

Breakdown of 3rd quarter reports:

Judge Baddour’s

Expenditures of: $55248.77 (of $105506.85 overall).

Contributions based on the summary report for the 3rd quarter: $76144.50 which includes $25,000 loan from the candidate, a $4000 loan from his father and $1150 from Baddour relatives (might be more relatives).

Based on the detailed receipts report, $85885.19, of which $55589.50 was individual contributions, came in over the period in amounts and numbers of:

$8.19           1       loan
$10.00          1
$20.00          2
$25.00          21
$30.00          6
$35.00          1
$40.00          2
$45.00          1
$50.00          39
$60.00          3
$75.00          9
$97.50          1
$100.00         160
$150.00         8
$187.50         1       loan
$200.00         9
$250.00         21
$280.00         1
$300.00         2
$442.00         1
$450.00         1
$500.00         19
$700.00         1
$750.00         1
$800.00         1
$1000.00        8
$1100.00        1       loan
$2000.00        1
$4000.00        1       loan
$4000.00        1       contribution from Leon Bryant [UPDATE:] Baddour's grandfather.

Individual contributions came in amounts over time as:

$2015 in March
$2100 in April
$230 in May
$100 in June
$850 in July
$13255 in August
$17270 in September
$19769.50 in October

Contributions to-date: $139626.76 which includes a total of $30599.86 in loans.

Attorney Stein's

Expenditures of $36864.34 (of $93877.54).

Contributions based on the summary report for the 3rd quarter:  $42652.00, no loan proceeds.

Based on the detailed receipts report $51742 came in over the period of which $5000 was a loan from the candidate, $46793 were individual contributions.  The amount and number of contributions break down as:

$10.00          3
$15.00          1
$20.00          5
$25.00          38
$35.00          3
$40.00          1
$50.00          56
$60.00          1
$75.00          7
$90.00          1
$99.00          1
$100.00         130
$125.00         10
$150.00         10
$200.00         11
$250.00         41
$300.00         3
$500.00         14
$828.00         1
$1000.00        3
$2000.00        1   from David Byrd
$5000.00        1   loan

Contributions came in over time as:

$500 in February
$2500 in March
$5840 in April ($5000 loan)
$100 in May
$150 in June
$9019 in July
$11253 in August
$15015 in September
$7365 in October

Contributions to-date: $125084.00 which includes a total of $5000 in loans.

What does this all mean? Further analysis to follow…

CitizenWill, Community, Elections, LocalPolitics, OrangeCounty, Ruminations

Soundbite: Carey, CitizenWill and the 2006 Redistricting Referendum

October 21, 2006 Administrator Leave a comment

WCHL1360 caught a small taste [MP3] of Wednesday’s “debate”.

I’ve since heard the radio ad promoting,to some small extent (and, hopefully, unintentionally), the referendum. Besides surmounting all the advertising – radio, print – the layout of the ballot will probably prove to be the hardest obstacle to overcome. As someone (thanks) pointed out to me, most folks will read the first sentence describing the expansion of the board to seven members – something I agree with – and skip all the rest of the legalese. My concern? That on this strategic layout alone will the referendum be decided.

Community, Elections, Government, LocalPolitics, Ruminations

WCHL Commentary: Oct. 24th Superior Court and BOCC Voluntary Campaign Finance Disclosure

October 19, 2006 WillR 2 Comments

Oct. 18th: Carey, CitizenWill and the 2006 Redistricting Referendum

October 18, 2006 WillR Leave a comment

Iâ€™m on the hot seat tomorrow as pro-referendum Orange County Commissioner Moses Carey (and legions of staffers) try to counter my pro-democracy arguments against local election redistricting 😉

ELECTION FORUM â€” The League of Women Voters-ODC will host an educational forum on the November referendum on district elections for Orange County commissioners at 7 p.m. in the Orange Water and Sewer Authority conference room, 400 Jones Ferry Road in Carrboro. A second forum is scheduled for Nov. 1 at 7 p.m. in the F. Gordon Battle Courtroom, 106 E. Margaret Lane in Hillsborough.

I’ll be the long-haired, bleary-eyed, referendum rebuker.

BTW, I might not be able to make the Nov. 1st meeting. Anyone else interested in publicly countering the referendum?

Carrboro, ChapelHill, CitizenWill, CivilLiberties, Community, Government, Hillsborough, LocalPolitics, Media, OrangeCounty, Ruminations, Technology

Here comes the Judge: Superior Court District 15B Oct. 16th Bar Forum

October 17, 2006 WillR Leave a comment

There were 20+ folks tonight – with a couple from the media – maybe 4 or 5 organizers – some town staff and the balance being interested citizens. I was already convinced that District 15B voters have a heck of slate of candidates before them – tonight I was more impressed than ever.

Very simply – we can’t lose. Of course, we have to pick and the candidates did a good job differentiating their philosophies, approaches, procedures and performance.

Due to what turned out to be poor placement of the camera and some technical issues I botched Adam Steins opening statement. In my defense, I set my camera up early – on a tripod as per BrianR’s excellent recommendation – well away from onlookers and the moderator. But then “dancin’ Doyle” decide to move stage right. By that point, my bobbing photographic nemesis for the night had taken the high ground.

Opening statements in reverse order appearance on the ballot. Essentially, Adam Stein reviewed his service before the bar, his work on the Mel Watt and Daryl Hunt cases and laid out his career as per the first forum.

I apologize for cutting Judge Fox off during question on political parties influence: essentially he gave a reprise of his answer on parties and politics from the 1st forum.

Some interesting highlights.

Anderson on reforming the system for selecting judges – especially the perception of the public about what the effect of money has on jurisprudence.
Anderson on keeping current with the law.
Stein taking up the transition challenge with his closing statement.
Stein on why he’s punctual now – great story of his youth.
Fox on managing high profile cases.
Baddour on how a short term can hurt our system of justice.
Baddour on direct outreach and keeping the “common Joe” in the picture.

Again, I apologize to the candidates for weaving around, botching the focus, not anticipating “dancing Doyle” and, in Mr. Stein’s case, completely zapping a segment. I’m working to get better at this vLog business.

And to my readership, thanks for the feedback. I wasn’t sure if these videos would have any utility.