Citizen Will

Tag: Elections

  • Election 2007: Public Financing Next Cycle?

    As reported in today’s N&O, Chapel Hill is on track to be granted permission to create and use voter-owned elections for our municipal races. I’ve supported this and other efforts – cumulative voting, super-precincts, same-day registration – to open up access to local office and generate the greatest participation possible. The Senate approved HB143 and […]

  • Election 2007: Candidates Line Up

    Filing for office begins noon July 6th and ends noon July 20th. Confirmed candidates for Chapel Hill Council and Mayoral races are: Kevin Foy, current incumbent Mayor. Sally Greene, 4-year incumbent Council member, ‘blogger. Cam Hill (yes, quite a scary snapshot but there was no official site I could find), another 2003 winner and incumbent […]

  • Democrats No Longer

    I’m a registered Independent. OK, OK. I know there is no such thing as an Independent designation, just unaffiliated. Unaffiliated. Indecisive. Indifferent. Uncommitted. Uninvolved. Fence-sitter. Don’t care. A truly perverse bit of political framing. I hope my occasional contributions to the local debate (CitizenWill , OrangePolitics, SqueezeThePulp, the Daily Tar Heel, the Chapel Hill News) […]

  • Orange County’s White Vote

    OK, before folks freak out, I have gotten to know the staff at the Orange County Board of Elections fairly well over the last 5 years. They’re friendly, professional and have always gone the extra mile to clarify issues/fix problems. I’m fairly sure they had no hand in the selection of this, ummmm, very white […]

  • Election 2007: Councilmember Laurin Easthom’s Thoughts…

    Laurin, you beat me to the punch! About a year ago, with some encouragement from RobertP (CountryCrats), I started a few posts on my experience running for Chapel Hill Town Council in 2005. I wanted to cover the mechanics – signs, fund-raising, forums, endorsements, election day management – of running for local office to touch […]

  • CitizenWill is Certifiable

    As some of the more “critical” of you readers have noted elsewhere, CitizenWill is certifiable – and here’s the proof. I zipped down yesterday to Raleigh for the 2 hour campaign treasurer training session to comply with the new NC election statutes. Though I’ve been filing reports since 2005, and a lot of the material […]

  • Proprietary Public Policy: Chapel Hill Streaming Video Goes Live?

    In reviewing this evening’s notes on increasing the Town’s election contribution limits ($200 to $250) and lowering the standards of disclosure ($25 instead of $20), I noticed that Internet video is now available. The Town’s proprietary Windows Media-based solution from Granicus was opposed by a number of members of the since dissolved Town Technology Advisory […]

  • Godzilla vs. Bambi::RAM Development and Chapel Hill

    If I worked for RAM Development, I’d be dancing quite a jig this evening. Not only have they negotiated the sweetest of deals – their own publicly underwritten Downtown tower of wealth – they’ve gotten the friendliest of non-reviews by the majority of Council. Maybe folks will like “rah rah” growth RAM Development style. If […]

  • Election 2007, Already? Who’s the West-End Business Candidate?

    Robert Poitras, representing the West-End business community announce this evening at the Downtown Partnership forum that the West End business community plans to field a “business candidate” for Council in 2007. Interesting. Has election 2007 already begun?

  • Signs, Signs Everywhere Fewer Signs?

    Made a quick 18 mile cycle through the major municipal precincts, along major roads, ramps and intersections last night to pick up some signs for a few candidates plus my Honest Abe NO on the referendum. Baddour’s supporters, considering the incredible number of his signs, seemed to have done an excellent first pass.

  • Election Day 2006: Hogan Farms and Beyond…

    Covered Hogan Farms from 6:45am to 9:45am. BOCC candidate Jamie Daniels was handing out material until roughly 9am. Stein supporters covered the precinct from 7ish on. The Democrats staffed a table handing out sample ballots the whole time I was there… As of 9:35am, 300 confirmed voters with another 10-15 milling about waiting to go. […]

  • Sign, Sign Everywhere a Sign…

    This time last year I was catching 14 winks in preparation for election day. Earlier in the evening I had made the rounds collecting my outlying signs for redeployment. About 3 hours from now, I was leaping out of bed to fill some balloons, say a hasty goodbye to the family and rush to pick […]

  • Election Signs 2006, Care And Feeding

    Maintaining election signs feels like an art form. During the 2005 election season, I plotted various energy saving routes to “care and feed” for my signs as I drove around town on regular errands. Two birds with one stone, so to speak. I didn’t just fix my own signs. Heck, at one point I’d repaired […]

  • Vote No on Orange County Districting Referendum, Another No from Katz

    A resounding NO from former Orange County Democratic Party chair Barry Katz in his Oct. 28th LTE to the Chapel Hill News: I will vote no on the ballot referendum to restructure the Orange County commissioners. First, there hasn’t been enough public debate on the merits of change, and I oppose change without voters’ understanding […]

  • Vote No on Orange County Districting Referendum

    Thank you Orange County League of Women Voters for sponsoring tonight’s forum. There were 15-20 folks in the audience this evening, including former BOCC candidate Artie Franklin, current BOCC candidate Jamie Daniel and Superior Court District 15B candidate Chuck Anderson. Fright-night, referendum style, came a day late as Moses Carey pretty much reprized his earlier […]