Ralph Johnson (speaking) is challenging incumbent Alma Adams in the Democratic primary for NC House District 58. Candidates for NC House District 58, NC Senate District 28, Guilford County School Board, Guilford County Sheriff and NC Court of Appeals appeared at Annie Merner Pfeiffer Chapel on the campus of Bennett College in Greensboro last night.
The marquee draw may have been Alma Adams, the incumbent in the NC House District 58 race, and a longtime art professor at the historically black women's college. Adams kicked off her opening statement with a call-and-response chant: "Bennett belles are... voting belles!"
The heart of Adams' opening statement was a well-oiled piece of biography that had a familiar ring from past campaigns: "I've served you in the 58th House District for the North Carolina House for the last sixteen and a half years. I'm a 38-year veteran of this faculty, a mother of two, a grandmother of four, previously served on the Greensboro City Council and the school board. I am appropriations chair, part of the top leadership and the highest ranking member of the Legislative Black Caucus. I have worked to address inequities and disparities. I support strong workforce and good-paying jobs. I support quality healthcare. I authored the bill that increased the state's minimum wage.... I have a proven track record. I don't just make an appearance, I make a difference."
Adams' remarks were greeted with raucous applause several times during her presentation.
Democratic challenger Ralph Johnson began his opening statement on a note of urgency.
"Ladies and gentlemen, we're at war," he said. "And I'm not talking about Afghanistan. I'm not talking about right here in Guilford County. We have a 12 percent unemployment rate. We have a huge deficit right here. Just look at the eastern part of the city. We don't have any movie theaters. We don't have any restaurants, no urgent care. These are things that you can find in any community. We don't have it. With all that experience, what I'm concerned about is, do we have those items that we should have in our community? My plan is to change that, to have the amenities that we should have in any community. And the only way we're going to do that is to have change."
Many of the questions, such as what the candidates had done for Bennett College, appeared calculated to favor Adams.
"I have served this campus for 38 years," the incumbent candidate said. "I brought hundreds of thousands of dollars to this institution, millions of dollars throughout this county and this state on behalf of students, making sure that student enrollment was in the budget, making sure that college student tuition was not excessive. And then finally, as chair of the Legislative Black Caucus, raising scholarship dollars for students. We'll give $100,000 to our 10 HBCUs; Bennett College will get a portion of that."
Johnson acknowledged that he does not have connections as an alumni or faculty member of Bennett College, but paid homage to the college's legacy of social justice.
"I guess I'm at a disadvantage because I haven't given thousands of dollars to Bennett College, but as a student at A&T I've always had Bennett College close to my heart," he said. "This was the only place that Martin Luther King was able to come during the time that he was alive. That fact always stuck with me. When I'm elected to the state House of Representatives, I will do some things that will help Bennett College."
A question about experience also played to Adams' strengths.
Asked if he feels he has the enough experience to do the job, Johnson answered, "Yes, I do." He cited his involvement in an effort to build a new library on Phillips Avenue and a back-to-school supply program he founded at the Peeler Recreation Center.
"Of course I have the seniority," Adams said. "Sixteen years. Let me just tell you something: When you're in the North Carolina General Assembly, when you're in the House and you don't have the experience and seniority you sit at the door. You're seen but you're not heard. You must have that seat at the table. I've worked my way up. I've got a seat at the table. I'm the appropriations chair, so I've got to write this budget." Adams riposted against Johnson by noting that she helped get the first library on Phillips Avenue as a member of the Greensboro City Council.
One question submitted from the audience concerned whom Johnson had voted for in the past. Johnson hesitated, and asked for clarification, appearing either discomforted or confused.
"I voted for Dr. Adams," he said finally.
Adams has rarely, if ever, faced a Democratic challenger. In the past three years, Republican Olga Morgan Wright has taken her on in the general election.
Adams said the biggest issue facing the state is the budget. She predicted that the General Assembly will not approve a tax increase this year, and will be faced with making difficult cuts.
"We're not going to play down sixteen and a half years of experience because experience matters because those sixteen and a half years have benefited this community," she said. "We face a deficit of about $1.2 billion. It will be critical and crucial that you have experienced representation. Experience matters. There is no need for change, and it's not necessary in this district."
The candidate noted that she is the cofounder of African American Atelier in Greensboro, which employs 25 students as interns.
"They don't make minimum wage," she said. "They make $13 or $16 an hour."
Bennett belles from the audience could be heard saying, "Word," and "shut-down."
The two Democratic candidates for NC Senate District 28, Gladys Robinson and Evelyn Miller, appeared at the forum and answered questions. Three candidates in the Republican primary were not present.
Robinson, an alumna, introduced herself as "your Bennett sister." Her presentation focused heavily on biographical details and her interested in interrelated issues of workforce development, education and health familiar from media profiles and her campaign website.
"I run Piedmont Health Services and Sickle Cell Agency," she said. "Almost every week my staff is on this campus helping you to provide health services in terms of screening for HIV, Sickle Cell, blood pressure and all of those things. So we already work very closely with you because we want you to be healthy and productive in this community."
Miller took advantage of a question about education to take a subtle shot at her opponent.
"The first problem is the rising cost of tuition," Miller said. "College tuition's been rising for the past 10 years -- every year. So that's a major problem. So what we've got to do is we've got to place limits on college tuition hikes. We've got to make sure that our college students can afford to go to college."
Robinson had early mentioned that she serves on the UNC Board of Governors. The board is responsible for setting tuition rates.
Candidates were asked what they've done for Bennett College, and Miller referenced her service on the Greensboro Zoning Commission.
"There were things that were trying to be developed in southeast that I was against -- namely the salvage yard that they wanted to put on Holts Chapel Road," she said. "I voted against it, so now we don't have the junkyard in southeast."
Incumbent Nancy Routh and challenger Charo Tomlin in the nonpartisan contest for an at-large seat on the Guilford County School Board appeared at the forum. A third candidate, Lisa Ingle Clapp, was not present. The May 4 primary will narrow the field to two candidates. Routh and Tomlin engaged in a cordial and informed discussion about a range of educational issues.
Routh introduced herself as someone serving her eighth year on the board, and as a mother, grandmother and great-grandmother. She said she started her teaching career at nearby Hampton Elementary, and has worked with many student-teachers from Bennett College. Underscoring her 77 years of age, Routh noted that she became a principal in 1975.
"We will still have many, many challenges because there's going to be some real changes relative to our curriculum and our instructional program and the way we will be assessing students," she said. "The accountability models that are being looked now by the state Board of Education and Department of Public Instruction will bring major new changes in the next two years."
Tomlin said she finds it unacceptable that several schools in the district are low performing and have not met adequate-yearly-progress targets.
"We have a school right now, Oak Hill Elementary -- many of you know about Oak Hill," she said. "The North Carolina Department of Public Instruction has stepped in with that school. That shouldn't have happened. We've had many years. We've known since 2001 that they needed to reach AYP by the year 2010. That's not happening."
Tomlin drew applause for remarks about her concern that black students are getting funneled into prison because of discipline policies.
"These kids are going to prison because we are arresting them in high school," she said. "Some of these students are being arrested in high school for -- I was a high school teacher in Guilford County; I worked at Southern Guilford [High School], and I also worked in the behavioral improvement section of the school. And one of the issues I saw was a disproportionate number of African Americans being sent to me. And I have a problem with that. Because some of it is cultural. Some of it is teachers have to learn how to deal with certain students."
Like Tomlin, Routh indicated she's concerned about the issue.
"We do have some problems relative to the requirement of the state that whatever we're disciplining the child on, whatever the incident is, now we're required to call law enforcement for what has previously been just a discipline problem," she said. "I've been very concerned that what could be just some sort of detention within the school or some kind of discipline that becomes an arrest by the SRO officer. So yes, it's a real problem and I'm concerned."
Routh acknowledged that educational leaders have made no progress narrowing the achievement gap between non-white and Caucasian students.
"To be very, very honest, that is just something that has not occured," Routh said. "We talk about closing the gap, but the evidence is that we really are not.
"I've contended for many years that we teach reading, but students have nothing to read about," she added. "If you don't have that content knowledge... that's what I want to see us do, is get improvement with our curriculum and instruction and provide the knowledge base that needs to be there."
Both candidates were asked what they would do to stem teen pregnancy.
"We're already providing education in schools to help teach students about abstinence," Tomlin said. "That's not working. We've got to come up with different methods."
Routh described recent legislation that allows schools to teach comprehensive sex education.
"I would like to remind you that what we have had from an instructional standpoint, curriculum standpoint for many years is abstinence-only curriculum for North Carolina schools," she said. "Last year, a bill passed that changed that. Instead of a parent having to request a more comprehensive program for sex education, if the parent doesn't specifically say they do not want their student in 9th grade to have a more comprehensive program it will be offered. I understand the debates that we get into relative to that, but this is a health problem. It's not healthy for young girls to be pregnant. It's not only not healthy for them, it's not healthy usually for the child."
Three Democratic candidates for sheriff also appeared. The program was about to conclude, but the candidates negotiated for time to address the audience.
Harlon Costner, a retired US marshal, repeated and sharpened remarks about the use of deadly force by deputies when dealing with emotionally disturbed subjects.
"I do not believe we can continue shooting people because they have a mental illness," he said, prompting applause from the largely African-American audience. "We have got to do something."
He added, "We cannot continue locking up mental health patients just because they've got that problem going on. We've got to find treatment for them, as well as drug treatment facilities."
CB Goins, the only African-American candidate in the race, stated bluntly that he would reform the office's hiring practices.
"Equal opportunity employment," he said. "That's for all races. Not just blacks. Not just Hispanics. All cultures. I plan on making some major changes in that."
Goins said he would hire nonviolent offenders to be detention officers. He also said he favors the option of using Tasers in high schools, but not in middle schools. The candidate took an aggressive posture against 16-year Republican incumbent BJ Barnes.
"Has he really had to campaign?" Goins asked. "No, he hasn't, because nobody's really pushed him. I'm not scared of him. I'm not scared of anybody but our almighty lord and savior, Jesus Christ."
Democratic candidate Phil Wadsworth also appeared at the forum.
Two NC Court of Appeals candidates running in separate races appeared.
Leto Copeley of Hillsborough is seeking to oust incumbent Judge Rick Elmore in a crowded race with. Mark E. Klass, a superior court judge in Davidson County, is challenging incumbent Judge Ann Marie Calabria. "If you draw a line from Raleigh to Charlotte, there's only two judges west of that line. We need some more."
Copeley told the audience in response to a question that the Court of Appeals has no jurisdiction over death penalty cases.
"This court, the court of appeals, decides every kind of case there is except capital murder cases," she said. "Those go directly from trial court to the Supreme Court.... I'll leave it at that."
Klass submitted, "If you put someone to death, it costs the state about $5 million. To keep them in prison their entire life it's about three or four hundred thousand dollars. And I'm going to leave it at that."
Copeley hedged on a question about what she might be prepared to do to reduce the number of African-American men in North Carolina prisons, saying that a judge has to look at each case individually. She acknowledged the disproportionate numbers as "an awful problem."
"I've been a civil rights lawyer for these 27 years, and I've done a lot of employment discrimination cases," she said. "I'm not unmindful of the concept of discrimination."
Responding to a question about racial profiling, Copeley said, "I just think it's wrong to suspect that someone's committed a crime or done anything just on the basis of the color of their skin. I do have an African-American law partner, so I get to hear about this. It's just a very personal anecdote. For people who think that racial profiling doesn't exist, it seems to exist because she and her husband who are very successful lawyers and have got a PhD, he gets stopped for DWB, it seems."
Klass estimated that upwards of 85 percent of criminal defendants who come before him in Davidson County Superior Court do not have a 9th grade education.
"That's really where the problem lies in the court system," he said. "If you're not educated, you can't get a job, and if you can't get a job the only thing you can do is steal."
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