Skip Alston and the quote of the night

I love the scene on election night at the Old Guilford County Courthouse when the results start rolling in. You got government junkies prowling the halls, candidates doing the gladhand with eyes flashing towards the scrolling numbers  on the big-screen, media types with cameras, notebooks, laptops, microphones crawling all over the place.

I managed to wrangle a moment with Guilford County Commission Chair Skip Alston, who sat sharply dressed in the front row of chairs though his name was not on the ballot this time around.

I asked him, as the precincts started reporting, if he wanted to make any prognostications.Then I asked him a question the answer to which I already knew:


"Who are you here to support"

Without bating an eye he said, "Linda Shaw."

I knew the answer, but I wanted to hear him enunciate why he, a Democrat, would endorse Shaw, a Republican.

"I would like to see more Democrats win," he told me, "but I want to see the best person win, and sometimes [that person] is not a Democrat."

Okay. It was my first time interviewing Skip face to face, and I immediately became fond of his affinity for the cryptic quote.

"Linda's been a good commissioner," he went on. "She serves her constituents well and she has been trying to work with Democrats and Republicans on the board for the best interests of the community."

Something layfolks should know: It's tough to get a substantive quote from a really good politician on election night. Mostly what you get is the same type of rah-rah, teamwork, we-all-came-together mumbo of the same stripe as the bon mots professional athletes drop after the big game.

But I was undeterred. I asked Alston the nature of his alliance with Shaw, considering there has been some friction between the two in the past.

"I don't have any permanent friends," he told me. "I don't have any permanent enemies. I have permanent issues."

Damn this guy's good, I thought.

Later, I witnessed Alston really giving it to News & Record Editorial Page Editor Allen Johnson over this column. As he laid into Johnson, Alston used no uncertain terms.

Here's the pic I got of the interaction:

Alston gave me my best quote of the night, though I'm pretty sure Johnson got some better ones during this exchange.