A year ago, a 28-year-old mortgage executive named Jon Hardister turned heads in Republican circles by tirelessly knocking on doors and running a positive campaign even though he fell short of his goal of unseating Democratic incumbent Pricey Harrison in a state House race.
Chris Lawyer, a 32-year-old physician assistant, is a good friend of Hardister’s. The two are remarkably similar in their earnest personalities, conservative philosophies, and even dark brown hair and slight frames.
Lawyer recalls that Hardister called him up and asked if he wanted to grab dinner together.
“We spitball ideas,” Lawyer says. “He said, ‘Would you be willing to run for public office in Greensboro?’ I said, ‘Sure, I’ve always wanted to serve in that way. But the only way I’ll run is if you be my campaign manager.’ The next week, he had all the paperwork for me to establish my committee.”
Lawyer acknowledges that Hardister's work ethic and campaign style has motivated and inspired him.
“He’s a good, solid person, and he ran a good, clean campaign,” he says. “We can’t get into those dirty politics. Slinging mud — that dilutes the process to an extent that I’m not willing to go. When you do that, you lose sight of your focus and what you’re trying to achieve.”
This is Lawyer’s first run for public office, but he worked on Hardister’s campaign last year. A Virginia native, he also volunteered for Republican George Allen’s 1993 gubernatorial campaign and 2006 US Senate campaign. First-time candidates without significant name recognition or fundraising potential could probably learn a thing or two from Lawyer.
Filing for city council didn’t begin until late last month, but Lawyer started campaigning in April.
“I’m trying to talk to voters any way I can, whether it’s e-mail, calling people or encouraging people to register to vote,” he says. “I’ve got volunteers who are canvassing. That’s going to rev up soon. We’re trying to get people to put magnets on cars.”
Tonight, he'll be meeting a small group of voters at a house meeting in Sunset Hills.
I met the candidate on Friday afternoon at a Starbucks near EarthFare on Battleground Avenue. A young black professional, a transplant from Cincinnati, had spotted Lawyer’s name badge and had asked him what office he was seeking. The candidate went inside to retrieve a palm card. The man shook Lawyer’s hand vigorously and indicated he would be following the campaign with enthusiastic interest.
For Lawyer, like Hardister, conservatism is the seal of good housekeeping, but their brand comes across as nice. Whether fair or not, the conservative majority on the current council is considered by some to be unresponsive, even mean-spirited, and tone-deaf to constituents’ concerns.
“Sometimes there are some communications issues,” Lawyer says. “That’s where you’ve got to bridge that gap. Overall, they’re doing a good job. You could do it better with solid communication.”
He goes on to say that constituents want to know how elected representative reached a decision.
“If you take the issue and present your case for why you’re for it or against it and you allow comment — everybody, constituents and elected officials — it has to be respectful,” Lawyer says. “People may not like the verdict, but if you listen to the concerns and you’ve talked about them in a respectful dialogue, that’s where you’ll have the greatest benefit.”
He favors close scrutiny of the city budget to see whether there might be opportunities for cost savings, but by ranking infrastructure as a priority along with public safety, Lawyer might be positioned slightly to the left of the conservative majority on council.
Lawyer says he would consider increasing water rates so the city can maintain the water and sewer infrastructure necessary to support the kind of corporate investment that will bring jobs.
He favors simplifying regulations for small businesses.
And Lawyer wants to improve perceptions of public safety in the center city.
“It’s not my job to sit back and dissect someone’s personality,” he says. “We’re going to have differences. We have to sit down and work through them. Sometimes you may have to be a bigger person, and say, ‘My idea may not be the best, and I’m willing to compromise for the good of Greensboro.’ I will also say it can’t just be one person. Everyone has to be on board.”
The polarizing issue in this election is the White Street Landfill, and Lawyer stakes out a somewhat moderate position on it.
“Ultimately, I think we’ve got to focus on a regional solution,” he says. “In the long run, I don’t think anybody wants a landfill [in Greensboro]. A 15-year contract is a little long for me. In the short term we will probably have to reopen the landfill because it’s too expensive to truck our trash to Montgomery County. We’ve got to go in with a responsible approach. There are technologies that can mitigate the odor and deal with the rodents. The decision to close it immediately came with no foresight…. The White Street Landfill is not a long-term solution because that stunts the growth of the city.”
2 comments:
Thanks, Jordan, but the racial identification of the anonymous person seemed odd. Why does his race matter? Is it consistent with the way Yes! describes people or was there something significant about this person being black? I'm trying to figure it out, but the only conclusion I can draw is that you want us to be impressed that a black man took interest in a conservative candidate; is that it?
Hey Roch, I didn't give this a lot of thought, and maybe it was the wrong call.
But I think the reason for including this information is to show that there is a post-racial aspect of politics in Greensboro, particularly with younger voters and candidates. Despite the polarizing impact of the White Street Landfill controversy, race is not necessarily determinant in local politics. And yes, I guess it's worth noticing that there are black voters who are open to conservative politics and conservative candidates that can appeal to black voters.
All that is a flawed rationale, I'm sure, but for what it's worth, that's where I'm coming from.
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