Candidate profile: Jay W. Wagner

The last time High Point had a contested mayoral race was in 2005. This year, longtime incumbent Becky Smothers actually faces two challengers.

One, Dwayne Hemingway-El, is distinguished mostly through his colorful legal theories regarding the Moorish sect’s right to travel without bearing state-issued plates and identification cards.

The other, Jay Wagner, is a more typical candidate, with a respected business background and an extensive history of civic involvement. At the age of 42, Wagner is almost three decades younger than the incumbent mayor.

A partner at Fisher Clinard & Cornwell law firm who does a brisk business in real estate cases, Wagner works out of an office in the Time Square building in city’s busy Uptowne High Point section, where he is the chairman of the neighborhood business association. Engaging, alert and warm, Wagner possesses the kind of reserved personality that puts new acquaintances at ease and avoids ruffling feathers.

And yet age and attitude probably distinguish him the most from the woman he would like to unseat.

“Not just the mayor’s race, every race is contested this year except one, in Ward 3,” Wagner said. “I think for some people there’s a perception that the city doesn’t seem to be moving forward.”

Wagner said he believes the city has done a pretty good job of recruiting large companies, but could do better by its local small businesses. As chairman of the Uptowne High Point Association, he said he hears a lot of complaints from small business owners about signage restrictions, garbage permit fees and other frustrations.

“The tougher thing is to take city government and streamline approvals, and make things friendlier for small businesses,” Wagner said.

A native resident and a core city businessman who has been closely involved with City Project, Wagner is as much a cheerleader as a critic.

“I think a mayor can redirect a city to do new, innovative things,” he said. “I can push for an agenda that calls for the elimination of as many regulations on small business as possible. The mayor’ chair is also a bully pulpit. I hope I can inspire private groups to try to make High Point a better place. Government doesn’t provide jobs…. Once a city provides basic services — fire and police services — economic development ought to be the next priority.”

Wagner said he applauds the city’s recent uptick in cultural festivals such as Party on the Plank, and credits Ilderton’s High Point Beach Music Blast series, now in its second year, with starting the trend. But he believes less visible if more tangible endeavors will ultimately improve High Point’s quality of life.

“I’d like to develop interesting places where people can gather,” Wagner said. “We need more streetscapes and parks where people can enjoy themselves. You have to be strategic. It needs to be in a situation where you have a mix of residential and business, you have residences that are in walking distance of businesses. Uptowne is unique in that regard."

Wagner said he believes High Point’s transportation and housing is in good shape, and the city’s police department is stellar.

“Our police department is a national model for how it handles crime,” he said. “The police department and a group called High Point Community Against Violence, they go around the country. I went to a call-in three weeks ago. There were witnesses from around the country.”

Candidate profile: Darin Thomas

Darin Thomas addresses the Guilford County Republican Party Convention in Jamestown in April.

We met in the dimly lit dining room of the Forest Oaks Country Club. The air conditioning kept the temperature near a deep freeze as the dazzling sunlight played across the golf course outside and beyond the room’s plate-glass windows.

Darin Thomas, an engineer who consults for local governments, is a white Republican. In NC House District 58, that makes him a minority in two aspects. The district is majority black, and registered Democrats outnumber their GOP counterparts three to one. Notwithstanding those statistics, Thomas makes the case that on issues from economic development to education, from the White Street Landfill to rural southeastern Guilford County, he has the ability to represent constituents better than his opponent.

Now serving her ninth term, Democrat Alma Adams has become a part of the Democratic establishment that controls both houses of the General Assembly. Her perch atop the House Appropriations Committee gives her clout and influence within her party and in state government as a whole.

During her last general election two years ago in which she faced Republican Olga Morgan Wright, Adams campaigned on her party registration, reminding voters, “There’s only one Democrat in the race.” This year, Thomas hopes voters will look past the R behind his name. He describes himself as “middle right” and a fiscal conservative.

“I would appeal to anybody who wants representation,” he said. “I have a job. I haven’t taken PAC money like Dr. Adams has. I am not going to take PAC money. I know how PACs operate. The reason they’re here is they want access, and from that access they want an outcome. I would challenge you to look at Dr. Adams’ campaign contributions. It’s a who’s who of PACs. At the end of the day, does taking money from PACs constitute leadership? Come on.”

In the second year since it became clear that the state and the rest of the country is in the midst of a deep recession, Thomas said he sees public anxiety over budgetary strains as his political opening.

“I sense that because of the economy and out-of-control spending — I know that sounds like a typical Republican candidate — people are disillusioned with the Democratic majority,” he said. “I’m not retired, and I’m not wealthy. I’m probably the most unlikely politician. I’m saying, ‘People you’ve got to start looking for better representation.'”

A fan of the conservative John Locke Foundation and John W. Pope Civitas Institute, Thomas nonetheless mentioned more areas in which he supports public investment than instances where he would cut spending. He said state funding needs to be prioritized on education, health and human services, public safety and infrastructure. The latter category includes site-specific endeavors that generate economic development such as the Gateway University Research Park and NC A&T University — both of which lie in the district he seeks to represent.

“I will give Dr. Adams full credit for what she’s tried to do to support Gateway University Research Center," Thomas said.

And as a champion of establishing a GTCC satellite campus in southeastern Guilford County he would go one better, while acknowledging that such an investment would represent a significant expenditure of state funds.

“You know that we’re opening a GTCC campus in northwestern Guilford County that is aviation focused,” he said. “One of the discussions taking place is the possibility of bringing a GTCC campus to southeastern Guilford County that would be more agriculture-focused, livestock-focused, equestrian-focused. That would be something that I would support. That would be a wonderful economic development asset for the area.”

As vice-president of the Southeast Guilford Community Association, Thomas said he has approached the community college’s president about the initiative.

“I had a meeting in this very room with Don Cameron about this idea,” he said.

One economic development idea championed by Thomas that has not been acted on is a waste-to-energy facility at the White Street Landfill.

“With the White Street Landfill, the technology exists to make it an energy generator,” he said. “You could mine that landfill and start to incinerate material there. You could build an energy recovery facility. One idea I had is leveraging A&T’s engineering school and the Gateway University Research Park to create a Renewable Energy Center of Excellence.”

As an engineer that has done extensive consulting work for local governments, Thomas argues that he holds expertise that can benefit the district.

“The White Street Landfill is right in my sweet spot,” he said. “There are two wastewater treatment plants — right in my sweet spot. Then you have an engineering school. I’m an accredited engineer.”

More so than economic development, Thomas represents an alternative to Adams on the issue of education.

“What are our critical success factors as a society, as an economy, as a participant in the global economy?” Thomas asked. “It’s education.”

Adams would likely share that viewpoint. The Guilford County Association of Educators endorsed her in her primary against Ralph Johnson, and its statewide counterpart has named her one of its “A+ legislators.” The NC Association of Educators remains opposed to lifting a statewide cap on charter schools — a position in which Thomas vehemently disagrees.

“The fact that we’re not allowing the cap on charter schools to be raised is ridiculous,” he said. “In my district, there are a lot of failing schools. Why couldn’t some become charter schools? Whether you’re black or white, whatever your background, moms and dads all want their children prepared for the future. Education is at the foundation of that.”

One of Thomas’ campaign themes is “protect the family.” It’s a nuanced position, and he does not consider himself a staunch social conservative.

“If you add up all the little changes that are made in laws that serve to erode the family unit, that’s why you hear conservatives being so vocal,” he said. “They want to protect the value system to shield their children and their families. I have a tendency to not want to dictate morality to other people. I believe at some point we’ve all got to answer for the lives we’ve lived.”

Thomas said he would have to take each bill that came before him on a case-by-case basis, but he would apply an “ABC” formula as a general set of guidelines — that is, he would try to vote in a way that was fiscally Accountable, Biblically grounded and based on the Constitution.

His positions on at least two bills signed into law last year belie the strict family values agenda adopted by many conservative Republicans.

“The conservatives are opposed to the high school bullying bill because there’s a provision that recognizes gays and lesbians,” Thomas said. “That’s where I’m less socially conservative. You shouldn’t be discriminated against. If you live an alternative lifestyle or wear shoes that are a different color, you shouldn’t be picked on.”

Likewise, Thomas said he would have voted for the Healthy Youth act sponsored by Rep. Adams, which requires public schools to teach sex education, with an opt-out provision for parents who want their children to receive abstinence-only instruction.

“These children have to be taught how they can be protect themselves,” Thomas said. “As a family man, I teach my kids abstinence. Will I opt out? That will be something my wife and I will discuss.”

Party registration and political shorthand gives little prediction on Thomas’ viewpoint on other legislative matters.

He opposes granting reduced, in-state tuition to out-of-state student athletes at the state’s universities.

He believes environmental regulations to reduce nitrogen and phosphorous levels in Jordan Lake will prove ineffective and impose an unfair financial burden on Haw River watershed communities such as Greensboro.

He supports allowing healthcare consumers to shop across state lines for insurance, as a way of introducing competition and reducing prices.

Although he is a first-time candidate, Thomas holds experience in politics as a campaign manager for Bill Wright, now the chairman of the Guilford County Republican Party, in 2004 and 2006. Both times, his candidate was defeated, but in 2004 Wright came within 120 votes of defeating Billy Yow in the Republican primary for the Guilford County Commission District 5 seat. Wright fared less well in a 2006 general election match-up against Democrat Earl Jones for the NC House District 60 seat.

The 2006 contest is probably more predictive for the outcome Thomas’ contest with Adams than the 2004 intra-party fight. In fact, Yow may be Thomas’ ultimate target. Thomas said today that if he won election to the House, he would serve no more than three terms. After that, he said he might run for county commission against Yow. An unsuccessful House campaign this year would at least generate name recognition for Thomas in a 2012 primary contest with Yow.

“I have limited time,” Thomas said. “My family and my job are really my priorities. I don’t have a machine built around me. I’m my own manager. I’m my own treasurer. I’ll do what I can.”

Candidate profile: Jeff Hyde

“You hear this at Tea Party events,” Jeff Hyde is saying. “We the people want our representatives to represent us. The reason people are going to get voted out this fall is the majority of people don’t think our representatives really represent us.”

We’re sitting in the front room at Aesthetic Images Photography, the studio and gallery Hyde co-owns and co-manages with his wife on State Street. The Republican candidate for NC Senate District 27, Hyde says it’s the first interview of his campaign. He has a digital camera mounted on a tripod to capture some of the conversation for possible use on his website.

Removing the Democratic incumbent from the seat is likely to be a tough proposition. Registered Democrats outnumber their Republican counterparts two one in the district, which covers much of Greensboro. The seat’s current occupant, Don Vaughan, enjoys strong name recognition, having served on city council for 14 years. Incumbency, name recognition, networking skills and a pro-business governing philosophy translate into a $77,009 war chest for Vaughan, while Hyde has so far reported raising no money.

And yet Hyde sees reasons for optimism. Republicans and conservatives — entities that overlap most but not all of the time — are energized, angry and motivated this year, and many Democrats are feeling demoralized. The entry of the Tea Party movement onto the electoral scene has prompted some internecine warfare within the Republican Party, but Hyde predicts its message of limited government, strict constitutionalism and fiscal conservatism will resonate with voters in November.

Hyde has an organizational base within the movement thanks to his role as a founding member of Conservatives for Guilford County, which hosted the Tax Day Tea Party at Governmental Plaza in Greensboro on April 15. As Hyde explained from the stage that day, the group was born out of an informal weekly fellowship gathering at Lawndale Baptist Church. Described by Hyde as “a loose affiliation of like-minded people,” the organization assesses no dues and has no elected officers. But with responsibilities delegated to a handful of action teams, including people engaged in recruiting precinct organizers, researchers and events organizers, the group is mobilizing to connect conservative voters with simpatico candidates this fall.

“We had a meeting recently with about 60 people in the room,” Hyde says. “I said, ‘Raise your hand if you’re a Republican.’ All but one person raised their hand. I said, ‘Raise your hand if you’ve ever been to a Republican event.’ Five people raised their hands. These are people like me who have voted all along, but we’ve never been politicians and we’ve never been active. Two things are going to bring them to the polls in November: Anxiety for the future, and they’re more interested in the process. They’re aroused by the threat of socialism.”

Armed with volumes of reports and articles from the conservative John W. Pope Civitas Institute, Hyde reels off a series of statistics to support the notion that North Carolina has an economic climate that is unfavorable to business, assails the state political culture of the long-dominant Democratic Party and dismisses the conventional view of Vaughan as a moderate and friend of business.

“Once a very sound state and a leader in the Southeast, we’re now on the cusp of falling over the brink,” Hyde says. “Democrats have had control of the state Senate for 112 years and the House for all but a session in ’94. What has happened is that the progressive-liberal leadership of the Democratic Party here in North Carolina has run the show. Sen. Vaughan presents himself as a moderate — and he’s a very likable fellow in Guilford County — but he continues to vote along with that very progressive, very liberal Democratic leadership in the Senate.”

Local and state governments in general and Democrats in particular are in the habit of using a deceptive tactic, Hyde contends, to maintain current spending levels and avoid cutting taxes: Around budget time, they warn of the necessity of cutting popular programs such as education and roads with no intention of doing so but knowing it will whip up alarm. Meanwhile, the areas of truly wasteful spending go untouched. Asked to provide an example of wasteful state government spending, Hyde instead cites a Civitas study that found that if the lowest amount in each line item of the House and Senate budgets were incorporated into the final budget the state could save $300 million. Instead, he says, the final budget often includes the highest of the two numbers.

Hyde faults the federal stimulus program embraced by Democrats as an ineffective means of job creation, and says state Democrats don’t have a plan to put people to work. The solution, he contends, is to cut taxes and regulations. Reducing North Carolina’s personal income tax rate by 2 percent would return $1,000 to the average household in Guilford County, Hyde says. Considering Guilford’s population, Hyde says that would pump about $400 million into the county’s economy.

“What would people do with an extra thousand dollars?” Hyde asks. “They might redo the bathroom. They might eat out more. They’d probably pay off some bills. There would be an increase in pizza deliveries. What do they do? They have to hire people.”

Citing North Carolina’s unemployment rate — 10.8 percent in April — Hyde says, “That threatens the prosperity of everybody. The Democratic leadership, their strategy for tackling unemployment and jobs in North Carolina seems to be wait it out. What we know is that North Carolina has a business climate that is the worst in the Southeast…. You probably read an article in the Business Journal about North Carolina [ranking] the fifteenth worst in pro-business atmosphere of all the states in the United States; we’re the worst in the Southeast. That climate is because we have the highest personal income tax rate. We have the highest corporate income tax rate.”

Hyde suggests that high taxation rates are correlated with high unemployment rates, and posits that North Carolina is at a structural disadvantage compared to its neighbors in other parts of the Southeast.

“The number-one problem in North Carolina is unemployment and job creation,” he says. “Half a million people are unemployed in North Carolina. That number should be frightening. In Virginia, the unemployment rate is significantly lower; it’s about 7 percent. Virginia happens to house a lot of federal government employees.”

High levels of taxation and regulation are discouraging businesses from relocating to North Carolina and discouraging residents from starting new businesses, Hyde says.

“If you’re starting a new business, where would you locate?” he asks. “You would locate where you have the opportunity to make the most money. North Carolina is driving business away. All of our best and brightest, we may as well put them on a bus and drop them off in Tennessee because we’re telling them we don’t want them to set up shop in North Carolina.”

The difference between unemployment rates in North Carolina and Tennessee, which imposes no income tax, is actually less than 1 percentile, according to the most recent comparative data published by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. Likewise, unemployment in Florida, which also does not have an income tax, exceeds North Carolina’s rate. Three other Southern states — Alabama, Mississippi and South Carolina — suffer higher unemployment rates than does North Carolina.

In addition to Virginia, seven other Southern states — ranging from Louisiana with a low rate of 6.7 percent to Kentucky with a high rate of 10.6 percent — fare better than North Carolina.

Hyde savages the strategy of using economic incentives to create jobs — a model embraced by many Democrats and some Republicans.

“Our current business strategy seems to be that we should bribe a glamorous company to come here so that we get that great press coverage and we look like rock stars,” he says. “To me, that’s unfair to the other companies that end up footing the bill. And generally it doesn’t work out because they leave once the bribe is paid out.”

On education, Hyde favors removing the cap on charter schools, offering tax credits to parents who home-school their children and making tuition to private schools a non-taxed benefit if companies are willing to pay it for their employees. Like Vaughan’s family, the Hydes send their children to a private school. Hyde faults the Democratic leadership in Raleigh for refusing to allow bills introducing educational competition to be considered.

“Republicans have filed a bill to raise the cap to 106,” Hyde says. “It never got out of committee. I imagine the motives are the [teachers union] wanting to control learning. And they want to control the dollars that are attached to each student. The dollars that leave the system for every student that is home-schooled or goes to a private school are dollars that they no longer control.”

Having volunteered with Lutheran Family Services to help a refugee family from Bosnia, Hyde says, “I’m a friend and a fan of the immigrant. And I understand their plight.”

Hyde notes that a recent Civitas poll indicates that a solid majority of North Carolinians favor recent legislation passed in Arizona allowing local law enforcement to arrest people for being in the state illegally. As long as unemployment remains high here, Hyde says he favors maintaining restrictions on the number of people who can legally emigrate to the United States. He stops short of expressing unqualified support for the Arizona law, but suggests it deserves consideration.

“I believe in a state being able to set its own destiny,” he says. “The great thing about federalism is every state can do its own thing. If the law in Arizona is effective in a positive way for Arizona, then certainly it’s something that North Carolina should look at.”

Hyde considers himself an everyman — “just like you,” as his campaign website describes him.

“The people who represent us live in a closed world where they only hear people who are around them and what they read in the newspaper,” he says. “People in Washington inside the beltway or who hang around the legislature in Raleigh think that’s the real world; it’s not. The real world is out at a community center or in the aisle of Food Lion.”

NOTE: This story has been updated to reflect a corrected estimate of the economic impact of a hypothetical tax decrease on Guilford County.

Candidate profile: Don Vaughan

Sen. Don Vaughan greets Jeannie Krulish, a Guilford County special education bus driver and member of Teamsters Local 391.

On Tuesday at the NC General Assembly, Sen. Don Vaughan seemed to be lord of the animal kingdom. One moment, he was running a bill to enhance sentencing for people that heinously torture and abuse animals. The next he was shepherding a surprisingly difficult bill to enable the city of Greensboro to relocate beavers.

“Are you ready for the Don Vaughan show?” asked Sen. Martin Nesbitt, the Asheville Democrat who chairs the Senate Judiciary I Committee.

Vaughan, a Greensboro Democrat who is completing his first two-year term in the Senate, described the provisions of the bill, which now awaits Gov. Beverly Perdue’s signature after received a unanimous vote of approval in the Senate today. But the real star was Susie herself, the dog who is the bill’s namesake, who sat with her supporters in the front row, nuzzled her owner’s hand, flopped down on the floor, rolled over and stretched out to show off her belly to the lawmakers.

Her ears are missing and patches of missing hair spot her body, but her sweet nature and harrowing back story — in 2009, she was set on fire, left for dead and later discovered with a broken jaw and maggots covering her body — make her as effective an advocate as one could find.

Controversial and non-budget related legislation is typically not considered during the short session, which falls on every even-numbered year. Vaughan said the bill initially ran into opposition from the dog-breeding industry, whose representatives worried that its provisions could be used against people who use shock collars to train pets. But Susie’s compelling story and the popularity of the cause she represents helped knock down the obstacles.

“You’re certainly getting special dispensation to get this heard in the short session,” Nesbitt said. “We probably didn’t follow the rules, but Sen. Don Vaughan never seems to pay attention to the rules anyway.”

A former Greensboro city councilman, Vaughan was elected to fill the NC Senate seat vacated by Kay Hagan in 2008. District 27, which covers much of Greensboro, seat leans heavily Democratic.

Vaughan’s Republican challenger, Jeff Hyde, is a small businessman who helped organize this spring’s Greensboro Tea Party event. Hyde is banking on a rising tide of conservative discontent to carry him to victory in the fall.

The incumbent Democrat’s advantages are formidable, however. Vaughan’s political experience, both as an elected official and a onetime Raleigh lobbyist, coupled with an energetic and amiable personal style, have translated into a campaign war chest of $77,009. Hyde, in comparison, has not reported raising any money. The general election is scheduled for Nov. 2.

The second animal bill on Vaughan’s calendar Tuesday did not fare so well.

At the initiative of Greensboro City Councilwoman Trudy Wade, a veterinarian by profession, the city of Greensboro has requested enabling legislation to allow it to relocate beavers that are creating a nuisance by damming up North and South Buffalo Creeks. The city discovered that the beavers were being euthanized after being trapped, and has pursued a policy of harassment with mixed results.

Before heading into a Senate State and Local Government Committee hearing, where the beaver relocation bill was on the agenda, Vaughan corralled representatives of the interested parties into his office to try to hash out a viable compromise. Representing the city of Greensboro were Associate General Counsel Thomas D. Carruthers and Stormwater Manager David Phlegar. Gordon Myers and Sarah Clapp negotiated on behalf of the NC Wildlife Resources Commission.

“We’ve had problems with beaver dams,” Carruthers explained. “We’ve tried a harassment policy, which hasn’t worked. We have landowners who want to attempt to relocate the beavers. I say attempt because we know beavers have a mind of their own.”

“Beavers will be beavers,” Vaughan offered helpfully.

Myers said he had already spoken to Wade about the issue, and explained why his agency would be loathe to consider allowing the city to relocate the beavers.

“With beaver management, we spend about a million dollars a year,” he said. “There’s a lot of damage to statewide to highways and private property from beavers due to inundation and flooding. The question is, who determines the suitability of the habitat? What happens when the beaver creates a greater problem when it goes off the property where you’ve moved it?”

One idea the city has explored is relocating the beavers to a site in Davidson County where property owners are willing to accept them. Myers made it clear that he was implacably opposed to any arrangement that involved transporting beavers across county lines. Another option under consideration by the city is to move the beavers to the TZ Osborne Wastewater Treatment Plant, which is within the corporate limits of the city.

It looked like the two sides were at loggerheads. While the tenor of discussion was friendly Vaughan appeared resigned.

“I guess we’ll have to move the bill through and see what the committee says,” he said.

Then Clapp asked whether the city would consider narrowing the bill to specifically list the sites from which the beavers would be removed.

“Do it on a trial basis, maybe sunset it after one year,” Myers suggested. “Establish a relationship between you and us where I help you with some engineering technologies.”

“We could put the names of the creeks in the bill,” Vaughan said. “It’s essentially North and South Buffalo Creeks. We’re at the headwaters of the Cape Fear River. We could say that they must be moved within the city limits of Greensboro. How about that?”

Reception to the bill from other lawmakers on the State and Local Government Committee was mostly mocking.

“The city of Greensboro has a problem,” Vaughan said, “and the only way it has to solve the problem is to come to the General Assembly. It’s probably not the biggest problem Greensboro has had, but it’s a problem nonetheless. Little did I know that it would be a heck of a situation with a lot of different parties. We can trap the beavers, but we can’t move them without killing them. What we are trying to do is find a solution without killing the beavers.”

The representatives of the city and the wildlife resources commission presented their respective arguments, and Vaughan pulled it before it could come to a vote, indicating he would bring it back the next week. Meanwhile, the bemused lawmakers laughed among themselves and wondered aloud why anyone would want to save the critters.

“If you’re going to move the beavers, make sure you keep them in the city of Greensboro,” said Sen. Michael Walters (D-Hoke). “We don’t want them in eastern North Carolina.”

A textile executive in his early thirties, Vaughan falls squarely in the business wing of North Carolina’s Democratic Party. He has been involved with the American Legislative Exchange Council, an organization devoted to limited government and free-market principles, since the 1980s. Yet, as a lifelong Greensboro resident, Vaughan has forged a densely woven network of alliances across a wide spectrum of ideologies, thanks to his approachable manner and interest in a broad array of issues.

On Tuesday, before the beaver hearing, the senator invited a delegation of special education bus drivers and school cafeteria workers from Guilford County that were represented by Teamsters Local 391 into his office for an unscheduled visit.

“We’re in the senator’s office — yeah!” enthused Jeannie Krulish as the group huddled around Vaughan for a picture. The handful of members went through their agenda, repeating as a mantra: “We need a voice.”

One of their demands is that the state refrain from imposing a furlough — a measure to save money by requiring employees to take unpaid leave from work.

“I’m not with you on this, as you know,” Vaughan said, before recommending that they speak with Sen. Linda Garrou, whose leadership position at the Senate Appropriations Committee gives her extraordinary sway over the question.

Vaughan likewise appeared unmoved by the drivers' argument that they should have collective bargaining rights. Unlike their counterparts in the classroom, who are represented by the NC Association of Educators, the bus drivers represented by the Teamsters say they do not receive paid training even though they are responsible for transporting students with acute disabilities.

“You might be pulled over on the side of the road in an emergency,” Krulish said. “You might have a kid that has a trach that needs to be cleaned.”

Mary Donaldson, a special education bus driver and shop steward added, “They don’t want us to come inside, but we transport the kids to and from school. They put bathrooms outside. That was just inappropriate for women. No employee should be treated that way. We need a voice.”

Reflecting on his political reputation while eating lunch in the Senate dining room, Vaughan noted that among majority white districts, his is one of the most Democratic leaning in the state. His name is a recognizable political brand in Greensboro, and he holds a reputation for being helpful and accessible.

“People know me,” he said. “People know how to find me.”

When Kay Hagan left the state Senate to join its more august counterpart in Washington, she gave up the seniority accumulated over 10 years, including a co-chair position on the Appropriations Committee. A lawyer by profession with experience in criminal defense and real estate matters, Vaughan has landed a vice-chair position on the Judiciary II Committee and a member slot on the Select Committee on Economic Recovery, along with five other committee appointments.

In February, Senate President Pro Tempore Marc Basnight (D-Dare) appointed Vaughan to co-chair the Joint Study Committee on Alcoholic Beverage Control, which was mandated to examine local board governance and compensation, and explore the option of privatization. Vaughan and his House counterpart, Rep. Ray Warren (D-Alexander, Catawba) have held three hearings. Only one person, a lobbyist for the NC Merchants Association, spoke in favor of privatization, and the idea was scratched.

The legislation wending through the Senate and House is described by Vaughan as “a tune-up, not an overhaul.” Among other things, it limits compensation to local administrators, prohibits nepotism, and requires transparency in local board deliberations and budget adoption. The most controversial aspect of recent deliberations in the NC General Assembly has been the matter of whether the threshold for municipalities to hold referenda on establishing a state-controlled liquor store should be 500 or 5,000 registered voters. (The Christian Action League favors the higher number, but bill current language leaves the threshold at 500.)

On Tuesday, the Judiciary II Committee heard a summary of the bill from Vaughan, along with mostly favorable comments from a bevy of lobbyists, but did not take a vote. Later in the same day, Vaughan sat in on the House State Government/State Personnel Committee hearing on the bill. Rep. Winkie Wilkins (D-Durham), who chairs the committee, almost forgot to recognize Vaughan, who left for a Senate floor session before the committee approved the legislation. The bill is scheduled for a final House vote tomorrow.

“I was pleased to be selected as co-chair of Alcohol Beverage Control,” Vaughan said. “It is one of the hot issues. To be able to work with the various groups — county commissioners, ABC boards and the Christian Action League — and come up with something that makes everybody happy is a great thing.”

Early voting numbers favor Republicans in Guilford

Registered Democrats in Forsyth County who participated in early voting outnumbered their Republican counterparts about two to one, Election Director Rob Coffman says. That's in a county where registered Democrats make up 45.9 percent of the electorate, and Republicans 33.0 percent.

In Guilford County, the trend is running in the opposite direction, with Republicans showing stronger turnout. Of the approximately 5,110 people who participated in early voting, 39.3 percent were Republican. Republicans make up 29.1 percent of the electorate. The percentage of Democrats that participated in early voting is lower than the Democrats' overall share of the electorate.

High levels of interest among Republicans in Guilford County would seem to bode well for Republican candidates in state legislative races in the fall.

Likely Republican nominee Trudy Wade would ordinarily face an uphill battle in NC Senate District 28, whose electorate is 58.6 percent Democratic, but she might have a shot this year going up against either of the Democratic contenders, who lack the kind of widespread name recognition that comes with experience in elected office. If Democrat Bruce Davis garners enough signatures to get on the ballot as an independent, that will peel off a significant number of Democratic votes and potentially spoil it for the Democratic nominee. High turnout among Republicans only helps Wade more.

High turnout among Republicans could also help Republican Tea Party activist Jeff Hyde, who is running in NC Senate District 27, where Democratic registration runs at 52.6 percent. Hyde's challenge is that he is virtually unknown, while one-term incumbent Democrat Don Vaughan has built up a large reservoir of goodwill and name recognition through his decades of service on the Greensboro City Council and his law practice.

A Republican surge also makes races in NC House districts 57 and 59 worth watching. If Jon Hardister wins the Republican primary, he can be expected to run an energetic campaign with ample grassroots support in District 57, whose registration is 51.1 percent Democratic. Democratic incumbent Pricey Harrison is a formidable fundraiser and is at the top of her game policy wise, so she will be tough to beat.

The most vulnerable Democrat this year might turn out to be Maggie Jeffus, who faces a fiscal conservative ideologue in Republican opponent Theresa Yon. The Republican candidate is agitating against the federal healthcare bill. As a Republican Party fundraiser, she's in a position to call in a lot of favors. Also, she was recruited to run by Republican NC Rep. John Blust.

Across the state, Democrats and Republicans participated in early voting at rates that closely reflected their respective shares of the electorate, with neither interest in unseating Republican US Sen. Richard Burr on the left or Tea Party excitement on the right doing much to change the balance.

Candidate profile: William Gillenwater

Candidate William Gillenwater (left) and friend Doug Matthews

William Gillenwater passed through a gauntlet of local politicians making his way into the Woodleaf Community Center in Rowan County on Saturday, where the local volunteer fire department was selling plates (option pulled pork or grilled chicken) for $7 to raise money for its program. Dressed in a plain black T-shirt and blue jeans, the 59-year-old retired geologist was the only candidate not wearing a campaign shirt or sticker.

Jim Greene, a Republican candidate for county commission, reached for one of Gillenwater’s glossy brochures. “You’re running against Mel Watt?" Greene asked. “I’ll vote for you, no matter what you have to say.”

“It’s been awesome,” Gillenwater said of the Republican primary. “I don’t know Mel Watt personally. I guess he’s an alright guy. Just like the man coming in the door: ‘Give me your card. If you’re running against Mel Watt, I’m voting for you.’ It's been like that everywhere I've been."

Gillenwater, who goes by the nickname “Doc,” helped organize the Tea Party rally in Greensboro last year, along with a Tea Party event in Washington. Ever since, he said, he’s essentially been campaigning. He said the Tea Party movement “made me realize that people are going to have to stand up to these politicians. It showed me there were a lot of dissatisfied people out there.”

A win for Gillenwater would be a long shot by any stretch. Stretching from east Greensboro through parts of Winston-Salem and High Point, and then along Interstate 85 through Rowan County to Charlotte, US House District 12 was drawn to favor a black candidate and a Democrat. Mel Watt of Charlotte has held the seat since it was created in 1992, and Republican challengers in the last two election cycles have fared poorly in the polls. Ty Cobb Jr. won 28.4 percent of the vote in 2008, and Dr. Ada Fisher won 33.0 percent in 2006.

Gillenwater, who lives in Greensboro, is the only Republican candidate who actually lives in the district. North Carolina law allows any qualified candidate who lives in the state to run in any congressional district. Candidate Scott Cumbie of Winston-Salem lives in District 5, while Greg Dority of Washington lives in District 3.

Voters should have no trouble distinguishing between Gillenwater and Watt, and the first point of contention he raised was the incumbent’s support of the Federal Reserve from his perch on the House Financial Services Committee.

“He protects the Fed,” Gillenwater said. “The Fed needs to be investigated and disbanded. He voted for the healthcare bill, which I think is going to bring this country down.”

Of healthcare reform, Gillenwater said, “It’s a socialist measure. It’s going to bankrupt the country. There’s no way you can add 40 million people without raising taxes or reducing services.”

The candidate handed me an e-mail printout that cites Article II, Section 4 of the Constitution, which reads, “The president, vice president and all civil officers of the United States shall be removed from office on impeachment for, and conviction of, treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.”

Gillenwater told me that President Obama, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Leader Nancy Pelosi “have all twisted arms and bribed” legislators to get a final healthcare bill. I mentioned that Obama wouldn’t be the first president to promise lawmakers goodies for their districts in return for support of critical legislation.

“That doesn’t make it right,” Gillenwater replied. “The only big difference I see is that it’s never been used on this scale before.”

Before Gillenwater arrived, I talked to one of his supporters. Doug Matthews, an AirCare pilot for Baptist Hospital in Winston-Salem, went to high school in Jacksonville with Gillenwater. He wore a “Reagan for president” T-shirt.

“It’s just that he has so much common sense,” Matthews said. “He thinks like us taxpayers. He’s concerned that the government’s spending money it doesn’t have, and spending money on a select few instead of for the good of everyone. The corruption — he’s against that. He’s in favor of term limits, so that you won’t be focused on getting contributions from PACs and lobbyists to get reelected.”

Matthews told me that it’s not just Gillenwater’s position on the issues that makes him an appealing candidate; it’s also the way he comports himself in the campaign.

“Someone like Doc, who’s not going to Bank of America for contributions, he’s coming up to you and me, saying, ‘Hey Doug, can you give me $25 to buy a placard?’ When he gets elected, he’s not going to owe anyone. If you come to him with something, he’ll tell you: ‘Yeah, I agree with you.’ Or, ‘No, that might benefit you and your neighbor, but it’s not for the good of all.’”

As Gillenwater and I conversed at one of the long tables in the community center, his granddaughter went outside to hand out fliers. She came back with Matthews.

“You are cute as a speckled puppy, you hear me?” Matthews said to the girl after greeting Gillenwater.

In spite of the odds, Gillenwater indicated this could be a breakthrough year for a conservative candidate in the district.

“I think this year is up because of the Tea Party,” he said. “Republicans and Democrats are really fed up. As you know, money usually determines the winner. This is one year that I believe that won’t hold true.”

I asked Gillenwater how he would relate to constituents as representative of District 12, considering that its electorate is so diverse and geographically spread out.

“To me, everyone in my district is American,” he said. “I hate that our country has started dividing into African American, Native American and Latino American. If you’re born here and naturalized, you’re American. We shouldn’t have special anything for any one group.”

Gillenwater had been fretting about his granddaughter going outside where he couldn’t keep an eye on her. I sense that he is disquieted by a number of changes that have taken place in society over the years.

“I was lucky enough to be raised by a generation that’s dying out,” he said. “They taught you honesty and integrity: ‘Tell the truth, and you don’t have to worry about what’s coming to bite you later.’ Used to be a man’s word was his bond. I don’t trust anybody anymore.”

I asked Gillenwater how his trust has been violated.

“We’ve turned into a ‘we’ve got to have it now’ society,” he said. “That’s been brought on by a lot of things, not just entitlement programs. TV, fast food and cell phones — it’s all contributed. It used to be that when you left the house you were unavailable until you got back home.”

Gillenwater recently attended a public forum in Charlotte. One thread of the discourse in particular bothered him.

“All I heard was, ‘We’re entitled. We’re entitled to healthcare.’ We’re not entitled to healthcare. ‘We’re entitled to a home. We’re entitled to this….’ All men are created equal, but that doesn’t guarantee that the outcome’s going to be the same. There’s always going to be a certain percentage of people who are parasites.”

Gillenwater holds conservative views in the traditional sense on foreign policy.

“George Washington had the best foreign policy,” he said. “That is, no foreign policy. All you should have is, perhaps, commerce. As far as meddling, you only end up getting involved in drawn-out conflict.”

Yet, drilling down to specifics, he allowed that he holds no major to objections to either of the wars launched under President Bush.

“We killed Saddam even though there were no weapons of destruction,” he said. “I don’t have any problem with that. I don’t have any problem with jumping on Iran before they get the bomb and start an arms race.”

The candidate’s belief in limited government goes beyond philosophy; he proposes several concrete measures.

“I believe in eliminating things,” he said. “We need to keep the federal government out of education. That’s a state’s thing. We need to end the Federal Reserve. Get rid of Homeland Security. The FBI and the CIA have been doing just fine with that for years. We’ve got an idiot running Homeland Security anyway.

“We should get rid of NAFTA, which is the worse thing that’s come along in years,” Gillenwater continued. “All NAFTA did is peel back tariffs with Mexico and Canada. All that does is allow companies to ship goods down to Mexico, assemble products there with cheap labor, and ship them back here to sell.

“We need to get rid of Social Security tax and income tax. We need to get rid of the IRS. We’ll replace that with a flat tax.”

Triad Elections '10