Joel Landau, a candidate for Greensboro City Council in District 4, has raised $3,055 since Jan. 1, and holds $3,487 in cash on hand, according to a campaign finance report filed on Sept. 10. Mary Rakestraw, who currently holds an at-large seat and his Landau's most formidable opponent, reports raising $1,665 and has $2,996 in cash on hand for roughly the same period. Mike Martin and Joseph Rahenkamp, who are also candidates in the District 4 race, have filed no campaign finance reports.
District 3 candidate Jay Ovittore reports having raised $1,075, with $824 in cash on hand as of Aug. 24. Ovittore is receiving support from people active across the state in the Democratic Party, including former US Senate candidate Jim Neal and NC Rep. Grier Martin. Ovittore remains significantly behind the other two District 3 candidates, Zack Matheny and George Hartzman, who have respectively raised $7,900 and $2,850.
Showing posts with label Joseph Rahenkamp. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Joseph Rahenkamp. Show all posts
Joseph Rahenkamp transcript
The following is a transcript of District 4 candidate Joseph Rahenkamp’s answers at a Guilford County Unity Effort forum on Sept. 8:
Introductory statement
I was a firefighter for the city of Greensboro 41 years. Number one, I’m for keeping stuff flat. What do I mean by that? Taxes. Also your city services, flat. I’m for incentives for everyone. Let me say one thing so someone does not misinterpret it. Anybody, were it individuals or business, that wants to build a new building or improve it... any improvements they make, do not charge them for three years on the next improvements. Just for example, you’ve got companies coming in here, they’re going to provide 50 jobs, even if you gave ’em tax free, look how much it would be. I’m for the city going forward. I am for taking this landfill. There’s bound to be a way we could use it, and fix it so you’ve got your stations where you’re sorting this stuff. You take your garbage where it’s odor, neutralize it, take it out there and make it into a compost, and make it work, and look how many jobs we can make... $9 million a year that were spending we could make a whole lot of jobs. And Greensboro is hurting for jobs. And people are hurting here. And I don’t want to see people lose their homes.
Would you ever support a tax increase in order to provide improved public services?
I just said it in my opening statement. I’m not raising property taxes, period, or no services tax. I want to encourage people to be able to make it. If anything you want to reduce taxes; you don’t want to raise ’em. That’s what stomps business or stomps anything else into the ground. First thing we know, we’re gonna be like California. If I’m elected, I don’t want to see any employee of the city of Greensboro laid off. I don’t want to see ’em furloughed by one day a week. I want to try to keep things going. You know the old saying is, you kill the chicken that lays the golden eggs, there is no more golden eggs. And people are stretched to the limit. Okay, well... raise their taxes 1 percent. We don’t need it. We need to hold the line, if anything reduce it.
How would you be accountable to constituents?
Well, they’ve got my phone number. I’ll answer any questions. I’ll be glad to talk to you. You may not want to hear what I’ve got to say. I won’t blow smoke at you. I’ll be just as honest as I know to be. If I’m elected, I’ll do my best to do you a good job.
What would you do to help bring more jobs to the area, as well as promote the growth of small businesses? And how would you help the MWBEs, the minority- and women-owned business enterprises?
How many jobs, for $9 million, could you create? That’s something to think about. This is not the first time I’ve run for public office. I was a lone runner on the new, not the existing one, but a new FedEx. I said, “Yeah, I want FedEx in here.” I said, “I’d to have a thousand like that.” You can have a beautiful city, but if people do not have jobs where they can live and where they can pay their taxes, you cannot do it. You can’t have everything. I am for bringing jobs in here, and if these companies come in here, do not make it hard on ’em. Sure, you may have some inconvenience. You may have some sounds. Ones of you got your opinions about these roads, that’s your business. You’ve got some people, if they had their way, 29 would never have been built. Wendover’d never been built. Forty would never been built. It would be nothing but a little pig patch in Greensboro. Y’all want to hang me, that’s fine. And I’m going to tell you something else before I get hung for it. I’m for a lottery. I don’t mean just turn around there and keep it. Raleigh, of the state of North Carolina would be better off to keep 10 percent, and give away 90. And make sure it’s run straight. Let people win, and you’re going to be surprised. I like to be like, I believe I’m correct, believe it’s Tennessee? Florida? Texas? They have no state tax. People are going to gamble no matter what you call it. Life’s a gamble. You start to drink this water; you don’t know what’s in it. Let’s face it, we can’t have our pie and eat it too. If you want jobs here or you want to put such a strain on businesses that they will not come into Greensboro. I believe, if I’m right, I read in the paper, isn’t Mack coming here? They’re here. See what I mean?
How do you measure the savings versus human life and the environment in the area of the White Street Landfill?
A human life, there’s no price on it. The thing of it is, when we get back to the same thing, sure there’s a lot of stuff around. But that landfill should be able to be run. Now, you got your stations where they store stuff, right Mayor? Okay, you’re sub-stations where they sort…? Just want to make sure I’m right. I think it should be able to be run where you can neutralize it and mark it. With $9 million you can do a lot, make a lot of jobs, and I think it could be run where it’s no health hazard.
What are your big plans for Greensboro?
Back to the same thing: If we don’t get good jobs in here, there is no plan for Greensboro. Gonna end up just like California. You’ll have to decide what you want. Want things to go forward? I’m for Greensboro going forward. I’m not for putting something on council, saying this is a set pattern. What’s in here today might be an entirely different thing to look at six months from now or 30 days. That’s what I’m for. Gonna have to work around to where don’t make it so ya don’t have so much restrictions on it.
What can we do to make our city a safer place — to reduce crime, drug addiction, vacant housing, homelessness and panhandling?
I might be homeless someday. I hope not. I hope none of you all ever are. I understand Atlanta, Georgia, they’ve got a camp. You don’t stand on the street there. You’re on the street, you either go on or they put you in that camp for two weeks. They give you a uniform, they feed you, provide for your medical attention and take care of you, work you. When two weeks is up if you’ve got a job or want to go on, well, good. The old saying is that the idle mind is the devil’s workshop…. I know it’s a big problem. It’s a big problem everywhere. California has laid off 2,000 school teachers. I think Detroit was 1,700. And it’s going to get worse. We’ve got to bring jobs some way, but we need to stop it. One way we need to stop that $9 million we’re shipping the trash out, take care of our own. I forget where it was. One city they can take that landfill, they can make it pay off. They make money with it. Instead of costing taxpayers, they make it pay off. Like this gentleman here was talking about: There’s a lot of stuff out there we can use. Instead of burying it, use it. Make it pay off.
Closing statement
One thing I didn’t say is I am for a police commissioner and a fire commissioner. You got to run for it, every two years, every four years. And you don’t like what’s going on, you can change the guard. I don’t care how good your fire department is, your police department or anything. You can always make improvements. I can give you a whole lot. I worked for the fire department for 41 years. And there’s some things that’s not right. It’s not right all the way through the city, and I disagree with it. And if I ever get elected, I’m gonna try to change some of it. But if I get elected, I don’t have but one vote. So you want to be careful. Whoever you want in there you need to vote. You got to look at the council. Council can’t do but so much…. If you take a contribution from someone you’re obligated to them. It should not be anything at all where your hands are not tied.
Introductory statement
I was a firefighter for the city of Greensboro 41 years. Number one, I’m for keeping stuff flat. What do I mean by that? Taxes. Also your city services, flat. I’m for incentives for everyone. Let me say one thing so someone does not misinterpret it. Anybody, were it individuals or business, that wants to build a new building or improve it... any improvements they make, do not charge them for three years on the next improvements. Just for example, you’ve got companies coming in here, they’re going to provide 50 jobs, even if you gave ’em tax free, look how much it would be. I’m for the city going forward. I am for taking this landfill. There’s bound to be a way we could use it, and fix it so you’ve got your stations where you’re sorting this stuff. You take your garbage where it’s odor, neutralize it, take it out there and make it into a compost, and make it work, and look how many jobs we can make... $9 million a year that were spending we could make a whole lot of jobs. And Greensboro is hurting for jobs. And people are hurting here. And I don’t want to see people lose their homes.
Would you ever support a tax increase in order to provide improved public services?
I just said it in my opening statement. I’m not raising property taxes, period, or no services tax. I want to encourage people to be able to make it. If anything you want to reduce taxes; you don’t want to raise ’em. That’s what stomps business or stomps anything else into the ground. First thing we know, we’re gonna be like California. If I’m elected, I don’t want to see any employee of the city of Greensboro laid off. I don’t want to see ’em furloughed by one day a week. I want to try to keep things going. You know the old saying is, you kill the chicken that lays the golden eggs, there is no more golden eggs. And people are stretched to the limit. Okay, well... raise their taxes 1 percent. We don’t need it. We need to hold the line, if anything reduce it.
How would you be accountable to constituents?
Well, they’ve got my phone number. I’ll answer any questions. I’ll be glad to talk to you. You may not want to hear what I’ve got to say. I won’t blow smoke at you. I’ll be just as honest as I know to be. If I’m elected, I’ll do my best to do you a good job.
What would you do to help bring more jobs to the area, as well as promote the growth of small businesses? And how would you help the MWBEs, the minority- and women-owned business enterprises?
How many jobs, for $9 million, could you create? That’s something to think about. This is not the first time I’ve run for public office. I was a lone runner on the new, not the existing one, but a new FedEx. I said, “Yeah, I want FedEx in here.” I said, “I’d to have a thousand like that.” You can have a beautiful city, but if people do not have jobs where they can live and where they can pay their taxes, you cannot do it. You can’t have everything. I am for bringing jobs in here, and if these companies come in here, do not make it hard on ’em. Sure, you may have some inconvenience. You may have some sounds. Ones of you got your opinions about these roads, that’s your business. You’ve got some people, if they had their way, 29 would never have been built. Wendover’d never been built. Forty would never been built. It would be nothing but a little pig patch in Greensboro. Y’all want to hang me, that’s fine. And I’m going to tell you something else before I get hung for it. I’m for a lottery. I don’t mean just turn around there and keep it. Raleigh, of the state of North Carolina would be better off to keep 10 percent, and give away 90. And make sure it’s run straight. Let people win, and you’re going to be surprised. I like to be like, I believe I’m correct, believe it’s Tennessee? Florida? Texas? They have no state tax. People are going to gamble no matter what you call it. Life’s a gamble. You start to drink this water; you don’t know what’s in it. Let’s face it, we can’t have our pie and eat it too. If you want jobs here or you want to put such a strain on businesses that they will not come into Greensboro. I believe, if I’m right, I read in the paper, isn’t Mack coming here? They’re here. See what I mean?
How do you measure the savings versus human life and the environment in the area of the White Street Landfill?
A human life, there’s no price on it. The thing of it is, when we get back to the same thing, sure there’s a lot of stuff around. But that landfill should be able to be run. Now, you got your stations where they store stuff, right Mayor? Okay, you’re sub-stations where they sort…? Just want to make sure I’m right. I think it should be able to be run where you can neutralize it and mark it. With $9 million you can do a lot, make a lot of jobs, and I think it could be run where it’s no health hazard.
What are your big plans for Greensboro?
Back to the same thing: If we don’t get good jobs in here, there is no plan for Greensboro. Gonna end up just like California. You’ll have to decide what you want. Want things to go forward? I’m for Greensboro going forward. I’m not for putting something on council, saying this is a set pattern. What’s in here today might be an entirely different thing to look at six months from now or 30 days. That’s what I’m for. Gonna have to work around to where don’t make it so ya don’t have so much restrictions on it.
What can we do to make our city a safer place — to reduce crime, drug addiction, vacant housing, homelessness and panhandling?
I might be homeless someday. I hope not. I hope none of you all ever are. I understand Atlanta, Georgia, they’ve got a camp. You don’t stand on the street there. You’re on the street, you either go on or they put you in that camp for two weeks. They give you a uniform, they feed you, provide for your medical attention and take care of you, work you. When two weeks is up if you’ve got a job or want to go on, well, good. The old saying is that the idle mind is the devil’s workshop…. I know it’s a big problem. It’s a big problem everywhere. California has laid off 2,000 school teachers. I think Detroit was 1,700. And it’s going to get worse. We’ve got to bring jobs some way, but we need to stop it. One way we need to stop that $9 million we’re shipping the trash out, take care of our own. I forget where it was. One city they can take that landfill, they can make it pay off. They make money with it. Instead of costing taxpayers, they make it pay off. Like this gentleman here was talking about: There’s a lot of stuff out there we can use. Instead of burying it, use it. Make it pay off.
Closing statement
One thing I didn’t say is I am for a police commissioner and a fire commissioner. You got to run for it, every two years, every four years. And you don’t like what’s going on, you can change the guard. I don’t care how good your fire department is, your police department or anything. You can always make improvements. I can give you a whole lot. I worked for the fire department for 41 years. And there’s some things that’s not right. It’s not right all the way through the city, and I disagree with it. And if I ever get elected, I’m gonna try to change some of it. But if I get elected, I don’t have but one vote. So you want to be careful. Whoever you want in there you need to vote. You got to look at the council. Council can’t do but so much…. If you take a contribution from someone you’re obligated to them. It should not be anything at all where your hands are not tied.
Rahenkamp's conservative platform
Joseph Rahenkamp, who somewhat resembles a diminutive Edward Kennedy, stopped by to talk about his candidacy for the District 4 seat on Greensboro City Council.Rahenkamp is a Republican, and is quite a few clicks to the right of any Kennedy. The 74-year-old former Greensboro firefighter told me he's run in every Greensboro City Council election since 1997. He's never tried to raise money and has never won an election — I'm not implying there's a correlation necessarily.
This time around, he's running for an open seat, although he faces stiff competition. Mary Rakestraw, who has served one term at large is running for the seat. So is Joel Landau, a reputable progressive who serves on the city's planning board and sustainability committee. A fourth candidate in Mike Martin.
Rahenkamp laid out a three-point campaign platform for me.
No tax or fee increases:
"I'm for holding property taxes flat. The same with water and garbage collection. Too many people are losing their homes and their cars. They can't pay their taxes now."
Tax incentives for all:
"For residential and commercial property owners — suppose you have a piece of property valued at a million dollars. If you build on it or improve it, wait three years to tax them. Down the line three years, your tax base will get better. That's an incentive for people to invest in their properties and increase the tax base."
Appointment of police and fire commissioners:
"I am for having a fire commissioner and a police commissioner. Let them run every four years for it. If you have someone running every four years they're not tied to anything. Just like the sheriff. The sheriff runs every four years. It doesn't matter if it's a Democrat or a Republican. It doesn't hurt to change the guard every so often."
He also has some things to say about former City Manager Mitchell Johnson's handling of the police controversy, about the coliseum and the bus service, and about his philosophy on political service.
To wit:
"I think that City Manager Mitchell Johnson, he handled it completely wrong. In my opinion, he did not want David Wray to be chief in the first place. It's costing the city millions of dollars. Locking the chief out of his office was a big mistake. That's what caused the city manager to be fired.... [David Wray] was a good police chief. He was getting too close to things. He knew what was going on."
His viewpoints on the Greensboro Coliseum and the Greensboro Transit Authority are simple; they should be privatized.
As a campaigner, Rahenkamp doesn't raise any money and he doesn't consider himself beholden to anyone.
"I'm not tied to anybody," he said. "I don't owe anyone. I get into these [candidate] forums. They want to ask me: 'What are you going to do for the Afro-Americans?' I say, 'The same thing I'm going to do for white people. White people, brown people and black people are all the same. I will represent everybody. It doesn't matter what you do; you can't make people like each other."
UPDATE: I should have noted that bus service is already privatized in Greensboro. Veolia Transportation holds the contract.
Joseph Rahenkamp, Republican candidate for Guilford County Commission at-large
Joseph Rahenkamp nominally answered questions at a candidates forum at the Greensboro Historical Museum on May 1. Rahenkamp was the only candidate for an at-large Guilford County Commission seat in the Republican primary to attend, although Wendell Sawyer answered the same questions in writing. Along with Rahenkamp and Sawyer, former Ku Klux Klan exalted cyclops EH Hennis, Guilford County Planning Board Chairman Larry Proctor and Rudy Binder are also on the ballot.
The two candidates who win the most votes in the Republican primary will advance to the general election in November, where they will face Democratic incumbents Paul Gibson and John Parks.
Asked whether he favored the property tax or the sales tax as a means to raise revenue, Rahenkamp responded that more prize money should be paid out by the North Carolina lottery to increase ticket sales.
Rahenkamp: “I don’t approve of either one. You’re going to have to start working and getting smarter and make what money you got work out. If you go back and check, every year, there’s greater and greater monies coming in and raising the tax base. We’re going to have to start making it work out. People right now, a lot of them are losing their homes, losing their cars and losing their trucks…. You’re going to have to hold the line and get smarter. [This] is and it is not going to answer your question. Come back to raising this money with this school bond. You need to take this lottery, where they’re taking 50 percent right now for the schools, drop it back and put 10 percent in it, and by doing that… you’re going to have more people buying tickets, and it’s going to generate your revenue. It’s going to be more than it is right now.”
Note: About 35 percent of the proceeds from the North Carolina lottery go to the Education Lottery Fund at the Office of State Budget and Management, while at least 50 percent is paid out in prizes.
Rahenkamp did not respond to a question about whether he supports a proposed jail bond, except to say that he opposes raising taxes. He also did not respond to a second question about whether the county was adequately pursuing alternatives to incarceration such as funding drug treatment programs.
Rahenkamp: “I’m not for raising taxes for anything…. It comes right back to what I just said. People are hurting. They’re losing their homes. They don’t know how they’re going to make it. And I do not believe when someone is drowning you take and push ’em down…. We’re going to have to get smarter. That’s where it comes back with the school board we were just talking. Education… you’ve got to get smarter in all of your categories. You’d be surprised what you can do with stuff when you have to do it.”
Rahenkamp suggested he favors a lenient approach to illegal immigration, but did not answer a question about whether he thought it was a good idea for the Guilford County Sheriff’s Office to participate in federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s 287(g), which authorizes local law enforcement officers to enforce federal immigration law.
Rahenkamp: “Well, you’ve got a big problem there. You’ve got an awful lot of people in this country that are in here illegally, okay? What you’ve got to do is take the bull by the horns. They are in here. Let them start paying their way like everybody else. You’re not going to get away from it. You turn right around, you put them across the border, they’re gonna come right back in here, maybe come back in another way. Maybe they might not come to Guilford County; maybe they might come to LA County. Let ’em start paying their way like the rest of us.”
The two candidates who win the most votes in the Republican primary will advance to the general election in November, where they will face Democratic incumbents Paul Gibson and John Parks.
Asked whether he favored the property tax or the sales tax as a means to raise revenue, Rahenkamp responded that more prize money should be paid out by the North Carolina lottery to increase ticket sales.
Rahenkamp: “I don’t approve of either one. You’re going to have to start working and getting smarter and make what money you got work out. If you go back and check, every year, there’s greater and greater monies coming in and raising the tax base. We’re going to have to start making it work out. People right now, a lot of them are losing their homes, losing their cars and losing their trucks…. You’re going to have to hold the line and get smarter. [This] is and it is not going to answer your question. Come back to raising this money with this school bond. You need to take this lottery, where they’re taking 50 percent right now for the schools, drop it back and put 10 percent in it, and by doing that… you’re going to have more people buying tickets, and it’s going to generate your revenue. It’s going to be more than it is right now.”
Note: About 35 percent of the proceeds from the North Carolina lottery go to the Education Lottery Fund at the Office of State Budget and Management, while at least 50 percent is paid out in prizes.
Rahenkamp did not respond to a question about whether he supports a proposed jail bond, except to say that he opposes raising taxes. He also did not respond to a second question about whether the county was adequately pursuing alternatives to incarceration such as funding drug treatment programs.
Rahenkamp: “I’m not for raising taxes for anything…. It comes right back to what I just said. People are hurting. They’re losing their homes. They don’t know how they’re going to make it. And I do not believe when someone is drowning you take and push ’em down…. We’re going to have to get smarter. That’s where it comes back with the school board we were just talking. Education… you’ve got to get smarter in all of your categories. You’d be surprised what you can do with stuff when you have to do it.”
Rahenkamp suggested he favors a lenient approach to illegal immigration, but did not answer a question about whether he thought it was a good idea for the Guilford County Sheriff’s Office to participate in federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s 287(g), which authorizes local law enforcement officers to enforce federal immigration law.
Rahenkamp: “Well, you’ve got a big problem there. You’ve got an awful lot of people in this country that are in here illegally, okay? What you’ve got to do is take the bull by the horns. They are in here. Let them start paying their way like everybody else. You’re not going to get away from it. You turn right around, you put them across the border, they’re gonna come right back in here, maybe come back in another way. Maybe they might not come to Guilford County; maybe they might come to LA County. Let ’em start paying their way like the rest of us.”
Preview: NC Senate 28, Guilford County Commission and Guilford County School Board candidates
I got the opportunity to ask questions of incumbent NC Sen. Katie Dorsett and challenger Bruce Davis, a Guilford County commissioner, at a debate sponsored by Concerned Citizens of Northeast Greensboro at the Greensboro Historical Museum last night.
At-large candidates for Guilford County School Board and Republican candidates for at-large Guilford County Commission seats (the Democratic primary isn't competitive) were also invited. Among the at-large school board candidates, Sandra Alexander, Alan Hawkes and Michael McKinney were present; EC Huey and David Crawford were not. Inexplicably, only one county commission candidate, Joseph Rahenkamp, showed up. Rudy Binder, EH Hennis, Larry Proctor and Wendell Sawyer were missing in action.
I'll be posting excerpts of the candidate's responses, along with School Board Chaiman Alan Duncan's call for support for the school bond referenda, over the weekend. Our print edition comes out after the election, so time is of the essence.
At-large candidates for Guilford County School Board and Republican candidates for at-large Guilford County Commission seats (the Democratic primary isn't competitive) were also invited. Among the at-large school board candidates, Sandra Alexander, Alan Hawkes and Michael McKinney were present; EC Huey and David Crawford were not. Inexplicably, only one county commission candidate, Joseph Rahenkamp, showed up. Rudy Binder, EH Hennis, Larry Proctor and Wendell Sawyer were missing in action.
I'll be posting excerpts of the candidate's responses, along with School Board Chaiman Alan Duncan's call for support for the school bond referenda, over the weekend. Our print edition comes out after the election, so time is of the essence.
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