PHOTOS: New Greensboro City Council sworn in

Outgoing mayor Robbie Perkins listing the council's accomplishments since 2011

Council and the audience gave him a standing ovation

Outgoing councilwoman Dianne Bellamy-Small and Perkins hugging

Mayor Pro Tem Yvonne Johnson talking with new Councilman Jamal Fox

Left: New Councilman Mike Barber. Background: Fox.

District 2 Councilman Jamal Fox poses for a picture

NC Rep. Marcus Brandon photo-bombs new Councilwoman Sharon Hightower before she is sworn in

Tony Wilkins takes a picture of Nancy Vaughan in the mayor's seat. Marikay Abuzuaiter did next.

Greensboro's new Mayor Nancy Vaughan being sworn in, surrounded by her family
(Read more about her and her family in this week's cover story, SLAP SHOT).

Charlotte politician seeking 12th District seat visits Winston-Salem

NC Rep. Rodney Moore meets with Democratic leaders in Winston-Salem.

A state lawmaker from Charlotte with his eyes on the 12th Congressional District seat currently held by US Rep. Mel Watt made a foray into Winston-Salem to make his case to a small group of Democratic leaders yesterday.

NC Rep. Rodney Moore was introduced by NC Rep. Ed Hanes Jr., a Forsyth County lawmaker, during the informal question-and-answer session at Mayor Allen Joines' campaign office.

The district, which snakes along the Interstate 85 corridor from Charlotte to parts of Greensboro, High Point and Winston-Salem in the north, has been represented by Watt of Charlotte since 1993. Hanes told Moore that any Charlotte candidate who wants support from northern-tier voters will have to persuade them that he will provide equitable representation.

"I don't know how true it is, but I've heard there's been some perceived communication gap between different government entities," Moore said. "And so I just want to tell you that I'm going to be very open and accessible."

Watt's nomination by President Obama to head the Federal Housing Finance Administration has prompted a slew of Democratic politicians to put themselves in contention for the seat, which will be decided by a special election. In addition to Moore, NC Sen. Malcolm Graham (D-Mecklenburg) and Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools attorney George Battle, along with two Guilford County state lawmakers, Alma Adams and Marcus Brandon.

Brandon made a converse move by campaigning in Charlotte over the July 4 holiday.

Graham topped a recent Public Policy Polling poll with support from 31 percent of likely voters, followed by Adams, with 22 percent. NC Rep. Beverly Earle of Charlotte carried 8 percent, while Brandon garnered 5 percent. Moore polled near the bottom, drawing 3 percent, along with former Mecklenburg County Commission chair Harold Cogdell.

The small group that gathered to hear from Moore included Winston-Salem Councilman Derwin Montgomery, Forsyth County Senior Democrats President Jim Shaw and the Rev. John Mendez.

Moore said depending on when Watt is confirmed the special election to determine his replacement could wind up being folded into the general election in November. The candidate said he would take a bipartisan approach to governing if elected to represent the 12th Congressional District, which leans heavily Democratic.

"I see that Washington, for the most part, right now it's just not functioning properly," Moore said. "It's a whole lot of soundbites, whether you're a Republican and you get on Fox News and you expound the party philosophy, the conservative philosophy; most of the time if you're a Democrat you're on MSNBC and you're expounding the Democratic philosophy, the liberal philosophy. I don't believe you can govern that way. You have to be able to talk to one another and get things done, even if you don't agree with each other."

Moore said, if elected, he would emphasize education, advocate for veteran services, use his relationship with US Secretary of Transportation of Anthony Foxx (who is the former mayor of Charlotte) to bring highway and bridge funding to the district and promote energy independence.

Agency pleads for job training funds as Republicans move to cut benefits

Winston-Salem Urban League President Keith Grandberry, flanked by Rep. Marcus Brandon (D-Guilford) and Rep. Rodney Moore (D-Mecklenburg), carried the voice of unemployed workers to Raleigh on opening day of the General Assembly's long session.

Representatives of the Winston-Salem Urban League went to Raleigh today to plead for additional funding for job training programs as Republican lawmakers forged ahead with plans to reduce benefits to unemployed workers on the first day of the long session.

"That middle-class gentleman that comes down to the Urban League, who's done everything right — I mean, done everything right — worked at that job at RJ Reynolds or Wells Fargo for 16 years — got caught up in the layoffs and is now without a job, can't find a job because they've been at one job for so many years and their mindset hasn't changed, come down to the Urban League, they need to be heard because they have a family," President Keith Grandberry said during a press conference.

Despite the geographic reference in its name, the agency serves 21 counties and a number of cities in addition to Winston-Salem, including Greensboro, Raleigh and Durham.

Meanwhile, Rep. Julia Howard (R-Davie, Forsyth) filed a legislation today to reduce unemployment benefits and begin rebuilding the fund. She said the House Finance Committee, which she chairs, will consider the bill tomorrow. The lawmaker acknowledged that the bill is "rather lengthy," but turned down a request by Rep. Paul Luebke (D-Durham) to postpone the hearing by one day to give Democrats a chance to read the bill.

Members of the Democratic caucus disagree with the cuts to benefits received by unemployed workers, but hold little power to influence the legislation.

"Cutting workers off at the knees, as we're talking about in upcoming legislation will not be the answer," said Rep. Larry Hall (D-Durham). "That will not be a bridge that helps us re-employ our citizens and bring our new workforce forward."

Hall, who was recently elected minority leader by the Democratic caucus, acknowledged that his party is operating from a weakened position.

"Certainly we know that there's a different makeup of the General Assembly this session than there was last session," he said. "We know there's no veto threat. There's no potential to negotiate and defeat bills and have them reconsidered with more input by our caucus. This is a different environment."
 

Legislative update scheduled on Friday in High Point

The High Point Human Relations Department and the YWCA of High Point host a legislative update with Reps. John Faircloth and Marcus Brandon at the YWCA, located at 112 Gatewood Ave. in High Point on Friday from 6 to 7 p.m. The event is the first in the “Front Porch Conversation Series.” Future topics include student and youth rights, integration, racial justice, voting rights, fair housing, interracial dating and civic pride.

YES! Weekly Preview -- July 20

A more lively Brian Clarey, editor of YES! Weekly newspaper, gives us the rundown of our (highly coveted) annual dog issue... and, dag gummit, we've met some truly amazing dogs!

Also inside, a Wake Forest graduate calls foul play, a story on Marcus Brandon, more redistricting hubbub, upcoming elections, a Harry Potter review and much more!

By the way, don't ask Brian for s***. He said so.

On redistricting

Democrat Marcus Brandon (left) and Republican Lonnie Wilson, who are vying for the NC House District 60 seat, appeared together at a candidate forum in High Point.

Candidates for NC Senate District 28 and NC House District 60 raised some interesting perspectives on redistricting during a candidate forum hosted by the Delta Sigma Theta sorority at High Point city council chambers tonight. Redrawing state legislative and congressional district lines will be the spoils for what ever party wins control of the General Assembly in the next term.

Among the intriguing aspects is the possibility that North Carolina could pick up an additional congressional district, which some reason would logically fall in the Piedmont Triad.

As the discussion demonstrated tonight, there are a myriad of considerations when it comes to redistricting.

Gladys Robinson, Democratic candidate for NC Senate District 28: “All the time our state, our local and our federal government have not treated all citizens equally, and so we have required that we do some creative planning and some creative drawing of lines so we can have representation from all of our citizens. And that has been done in several districts in North Carolina and across the entire country, so that we can have representation that is diverse. That is the critical piece we have to look at, as we look at redistricting and as we look at redrawing district lines.”

Bruce Davis, independent candidate for NC House District 60: “From all that I’ve read and heard, that is a long shot, because we’re in competition with another state that has really got the numbers. But, with that being said, if we have the opportunity to have another congressional seat here in North Carolina, I am a strong voice in Raleigh to advocate very hard and aggressively to try to get this congressional seat to come through this area.”

Davis also said that although he is running as an independent, he is a Democrat and his decisions about redistricting would be shaped by his party affiliation.

Lonnie Wilson, Republican candidate for NC House District 60: “So far, I’m against all that’s been said regarding that. If we’re the other party, of course we try to reconstruct those lines in a somewhat more straighter line. Let it fall wherever a person lives, and not gerrymander a district to try to select one type of individual or race. And let freedom ring in our state and in our counties, wherever you live, and let’s be representative.”

Marcus Brandon, Democratic candidate for NC House District 60: “I want to make sure that we clarify when we talk about gerrymandering that gerrymandering is not only a practice that’s just for race. We have a lot of gerrymandered districts for parties, and I would like to see us have districts that are a little bit more equitable because when you talk about gerrymandering, my seat is like 65 percent Democrats, and you have some Republican seats that are just as Republican. That’s just as gerrymandered as anything else. I want to clarify: Gerrymandering, it’s not just a racial issue; it’s also a party thing that we also need to discuss when we talk about redistricting and having equitable representation. People are less accountable if they are only accountable to one party because of their seat.”

State legislative candidates square off at Greensboro forum

Republican Jeff Hyde (left) and Democrat Don Vaughan address voters.

The Clean Smokestacks bill, a piece of legislation passed by the NC General Assembly in 2002, became a reference point for an open debate about the role of government in regulating business during a candidate forum tonight at Congregational United Church of Christ in Greensboro.

“The environment for small business in North Carolina is a poor one,” said Jeff Hyde, the Republican candidate for NC Senate District 27. “We are overtaxed, over-regulated and the mandates that come down from government for business activity are stifling.”

Irwin Smallwood, a retired News & Record managing editor, probed Hyde on the point, asking him to name three regulations he would repeal.

“One instance would be we required Duke Power a couple years ago to spend $3 million to clean smokestacks on the idea that there would be a significance difference in the emissions of those smokestacks,” Hyde responded. “Since it’s been done, there’s no discernible effect. They’ve done exactly what the state asked them to do. And yet what’s happened [is] our energy costs have gone up.”

Hyde’s Democratic opponent, freshman Sen. Don Vaughan, was given an opportunity to speak, but steered away from conflict. Vaughan said that he believes in a free enterprise system and generally favors less regulation on business, and pivoted to a different issue: “I think our teachers are over-regulated in the classroom. I think we should give them more ability to handle their problems without having to go up the food chain.”

Pricey Harrison, the Democratic incumbent in the NC House District 57 race, used part of her allotted time to chastise Hyde.

“The Clean Smokestacks bill is one of the best things we’ve ever done to clean up the air here in North Carolina,” she said. “It reduced emissions by more than 70 percent and it’s been a tremendous tool. And we have lower asthma rates; we can actually document that.”

Harrison and her Republican opponent, Jon Hardister, sketched out different political philosophies, but remained cordial and avoided direct challenges against each other on the issues.

The two candidates demonstrated different approaches in response to a question about what services they would cut to make up an expected budget shortfall next year.

“Clearly, if we cut $3 billion out of a $19 billion budget, that 15 percent of what’s out there is going to be pretty serious, and I think we’ll set ourselves back decades in terms of the investments in education and quality of life – I think will severely undermine us," Harrison said. "I think there’s a place where we can cut, but we’re going to have to have some alternatives. Close the tax loopholes. There are a ton of those out there. That’s been sort of forbidden ground. A $100 million bank tax loophole. There are things like that out there we can look at. Review the whole tax code. I’m not an expert. There are ways to create more equity in the tax code because we don’t really have that in the tax code right now. But there’s some pork in the budget, and I’m frustrated by that. I tried to lead the charge to eliminate that $10 million subsidy that was going to the UNC Booster Club and opposed that mega port that was never going to get permitted. There are things like that in the budget, but I don’t think it’s going to add up to $3 billion. It might be a half billion.”

Hardister responded, “The first thing we’ve got to do is what you hear politicians say all the time: You’ve got to go through the budget line by line. We need to start doing that, but in particular, we need to go to zero-based budgeting. After that, to look for wasteful spending I would start with corporate subsidies and corporate incentives, excessive possible entitlement programs, and the discretionary spending. We need to really put a hold on discretionary spending until we get the budget under control. And then I think we need spending caps. We need a constitutional amendment that pegs allowable spending with changes in inflation and population. Because North Carolina for years our population has increased, but spending increased at a faster rate, so we need to tie the two together and also put a formula in there for inflation.”

Sparks flew between Republican Theresa Yon (right) and Democrat Maggie Jeffus, who are competing for the NC House District 59 seat.

Remarks by Democratic incumbent Maggie Jeffus and Republican challenger Theresa Yon, who are vying for the neighboring House District 59 seat, provided more discernible contrasts for voters.

Asked to provide an example of wasteful spending, Yon mentioned the state film tax credit, which was increased from 11 percent to 25 percent in the most recent session.

“The state of North Carolina taxpayers will now pay 25 percent of the cost of making movies,” Yon said. “It’s projected to cost us $160 million over the course of the next few years. Do we really want the taxpayers to pay $160 million?”

Jeffus defended the use of incentives to maintain the film industry in North Carolina.

“You all remember ‘Dawson’s Creek’?” she asked. “That has left. We have lost to Louisiana. We’ve lost to Canada. We’ve lost to Mississippi. We’ve lost to Georgia. The governor was right on the verge of – back in the long session, I guess – of announcing a film that was being filmed in North Carolina. She was sure we would get it. Only to find out the next day that Georgia got it. These film people, the people that produce them, they bring jobs into North Carolina. Guilford County does have a film office here, and films have been shot here in Greensboro and High Point – all around. So we’re talking about jobs. Construction. Production. Directors. Costumes. They stay in hotels and motels. They buy food. It’s just a no-brainer. We need jobs. And that’s what we’re trying to do.”

Yon retorted, “‘Dawson’s Creek’ went off the air; it’s not filmed anymore.”

Yon and Jeffus also parted ways on the issue of education, specifically on a proposal by Yon to require that a minimum of 65 cents of every dollar allocated for education be spent in the classroom.

“I know my opponent has come out against that publicly,” Yon said. “She says it will tie the hands of local education agencies, and I disagree. Guilford County may use that extra money in the classroom to pay teachers bonuses. Forsyth County might use it to buy textbooks. Another county might use it to replace their arts and music programs they’ve had to cut. Another county might decide, ‘We need an after-school reading program.’ But it’s spent in the classroom. If we took just three cents more of every single dollar and spent it in the classroom, that’s $210 million more in our schools without raising your taxes. The lady in maroon asked earlier if we can cut some administration. Yeah, I think we can cut some administration and put it in the classroom.”

Jeffus acknowledged her difference of opinion.

“I do oppose the 65 cents in the classroom,” she said. “I want everything that we can get for the schools and for the classes and for the children. She does not understand how the budget is done. And we do need to give them flexibility. It will tie their hands. That’s one of the things we do – we give a great deal of flexibility to the [local education agencies], and each LEA is different. What we need in Guilford County, they might not need in Carteret County or someplace else – Hoke County – so that they have the flexibility to do what they need to do. And I think most of them do a diligent job of putting it into the classroom. And a great deal of our education money goes to teacher salaries.”

Yon found an unlikely ally for her initiative in Marcus Brandon, the Democratic candidate for House District 60, who noted in his remarks that he was not opposed to mandating that 65 cents out of every dollar be spent in the classroom.

Brandon's Republican opponent, Lonnie R. Wilson, outlined a conservative Christian political ideology.

“Believe me, when you get up here, the elevator doesn’t go all the way to the top as much as it usually does, and you can’t remember everything you want to say," he said. "So I’m going to have to read some of my stuff. And I do believe this stuff that I’m reading. I do believe ‘In God we trust.’ And I do believe that our representatives should defend our ancient landmarks of Judeo-Christian values. And those we send to Raleigh should do that. And I am a conservative; I am a Republican. This is my first run for office, and maybe the only one.”

Broader themes related to longstanding Democratic control of the General Assembly and a the possibility of a Republican majority after the coming election emerged in an exchange between Republican John Blust and Democrat Alma Adams, who respectively face nominal opposition in their quest for reelection in safe districts 62 and 58. Libertarian Jeffery Simon and Republican Darin H. Thomas – neither of whom was present – are respectively seeking the District 62 and District 58 seats.

“The process is broken,” Blust said. “You see it in Washington. You see it in Raleigh. Rep. Jeffus just told you the decisions are all made in Room 612. And I’ve been out on the block before. I’ve knocked on over 13,000 doors in this community, and I’ve won elections, and I’m entitled to a seat in the room where the decisions are made. I can’t use force and I can’t be violent, but I resent that I’m shuffled off because, ‘You’re in the minority and you don’t get to. We’ll tell you and we’ll come out and we’ll give you a 300-page bill and you’re supposed to vote for it or you’re against education. You’re against the children.’

“And I’ve heard that over and over, and I’ve still studied,” he continued. “I’ve come up with proposals. When we redid the budget a couple years ago, I had five or six amendments. I run an amendment every budget. They set the process up so you can’t touch the decisions they’ve made in the back room. And it’s wrong. It has got to be opened up. The answer to the budget would be, let all 120 House members have some say. I resent it. It really angers me. I hear the same thing on television. I hear it out of the president. I hear it out of the Houser speaker. ‘The Republicans are the party of no, and they don’t have any ideas.’ If I don’t have any ideas, then you can let me in Room 612 and I won’t do a thing because I don’t have any ideas. But I have ideas.”

Blust added, “If Marcus Brandon wins and the Republicans have the majority – I’m more hopeful than ever – If Alma wins, I am not going to let the Republicans arrange that House the same way and say, ‘You don’t get to represent your people.’ It’s a blight on our constitution, our way of government. And we’re going to have to be willing as Republicans to lose some votes because we might run something and instead of getting people by cajoling them and threatening and having a $128,000 base-pay speakers aide go whisper in your ear, ‘We don’t have the votes, can you leave?’ let the body work. You might find the budget gets better. The process will work. The genius of our republic will let us pass good, solid budgets.”

Adams – like Jeffus, a senior budget writer – disputed Blust’s assertion that the room where the Appropriations Committee meets is closed, adding that it’s natural that the party in control will limit participation from minority members.

“I don’t want anybody to think that 612 is closed,” she said. “Rep. Blust, I don’t know how many times you’ve been in there. The door’s always open. The process – Rep. Blust was there when the Republicans were in control. The process – now, I’ve been there 16 and a half years – the process has never changed, no matter who’s in control. But we do work together. But there are some philosophical differences that are probably always going to exist. Now, how you change that I don’t know. I haven’t been able to change it in 16 years. When Speaker Brubaker was speaker when I came there or after I came there, I was silenced and could not present my amendments or speak. Some of those things are probably never going to go away. But I don’t want people here to think that we don’t collaborate and put legislation together. I mean, I filed a number of bills with three Republican women. I chaired the women’s caucus that actually the Republicans put me in. There is some civility. Whether that process is going to change from historically the way it is, I’m not sure how much we can do about that.”

Gladys Robinson was the lone candidate present for the NC Senate District 28 race. Republican Trudy Wade and independent Bruce Davis will also be on the ballot. Wade was unable to attend because she was participating in a previously scheduled neighborhood walk in the Greensboro City Council district that she represents.

Prompted by supporter Lewis Brandon, Robinson knocked Wade for a unanimous decision by the city council last month to delay approval of a $5 million federal grant through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to provide weatherization for buildings in east Greensboro last month. Minutes from the council's Sept. 21 meeting state, "Council discussion focused on the potential consequences of loan defaults and the City’s assumption of financial responsibility."

“I think it’s a travesty," Robinson said. "What we’re talking about now is how to grow jobs so we can improve the economy. So any source – federal or state or businesses or whatever – we can get to come into Guilford County that promotes jobs, we know that weatherization means better use of our energy, for one thing. But it also means that it’s low-income people whose houses can be weatherized, can have more efficient living. It also means jobs. And that’s critical. So I think that any of us who say we want to go to Raleigh and we want to create jobs to improve the economy, if we’re not supporting that and if the city council’s not supporting that and my opponent, then I’m not sure that those are the kind of people that we want in Raleigh.”

Greensboro leadership feels its way forward on police morass

The Rev. Cardes Brown told members of Greensboro City Council at their most recent meeting that he has copies of “a number of grievances that have been given to me by a number of persons of color who are a part of our police department.”

“Most of you,” he said, “are aware that our chief, who said, ‘There are no racial discrimination problems within the department,’ will recall that he was the leading proponent of the fact that there were discriminatory practices. That is, before he was made chief.”

As an example of the racial discrimination that is taking place currently in the police department, Brown raised the disciplinary treatment of Officer AJ Blake, a black officer of Honduran heritage.

“He had to go before the justice standards training division,” Brown said. “And when he went before them, he went because he acknowledged that he had been charged with a crime. He went before them. He is the only officer who has had to go. And I know that all of you are aware now that there are white officers who were not just charged but found guilty. And they have not had to go. So to say that there are no discriminatory practices, that’s just not true.”

Assistant City Manager Michael Speedling and City Manager Rashad Young have responded to this claim and others like it by saying that they’re not going to examine issues that arose before they were appointed to their current positions. Speedling was promoted to assistant city manager in February, and Young took his job last October.

Mayor Bill Knight, who stated during his campaign that Tim Bellamy was appointed to his position because of race, now supports the black police chief.

“I’ve spoken to the chief earlier tonight to reiterate my support for the chief, for the department, for the job their doing and for our staff,” Knight said, adding, “there’s a lot of good, hard work going on.”

Pushback against Rev. Brown and others calling for reform of the police department has come, not just from council, but from within the pastor’s own congregation.

Marcus Brandon, who recently won the Democratic nomination for NC House District 60 and is likely to be its next representative, issued a call for racial unity during the speakers-from-the-floor segment.

“It’s time for our leaders, with microphones, TV cameras, congregations, newspapers, to create a culture of unity and not a culture of polarization,” said Brandon, who is one of Brown’s parishioners at New Light Missionary Baptist Church. “I echo the call for our community leaders to come together for a spirit of unity and a culture of togetherness.”

After Brandon’s remarks, he and Rev. Brown exchanged a hug.

Brandon’s statement came on the heels of remarks given by Mickey Atkinson, his former teacher at Southern Guilford High School.

“We are tired of the racial and political polarizing, and of the 1 percent being the loudest voice in race matters,” Atkinson said. “Those who would hold press conferences to demand an investigation of an already over-investigated police department, those who would coach others to declare that the city council is not doing its job, you are self-serving in your perpetual rants. You are feeding off of fear, paranoia and bitterness that you create. It’s your MO.”

While expressing confidence in the manager and police chief, at-large Councilman Robbie Perkins said, “It is something that we need to continue a dialogue with, and I would encourage us all to try to talk this thing through as a community, as opposed to having sides, drawing up sides and having an us-against-them situation.”

Council members have maintained a solid front of support for city staff and police administration in public statements, but Perkins, if not the others, has demonstrated more nuance in less high profile communications with the pastors.

“The tension you describe within the Police Department is apparent to me,” Perkins wrote in an e-mail to the Rev. Brown, the Rev. Nelson Johnson, members of the council on May 31 that was shared with the press. “The Department has been in turmoil for several years, and unresolved issues have created an environment that leads to many questions from our citizens.”

Perkins’ message implicitly acknowledged that all is not right with the culture of the police department.

“The Manager is in the process of changing the culture within the organization,” he wrote. “This change will not happen overnight, and it certainly will not be helped by council intervention in work that we are not trained to manage or perform. I know our city is moving in a positive direction. The police department will have new leadership by the end of summer, and that very fact will insure that changes will be made. At this point, I must trust the leadership of the manager and his staff, knowing that none of us are perfect, and this process will result in some level of conflict prior to a successful resolution.”

'Loaded, individualized questions'

Former Greensboro Mayor Yvonne Johnson took a seat next to me and whispered in my ear that "there have been some loaded, individualized questions" in the middle of a candidates forum at NC A&T University tonight.

To be sure.

Most of the heat took place during the final panel, which included primary opponents in NC Senate District 28 and NC House District 58, and individual candidates in NC House districts 60 and 62, after candidates for US Senate and US Congress had cleared the building.

One of the questions for NC Senate District 28 candidates Evelyn Miller and Gladys Robinson pertained to whether the candidates would have thrown their hats in the race if the seat's current occupant, Katie Dorsett, had chosen to run again.

Robinson looked offended.

After a moment's hesitation, Miller answered.

"I did not know that Katie Dorsett was not running," she said. "So yes, I guess that would answer the question."

Robinson regained her poise.

"Let me say very clearly, that I respect Dr. Dorsett," she said, "and no, I wouldn't run against her. And I would expect also, too, that most of you respect people like Mayor Yvonne Johnson and others who've done a great job and wouldn't run against them either because we have supported those candidates. They brought back assets to our community. Now I'm running because I can do a good job. And I know I can."

Marcus Brandon was the sole candidate present in the Democratic primary for NC House District 60, with an unexplained absence by incumbent Earl Jones. It was Michael Garrett, the Republican primary challenger, in the NC House District 62 race, who really pleased the predominantly African-American crowd with the energy and rhetorical finesse that he deployed in attacking incumbent John Blust — also absent.

Garrett took aim at Blust's uncompromising conservatism and partisan approach to politics, which he argued has made his opponent one of the most ineffective legislators in the House.

"We can't afford to mark one up for Republicans," Garrett said. "We can't afford to mark one up for Democrats. It's time to start marking one up for North Carolina."

Garrett added later that his responsibilities as a representative would be "not just for my district in northwest Guilford County, but for all of Guilford County. We're all in this together."

A supporter of Alma Adams, the Democratic incumbent in NC House District 58, asked the candidates if they understood the responsibilities of the job. Adams has held the seat for more than 16 years.

Primary challenger Ralph Johnson drew applause with his answer: "To represent the community."

Adams drove hard, alluding to her position as chair of the House Appropriations Committee: "I am in the room when the final decision is made about A&T. We brought $53 million to edge of the district for the nanotechnology campus."

Ralph Johnson asked voters to consider how the district has fared under Adams' leadership.

"Drive around east Greensboro, and look at the lack of amenities," he said. "Ask yourself: Is this the best we can do?"

NC House candidate in court for traffic charges

Marcus Brandon, a candidate for NC House District 60, was in Guilford County court today for traffic charges. Brandon said his lawyer was able to work out a deal with the district attorney's office to have a charge of driving while license revoked reduced to a non-moving violation. A second charge of operating a vehicle with no insurance was dismissed, Brandon said, because he surrendered his drivers license.

The case was heard in District Court Judge Angela Foster's crowded Courtroom 1D today.

Brandon still has pending traffic charges in Ohio. Brandon told me relies on other people to drive him around and uses public transportation. A self-described lifelong "terrible" driver, Brandon has an extensive record of speeding and other traffic violations.

Brandon faces incumbent Earl Jones in the Democratic primary on May 4.