I learned about an exchange of negative campaign fliers between NC House District 58 candidates Ralph Johnson and Alma Adams today.
The Carolina Peacemaker has an editorial today urging voters to put the "hit pieces" in the trash, and for the most part declines to detail the charges, concluding that "they each contain misleading, inaccurate statements about each candidate."
A knowledgeable source told me the flier attacking Ralph Johnson alludes to a cocaine conviction first reported in the News & Record, while the Peacemaker reports that the campaign literature states, in part: “Ralph has no family values, no wife, no children, no PTA membership & etc.”
I spoke with Adams at a joint meeting between members of the Guilford County legislative delegation and the Greensboro City Council. She said she had no knowledge of the flier attacking her opponent until she received a call from the Peacemaker about it, adding, "That's not my style." When she received the call, she told me, Adams thought they were calling about the flier produced by the Johnson campaign called "5 Reasons to vote for Ralph Johnson." She said the flier spuriously states that she allowed federal stimulus funding to go to illegal aliens.
The Peacemaker editorial board denounces the fliers as "negative campaigning [that] does everyone a disservice."
I would have to concur: The effect of this exchange is likely to discourage voters from going to the polls and make them cynical about the process.
Type rest of the post here
Showing posts with label Ralph Johnson. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ralph Johnson. Show all posts
'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?"
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?"
Candidate profile: Ralph Johnson
Ralph Johnson likes to tell the story of how he challenged a 17-year-old boy to write $1.5 billion in numerical form.
“He said, ‘Yes, I could. That’s no problem.’ He sat down and he couldn’t get the commas in the right order. What am I saying? I want to be there for young people like that. They need to hear: ‘You can be somebody.’ ‘Let me be an example for you.’ We need more role models, just regular people. Because I had role models – my mother, people in my community who mentored me. I can never repay that. So it’s only fitting that I do the same for someone else.”
Johnson is challenging Alma Adams in the Democratic primary for NC House District 58, which covers east Greensboro and the eastern portion of Guilford County all the way to the Alamance line. Adams has held the seat since 1994, when she was appointed to replace a sitting representative who died in office. Johnson ran against her that year and lost.
(Disclosure: Johnson and I worked together in 2008 and 2009 in the Guilford County Unity Effort, a voter education project. I remain involved, but Johnson stepped aside when he decided to run for office.)
Johnson and I met today, on Good Friday, at the Green Bean to talk about his candidacy.
“You’ve heard the old adage that it takes a village to raise a child,” he said. “The way things are going right now the village is on fire…. What I’m talking about is rebuilding the community.
“We have one of the highest dropout rates in the state,” Johnson continued. “We’re paying right now. There’s a direct correlation between education and the prison system. We don’t want to raise kids to go through the judicial system. Do you know we spend $9,000 a child in our public school system, but we spend $30,000 per person to keep them in prison? If we took the time to invest the funds to try to assist young people for the next step in their life instead of sending them to prison with three squares and a cot…. Prison doesn’t give you a good return on the investment.”
He paused to clarify his position.
“If you are convicted of a violent crime, abuse of women, pedophile, I have no problem making sure there’s a bed for you in jail. But if you’re charged with a misdemeanor, you shouldn’t be doing two to three years.”
Johnson’s concern about children is grounded in his volunteer work. He recently resigned as chairman of Concerned Citizens of Northeast Greensboro, whose major effort in recent years has been the opening of the McGirt-Horton Library. He’s worked on a back-to-school supply drive that’s served more than 1,000 children in northeast Greensboro. As a member of the East Side Civitan Club, he’s worked with physically challenged children. And last April, Johnson helped organize a railway trip for 80 students from Washington, Hampton, Bluford and Falkener elementary schools to visit the state capitol in Raleigh.
Johnson said teachers need more support, and need to be able to focus on teaching instead of being counselors and disciplinarians. In that spirit, the candidate proposes bringing back truant officers.
“A lot of the problem with our young people is they aren’t in school,” he said. “They may be at home sick. Most households are being operated by a single mother. The boyfriend might be abusing the mother. A child sees that and is at risk of repeating that behavior. There might be drugs being sold out of the house. By bringing in the truant officer you can find out why Little Johnny is not in school and why Little Susie is not in school. Because [otherwise] Little Johnny and Little Susie get together, and you get teenage pregnancy. That’s a whole issue unto itself.”
A Greensboro resident, Johnson has been visiting the smaller towns in District 58 – Gibsonville, Whitsett, Sedalia, McLeansville and Pleasant Garden – to get a feel for their needs. As a remodeling contractor whose business has suffered in recent years, the candidate is personally familiar with the concerns expressed by voters.
“They’re concerned about, are they going to have a job tomorrow? Are they going to be able to send their kids to college? Are they going to be able to keep a roof over their head?” he said.
As a community leader, Johnson said he feels ready to represent a diverse range of constituents.
“I pride myself in talking to people,” he said. “You can’t take people out of the process. It might not always be resolved to their liking, but at least they’ll feel that they were part of the decision.”
In addition to education, the other investment Johnson would like to see is in mass transit. He proposes adding local stops along the Raleigh-Greensboro railway corridor in Gibsonville, Whitsett, Sedalia and McLeansville and increasing the frequency of stops, along with adding rail service to Pleasant Garden.
“You’ve got to have a vision,” he said. “We know we cannot continue to drive our cars and be thinking green at the same time. We would probably get a lot more support than people would think… in terms of ridership demand. A lot of our senior citizens don’t drive.”
To pay for rail transit improvements, Johnson suggested a quarter-cent sales tax might be paired with a matching financial commitment from the private sector. He does not favor passing a bond, which he said would likely translate into an increase in property taxes.
With the state likely to face severe budget shortfalls for at least the next couple years, I asked Johnson how he would propose to raise revenue to pay for needed investments in education.
“I will go line by line [through the budget],” he said. “What I indicated about prison reform, there are different programs like One Step Further whose job it is to reintroduce people into society. That will reduce the amount of money we’re spending on building prisons and housing people in jail. We can have these people being productive citizens and paying taxes. That would be a win-win.”
Johnson is asked a lot why he thinks he should replace Adams.
“In my view, she has done some things in the community,” he said. “I’m not going to say she hasn’t done anything. In the situation we’re in now, we need someone who’s thinking outside the box. What I’ve heard from voters is that she hasn’t been as accessible in years past. I look at that as an opportunity. I have done a lot of work in the community.
“I’m running for the people’s seat,” he added. “She’s been there for 16 years. The length of time she’s been in office, do you retire in office? I’m involving young people. I’m not going to retire in office. I’m going to bring some young people to the table. They feel that the power brokers control the thinking of the people rather than represent the people.”
Triad Elections '10
“He said, ‘Yes, I could. That’s no problem.’ He sat down and he couldn’t get the commas in the right order. What am I saying? I want to be there for young people like that. They need to hear: ‘You can be somebody.’ ‘Let me be an example for you.’ We need more role models, just regular people. Because I had role models – my mother, people in my community who mentored me. I can never repay that. So it’s only fitting that I do the same for someone else.”
Johnson is challenging Alma Adams in the Democratic primary for NC House District 58, which covers east Greensboro and the eastern portion of Guilford County all the way to the Alamance line. Adams has held the seat since 1994, when she was appointed to replace a sitting representative who died in office. Johnson ran against her that year and lost.
(Disclosure: Johnson and I worked together in 2008 and 2009 in the Guilford County Unity Effort, a voter education project. I remain involved, but Johnson stepped aside when he decided to run for office.)
Johnson and I met today, on Good Friday, at the Green Bean to talk about his candidacy.
“You’ve heard the old adage that it takes a village to raise a child,” he said. “The way things are going right now the village is on fire…. What I’m talking about is rebuilding the community.
“We have one of the highest dropout rates in the state,” Johnson continued. “We’re paying right now. There’s a direct correlation between education and the prison system. We don’t want to raise kids to go through the judicial system. Do you know we spend $9,000 a child in our public school system, but we spend $30,000 per person to keep them in prison? If we took the time to invest the funds to try to assist young people for the next step in their life instead of sending them to prison with three squares and a cot…. Prison doesn’t give you a good return on the investment.”
He paused to clarify his position.
“If you are convicted of a violent crime, abuse of women, pedophile, I have no problem making sure there’s a bed for you in jail. But if you’re charged with a misdemeanor, you shouldn’t be doing two to three years.”
Johnson’s concern about children is grounded in his volunteer work. He recently resigned as chairman of Concerned Citizens of Northeast Greensboro, whose major effort in recent years has been the opening of the McGirt-Horton Library. He’s worked on a back-to-school supply drive that’s served more than 1,000 children in northeast Greensboro. As a member of the East Side Civitan Club, he’s worked with physically challenged children. And last April, Johnson helped organize a railway trip for 80 students from Washington, Hampton, Bluford and Falkener elementary schools to visit the state capitol in Raleigh.
Johnson said teachers need more support, and need to be able to focus on teaching instead of being counselors and disciplinarians. In that spirit, the candidate proposes bringing back truant officers.
“A lot of the problem with our young people is they aren’t in school,” he said. “They may be at home sick. Most households are being operated by a single mother. The boyfriend might be abusing the mother. A child sees that and is at risk of repeating that behavior. There might be drugs being sold out of the house. By bringing in the truant officer you can find out why Little Johnny is not in school and why Little Susie is not in school. Because [otherwise] Little Johnny and Little Susie get together, and you get teenage pregnancy. That’s a whole issue unto itself.”
A Greensboro resident, Johnson has been visiting the smaller towns in District 58 – Gibsonville, Whitsett, Sedalia, McLeansville and Pleasant Garden – to get a feel for their needs. As a remodeling contractor whose business has suffered in recent years, the candidate is personally familiar with the concerns expressed by voters.
“They’re concerned about, are they going to have a job tomorrow? Are they going to be able to send their kids to college? Are they going to be able to keep a roof over their head?” he said.
As a community leader, Johnson said he feels ready to represent a diverse range of constituents.
“I pride myself in talking to people,” he said. “You can’t take people out of the process. It might not always be resolved to their liking, but at least they’ll feel that they were part of the decision.”
In addition to education, the other investment Johnson would like to see is in mass transit. He proposes adding local stops along the Raleigh-Greensboro railway corridor in Gibsonville, Whitsett, Sedalia and McLeansville and increasing the frequency of stops, along with adding rail service to Pleasant Garden.
“You’ve got to have a vision,” he said. “We know we cannot continue to drive our cars and be thinking green at the same time. We would probably get a lot more support than people would think… in terms of ridership demand. A lot of our senior citizens don’t drive.”
To pay for rail transit improvements, Johnson suggested a quarter-cent sales tax might be paired with a matching financial commitment from the private sector. He does not favor passing a bond, which he said would likely translate into an increase in property taxes.
With the state likely to face severe budget shortfalls for at least the next couple years, I asked Johnson how he would propose to raise revenue to pay for needed investments in education.
“I will go line by line [through the budget],” he said. “What I indicated about prison reform, there are different programs like One Step Further whose job it is to reintroduce people into society. That will reduce the amount of money we’re spending on building prisons and housing people in jail. We can have these people being productive citizens and paying taxes. That would be a win-win.”
Johnson is asked a lot why he thinks he should replace Adams.
“In my view, she has done some things in the community,” he said. “I’m not going to say she hasn’t done anything. In the situation we’re in now, we need someone who’s thinking outside the box. What I’ve heard from voters is that she hasn’t been as accessible in years past. I look at that as an opportunity. I have done a lot of work in the community.
“I’m running for the people’s seat,” he added. “She’s been there for 16 years. The length of time she’s been in office, do you retire in office? I’m involving young people. I’m not going to retire in office. I’m going to bring some young people to the table. They feel that the power brokers control the thinking of the people rather than represent the people.”
Triad Elections '10
Farmer's market, Ralph Johnson and White Street Landfill
The Greensboro Parks and Recreation Commission voted 7-1 to approve new recommendations for the Greensboro Farmers' Curb Market tonight, which essentially reiterate the current policy of giving preference to locally produced goods.
The approved recommendations include an interesting note about enforcement: "Need for higher management to support enforcement procedures of the market management. If vendors are violating the rules, they should be held accountable. If a vendor or customer voices a complaint, it should be referred in writing to market management for investigation and resolution.
"If elected officials are contacted by vendors, request that they allow market management and staff to work through the process."
One significant change: "None of the three management positions should be allowed to sell at this market. This recommendation is intended to reduce the perceived conflict of interest that currently exists at the market."
Browns Summit vendor Mike Faucette argued that the current arrangement of allowing the manager to also sell at the market has worked well because the manager is familiar with the other vendors and understands their needs.
Commissioner Carl Brower, a member of the working group that formulated the recommendations, said, "The manager said he had broken the rules, so to speak, to help another farmer get a space.... That substantiated why there were concerns."
The linchpin of recent conflicts among vendors at the farmers market has been the abuse of variances, which give vendors the right to resell items that they do not themselves produce if no other vendor has it in stock.
The approved recommendations state, "VAC to review and make decisions regarding applications."
This would seem to suggest that the Vendor Advisory Committee has final authority over granting variances.
Not so, says Parks and Recreation Director Greg Jackson: "The ultimate decision would be up to the manager."
I intended to ask Jackson to explain this seeming discrepancy, but I had to run to Democratic NC House District 58 candidate Ralph Johnson's campaign kickoff at the Forest Oaks Country Club.
I'm not certain whether the policies approved by the parks and recreation commission tonight are final, or if they have to be ratified by the city council. (I welcome any clarification on this point from readers. Hoggard?)
I caught the tail end of the speeches at the kickoff for Johnson, who is making the case that he should replace fellow Democrat Alma Adams as the representative for District 58.
Greensboro District 2 Councilman Jim Kee was caught off guard by Johnson's request that he make the closing remarks.
Kee formerly served as co-chair with Johnson on the Concerned Citizens of Northeast Greensboro. He told me afterwards that he also volunteered on two of Adams' campaigns, and received her endorsement in his successful bid for city council last year. So Kee will be making no endorsement in this race, although he said, "I think Ralph will make a great representative."
Mixing with the politicos at the event was Bob Mays, whose company, Cico LLC, is proposing to reopen the White Street Landfill as a waste-to-energy facility.
Both Kee and Johnson were circumspect in their comments to me about the landfill.
Kee said he favors the city hiring a consultant to sort through the proposals for solid waste services received by the city. As an Aggie, he considers himself a proponent of technology, and favors proposals by Ulturnagen and Cico over a host of proposals for traditional landfills by a handful of competitors. He thinks the Waste Industries proposal supported by Simkins PAC member Joe Williams will be a "hard sell" in northeast Greensboro. Returning to Ulturnagen and Cico, he mentioned the powerful word "jobs."
The approved recommendations include an interesting note about enforcement: "Need for higher management to support enforcement procedures of the market management. If vendors are violating the rules, they should be held accountable. If a vendor or customer voices a complaint, it should be referred in writing to market management for investigation and resolution.
"If elected officials are contacted by vendors, request that they allow market management and staff to work through the process."
One significant change: "None of the three management positions should be allowed to sell at this market. This recommendation is intended to reduce the perceived conflict of interest that currently exists at the market."
Browns Summit vendor Mike Faucette argued that the current arrangement of allowing the manager to also sell at the market has worked well because the manager is familiar with the other vendors and understands their needs.
Commissioner Carl Brower, a member of the working group that formulated the recommendations, said, "The manager said he had broken the rules, so to speak, to help another farmer get a space.... That substantiated why there were concerns."
The linchpin of recent conflicts among vendors at the farmers market has been the abuse of variances, which give vendors the right to resell items that they do not themselves produce if no other vendor has it in stock.
The approved recommendations state, "VAC to review and make decisions regarding applications."
This would seem to suggest that the Vendor Advisory Committee has final authority over granting variances.
Not so, says Parks and Recreation Director Greg Jackson: "The ultimate decision would be up to the manager."
I intended to ask Jackson to explain this seeming discrepancy, but I had to run to Democratic NC House District 58 candidate Ralph Johnson's campaign kickoff at the Forest Oaks Country Club.
I'm not certain whether the policies approved by the parks and recreation commission tonight are final, or if they have to be ratified by the city council. (I welcome any clarification on this point from readers. Hoggard?)
I caught the tail end of the speeches at the kickoff for Johnson, who is making the case that he should replace fellow Democrat Alma Adams as the representative for District 58.
Greensboro District 2 Councilman Jim Kee was caught off guard by Johnson's request that he make the closing remarks.
Kee formerly served as co-chair with Johnson on the Concerned Citizens of Northeast Greensboro. He told me afterwards that he also volunteered on two of Adams' campaigns, and received her endorsement in his successful bid for city council last year. So Kee will be making no endorsement in this race, although he said, "I think Ralph will make a great representative."
Mixing with the politicos at the event was Bob Mays, whose company, Cico LLC, is proposing to reopen the White Street Landfill as a waste-to-energy facility.
Both Kee and Johnson were circumspect in their comments to me about the landfill.
Kee said he favors the city hiring a consultant to sort through the proposals for solid waste services received by the city. As an Aggie, he considers himself a proponent of technology, and favors proposals by Ulturnagen and Cico over a host of proposals for traditional landfills by a handful of competitors. He thinks the Waste Industries proposal supported by Simkins PAC member Joe Williams will be a "hard sell" in northeast Greensboro. Returning to Ulturnagen and Cico, he mentioned the powerful word "jobs."
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