Greensboro religious leaders unite to support immigration reform

Numerous Greensboro clergy gathered at Temple Emanuel this afternoon to speak in support of comprehensive immigration reform at the national level. Local non-profit FaithAction International House organized the press conference to show Senators Kay Hagan and Richard Burr the unified sentiment among various faith communities across the city.

Rev. David Fraccaro, FaithAction's executive director, predicted that the North Carolina senators will cast two of more decisive votes when Senate addresses the reform bill in June.

FaithAction staff members Ghaisha Yahaha-Mohammed and Endy Mendez (l-r) share their experiences since immigrating.

Rabbi Fred Guttman of Temple Emanuel

Rev. Jeff Paschal of Guilford Park Presbyterian Church

Rev. Clarence J. Shuford of St. Philip African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church

Pastors Raul Landa and Jonathan Lewis of Christ Wesleyan Church

Minister Wesley Morris and Rev. Dr. Nelson Johnson of Faith Community Church

After speaking, each cleric signed the FaithAction poster, which will be mailed to Sen. Hagan and Sen. Burr on Friday.

Baptist clergy call for immigration reform in Winston-Salem

Upwards of a dozen Baptist pastors gathered in Winston-Salem today to call for comprehensive immigration reform in Washington.

"We're asking Sens. Kay Hagan and Richard Burr and Congresspersons Virginia Foxx and Mel Watt, as well as the other congresspersons in North Carolina to act now on comprehensive, fair immigration reform that respects the God-given dignity of every person, protects the unity of every immediate family, respects the rule of law, guarantees secure national borders, ensures fairness to taxpayers and establishes a path toward legal status and/or citizenship for those who qualify and wish to become permanent residents," the Rev. Brandon Hudson, pastor of Northwest Baptist Church in Winston-Salem, said on behalf of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of North Carolina.

The Rev. Ryan Eller said the fellowship represents Baptists with a broad range of political and theological orientations, including people who consider themselves evangelical, moderate and progressive. Almost 400 congregations belong to the fellowship. A full-time organizer with Change.org, Eller is also a pastor with the Via Faith Community, an emergent congregation that meets at Community Arts Cafe on West 4th Street in Winston-Salem.

A handful of pastors read the statement on behalf of the fellowship, including Scott Orr, pastor of Lindley Park Church in Greensboro, and Latino, black and white clergy from congregations in Goldsboro and Siler City. The press conference took place in front of First Baptist Church on Highland Avenue.

"Our Scriptures constantly tell us: Care for the immigrants and strangers among us," said Ka'thy Gore Chappell, leadership development coordinator for the fellowship. "And in the Scriptures, we know that Jesus told us in Mark 12 and Matthew 22 that the greatest commandment is to love God with all our passion, prayer and intelligence and then to love our neighbors as much as we love ourselves."

Burr and Marshall in Greensboro

With Election Day a week and a half out, campaign stops by US Senate candidates Richard Burr and Elaine Marshall in Greensboro over the past couple days have presented a striking contrast.

Burr packed the house this afternoon at the Guilford County Republican Party headquarters in Greensboro for what was essentially a party rally for Republican candidates and conservative judicial candidates, and the Senate nominee's confidence was reflected in the fact that he urged those in the audience to pick a GOP candidate to campaign for rather than focusing on his own contest, and spoke ebulliently about the prospect of an upset by Republican Bill Randall in North Carolina's 13th Congressional District.

Speaking on behalf of himself and Rep. Howard Coble, Burr said, "Nothing will thrill us more than to see who makes the cavalry that's coming."

Burr's talk intermingled homages to small government, meditations on the prospects of Republican victories and reflections on the sacrifices of members of the nation's military.

In contrast, Marshall spoke to about 25 people in a small black church on Randleman Road at an event hosted by Democracy at Home. She highlighted her biography, including as a young woman being turned down for a business loan because of her gender. She talked about voters on the campaign trail sharing their anxieties about jobs, and about the widening gap between the rich and poor. She blamed Burr for voting for tax policies that reward companies that ship jobs abroad. She struck a populist chord by saying, "We can't solve this deficit on the backs of working Americans. Millionaires need to pay their fair share."

Marshall reiterated her support for repealing the Don't-Ask-Don't-Tell policy that allows gays to serve in the military as long as they keep their sexual orientation a secret.

"I have felt injustices because of being female," she said.

Marshall sounds economic populist notes in Democratic primary

Elaine Marshall (center) appeared at the Guilford County Democratic Party Convention today. (photo by Quentin L. Richardson)

I showed up late for the Guilford County Democratic Party Convention at the Presbyterian Church of the Covenant in Greensboro today, due to a prior commitment to work on a voter education project with my friend, Sharon Hightower.

The interest among Guilford County Democrats this spring is, naturally, on which of the three frontrunners in the party primary for US Senate – Cal Cunningham, or Ken Lewis or Elaine Marshall – should get the nomination. When I arrived, Lewis’ wife Holly had just addressed the group on her husband’s behalf.

An enthusiastic Lewis volunteer from Durham was on the stoop in front of the fellowship hall talking up her candidate. DJ Hardy, a candidate last year for Greensboro City Council last year, was circulating in the assembly wearing a Lewis badge. Those details color my impression that Lewis enjoys a lot of support among Guilford County Democrats.

I missed Cunningham, who spoke around 10:30 a.m. Cunningham, who lives in Lexington and practices law in Winston-Salem, appears to be the favored candidate of President Obama and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. He has also lined up support from Triad Democrats such as NC Rep. Pricey Harrison, Winston-Salem City Councilman Dan Besse and Wayne Abraham, Democratic chair for North Carolina’s 6th Congressional District.

First impression of Elaine Marshall: more energetic, friendly and confident in person than I had gathered from her web presence, photographs and a North Carolina Public Radio profile.

Marshall is the NC secretary of state. She talks about defying the odds by getting elected to state senate from a rural community and disproving predictions that she couldn’t beat Republican Richard Petty “in NASCAR country.”

In her seven-minute speech, Marshall framed the 2008 election of Barack Obama as an uncompleted revolution, and put forward a populist counterweight to the grassroots fervor of Republican calls to repeal healthcare reform.

We voted for change in 2008, and until very recently we haven’t seen much movement in that direction. I got into this race based on where we are as a group of people right now. We’re in the midst of the worst recession any of us have ever experienced. And in the last 30 years the gap between the rich and the poor has grown ever larger and the resolve to do anything about it has grown ever smaller, I’m sorry to say. Today, more than ever, we need people who can be part of the solution, not part of the problem. Today, we need leadership. When people look at Washington, they see one side saying no, the other side just running scared. That’s not leadership. They see votes being taken based on the next election rather than the long-range future of this country. And that’s not leadership. And they have seen special interests write bills behind closed doors that enhance corporate bottom lines at the expense of you and me. And that’s not leadership. When Americans look at Washington they see politicians and corporate interests standing in the way. Whose voice has been left out during all of the discussions the last year to year and a half? It’s been the voice of the ordinary people. Franklin Roosevelt talked about the "forgotten man." Today, we would talk about the voice of the forgotten man and woman – the people who make this country strong, the people who get up every day, go to work, work hard and want America to work for them. They have no stronger desire than to live a good life, educate their children, turn over a world that’s a little bit better than what they had, and to not have to worry about their shrinking dollars, their cost of healthcare, their ability to get healthcare….

Marshall garnered her one major applause line in the middle of her speech with a dig at the Republican incumbent, Richard Burr.

“Senator Burr has said his main campaign theme is going to be to repeal the healthcare bill,” she said. “That’s why we have set up a website called ‘Repeal Richard Burr.’”

The hired talent behind the candidates

We don't have comparable information from Elaine Marshall, but I think it's safe to say that Cal Cunningham has assemble the most high powered senior-level campaign staff of any of the six Democrats vying for Republican Richard Burr's seat in the US Senate.

The 36-year-old Cunningham lists a total of seven separate consultants for six specific functions: Morgan Jackson (Nexus Strategies), senior advisor; John Anzalone (Anzalone Liszt Research), polling; Pete Giangreco (Strategy Group), direct mail; Jen Mueller (Benchmark Strategies), fundraising; Larry Huynh (Trilogy Interactive), new media; Steve Murphy and Mark Putnam (Murphy Putnam Media), television.

Cunningham's campaign manager is Rick Fromberg, whose resume reportedly includes stints as political director for the John Edwards presidential campaign in Nevada and issue campaign director for Wal-Mart Watch. And Cunningham has a treasurer, Loretta Martin, with ties to the NC Association of Educators.

In comparison, Democratic candidate Ken Lewis lists only three consultants: Ken Smuckler, Bon Havely and Tim McKay. His campaign manager is Bruce Clark. Let's just say Lewis' staff members don't jump out quite so dramatically in a Google search.

Incumbent Burr has retained the services of consultant Paul Schumaker.

Triad Elections '10