Wednesday, Jul. 21, 2010

Wake commissioner races heat up

November's Wake County commissioner races may be a blip on most people's political radar, but insiders have already started throwing cash at candidates in what will be a group of hotraces with the school board controversy at its center.

From former Raleigh Mayor Smedes York to top defense attorney Wade Smith, Democrats from inside the Beltline and beyond are backing county party Chairman Jack Nichols and others as they try to unseat another former Raleigh mayor, Paul Coble, and two other Republican board of commissioners incumbents, Chairman Tony Gurley and former Chairman Joe Bryan. Commissioner Lindy Brown, a Democrat, faces opposition from Republican Phil Matthews, a former Garner Town Council member.

Among high-profile GOP contributors are folks such as Dot Helms, widow of the late Sen. Jesse Helms, and North Hills developer John Kane. But Wake County Republican Chairman Claude E. Pope Jr. says the party has some catching up to do.

"We spent every nickel last year on the school boardraces, and we've had to replenish our coffers," Pope said. "We're probably behind the eight ball."

To run viable campaigns, county commissioner candidates will need to spend upwards of $100,000, preferably in the range of $150,000 to $200,000, Pope said.

Controversy over the Republican-backed school board majority's actions has brought increased voter interest in the Nov. 2 elections, Nichols said. Because he's also a candidate, Nichols is stepping down next month from his role as party chairman.

"Because of the school board, there are more people interested in the race this year than any time I have seen in the past," Nichols said. "I think that people are very energized about the race, and they understand that the county commissioners have a banking role in the school board.

"They are involved; they are very committed."

County commissioners must approve the school board's budget but typically stay away from fine-tuning its details and school district policy. But Pope maintained that voters aren't likely to correlate commissioner candidates with their like or dislike of the school board's direction.

Since elections last fall, the school board majority has worked to move the 140,000-student system away from its previous direction of maintaining diversity based on students' economic background. Instead, board members are developing a student assignment plan based on neighborhood school zones.

"These commissioners worked with the old school board; they are working with the new school board," Pope said. "The notion that, 'Let's win the county commission so we can compel them to abandon a policy,' I don't think that's going to happen."

Quarterly reports

As of Friday afternoon, the Wake Republican Party had not filed the quarterly disclosure covering the period ending June 30. The Democrats' filing says they have raised more than $40,000 since the fall elections but have about $1,400 on hand. Donors to the party have included former state House Speaker Dan Blue, now a state senator; the campaign committee of state Sen. Josh Stein, a Raleigh Democrat; state prisons Director Boyd Bennett; and, Wake County District Court Judge Anna Worley.

In perhaps the most closely watched race, Nichols and Coble face off in District 7. The mayor of Raleigh from 1999 to 2001, Coble took in more than $32,000 in the second quarter based on contributors including developer Richard Rowe, Dot Helms, property management executive Charles Douthit, attorney and former federal prosecutor Kieran Shanahan, RDU Airport Authority Vice Chairman and former County Planning Board Chairman Terry Yeargan, and former Pine State Creamery executive Ben W. Kilgore III.

Nichols, who launched a search for someone to oppose Coble before seeking the nomination himself, took in more than $33,000 during the second quarter. A laundry list of current and former public officials and others ponied up, including downtown developer Greg Hatem, York, Smith, Raleigh City Council member Mary-Ann Baldwin, former Wake Commissioner Yevonne Brannon, current Commissioner Harold Webb, consultant Brad Crone, Wake County Clerk of Superior Court Lorrin Freeman, former school board Chairman John Gilbert, environmentalist and former state official Bill Holman, state Representatives Grier Martin and Jennifer Weiss, and former school board members Tom Oxholm and Susan Parry.

Three more of the seven commissioners seats will be on the November ballot:

District 1

Incumbent Joe Bryan, former chairman of the Board of Commissioners and well known in business and development circles, had more than $23,000 on hand at the end of the second quarter thanks to donors including Kane and the N.C. Homebuilders Association PAC. Democratic opponent Don Mial, in a rematch with Bryan, raised more than $9,000 and had about $2,500 on hand after collecting more than $9,000 from York, Blue, Capital Strategies Inc. executive Ken Eudy, the state employees PAC and others.

District 2

Incumbent Lindy Brown, the only Democratic commissioner on the ballot in November, took in more than $7,700 during the second quarter, with checks coming from businesswoman and former U.S. Ambassador Jeanette Hyde, the Triangle Land Conservancy, and unsuccessful school board candidate Karen Simon. Phil Matthews, who triumphed in a three-way Republican primary for the chance to oppose Brown, took in $875 in donations during the second quarter, most of it in the form of a $500 gift from Rep. Paul Stam, the state House minority leader.

District 3

Wake Board of Commissioners Chairman Tony Gurley used donations from a former holder of the same office, Gary Pendleton, to boost his totals in the second quarter. He also lent his campaign $20,000 in the second quarter, following his practice of self-funding much of his political career. Political newcomer Steve Rao, Gurley's Democratic opponent, raised more than $37,000 in the second quarter, receiving gifts from state Treasurer Janet Cowell, former state Rep. Al Adams, and the campaign fund of Knightdale Mayor Russell Killen.