Henderson County Four Seasons Politics
RALEIGH — Republican legislative leaders’ decision to hold secretive budget deliberations was bad politics, and could further motivate angry Democrats to flood the voting booth this fall, political observers say. GOP leaders counter that the budget they unveiled Monday night merely makes some minor adjustments in the two-year agreement enacted last year. In their view, Democrats used similar tactics when they had a lock on the General Assembly. And the spending plan for the upcoming year is fiscally sound, including higher pay for teachers and state employees, more tax cuts, and a boost in state rainy-day savings — a tough budget to reject in an election year, Republicans say. Even so, analysts say the choice to offer the budget as a conference committee report, allowing no amendments, gives Republicans, with supermajority margins in both legislative chambers, a tactical advantage. “I certainly think that they recognize there’s energy on the Democratic side," said Catawba College political science professor Michael Bitzer. Cutting the process short will deny Democrats a high-profile platform in budget debates to criticize GOP policies. “I think this could be the real test this November — how far a party can go in using absolute power to their advantage,” Bitzer said. “It’s hard to compare, but it feels like the Democratic side is having their 2010 kind of a year.” Then, Republicans gained control of the General Assembly after more than a century of Democratic rule. Rather than amend the 2018-19 budget, Republican legislative leaders chose to strip language out of an old insurance bill, and replace it into a conference report with the $23.9 billion General Fund budget proposal. The Senate Joint Appropriations/Base Budget Committee will meet at 10 a.m. Tuesday to review the report. Lawmakers can only vote up or down on the budget. Democrats condemned the tactic on Twitter last week and through the weekend. “The disregard for the spirit of the democratic process is breathtaking,” wrote Senate Minority Leader Dan Blue, D-Wake. “There is a real fear of civil discourse from #ncga leadership.” “Perhaps we can make it much more ‘efficient’ for #ncga leadership” to pass a budget, said House Minority Leader Darren Jackson, D-Wake. He sarcastically suggested Republican lawmakers “could just sign a proxy [and] let just a handful of people write it and then approve it.” “Transparency is a hallmark of a democratic republic, and when the process is done behind closed doors, and only presented for ratification where the votes are already there, it raises real questions about the civic process,” Bitzer said. Shelly Carver, a spokeswoman for Senate leader Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, disagreed with the critics. “The purpose of the short session is to adjust the two-year state budget that was fully vetted, debated, and passed over a six-month period last year — not to write an entirely new plan,” Carver told Carolina Journal by email. “Lawmakers of both parties will have the opportunity to vote on the bill, and make their voices heard,” Carver said. “But we fully expect legislative Democrats and Gov. Cooper will attempt to use this to justify their opposition to a budget that will include a fifth consecutive teacher pay raise and substantial tax relief for millions of North Carolinians.” Joseph Kyzer, spokesman for House Speaker Tim Moore, R-Cleveland, defended the budget process. “As appropriations leaders have emphasized, the legislature is only making adjustments to the biennium budget passed last year based on the state’s $356 million revenue surplus and record reserve fund,” Kyzer said. “This year’s state budget will continue to deliver strong investment growth in North Carolina’s priorities like education and public safety while maintaining tax relief for families and businesses,” Kyzer said. The process Republicans chose is legal, but unconventional, according to Gerry Cohen, former General Assembly special counsel. He told the News & Observer he researched budget bills dating to 1985. This is the first instance when amendments will be prohibited on the House and Senate floors. Over 34 years, only three times did one chamber adopt the other’s budget without amending it. But former House Majority Leader Paul “Skip” Stam recalls Democratic power plays. “We protested loudly” as a minority party in 2007, the Wake County Republican said. Republican senators urged their House counterparts to pass the Senate’s budget unamended. Minority House Republicans sought nine Democratic colleagues to join them, backing the Senate budget so it wouldn’t go to a conference committee. House Democratic leaders foiled the scheme. The ensuing conference report contained a half billion dollars of new spending neither the House nor Senate had approved separately. It also created land transfer taxes that failed in both chambers. “I won’t say there was no debate, because we debated it hard. But just like this one, there will be debate but no amendments, and no real part of the process,” Stam said. In 2004, Stam said, Democrats brought a budget conference report to the House floor for an immediate late-night vote. He objected, and then-House Speaker Jim Black allowed less than an hour to review 500 pages of budget documents before voting. N.C. State political science professor Andy Taylor said Republicans’ decision to budget by conference report is not surprising. Power has crystallized for many years among a small cadre of leaders who control budget decisions, the legislative process, committee appointments, and district maps. Some veteran lawmakers who weren’t part of the negotiations still don’t know what’ll be in the final package and have bristled at being excluded. Retiring state Rep. John Blust, R-Guilford, in late April spoke about that concentration of power. In a letter to House and Senate Republicans dated May 10 he strongly urged colleagues to reject a budget dropped into a conference report. He said Republicans have accelerated abusive practices Democrats started. “It is elementary that each citizen of this state is entitled to equal representation in the chambers that make the laws which those citizens are bound to follow,” Blust wrote in the May 10 letter. “This is fundamental constitutional law and fundamental to the very essence of a republic. It should never be abused or traded away for any reason short of a public emergency.” The conference process shuts out minority party members, Taylor said. But rank-and-file majority members also are affected because they can’t offer amendments. Taylor said there’s no question the budget will pass. But it’s unclear if it will get the 60-percent vote needed to override a gubernatorial veto. Some Republicans upset about being excluded from the process, and what’s put in the spending plan, may vote no. Rep. Jeff Collins, R-Nash, who’s also retiring at the end of the session, said the conference committee approach would be OK merely to tweak the budget. But the Republican caucus is split. If big policy issues or objectionable spending items were inserted, he might vote against it. UNC-Greensboro political science professor Thomas Little said legislative leaders may prefer a speedy process, but it doesn’t inspire faith in representative government. “It’s not a healthy process for democracy. If your argument is efficiency, democracy’s not efficient. That’s not one of its qualities. Never has been, never will be,” Little said. “The quality is representation and responsiveness, and you don’t get either with this.” Read Story »
Henderson County Four Seasons Politics
Two hours of talking by Henderson County commissioners and School Board members about Hendersonville High School construction produced contentious exchanges, threats to kill the $52 million project and close the high school, calls for starting over on design and renewed calls for renovating the existing classroom building.The joint meeting of the two boards failed to produce consensus between the two boards, and the Board of Commissioners itself could only muster a 3-2 vote to table the question for a couple of months and work toward a solution. The joint meeting limped to a close with nothing decided and left nothing in its wake but renewed ill will between the two boards on what has been an emotional and fraught debate for three years.At issue is a gap in the project that School Board members say they were promised when they voted for the all-new construction option in December 2016 and what commissioners say that project included. The School Board was told early last week that price had gone up by $11 million if the board wants a second gym and a 900-seat auditorium instead of a 400-seat auditorium that meets state standards.Commissioner Bill Lapsley’s motion to move ahead with the originally approved $52 million plan and add the second gym failed on a 4-1 vote. Then Chairman Michael Edney’s motion to add the auxiliary gym and larger auditorium — at a total cost of $66.8 million — failed on another 4-1 vote.Charlie Messer’s saved the project for now with a motion to delay decision until July or August. Commissioners Charlie Messer and Bill Lapsley supported the motion; Edney and Hawkins voted no.“It’ll give you guys a chance, I guess we’re saying start over.” Messer said to the School Board members. “Try to get something that will work for everybody. We’re kicking the can down the road."
School Board members pointed to minutes of meetings, including a joint meeting with the Board of Commissioners in 2016, and sessions with architect Chad Roberson, showing that the $52.3 million pricetag did include an auxiliary gym and larger auditorium. But commissioners said those minutes could be erroneous and didn’t change the fact that the county would have to spend $11 million more for those facilities. The larger auditorium is the main sticking point between the two boards.
Lapsley, Thompson and Hawkins all argued that the original Erle Stillwell-designed auditorium would work fine for the high school, especially with upgrades that the county has already tentatively agreed to make. School Board members said the walk from the new classroom building to the auditorium would be too far and would be unsafe, exposing students to potential harm from outsiders.
“I can’t in good conscience support kids having to walk to the Stillwell building without some kind of cover,” said Lisa Edwards. “I don’t think anybody would support children having to walk from another building to the Stillwell building without some kind of cover.”
“To me it would be very hard to explain the extension of the auditorium with the Stillwell building over there," Hawkins said. "If we say we need to spend $11 million so you don’t have to walk to the auditorium I think is a bit of a hard sell for us.”
School Board member Blair Craven said after the meeting broke up that the two boards could reach a compromise.
"I do think it's constructive," he said. "No matter how it happened we were misled at some point about what would be included in the $52.6 million price. That was in several minutes."
The School Board and commissioners could use the weeks ahead to look at a more compressed campus and possibly revive the idea of renovating the historic classroom building.
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Hendersonville Four Seasons Politics
Henderson County School Board members reacted with dismay on Monday to a suddenly announced $11 million cost overrun for the new Hendersonville High School, casting the project into uncertainty and reviving the intramural conflict that has marred the project for three years.
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Henderson County Four Seasons Politics
Two days after Sheriff Charlie McDonald lost his re-election bid, County Manager Steve Wyatt has recommended to county commissioners that they drop work on a law enforcement training center, an idea that the sheriff-elect, Lowell Griffin, has opposed.
Wyatt, after consulting with Chairman Michael Edney, noted that Griffin would "no doubt have new priorities" and said it's up the Board of Commissioners "within our resources" to work with him. The Board of Commissioners, which paid a deposit and made an offer to the owner of property on Macedonia Road that McDonald had identified as a potential training center site, has to act on the property purchase before the end of May. It's expected to take up the question in its May 16 meeting. If it takes Wyatt's recommendation, it will withdraw its purchase offer and drop the training center discussion for the foreseeable future.
Here's the memo:
"December will bring a new Sheriff’s Administration to Henderson County Government. As with the previous Sheriffs we have worked with, he will no doubt have new priorities and bring strategies perhaps different from his predecessors. It is our duty and responsibility to work with him, within our resources, to help him accomplish the mission of the Sheriff’s department to protect and serve our citizens."Given the long term design and implementation process of a Law Enforcement Training Center project, in consultation with Chairman Edney, it is my recommendation that further work on the project be suspended until the incoming Sheriff assesses and determines the overall needs of the department."You will need to make a decision prior to the property purchase deadline. Official action cannot be taken until your May 16th budget work session. Please consider how you want to proceed and be prepared to instruct staff accordingly." Read Story »
Edneyville Four Seasons Politics
Lowell Griffin was in workout clothes, hoping to get to the gym on Wednesday, when a television news crew asked for an on-camera interview. The newly elected sheriff of Henderson County agreed to the sit-down — and scrambled to change into an orange plaid shirt.
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Henderson County Four Seasons Politics
Asked for his reaction to his stunning re-election loss on Tuesday, Sheriff Charlie McDonald repeated an interviewer’s question.
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Hendersonville Four Seasons Politics
Challenger Lowell Griffin defeated Sheriff Charlie McDonald Tuesday in the Republican primary after a campaign that swung on issues that included a law enforcement training center, arming schoolteachers and the use of body cameras.
“We don’t know yet,” McDonald said with almost 90 percent of precincts reporting Tuesday night. “It’s not looking real good. I would tell you I'm surprised.”Earlier in the evening, Griffin said the campaign had been a rewarding experience.“I’ve been able to meet people I would never have met before and that part has been really worthwhile regardless of the outcome,” he said at a campaign gathering at Grandad’s Apples on U.S. 64. He did not know then the outcome three hours later would be a stunning upset of the incumbent that he had worked for before his termination in November 2014. “I really didn’t expect to have this much support. We’ve got a crowd here. I’m overwhelmed with the amount of support we’ve had in this campaign.”Appointed to the office in February 2012 after Sheriff Rick Davis resigned the previous November, McDonald ran as a reformer in 2014 and continued to talk about modernizing the department throughout his four-year term. “We have buried once and for all the good ol’ body system that inevitably leads to inefficiency and corruption,” McDonald said during a campaign forum. “Despite what’s being said by those with axes to grind, I would submit that we can’t afford to turn back. We’ve shown Henderson County what can be accomplished when an agency comes together as a team to accept necessary change, embrace best practices and organizational management. Morale is high, our staff is well-trained.”Among the issues that separated the challenger from the incumbent were body cameras — Griffin favors them, McDonald resisted them — and animal control in cities. But the issue that produced power at the polls and peril for McDonald was his proposed law enforcement training center — an idea that was both a three-year goal and ultimately a political liability. While McDonald had quietly dropped the idea of a $20 million training center at Blue Ridge Community College, he continued to look for a site for a center. The announcement in April that he had found a new site in Saluda revived the controversy just two weeks before early voting started and fired up hundreds of motivated single-issue voters. Griffin shellacked McDonald in the two precincts closest to Saluda — winning 72 percent of the vote in Green River and 84 percent in Raven Rock, the would-be home of the proposed Macedonia Road firing range. During a forum last month, McDonald defended the facility.“We’re asking our men and women to do more and more and to be trained to a higher level of efficiency,” he said. “I think everybody understands law enforcement needs to have the ability to train realistically in rapidly evolving situations so they can practice critical decision skills and combat tactics.”Griffin argued against the training center but for a broader outdoor training facility that would cost less and involve all first-responders.“If we do this right, we can create a village that becomes a total emergency services training area. … If we decide to go with an outdoor training center, we’ve got to have transparent studies that show the effect on the quality of life of everyone that may be around or affected by that. There are a lot of options," he said. "I think we really need to slow down and discuss and choose what’s right.”
McCall edges Ward
The Republican primary for the District 4 Board of Commissioners seat was a contest between two county natives, both graduates of East Henderson High School — Ward in 1970 and McCall in 1974 — both with grandfathers who served on the Board of Commissioners.McCall pulled away for the win, becoming the first woman to serve since 2002.“I think most of the people probably thought I was the incumbent,” Ward said. “I knew Lowell was gonna win. I think the people just wanted somebody new on all counts, in the sheriff’s race and the commissioners. I think the people wanted change. They’re tired of the same old politicians in office and I think the people spoke and I respect their opinion. “Rebecca’s going to do a good job,” he added. “I've got total confidence.”
Ward was an early vocal opponent of the law enforcement training center and also came out against the Balfour Parkway. McCall opposed the parkway. She said she favored a training center but not one at the Saluda site.
“They need to have scenario training … to be able to mimic what is going to happen in schools or any area they have to be able to set up these scenarios. … There is money to pay for that,” she said. Ward called for shifting that investment to schools.“With $6 million, if I choose between a law enforcement center that’s a year off and the immediate need that’s in the schools, I will pick the school and teachers,” he said.Both opposed arming schoolteachers.“It’s a whole different thing being armed and pulling the trigger and killing somebody,” Ward said. “If you hesitate for a second, you’re dead and might be somebody dead besides you.”“My daughter-in-law is a teacher,” McCall said. “She teaches fifth grade. She’s very strong-willed. I asked her that question and she said she would not want to carry a gun. She has enough to do as a teacher to deal with that.”
Newman turns back challenger
District Attorney Greg Newman easily defeated Mary Ann Hollocker.
Hollocker, a magistrate, said on the campaign trail that law enforcement officers had asked her to run.“This is not a personal attack against Mr. Newman. I just think with my skill set I can do a better job,” she said.A county magistrate for the past four years, she said she hears “first-hand how upset they are about how their cases are being handled. And I think with the skill set I have and experience I can fix those problems.”Newman scoffed at that. Gathered at the Elizabeth Leigh Inn on Fifth Avenue West Tuesday night, Newman said he’d never heard law officers express any concerns about his office.“She claimed law enforcement was supporting her and were afraid to come forward,” he said. “The ones that I know aren’t afraid. If there was a problem they would have told me.”“I think merit matters,” he said of his decisive win. “I think results matter.”
Sheley takes Democratic nomination
In a Democratic primary for the District 1 seat held by Michael Edney, Pat Sheley defeated Michelle Antalec with 70 percent of the vote.
Sheley had become active in the contentious issues that drew voters' interest down the stretch, coming out against the Saluda firing range and against the Balfour Parkway.
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Flat Rock Four Seasons Politics
Brian Burch, the NCDOT’s top official for the 10-county Division 14, opened a presentation on the scaled back plans for Highland Lake Road with a cautionary note.
“This is the minimal impact we can do and still have a viable project,” he said.
To say that DOT and consulting engineers have made concessions is a significant understatement.
Consider the demands that have been made and how the NCDOT has responded so far:
Reduce the footprint of the road widening. Check. The NCDOT has reduced the width of the new roadway from 14 feet to 11 feet, which is what it is now. Essentially the project has transitioned from a road widening to a transportation and safety improvement project, including a sidewalk, a greenway through the park, slightly wider shoulders, curb and guttering, left turn lanes and an intersection improvement.
Save the covered dropoff, handicapped parking, regular parking and septic field of Pinecrest Presbyterian Church. Check. The NCDOT has pulled as far as south as it could in order to fix the Highland Lake-Greenville Highway intersection, one of the main safety improvements identified in the first place.
Save the Flat Rock Historic District. Check. We know Historic Flat Rock will dispute this but the encroachment on the corner of the Maybank property hardly amounts to the destruction of the history of Flat Rock. The project has to round off that corner to make room for a right-turn lane and give tractor-trailers and charter buses an achievable turning radius.
Save the majestic oak trees at the entrance of the Highland Golf Villas and the Park at Flat Rock. Check. The latest plan closes that entrance entirely and moves it about 100 yards west, where sight lines are better.
Toss in a new entrance to the park, saving village taxpayers roughly $1 million. Check. This has always been a significant benefit of the project though not, as critics argue, the only reason for it.
The Flat Rock Village Council — thanks to tireless behind-the-scenes diplomacy by Councilman John Dockendorf — has worked with Burch and the engineers to win these major concessions. One might think that the opponents would take a moment to actually consider the benefits of a workable compromise. That might be possible if we were not stuck in the era of transportation planning by mob rule. The nimby party is ascendant. Whether it’s Kanuga Road — where we’ve already lost sidewalks and bike lanes — White Street, U.S. 64 through Laurel Park or the Balfour Parkway — where we’re trying hard to throw away a $160 million solution to future gridlock — our community is turning away one needed and thoughtfully designed project after another. Highland Lake is just the latest example of a vocal minority drowning out a silent majority of motorists and taxpayers who would gladly accept a safer and more efficient roadway.
Historic Flat Rock and another organization, Cultural Landscape Group, could have given the compromise a chance. They could have done what Dockendorf and Mayor Bob Staton are doing — thanking the DOT for the work so far and working steadfastly for one or two more concessions that might appease the opponents and make this an attractive traffic and safety improvement.
Instead, both call unequivocally for the Village Council to drive a stake through its heart. A “cold concrete atrocity” will destroy “the gentle and picturesque ambience” of the village, Historic Flat Rock says. Conventional engineering structures like retaining walls and box culverts become “monstrosities” that will annihilate life as we know it. Please.
All the hyperbole and drama, on Highland Lake and elsewhere, is working only too well to fill rooms, provoke hoots and jeers and intimidate elected officials. Something’s being destroyed all right: The opportunity to benefit from millions of dollars of state investment in needed highway work. Pity our elected officials 10 to 20 years from now, who will sit in those same rooms and see them filled again, this time with people crying, “Why don’t you do something about traffic?” Read Story »
Henderson County Four Seasons Politics
Students from Henderson County won second and third places in the annual 11th Congressional District Art Competition sponsored by U.S. Rep. Mark Meadows.
This year’s competition had 71 submissions overall from 47 different students across the district. The winning entry, Hands in Motion, was done by Pisgah High School’s Rosalyn Mary White—art student of Dustin Keyes. Second place, for Galaxy, was by Joshua Grady, of East Henderson High School, taught by Robert Wallace. Curious CowsThird place, for Curious Cows, was by Hannah King, of West Henderson High School, taught by Kelly King.
Judges were Yona Wade, Jill Stepp and Eugenie Fein. Read Story »
