Elections News in Raleigh

Exactly one month away is a North Carolina presidential primary election that could actually have impact on the national scale for once.  Truman once stated that “The buck stops here” and in May that “here” could be North Carolina.  As in any election, registration is key to getting a vote and we have more information on how you can get registered before the quickly approaching deadline.

The News and Observer is reporting that Taliaferro is throwing in the towel.  Looks like the 5-3 majority in the Raleigh City Council has officially taken a 180 swing.

With most votes being reported the winners are clear. McFarlane, Koopman, Stephenson and Baldwin have all been elected to their respective seats. (Taliaferro Challenges Koopman to a runoff) It looks like a very growth minded slate of candidates, save Baldwin, which I wholly feel is tied closely to real-estate interests.  Congratulations to everyone as I know it was a tough campaign that had the city strongly divided.  New Raleigh also wishes the best to all of the other candidates, particularly the four

six that granted us “chats” as Below the Beltline called them.

Speaking of Below the Beltline and Baldwin, a new term has been coined by Dr. de Gama: “Develocrat.“ Head over there to see what the hell he is talking about- I think it will be a very popular adjective for at least the next two years.  Update: de Gama is being reported as having given up on his blog.  New Raleigh will go ahead and call this horse-shit and ask him to please come back to life asap.

Lastly, I wanted to personally congratulate Helen Tart.  While New Raleigh never made endorsements many publications and local groups did. Helen was on some lists and left conspicuously off others.  She has been an active participant on the site and with very little advertising (I appreciated *not* seeing your sign at every intersection) or funding, Helen was able to pick up almost 10% of the total votes cast.

I went by two polling places this morning and both were virtually empty.  Russ Stephenson stood outside of Lacey Elementary on Ridge road along with a representative of Mary Ann Baldwin.  Baldwin’s signs peppered the schools public property along with a scattering of Bond and Clark for School Board. 

N&O is reporting a “trickle” of voters and my voting machine read 116 at 9:30 this morning.  What was your experience?

New Raleigh is fortuitous enough to open the election week with this piece by one of our favorite community leaders: Betsy Kane.  Ms. Kane is a professional land-use consultant and attorney who previously spent time working with the city on the Urban Planning Commission.  She represents the thoughtful leadership that the New Raleigh writers want to see more of in Raleigh government.  Geary once described Kane as “the sharpest member of the Raleigh Planning Commission, she does the hard work of thinking through and considering the consequences of every development case in the city.“  So in this eleventh hour New Raleigh presents Betsy Kane’s City Council Endorsements.

Endorsements

At-large: Russ Stephenson (single vote, no second)
District A: Nancy McFarlane
District B: Rodger Koopman

In the at-large race, six candidates are running for two seats. Russ Stephenson stands head and shoulders above the rest of the field, combining depth of understanding of Raleigh’s issues (he’s an architect and award-winning city planning consultant) with a nearly pathological commitment to reaching out with courtesy to all groups (including those that disagree with him). In his first term as an at-large councilor, he has shown a dedication that defies the paltry $7,000 after-tax compensation that accompanies this full-time job.

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