Dwight Butner, president of the Downtown Commission and owner of Vincenzo’s Ristorante downtown, says he will run for Asheville City Council for one of three seats this November. He joins eight other declared candidates who have already filed.
Butner ran unsuccessfully for City Council two years ago as a Democrat. Since the last election, his party status has been modified to unaffiliated. Because of the change by the Asheville City Council’s recent vote to switch back to partisan municipal elections, Butner has decided to accept the challenge and run for City Council as an independent, unaffiliated candidate, his campaign says. If the partisan elections — which hinge on a possible voter referendum on the matter that is still undecided — go through this year, Butner and other indy candidates would be required to gather more than 2,000 signatures from registered city voters in order to be placed on the ballot. If partisan elections fail, a judge likely will have to set new filing deadlines for candidates. The recently passed July 20 filing deadline allowed only Democratics or Republicans to file. For the list of those who have already filed (and the latest status of the partisan-election issue), check out the latest (July 25) edition of Xpress on newsstands or see the online versions of those stories on the left side of the MX home page.
Be sure to continuously check our online and print editions for announcements by other prospective candidates for this year’s Council races. And new candidates, please contact this writer at hmillard[at]mountainx.com.
— Hal L. Millard, staff writer
“Since the last election, his party status has been modified to unaffiliated.”
Mr. Butner changed his party affiliation from Democrat to Unaffiliated the day after city council voted to change the city’s charter and return to partisan elections.
http://snipr.com/1owrm
Bravo Dwight.
Tuesday we will know whether or not you can actually run for city council without having to form a committee and obtain 2,300 signatures on your own petition.
Also, watch URTV to see a film of my attempt to file as an unaffiliated candidate for council.
http://urtv.org/schedule.html