Their names are all over your neighbors’ lawns. Their faces haunt you while you sleep.
Love ‘em or hate ‘em, at some point tomorrow only three of Asheville’s six candidates for City Council will have champagne in their hair.
Who are the odds-on favorites in the race for City Council? Dwight Butner? Jan Davis? Bryan Freeborn? Elaine Lite? Brownie Newman? Bill Russell?
Let us know who you believe will fill those three creaky chairs in City Hall for the next four years. Post your answers here; anyone who can predict the exact order of finish will get a free copy of the Mountain Xpress come Wednesday.
— Kent Priestley, staff writer
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This, of course, is our specialty:
1. Newman
2. Davis
3. Freeborn
4. Davis.
5. Lite
6. Butner
Davis, Russell, Butler
1. Davis
2. Newman
3. Russell
4. Lite
5. Freeborn
6. Butner
meant to say Russell would be fourth.
I was gonna say, wow, you like Davis so much you’re voting for him twice? :)
I may have disagreed rather vocally with his predictions in the past, but I’m w/Ashvegas on this one.
Redux
1. Davis
2. Newman
3. Russell
4. Lite
5. Freeborn
6. Butner
no, Timo …
1. Davis
2. Newman
3. Russell
4. Freeborn
5. Butler
6. Lite
That’s the way the cards fell. You were kinda close, tho.
Kinda?
How generous.
Yep, kinda.
All things considered.
I predict that there will still be long meetings ahead for City Council. I predict that Robin Cape will still have to fight back the urge to back hand Carl Mumpower during meetings. I predict that there will be public comments given on every single item on the agenda by Brother Christopher (and his Jesus puppet) and I predict that my listners won’t hear from Brownie Newman again until his next re-election campaign. (I hope I’m wrong on all four counts.)
EXCERPT
From: Leslee Kulba
ASHEVILLE CITY COUNCIL – SPECIAL MEETING ON WATER – NOVEMBER 7
As many regions in North Carolina are suffering water shortages from the drought, Asheville has an abundance. Anticipating orders from Governor Mike Easley either for mandatory conservation or mandatory provision of water to communities with shortages, Mayor Terry Bellamy called a special meeting to plan ahead so the City of Asheville could present the governor with the terms and conditions by which they would cooperate.
Robin Cape was unable to make the meeting, which was called on short notice. Holly Jones and Dr. Carl Mumpower arrived late due to prior commitments. Candidate-Elect Bill Russell sat in the audience. Prior to the meeting, Bryan Freeborn, who was defeated by Russell in the city council race by 84 votes, told Russell in a voice loud enough to for all present to hear that he would be asking for a recount. Freeborn explained this was not out of any sense of entitlement, but that from a responsible viewpoint, he’s been looking for an opportunity to test the system. Further, 200 provisional ballots had not yet been counted. When Russell said he would be out of town on a family vacation and unable to do anything about it, Freeborn instructed him to sign a letter initiating the recount.
The meeting began with a presentation by Water Resources Director David Hanks…
I’m sorry to hear Freeborn is evidently demanding a recount. It would be nice to see politicians lose gracefully like they used to.
Didn’t Freeborn already “test the system” when he voted for partisan elections. That didn’t work out too well for him, huh…
Let’s hope that Russell picks up additional votes and Freeborn finds a hanky to cover the ugly wart on his bare @#$.
One day Christy and Ralph are all about making sure Asheville voters are heard, and the next day they’re ripping Freeborn for making sure the voters were heard correctly?
The margin is really close, less than one half of one percent. It makes sense to make sure that Russell won it. I imagine he did, but why not check?
The Let Asheville Vote Republicans are sounding pretty disingenuous now.
“The Let Asheville Vote Republicans are sounding pretty disingenuous now.”
There is no comparison. Four Democrat council members attempted to change the city’s charter just in time for the next elections but too late for Unaffiliated candidates to change affiliation.
The nonpartisan “Let Asheville Vote” coalition sought to put this matter to a vote of the public. We succeeded. The citizens of Asheville voted overwhelmingly to reject the council majority in their attempt to manipulate the law to their own benefit.
This is not analogous in any way to requesting a simple recount of a close election. A recount is not a new opportunity for citizens to vote where they were otherwise excluded.
I supported the referendum petition drive to let Asheville vote, and they did.
And I would support any recount of a close election. If there is any question of accuracy then the record should be amended to reflect the truth. To do otherwise would be a denial of reality. Just as the progressive majority denied the reality of the public mood concerning partisan local politics.
Gordon, I wasn’t saying that he shouldn’t ask for a recount if he feels that it may change things. I was simply pointing out that his excuse for doing so was to “test the system” and I pointed out that he had already done that. It was a close election and if he has any question in his mind, he has the option to ask for a recount. I have no problem with that.
Oh, so it was just petty nitpicking. That’s cool.