The remarkable showing of Democratic Party candidates in local and Buncombe County elections, in stark contrast to state and national contests, was surely due in part to greater-than-average voter turnout, but equally important is that local Republicans, led by the likes of Tim Moffitt and Lisa Baldwin, overplayed their hand, their arrogance and posturing turning off many in their own base and poisoning the well for other candidates.
This was signaled by many declared Republicans during pre-election canvassing and phone-banking. Buncombe County thus may well be a bellweather, one election ahead of a future trend back to responsible government.
In this case, perhaps, the worse it gets the better it gets. So, let the madness continue! The tea party may in the end be our salvation.
Richard Pigossi
Asheville
Buncombe Loses
In the 2014 General Election Buncombe Country lost Big Time. With the election of John Ager, Terry Van Duyn and Brian Turner Buncombe Country gains nothing. All of the seven bills that Terry Van Duyn was a sponsor of were referred to committee and have not become law. And in my opinion, have very little chance of ever becoming law. John Ager and Brian Turner will have little to no support in the House as the Democrats do not hold the majority nor do they seem to hold the goals of the majority. So, one can only come to the conclusion that none or very few of the bills they sponsor will get past the committees they will be referred to. So, I ask you what did the citizens win with their election of these three? Nothing.
You ask what did Buncombe Country lose by not reelecting Tim Moffitt and Nathan Ramsey? Let’s look at Tim Moffitt which “During his freshman term, Representative Moffitt was singularly responsible for the comprehensive reform of North Carolina’s long-standing annexation laws and he was the primary sponsor of 28 other bills. So far this session, Representative Moffitt has co-sponsored 289 bills and was the primary sponsor of 118 bills, 45 of which are now state law. He was also a chief architect of the General Assembly’s historic Tax Reform and Regulatory Reform legislation this year. For these and his many other efforts, Representative Moffitt was ranked among his colleagues as the #1 Most Effective legislator of both the House and the Senate this year.” – http://nchouse116.com/about-tim/. To see the 289 bills Representative Moffitt co-sponsered visit:http://www.ncleg.net/gascripts/members/reports/introducedBills.pl?nUserID=623&Chamber=H. Representative Moffitt’s website http://nchouse116.com was one of the best in research and explanation of bills people could use to help them in understanding the work of Legislature.
Now, let’s look at Nathan Ramsey “Before he was elected to the House, Representative Ramsey served eight years as Chairman of the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners, where he served the citizens of Buncombe County on countless boards and commissions, including the Buncombe County Farm Bureau, the Blue Ridge Mental Health Authority, the Buncombe County Board of Health, Buncombe County Smart Start, Children First, Partners in Education, the Asheville Buncombe Drug Commission, Asheville Buncombe Vision, the Buncombe County Audit Committee, the Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce, the Buncombe County Economic Development Coalition, Asheville HUB, French Broad MPO,the Community Energy Advisory Committee, and the Regional Water Authority of Asheville, Buncombe, and Henderson Counties. Representative Ramsey has also also served as the co-chair of the Legislative Goals Committee of the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners, and as a member of the United Way’s Peaks Development Committee and United Way Highland Circle.” – http://nchouse115.com/bio/. Representative Ramsey sponsored or co-sponsored 264 bills 2013-2014 Session. To see the bills visit: http://www.ncleg.net/gascripts/members/reports/introducedBills.pl?nUserID=653&Chamber=H.
Buncombe Country lost two hard working representatives with lots of knowledge looking to do the work that was needed to put North Carolina on the track of good government, and fiscal responsibility.
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One of the biggest talking points used by NC Democrats in the aftermath of the 2012 elections was the victories by NC Republicans up and down the ballot were solely due to gerrymandering. Well that talking point is kaput. Last month, the NC GOP clearly won the popular vote for Congress and for the General Assembly. Redistricting might have helped pad the GOP’s majorities, but ultimately it was the voters who put them in charge.
http://www.politicsnc.com/nc-gop-swept-popular-vote/
Democrats lost badly at the congressional level in 2014. That, of course, got a lot of coverage. Democrats also took huge losses at the state level. That didn’t get a lot of attention. State legislators get coverage when they do something stupid or illegal (or both). Even so, Democrats losses at the state level are a more profound problem for Democrats than the loss of the Senate. As one Democratic strategist conceded to me last week, his party is “in a deep hole” at the state level.
http://cookpolitical.com/story/8123
It is a story playing out across the South, which has transformed from a bastion for Democrats to a region awash in red. Republicans next year will control 19 of the 22 Senate seats from the South, along with 101 of the 138 House seats. The difference is even more stark in the states themselves: The GOP is slated to control all but one governor’s mansion in the South–Virginia is the exception–as well as every single state legislature.
http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2014/12/08/the-south-is-now-almost-a-democrat-free-zone/