Younger voters tired of politicians who say one thing and do another may want to consider Carl Mumpower as a candidate for Asheville City Council. You may not always agree with Carl, but I know that he is a man who thinks things through and stands for what he believes is right instead of just saying what people want to hear. He works hard at whatever he does, treats everyone the same and is indifferent to the pressures of the power and money people who seem to run Asheville.
Carl is a principle-over-party type of guy. As a young man trying to make it in a very costly city like Asheville (I am 25), I have come to realize that the city spending is out of control, and it is property owners who take the biggest hit. Even if you are paying rent, if the landlord has to pay more in taxes each year, he will be forced to increase the cost of rent. We need someone who can make the tough decisions and help make our city more affordable to live in.
I agree with Carl when he says the city lacks balance. We have all progressive Democrats who control everything, so no one really challenges them. Having someone on the Council to challenge the status quo will inevitably make for vigorous debate; therefore, you will have more critical thinking leading to better policy for city taxpayers. Carl has a proven record from serving on the Council from 2001-09.
Carl is a big animal lover. You often see him with his dog, his faithful companion, Pepper. I always say you should be cautious of someone who can’t reach out and love an animal. Carl is a kind man, a good man. He is greatly needed on our Asheville City Council. Please consider Dr. Carl Mumpower when you vote. The city of Asheville is ready for a positive change. Thank you!
— Tim Elkin
Asheville
> You often see him with his dog
Ah, well, I’ve decided who I’m going to vote for, now!
This is a good letter to the editor and deserves some serious thought but I’m afraid Carl will lose and lose big. Asheville’s demographics have really changed in recent years and for the worse. Every year, more and more radical, intolerant secular progressives move here. These people are very well organized, get behind their candidates and demonize everyone who is not one of them (Carl being at the top). These people consider Republicans the greatest threat to humanity – yes, even more so than islamists. The days of Asheville having a city council of diversity is over – the city council here is the worst legislative body west of San Francisco and it will get progressively worse – pun definitely intended – after the city council election. I’m so happy I moved away and don’t have to pay taxes to this horrible city any more!
Wow, James, you sure do make some sweeping generalizations about large swaths of people. Accusing them of being intolerant in once sentence, then going on to display your own intolerance in the next. You do realize that Asheville is East of San Francisco, right?
Oops, my bad. Asheville is to the east of San Francisco. But, it might as well be to the west since moving west is moving left of center. No apologies about what I said about the current and likely future city council. One need only look up the hatemongering statements of Gordon Smith, Cecil Bothwell and Holly Jones to prove my point. And yes, I know Jones is now a county commissioner and thinks she can actually get elected to state office. She’ll win big in Buncombe County but the rest of NC isn’t so stupid.
Holly Jones, daughter of a disbarred democrat Judge, is a racist, trying to knock out the leading minority female democrat candidate already running for the second time for that office. Linda Coleman nearly beat the republican, Dan Forest in 2012 to be Lt. Gov, now here comes Holly trying to knock the woman OUT of her 2nd chance at minority VICTORY !
Gordon Smith is just SO damn AFFECTED and he is just LAUGHABLE on SO many levels…does he actually LIVE in the real world ?
Mumpower is the NECESSARY voice of REASON needed on clown council NOW !!!
The point of this Letter is to attract young voters, as anyone older than 25 is likely to remember the antics of the Mumpower from days yore. Don’t fall for it, young voters!
Younger voters tired of politicians who say one thing and do another may want to consider Carl Mumpower as a candidate for Asheville City Council.
Voters older than 2 1/2 yrs. old will remember that Carl said this, April of 2013:
Legislative theft of a city owned water system is bad policy, unprecedented action, and in direct opposition to the Republican Party’s stated principles… (snip) should my fellow Republicans in Raleigh chose to support this destructive, unprincipled, and unprecedented legislative action, I will take the only step I have in hand to express my concern for that act of misplaced integrity and resign from the Republican Party. I will further call on Asheville citizens registered as Republicans and others at large who are concerned with the erosion of principle in our party to do the same.
http://mountainx.com/blogwire/former_asheville_city_council_member_carl_mumpower_threatens_to_leave_gop_o/
As we all know, Carl’s fellow Republicans in Raleigh did indeed choose to support the legislative theft (his words) of Asheville’s water system. Did Carl “say one thing and do another”, or did he follow through on his pledge to quit the GOP and call on others to do the same?
Just curious.
According to both the MX profile AND the NC Board of Elections web site, he is still registered as a Republican.
Good catch!
Mumpower is still a “Principled” Republican. This “eminent domain” take-over of Asheville’s water system is still in litigation. It ain’t over until it’s over! Everyone can thank those “not so special” Democrats and “unprincipled” Republicans for trying to steal Asheville’s water. Mumpower still speaks to this concern and stands on the side of “right” verses this power grab.
Nice try. He didn’t say “If they succeed in court”, he said “If they choose to support the legislation”. He was clearly saying that if the GOP-controlled legislature passed the bill, he would resign from the party.
I appreciated and respected that Carl made that statement at the time, speaking out against the radical actions of his fellow Republicans. But that respect faded quite a bit when he failed to follow through on his public promise.
He’s a politician, like all of the rest of them. Everyone can climb down from their high horses now.
Excuse me, but I must say, you don’t know Carl if you think he’s a politician “like all the rest”. Just saying.
BTW, every Republican in the NC House that day voted to seize Asheville’s water, and all but one Democrat voted against it.
http://ncleg.net/gascripts/voteHistory/RollCallVoteTranscript.pl?sSession=2013&sChamber=H&RCS=433
In the Senate, it was all GOP.
http://ncleg.net/gascripts/voteHistory/RollCallVoteTranscript.pl?sSession=2013&sChamber=S&RCS=218
So you’re saying that every single GOP House and Senate member that session was “unprincipled”?
Great. Thanks. That’s highly Notable.
And Obama said he would close Gitmo and end the war in Iraq. Eight years later, Gitmo remains open and we are still dropping bombs in Iraq, so failing to keep promises is neither new nor limited to the GOP.
Speaking of politicians, it’s also worth noting that those “Republican Party’s stated principles” that Carl refers to, are no longer on the Buncombe County GOP website. According to the Wayback Machine, they quietly disappeared around the time that Carl was pointing at them as a sign of hypocrisy by local GOP officials like Tim Moffitt, Nathan Ramsey, and Chuck McGrady.
https://web.archive.org/web/20120530150547/http://www.buncombegop.org/principles/
Carl is not a part of the BGOP.
So you’re saying he did “resign from the Republican Party” as he pledged in 2013? ‘Cause as NFB noted, he is now and has always been registered as Republican, including voting in both GOP primaries since his “pledge”:
https://vt.ncsbe.gov/Voter_Search_Public/voter_details.aspx?voter_reg_num=000000042813&county=11
And if he’s been “call(ing) on Asheville citizens registered as Republicans and others at large who are concerned with the erosion of principle in our party to do the same”, I must have missed it.
The real reason this matters especially this election, is that the future of Asheville will be greatly affected by the actions of a hostile GOP-controlled legislature in Raleigh, personified by Henderson Rep. Chuck McGrady. If you’ve followed him since the last election, he’s made it clear that he will stand on Asheville’s throat as enthusiastically as Tim Moffitt ever did. We need people on City Council who understand this relationship, and haven’t signaled loud and clear their willingness to “say one thing and do another” as the letter-writter said.
Personally I like Carl, even though we disagree on most issues. But we really really don’t need him on City Council right now.
The fact he fought them on the issue and doesn’t involve himself with the BGOP speaks highly of his character. He obviously doesn’t have the party controlling him and I respect that. You don’t like Mumpower and will find any reason to criticize him. If he has a R, D, or U by his name, he stands on principle. The fact of the matter is it is being fought in the courts with Asheville likely to win. If Asheville doesn’t, I’m sure he will change to unifiliated.
As I said, I do like Carl. We disagree about most things, but he has a sense of humor and I believe his devotion to service is sincere. I don’t just look for reasons to criticize him.
That being said, he made a very clear, very dramatic pledge to publicly demonstrate how strongly he felt about the GOP-led seizure of Asheville’s water system. And he has very clearly failed to follow through on that pledge. Saying that he might follow through if the courts rule against Asheville isn’t just a politicians evasion, it’s practically Clintonian.
Strive to be smarter than the EVIL progressives WANT you to BE, summers…you’d come across MUCH more intelligent…
thankfully, Carl had the smarts to get away from the spineless republicannots … although Mark Meadows is doing
mighty well in Congress!
“OneWhoKnows”? As the Firesign Theatre said, “Everything You Know Is Wrong.”
Strive to examine the evidence. Carl is still a Republican, and he failed to follow through on his pledge: quit the GOP and persuade others to do so too,
well, ok, he tries to be what the party of Lincoln was I suppose…you know, the party of emancipation and freedom, instead of the party of slavery and the KKK …right?
Wheeeeee!!!
Don’t feed the troll.
Letter writer Tim Elkin, you are a bright young man to observe the truths about city council…they are pretty much all evil progressives who have squandered millions of taxpayer earned dollars over tha past few years…WE the PEOPLE have had quite enough.
Some of the nutnuts on the council are so far left-of-center that Mumpower seems “moderate”.
More propaganda. Working the refs, close to “red baiting”.
There are more “moderates” on the current Council than one would think, given the progressive makeup of the population. Cecil Bothwell is the only one I would call “left of center”.
Ha! The city council isn’t “shades of blue” anymore, it’s shades of “green with a little red in there, too”.
uhm, you’d be missing the biggest leftwingnut, gordo smithiness who hopes to get his new uberleft boyfriend Rich Lee
elected too…NOT a good combo for City.
I see it the opposite. Mumpower is so far right-of-center he makes some on Council seem “moderate.”
Doctor Mumpower’s big problem is name recognition.
Mumpower has certainly been asinine on many moral issues in the past, but he has recently and correctly opposed Asheville’s building regulations as causing high rents and home prices for first time homebuyers. In this, he may actually be speaking in the interests of young people. I only wish Mumpowers opposition to excessive building regulation was mentioned in the letter above because it is virtually the only way he has acted for young people, though it is a VERY important way.
I see this all the time: “S/he stands for what s/he believes is right instead of just saying what people want to hear.” What the hell is that all about? Politicians are elected to do exactly that – represent the people/their constituents – not themselves. This is all moot since Mumpower lost in the general election, but whomever gets elected needs to remember this: reflect on your beliefs, but know you were elected to represent the majority of you constituents, not yourself. If you want to represent the highest bidder and what “you believe is right”, go be a lobbyist.