Bothwell and Smith are right for City Council

As an environmentalist, progressive and lifelong Asheville resident, I will vote in this fall's election for Cecil Bothwell and Gordon Smith for City Council. These two candidates will protect the character of our lovely city and work in the best interests of the citizens, rather than developers and their lobbyists.

Journalist Cecil Bothwell has covered local government for years and comes to the race with a deep and sophisticated grasp of the problems facing our city. Leni Sitnick, one of the most popular and dynamic mayors Asheville has ever seen, has endorsed Bothwell. That says a lot about his character. Bothwell's hard work campaigning for Obama last fall also bodes well for Asheville.

I appreciate Bothwell's focus on the local economy in the form of policy that takes into account the serious environmental problems we face. I'm grateful that Bothwell has focused on the abominable water rules Asheville taxpayers have to bear. Despite living near the infrastructure, Asheville city water customers pay the exact same rate as people in the county.  We can thank county and state officials for this and, in turn, the development lobby. Bothwell has a plan that will not only cut Asheville taxpayer costs and help shift some of the rate burden to the county where it belongs, but will boost conservation.

Gordon Smith is also a fine candidate. This Warren Wilson graduate works as a child and family therapist. He has served the community as an environmental educator and has worked extensively with the mentally ill.

With his blog, Smith helped uncover and publicize the nasty shenanigans behind the Parkside development deal. He also played a role in the fight against an unnecessary power plant in Woodfin.

Compassion, intelligence and reason mark both campaigns. It will be a beautiful thing to see Bothwell and Smith voted into City Council.

— Heather Rayburn
Asheville

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4 thoughts on “Bothwell and Smith are right for City Council

  1. J

    Congratulations, Cecil!

    The Board of Elections has finally published your Campaign Finance Reports! Cecil has amassed an impressive list of donors, with the vast majority of donors being from the city itself. That is truly quite an accomplishment.

    It is with great curiosity that one most wonder then, why Candidate Bothwell spent thousands of dollars of campaign expenses for buttons, cards, bumper stickers, etc., outside the city and at corporate mega-giants such as Office Depot and Kinko’s, especially as Ms. Rayburn notes: “Cecil focuses on the local economy”.

    Hopefully Candidate Bothwell will shed some light on this, as I am sure he is not one that would sell out the local economy during a recession simply to obtain a cheaper product elsewhere. Candidate Bothwell supports a living wage for all city employees and all contract labor. He would not undermine his own policy stance and use the services of a corporation that does not provide a living wage to all of its employees. I remain confident there is a totally justifiable reason.

  2. J

    Candidate Smith had the following critical remarks to say about City Councilman Bill Rusell’s yard signs during the campaign of 2007:

    “Your question as to whether I ever order anything from out-of-town, I would answer that I’m not running for a City Council. Asheville’s small businesses could have used over $5,000 of local money. The fact that it was spent, perhaps thoughtlessly, in Detroit instead of Asheville simply demonstrates the notion I’d long assumed.

    It simply doesn’t occur to some people to consider local businesses first.”

    When finding out that local businesses did in fact make local yard signs, Gordon continued:

    “So there is a group in town that makes them

    Shame on any candidate who didn’t use Fast Signs then.

    I didn’t know that, Christy, because I’m not spending over $5,000 on yard signs. But if I were, I’d have found out and not sent the money to Detroit.”
    http://tinyurl.com/re9qf8

    Now that Bothwell, colleague and progressive peer of Smith, is pouring his campaign money into other states instead of investing it in the local economy, question-dodging Gordon Smith has this to say about shunning the local economy: ” “.

    If you want to support candidates who are principled until it’s too inconvenient, vote Smith and Bothwell.

  3. Rob Close

    ha! well put. actions speak louder than words, that’s for sure!

    the grove arcade copy shop has done all of my printing, and everything for our non-profit (AWEN). their attention to detail and ability to work with us as humans is excellent.

    they also did a fine job working with city council candidate William Meredith during the last election cycle, helping him be able to make signs he could afford. Flashy? No – but about 25% of the cost of anywhere else. Which I think speaks volumes towards the libertarian ideals of fiscal responsibility.

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