STATE NEWS BRIEFS FOR 11-9-17
SAFFO WINS
RE-ELECTION HANDILY; PASTOR BARNETT WINS SEAT
At
press time Tuesday night, incumbent Wilmington Mayor Bill Saffo won re-election
in a landslide Tuesday for his sixth term, defeating challenger Todd Zola, 85
to 15%, becoming one of the longest serving mayors in the port city’s history.
Meanwhile, for City Council,
incumbent City Councilman Kevin O’Grady led all candidates in the
nine-candidate race, followed by incumbent Councilman Charlie Rivenbark, and Rev. Clifford
Barnett, pastor of Warner Temple AME Zion Church, edged out Deb. Hayes for the
third open seat. Rev. Barnett replaces councilman Earl Sheridan, who chose not
to run for re-election.
Rev.
Barnett, now the only African-American on the council after Sheridan leaves, said his win is a testament to the need
for diversity on the council, and wants the city to be a better place for all
of Wilmington’s citizens to live and work. One of his priorities is to advocate
for affordable housing for those who work in the city.
MAJOR MAYORAL
ELECTIONS ACROSS NORTH CAROLINA
[RALEIGH]
At press time Tuesday, incumbent Raleigh Mayor Nancy McFarlane, an independent,
won a fourth-term to lead the Capital City in a runoff against hard-charging
challenger Democrat Charles Francis, who had the support of Raleigh’s black
community. McFarlane won 58 to 42%.. Mayor McFarlane said this coming term may
be her last.
In
Durham, City Councilman Steve Schewel outpaced former City Councilman Farad
Ali, 60 to 40%. Ali had the endorsement of outgoing Mayor Bill Bell, - who has served for the past 16 years - and the Durham
Committee on the Affairs of Black People.
In
Charlotte, Councilwoman Vi Lyles, a Democrat, jumped out to an early lead over
Republican Kenny Smith, and kept it to become the first African-American woman
to be elected mayor of the Queen City. Lyles had a lion’s share of the vote, 58
to 42% percent.
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Ed-
REV. BARNETT WINS A SEAT
Congratulations
to Rev. Clifford Barnett, pastor of Warner Temple AME Zion Church, for winning
a seat on the Wilmington City Council Tuesday night, winning behind incumbents Councilmen Kevin O’Grady and Charles Rivenbark.
Rev.
Barnett now replaces Earl Sheridan as the only African-American on the City
Council. Sheridan decided not to run for re-election after three terms.
This
was a tough one for us in Wilmington. Out of three black candidates running,
Rev. Barnett came through. That means, in terms of representing the
African-American community of Wilmington at the council table, Rev. Barnett is
there as our voice. And one look at his community involvement, especially with
the children of our community, tells you he is certainly up to the job. We
might not agree with him on every issue, but we know his golden heart of
service is in the right place.
And
it needs to be, and long before swearing in, the community needs to sit down
with Rev. Barnett, and refresh him on our issues – economic development in the
black community, affordable housing for low-income families in the face of
increasing gentrification; the need for more African-American police officers,
NOT, as we noted last week, more riot gear and military equipment.
How
can we get more black small businesses downtown where the money is being made,
and how can those businesses get access to needed capital to succeed? Other
cities right here in North Carolina have found the answers to those questions,
why can’t Wilmington?
Attracting
more employers here so that more people can get jobs and work their way out of
poverty…and YES, clean water. What can the city do to ensure that ALL residents
of the port city have clean, unpolluted water to drink, cook and bathe in?
We could go on. The bottom line is,
our community MUST come together NOW, roll up our sleeves, and work hard
towards making sure that our issues are addressed by Mayor Saffo and the entire
new City Council.
An ALL Democrat Council, by the
way, so let’s see just how responsive they are.
With
three African-American candidates vying for three open seats in a nine-candidate
race, the writing is on the wall. We have to learn how to poll our resources,
and concentrate our votes to get the best representation possible for OUR
interests. Because in the end, that’s what all of this is about…making sure
that our interests as a community are heard, seriously considered, and answer as
positively as possible.
Rev.
Barnett can’t do it alone, obviously. He has to bring a majority of the council
around to his way of thinking, and from what we’ve seen, he has the respect of
many. But that also means that WE, us, our community, can’t raise hell about an
issue we want City Council to address, and then not show up in strong numbers
to support our City Council representatives who are pleading our case.
If
we want progress, we have to support each other, for only then can we come
together and advocate for what’s just and correct for our community.
Congratulations,.
Rev. Barnett, on your impressive win Tuesday.
And
now, community, the work really begins!
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GOP LEADER ALLEGES “CORRUPTION”
AS FEDERAL JUDGES
TARGET DEC. 1ST
FOR SPECIAL MASTER TO
REDRAW MAPS
By Cash Michaels
Contributing writer
A
special master, designated by a federal three-judge panel, is currently tasked
to review redrawn NC legislative maps in the Covington case to confirm if nine
specific districts are legally problematic, and if so, redraw those so that the
maps are constitutionally compliant by Friday, Dec. 1st.
But
Republican legislative leaders, who didn’t want a special master appointed to
redraw the maps they submitted to the court in September, are not only blasting
the decision and the special master chosen, but one GOP lawmaker in particular,
House Majority Leader John Bell IV, was recently recorded allegedly telling a
Republican fundraiser in Goldsboro not only that the GOP will lose the
redistricting case, but that there was “corruption” between the plaintiffs and
the judges.”
“I
feel like we’re probably going to lose our case on redistricting. It doesn’t
look good,” Rep. Bell, who represents Craven, Greene, Lenoir and Wayne
counties, was recorded telling the attendees at the Lenoir-Wayne Republican
Men’s Club GOP fundraiser at the Walnut Creek Country Club Oct. 24th.
According
to NC Policy Watch, a nonprofit progressive state news and commentary website,
the NC Democratic Party released the audio of Bell’s remarks. He has not
responded to press inquiries about them.
“When you talk
about corruption, let me tell you something; did you ever see the plaintiffs
and the judges hanging out with each other?” Bell is heard asking his audience.
And
then Rep. Bell say something that many observers are already surmising – that
the Republicans might sacrifice the 2018 mid-term elections, just to appeal
what they already suspect will be a negative verdict to the US Supreme Court,
where they feel, because of the 5-4 conservative slant, they would have a
better chance to hold onto their legally problematic legislative districts.
“I
feel that they’ll actually, the Supreme Court, will agree with us,” Bell said.
Rep.
Bell’s alleged remarks are just the latest indication of Republican legislative
leaders hitting the panic button over the federal court’s appointment of Stanford
law Prof. Nathaniel Persily of California. Persily has previously served as a
special master, and redrawn districts in New York, Maryland and Georgia.
It
is Persily’s job to correct the nine legislative districts – four Senate and
five House – that the judicial panel has deemed to be legally problematic.
The four Senate districts still reflect
the racial gerrymandering evident in the original 2011 NC legislative
redistricting maps rendered by the Republican-led NC General Assembly, and ruled
unconstitutional by the US Supreme Court.
The five House districts were redrawn by
the legislature in September, but didn’t have to be because they weren’t
racially gerrymandered. Since they weren’t part of the original 28 legislative
districts under court order to be redrawn, then doing so was in violation of
the state Constitution. Persily will now have to return those five House districts
to their original boundaries.
Through their attorney, Phil Strach,
Republican leaders told the court in a motion that it was premature to appoint
Persily to redraw anything before an official ruling is handed down on the
previous version of the maps (they were deemed legally problematic, but not
officially unconstitutional yet) before the GOP had yet a third chance to
correct whatever mistakes they made the second time.
But the three-judge panel said no,
adding, “The State is not entitled to multiple opportunities to remedy its
unconstitutional districts.”
With Dec. 1st the target date
for Prof. Persily to deliver new maps, it is apparent that the three-judge
federal panel wants to get them into the hands of both the plaintiff and
defendant’s attorneys for review and comment no later than January, and use
whatever time is needed prior to the February filing date for legislative
primary candidates to begin filing for office, to finalize the maps.
The expected monkey wrench from the
Republicans is that they will immediately appeal to the US Supreme Court,
which, given past experience, would take it’s time to render a decision, thus
pushing the May primaries back, if not the 2018 fall general elections.
One thing is certain, political
observers agree, is that North Carolina Republicans do not want to lose the
current electoral advantage that the 2011 legislative maps gave them, and would
rather delay the 2018 elections until they got a favorable US High Court
ruling, as state House Majority Leader Bell said, than try to compete with objectively
drawn voting districts that the special master is likely to produce.
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GOV. ROY COOPER (FRONT, LEFT) STANDS WITH SOME OF HIS NEW ADVISORY COUNCIL ON HISTORICALLY UNDERUTILIZED BUSINESSES (photo courtesy Governor's Office)
GOV. COOPER SIGNS EXECUTIVE ORDER FOR MORE
GOV. COOPER SIGNS EXECUTIVE ORDER FOR MORE
STATE CONTRACTS WITH
MINORITY BUSINESSES
By Cash Michaels
Contributing writer
Keeping
yet another campaign promise from his 2016 candidacy, Gov. Roy Cooper last week
issued and signed Executive Order #25 “…to create jobs and expand economic
opportunity for historically underutilized businesses in North Carolina.
The
governor also used the Nov. 2nd occasion to announce members of his
new Governor’s Advisory Council on Historically Underutilized Businesses, with appointments
from the Triangle to the Piedmont, and beyond.
“Diverse
businesses are engines for our economy and we need to encourage their growth
and development,” Governor Cooper said. “We have minority business owners to
thank for creating thousands of new jobs in communities both urban and rural,
and we must nurture their success.”
Gov.
Cooper had proclaimed October, “Minority Enterprise Development Month,” paying
tribute to businesses, corporations and financial institutions owned and
operated by people of color and women statewide, for their contributions and
achievements in the face of daunting odds and barriers.
According
to the US Dept. of Commerce’s Minority Business Development Agency, there are
approximately 183,000 businesses owned and operated by people of color and
women across North Carolina. They account for over $16.1 billion in sales
revenue, and employ over 129,000 North Carolinians annually.
In
turn, the NC Dept. of Administration’s Office of Historically Underutilized
Businesses is the agency that seeks out and promotes black, women-owned and
other businesses of color in the state, to business with state government in
terms of procurement of goods and services. The “HUB” Office, as it’s commonly
known, works to make sure that qualifying businesses meet state requirements to
contract with state agencies for a variety of needs.
“Investing in the
growth and development of small and minority owned businesses creates
opportunities for individuals to improve their quality of life and the
communities where they live,” Secretary Machelle Sanders said. “I have directed
the HUB Office team to explore new and improved ways to deliver effective and
efficient services that will spur economic growth. Most importantly, we
will foster meaningful and substantive inclusion of historically underutilized
business across North Carolina to strengthen our state."
Per
the Governor’s Advisory Council on Historically Underutilized Businesses, among
the 21-members appointed by Cooper were Cornelius Lambert of Greensboro, the
former owner and Executive Vice President of CoMor Corporation, an IT and
computer networking firm, and a Board Member for the Greensboro Chamber of
Commerce; Ms. Iris Reese of Durham, the president of Fusion Multicultural Marketing;
and Andrea Harris of Raleigh, the founder of, and a Senior Fellow at the
Institute of Minority Economic Development. At the age of 23, Harris became the
executive director of a community organizing group in Henderson, and she was
the youngest community action agency director in the nation at the time.
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