Charlotte Democrat Beverly Earle has won seven straight elections to the N.C. House. But it's been a long time -- seven years -- since she's been in a competitive race. This week, the rust showed.Earle, 63, is running for mayor against Republican Pat McCrory. It's her first race outside her district in north and west Charlotte.
When she filed last month, she made a brief statement but then brushed aside questions from reporters. In her first major public appearance as a candidate Thursday, she spoke to more than 60 people at the Uptown Democratic Forum. A friendlier audience would be hard to find.
Earle read a prepared speech that was mainly biographical. Then, answering questions, she passed up several opportunities to expand on her vision and plans for the city. How could Charlotte maintain itself as a world-class city? someone asked. Define world-class, she replied. What were the legal duties of the mayor? somebody else asked. "I can't tell you all the responsibilities," she said, adding that the mayor has to provide leadership and direction.
When thrown a softball by somebody blasting McCrory's leadership, she passed up an opportunity to score an easy point at his expense.
Running for mayor is different than running for a state House seat, especially when most of your elections have been unopposed. In a probable race against a guy who's won the office six times, that's something Earle will be finding out soon.
5 comments:
Beverly Earle should sit down and leave the progressiveness of Charlotte alone. I'm a 10-year Charlotte resident, black male, that's moderate in my political views. While I'm a registered Dem, hey, I voted for Pat in the last general election. He's good for the city, he's good for business, and he’s a likable guy. Under his leadership, this city has embarked upon "major U.S. city" status. As some of my friends and I were hanging around talking politics, is there any room on I-277 for a Pat McCrory Freeway? He's in the same leagues and Stan Brookshire & John Belk (rest in peace). Pat will be mayor as long as he wishes or if he does something totally stupid where he forces himself out. The reality of it is Beverly Earle doesn't stand a chance. People even said she was cold as an ice cube at Mel Watts' recent fundraiser here in town. Back to the drawing board Dems, she's a weak candidate.
Can we get a list of Beverly Earle's actual accomplishments in Raleigh other than carrying Jim Black's water? She's done a few things with HHS and been on the budget appropriations list, I believe. But, we're hurting with crime increases and serious road congestion and I just don't see how she's led the charge for the average Charlotte citizen. McCrorey has been right many more times than wrong. He's a well-spoken, thoughtful, common sense guy who has risen higher than anybody dreamed (and he's not through yet) and seems to appreciate the position.
In the article you cowrote about John Belk, you said that Belk "presided over Charlotte's final City Council before district representation, at the end of an era when powerful business leaders hand-picked candidates for council and mayor."
I would argue that McCrory (quoting Belk as his hero and role model) is a product of a modern version of that model.
McCrory is known as an uptown mayor. He pays very little attention to what happens outside the Belk-Brookshire-I77 loop. Even there, his concern is what results in income and profits for a small group of business men -- very similar to the group around Belk.
The resurrection of the center city is a good thing. However, overemphasis on that area has resulted in an ignoring of those neighborhods that drove district representation. This has focussed into a great dislike of the mayor outside the center city loop.
I'm not a big fan of McCrory, and I don't think many are. The only reason he has been elected time and again, is he's the lesser of two evils, Bottom line he's not a visionary leader. McCrory is in it for himself, not for Charlotte.
Consider the following quotes from Republicans:
"The city always viewed itself as, 'It's about us,' and the mayor reflects that." -Tom Cox
"Pat tends to cover too many things, hit too many things and not stay the course on some of the things that are important," -Richard Vinroot.
The conservative website takebackcharlotte.com says of the Mayor: "Mayor Pat McCrory, ... would rather point his fingers at Raleigh lawmakers than to clean his own backyard."
Pat McCrory owes much of his success for six terms in office as Charlotte's Mayor to the local Democratic party.
The dems make sure that they never organize the lower 80% income brackets, leaving the mayor's race to be decided by the voting patterns of the upper 20% income brackets. And that means Charlotte gets Smilin Pat McCory as their Mayor one more time.
It is the same every election. McCory takes the majority of a small 20% voter turnout,dominated by the suburbanite voter.
Beverly Earle is this years sacrificial lamb, offered up by the conniving Democrats who in truth see Pat McCrory as "their man" in suburbia.
Go back to the election of 1997. The Democrats had no intention of even running a candidate against McCrory. When a LaRouche supporter screwed up the plan, the Democrats decided they better run a party approved loser just for appearance sake.
But make no mistake, the surburbanite Democrats love Pat McCrory. So much so, that they've turned their backs on their historical support base...labor, minorities, farmers etc.
And dont get me started about the contrived "issues" that the media tells you are so important.
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