Democrat George Battle III trotted out the endorsements Wednesday, with one ex-rival and a handful of other notable names backing his campaign in the 12th District Congressional District.Battle won the endorsement of James "Smuggie" Mitchell, who dropped out of the 12th District race earlier this month. They were joined at a news conference by state Rep. Rodney Moore, former District Attorney Peter Gilchrist and Mecklenburg Commissioner Vilma Leake.
Battle, a political newcomer, sought to deflect concerns over his lack of experience in a race that features longtime legislators Alma Adams and Malcolm Graham.
"The race is not about what happened in the last 25 years," he said, "it's about what's going to happen in the next 25 years."
Without naming Graham, he went on to say he rejects the idea that "you an go hold an office, not show up, not be effective" and be qualified for another office. Graham, a senator, has been criticized for absences and for ranking by the N.C. Center for Public Policy Research as the 44th most effective of 50 senators.Battle supporters took other indirect swipes to a reporter.
Moore, a state House member who works with Graham in Raleigh, called Battle "the best person we can trust to go to Washington."
And Mitchell, Graham's former city council colleague, said Battle has the background and skills to go to Congress. Reminded that he served alongside Graham, he said, "In a way that should tell you something, too."
Graham recalled that Mitchell supported his opponent when he first ran for the Senate in 2004.
"I know who my supporters are," he said. "I know where my currency comes from, it comes from the people. James Mithcell supported Fountain Odom and here I stand. I wish everyone could support me. That's not possible. All I need is 51 percent to support me. I think the record speaks for itself....
"It's just Smuggie being Smuggie. He's all over the place.... And as related to George Battle, when you don't have a record yourself you have to talk about somebody else's record. If he would take his community service to the bank it would be returned 'not sufficient'."
4 comments:
But the real question everyone is wanting to know: What will these guys wear at next week's Wells Fargo Championship?
Report how petty the League of Women voters are being again.
They decided since one Republican would not be there on the day they scheduled they would not give any time, such as a question and answer period to Vince Coakley, and just canceled out the debate or question session.
You remember they did that when they tried to get the County Commissioners to give more tax money to WTVI (they are both hand in hand with each liberal other) and also cancelled out the Commissioners Debate.
Only when Public Access 21 stepped up and did it, did the League turn around and say the made a mistake and would hold them for now on.
So the League has a history of telling the full story to viewers and yet they get all that free time and studio time from WTVI and of course our tax money.
So come on Jim, check on that one.
Yes, Larry--let's talk about that.
And let's be clear -- The League Of Women Voters (LWV) is a non profit, NON PARTISAN group who's core mission is to inform voters on issues, candidates and protect voter rights. They have partnered with WTVI (a public television station who does not air commercials to fund their airtime--something that could cause bias) long before the funding to WTVI was cut in 2008 to 10% of the normal revenue it received from the County. That same year, the County cut funding to other services like Parks and Public Libraries, but I guess you don't want to mention that.
That year, the LWV did attempt to raise money to help keep WTVI on the air, including petitioning the County Commissioners to restore some of their funding. We also petitioned the County to restore funding to Public Libraries and Parks, as well. I know this because it was ME who filmed that TV spot and worked with then station manager, Elsie Garner to request the County to give back a portion (not ALL) of the funding, along with funding for Parks and Libraries. ME, the then President of the LWV in Charlotte-Mecklenburg AND a registered Republican (not a liberal).
In order to have a DEBATE, you have to have at least two candidates. You cannot have a debate when only one person shows up. Even if you continued with a question and answer session with one candidate, it's not a debate but rather a platform for one candidate, without any rebuttal. They can choose to buy ad time through other media outlets to do that and many do. That's not being petty, that's following the rules of debate.
Public Access 21 had NO bearing on any decision to change the format of how the LWV ran these debates. To suggest so is ludicrous and irresponsible. Again, as President, I don't remember ever saying that the LWV made a mistake, either in format or whether the debates would continue to be held at WTVI.
Political candidates are given ample time to arrange their schedules to accommodate their scheduled debate time. If they choose to either commit and then not show up or not commit altogether, and only two candidates are in that particular race, then a debate cannot be held.
As far as your comment regarding "free" time on taxpayer money, time on any TV station is never FREE. After funding was cut completely the following year, WTVI, along with their many supporters continued to raise funds outside of the county to continue to air all of their programming, including the debates which was a minuscule fraction of their total programming time. Programming that included shows like "Sesame Street", "Reading Rainbow" and "Antiques Road Show"--programming that has nothing to do with Politics or the LWV.
So Larry, before you make unfounded and misinformed accusations, please take the time to do your research and get your facts straight.
And Jim--no need to check on "that one" ---I think it's been covered sufficiently.
Janet Ross Brinkley
Mint Hill, NC
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