Candidate filing for 2010 elections starts today at noon. Folks only have two and a half weeks (until February 26th) to declare their intent to run in the May primary (and presumably the November general election). Information will be posted at the Orange County Board of Elections.
The offices that will be on the ballot this year are: County Commissioner (districts 1 & 2 and at-large), Clerk of Court, Register of Deeds, Sheriff, Orange County Board of Education, State Senate, State House, Soil Conservation District Supervisor (non-partisan, no primary).
Help me keep an eye on the BOE page, and let everyone know if anything interesting happens!
Issues:
Comments
Hillsborough's Police Chief Birkhead files for Sherrif
Should note that this is for the Orange County Schools. Chapel Hill/Carrboro City Schools were last year.
on the CCsI couldn't find one for Earl McKee, which is understandable for a new comer. I saw Alice has one which looks pretty well put together:http://alicegordon.com/I couldn't find one for incumbent Barry Jacobs, does anyone know of one?I guess it only matters if more people get in the race, since right now Alice, Barry, and Earl are each running unopposed in their districts (or at large) for the primary unless more people step up.Its probably a good thing that than Mike Nelson's former spot is going to leave no incumbent running in district 2 so that the county gets more representation since, from my understanding of the districting rules, District 2 doesn't always get the final say on who represents county interests.I wouldn't mind seeing younger candidates (the average age of those running this time is 63), not that the people running & serving aren't fully qualified, but considering how much of county budget goes to school & education & youth related concerns having a diversity of ages and a balance that includes some who went through the education process more recently might produce some interesting insights. That some candidates may be running campaigns without a campaign website seems totally foreign to me as someone who had computer classes in school since elementary school... especially given the increasing importance of technology in education and government. I see that Mike Nelson was on the Animal Services board, I wonder if any of the people running will take up a place there? Before going back to grad school I worked with Sarah Fallin from OC Animal Services to start up an annual pet food drive at Carrboro Plaza Vet, and I remember all the discussions with clients and shelter goers about the effect that the negative effect the economic downturn had on animals and how many were being abandoned. So it would be nice to have another voice looking out for them. I'm excited though, even if these aren't the big races, I like to think of myself as a little bit of a politcal junkie (& local ones affect us more anyways right?)... who needs sports when you have elections & state of the unions? (although seriously, way to go Saints!!!)
A few weeks ago we read in all the local papers about Chapel Hill 'nabbing' the 'smash and grab' suspect. All the stories indicated which agencies helped catch the guy who was making his rounds in Orange and Chatham Counties. Durham and Chatham Sheriff, Hillsborough PD, and Carrboro PD helped nab this guy. Reading between the lines, I wonder why OC Sheriff was not mentioned.I suggest a topic to be brought up should be on the lines of collaboration. Which candidates support sharing information with other LE agencies? Another discussion involving collaboration and information sharing being the outdated communications system the OCSO is using. Note every agency within a 50 mile radius is using the new system that allows agencies to easily jump to other agency's channels. The OCSO chose to not migrate to the new system, and as a result, does that put them in a disadvantage in case of a regional disaster? I do not know, I am not an expert on this but I have overhead other discussions about why everyone went to the new system.
Incumbent Sherriff Lindy Pendergrass (in office somethign like 2
decades) will face Hillsborough Police Chief Clarence Birkhead in the
primary, and Republican Buddy Parker in the fall.
Unless, of course, Chief Birkhead is the one facing his own patrol sergeant (Buddy Parker) in the Fall.Does anyone else find it strange that now, this being the second cycle with districted Commissioner elections, that the District 1 commissioners have all run unopposed? It seems that when running by district, the commissioner races feel more like a referendum on the incumbent than it did when everyone ran at large.
Joe Hackney and Bill Faison will have Republican challengers who have filed in other counties from their districts.
There are two Republicans who have filed for the 23rd Senate District:
Ryan Hilliard of Chapel Hill and Greg Bass of Roxboro. Greg Bass was
also Ellie's Republican opponent in the last election.
Renee Price's video on her website is pretty cool. http://www.reneeprice2010.com/videos/
FYI: I'm posting official statements from the candidates atcarrborocitizen.com/politics