News-Record.com

The Carolina Peacemaker ran a Q&A for county commissioner candidates recently.

They polled the candidates for at large and district 4 on whether they like the quarter cent sales tax referendum, a county-funded health clinic for southeast Greensboro and equal funding for schools.

In short, here's what they said, some of which, we've also reported.

Health clinic
At large candidates
Paul Elledge, Libertarian: No
Paul Gibson, Democrat (i): Yes
John Parks, Democrat (i): Yes
Larry Proctor, Republican: Has to do more research
Wendell Sawyer, Republican: No, it needs private funding

Distirct 4
Kirk Perkins (i), Democrat: Yes
Eddie Souther, Republican: Yes

Sales tax
At large
Elledge: No
Gibson: Yes
Parks: Yes
Proctor: Yes
Sawyer: No

District 4
Perkins: Yes
Souther: Yes

Steve Arnold called this afternoon to tell us more on how he feels polling places are slanted toward Democrats.

Some folks have also taken up the conversation online, too. But here's some more Arnold:

"I think the Board of Elections is a partisan board, but if you ask them, they will claim to be completely objective," he said.

County's Republican and Democratic parties appoint a member to the board, and the party of the chairperson is dictated by the party of the governor. So, for this board, it's two-to-one Democrats to Republicans.

"They have purposely chosen early voting locations in mainly very Democratic locations," he said.

By and large, Guilford County is a mainly Democratic location - about 50 percent of its voters are registered Democrats, compared to about a third registered Republican.

Arnold said he believes that one reason Democrats tend to dominate the county's elections - for example, the 11-member board of commissioners has just four Republicans on it - is because early voting keeps getting backed up earlier, and more places are in the midst of Democratic strongholds.

We did a quick analysis of precincts around the early voting locations, and overall, they tend to reflect the makeup of county registrations.

And the longer voting term doesn't sit will with him, either.

"I move farther and farther away from appreciating the value of early voting," he said, proposing a shorter term closer to election instead.

"I would pick about three very public places and let that be that," he said.

District 4 Republican County commissioner candidate Eddie Souther called this morning to explain what he was talking about last Thursday when he brought up his concealed weapon permit.

"There are about 5,000 concealed carry permits in Guilford County," he said, and speaking to the county's gun range, "open the gun range up to the public."

Then he went on about a number of things, as candidates are wont to do.

Cross-posted from Inside Scoop

Scoop was propped up typing notes at this morning's 7:30 a.m. county commissioners forum when we heard something that perked us up like a cup of black coffee.

Eddie Souther, the District 4 Republican county commissioner candidate is loaded. He's got a permit to carry concealed weapons. And so does his wife. Big-time Second Amendment people, they are.

He brought it up while talking Thursday on how Guilford County could work better with other municipalities, and its citizens.

"I’d like to open that up to public use," he said.

Later that day we bumped into his opponent, Board of Commissioners Chairman Kirk Perkins and at large Commissioner Paul Gibson, who was sitting next to Souther earlier at the forum.

"I was looking down to see if there was something there," Gibson said, joking, referring to maybe sighting an ankle holster.

"I'm just glad that I was at the other end of the table," Perkins said.

Now, politics around here can get fiery, but not gun-fiery. That's the stuff of rogue states, juntas and banana republics. And Guilford County politicians are a far more refined bunch than that, right? Right?

So the At Large and District 4 Guilford County commissioners candidates are set to participate in a forum on Sept. 25.

It's at 7:30 a.m. Yes. In the morning. A forum that early could be a good test, however, for those occasionally epic county commissioners meetings. These days, even the longer ones wrap up by midnight, but thinking without that first cup of coffee in the morning can be just as challenging as keeping the tank full late into the night.

The forum will be at the Marriott Downtown, 304 N. Greene St.

If you were going to the forum, what would you want to know from the candidates? Let us know. We're going to be there that early so you don't have to.

Campaigning for the national and state elections is in full swing, and you can expect the local races to heat up soon.

Today we found the Web site for this At Large Guilford County commissioner candidate, Libertarian Paul Elledge. He had a blog, but it hasn't been updated for months.

While we're at it, here's Web sites for the other At Large candidates:

Democrat John Parks
A Google search for Democrat "Paul Gibson" and Guilford County did not return any blogs or Web sites. His page on the county's Web site.

Republican Larry Proctor (who has fundraiser coming up)
Republican At Large challenger Wendell Sawyer showed up in Yes! Weekly's blog, but another google search didn't turn up any personal Web sites for the challenger.

So. We had a story in Sunday's N&R about elections in the Internet age.

Do you think it's as important on the local level as on the federal level?

We have loaded audio for the District 4 races for Guilford County Commissioners on our pages for election coverage.

Check out District 4 Democratic commissioners candidate and current board chairman Kirk Perkins and his statements on sales tax, building schools, connecting with voters and more.

And his Republican challenger, Eddie Souther, spoke about the failed sales tax vote, building schools, his tax philosophy and more.

We'll be adding to this page for all races throughout the election, so be sure to drop in periodically for updates.

Only one Libertarian, Paul Elledge, filed to run for Guilford County Commissioner before the extended filing period ended Tuesday at noon.

Elledge, 30, is a Greensboro resident and telecommunications transcriptionist, according to his blog. He is also at least 30 years younger than the two Democratic incumbents and two Republican challengers running for the two at-large chairs.

State Board of Elections director Gary Bartlett ruled in late May that Libertarian candidates could go on ballots after receiving a petition with the minimum 70,000 names needed to get the party on the ballot. That required a special filing period for Libertarians to get on board in time for November's General Election.

Speaking of Libertarians, the local party is holding its regular meeting Thursday.

We'll get more on Elledge as we press on with election coverage.

The Republican primary races for Guilford County commissioner may be closer than most people first thought.

Here's a stab at a possible reason:

Of the folks that I've talked to at a couple of precincts today, the majority chose to vote in the Democratic primary. That means that in the District 5 Republican primary, where incumbent Billy Yow faces former Pleasant Garden Mayor Rick Wallace and barely-there candidate Lisa Andrews, voters who could otherwise help tip a wider margin in that race are not selecting Republican ballots. Those voters are instead shooting for the presidential Democratic nominee.

This is important because the winner in the District 5 primary will likely be the winner overall, unless the loser seeks a runoff (which can be declared only after all ballots are counted). There are no Democratic candidates for District 5.

The same theory could go for the At Large county commissioner primary. Two winners in that field of five Republicans will face Democratic incumbents Paul Gibson and John Parks in November.

That's the pull of a presidential primary for you, which can take credit for another effect. I interviewed a woman in her 40s today who voted for her first time. At another precinct I spoke with 40-ish woman voting the second time ever.

Then again, the argument could be made that any newcomers to the election probably are only interested in the national political scene, not local politics.

Whaaa? Who wouldn't find this stuff interesting?

Democrat Greg Woodard e-mailed us today to say that he's not bowing out of the District 8 race for the Guilford County Board of Commissioners against incumbent Melvin "Skip" Alston.

Woodard, who has been sick, added that he's getting healthier every day, and that over the weekend many people called his home to offer help on his campaign. He has to limit his phone calls to less than three minutes, but welcomes e-mails with questions about his campaign.

From his e-mail:

After all, everyone gets sick. I just got sick at a bad time. I'll be back on my feet in no time and if I win, I'll be well healed long before I am sworn in.

You may want to note, I have 23 yrs. of decorated service in the Military and have been very active in the community, I don't go down that easy.

Here's his blog, which has some more on his health and details of his candidacy.

No matter the outcome of the race, we hope Woodard recovers soon. Primary Day is May 6.

Here's some clips from the editorial interview conducted by Allen Johnson and Doug Clark with District 5 Guilford County commissioner candidates Billy Yow and Rick Wallace. The third candidate, Lisa Andrews, couldn't make it out.

So two answered questions on their support for bonds and a new quarter-cent sales tax, and then got to meaty stuff: fightin' commissioners.

For the uninitiated, Guilford commissioners are known for their open debates that occasionally turn hostile.

These are things that have even been used to campaign.

So when Wallace got first crack at what separates him from Yow, he went straight for what he called professionalism. listen
(1 min 20 sec)

And Yow, with the same question, came with his philosophy on the 11 commissioners, and the tinder box that can create
(48 sec)

Here is Billy Yow's website.

The twice-elected Guilford County Commissioner has a few sentences on his incumbency, a link to donate to his campaign and external links to voting deadlines and the county board of elections.

Yow is running for the District 5 seat in the May 6 primary against Rick Wallace and Lisa Andrews.

Rudy Binder and Larry Proctor, two candidates seeking at-large bids to the Guilford County Board of Commissioners, recently joined the list of county commissioner candidates who are online.

Proctor and Binder are among a field of five Republicans that will be whittled to two candidates in the May 6 primary. The other Republican candidates include E.H. Hennis, Joseph Rahenkamp and Wendell Sawyer.

Two of those Republicans will advance to the November election and face incumbents John Parks and Paul Gibson for their seats on the board.

Two challengers in two different Guilford County Commissioner races now have an official web presence.

Democrat Greg Woodard, District 8 candidate.

Republican Rick Wallace, District 5 candidate.

In my rounds of county commissioner calls today I talked with District 5 Republican Billy Yow and District 8 Democrat Skip Alston, who both gave me a laugh with their updates on how their reelection campaigns are coming along.

Alston told me that Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are heading in town to stump for him.

"They heard I was getting contested and said they were going to come through," Alston said, laughing.

It's doubtful that Democrat Greg Woodard, Alston's District 8 primary competitor, has much to worry about. With Hillary's wins in Texas and Ohio, she and Obama probably have much bigger fish to fry.

Billy Yow said he held a big fundraiser Tuesday night with more than 400 supporters that raised about $20,000 for the campaign through raffle ticket sales, he estimated.

Like District 8, the winner of the District 5 seat will be decided in the primary. Republicans Lisa Andrews and Rick Wallace are aiming for the seat Yow holds now.

Yow said he spent time talking to folks and serving food, and when I asked if he made a speech, he said he told a joke, paraphrased here:

Cue the laugh track.

In today's N&R, we ran a story on the high number of unopposed candidates in Guilford County races this late in the filing period for the 2008 election.

Yesterday I spoke with George Gilbert, director of the Guilford County Board of Elections, on how things look so far in his experience handling elections. And he's a jokester. Between all that, he also had some insights about why this filing period looks the way it does now.