Simkins PAC endorsement
The George C. Simkins Jr. Memorial Political Action Committee has put out its endorsements for the Nov. 2 general election.
Read the letter from the group that has been handed out at the polls this week by clicking on this link.
For those who are unfamiliar, the Simkins PAC is named after its founder, a dentist and longtime civil rights activist. Today, it is made up of prominent African American business and political leaders.
Among its most interesting endorsements this year, the PAC chose to back Republican Mike Winstead in the District 7 County Commissioner race against Democrat Mike Barber, who is currently an at-large commissioner, and Libertarian Jim Capo. The PAC letter urges voters to pull a straight Democratic ticket in partisan races with that exception.
PAC members usually refuse to talk about the specific factors that lead them to endorse one candidate over another.
Lawyer Steve Bowden, the PAC's chairman and sole spokesperson, said that there was much discussion about the choice of Winstead over Barber.
"The Yow issue was really the thing that worked against Mr. Barber," Bowden said, referring to fellow county commissioner Billy Yow. When pressed to be more specific, he said, "I'm not going down that road."
In early 2003, Yow stirred controversy by saying he would not vote to hire a NAACP member as county manager unless that person was "very overly qualified." At the time, the board of commissioners ended up voting 6-5 to distance themselves from Yow's comments, a vote that Yow took to be a censure.
Barber voted against that motion, saying that he thought it was inappropriate and could be grounds for a lawsuit. Yow did indeed sue and the commissioners later voted to repeal the motion to settle the suit.
In 2004, the controversy was resurrected by way of a T-shirt that was seen as racist and connected to Yow. Yow denied that he had a hand in producing the shirt but the board voted 7-2-1 to rebuke Yow that time, a vote that Barber did back. (There was no lawsuit during this second episode.)
Making the PAC's endorsement even more curious: Yow has publicly and enthusiastically backed Winstead in the election.
Other observers have suggested that Barber's rocky relationship with fellow Democrat and County Commissioner Melvin "Skip" Alston might have prompted the PAC to back Winstead. Alston sits on the PAC's board and has frequently sparred with Barber.
Comments (4)
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Excellent post Mark. Wish I had been there to scoop the Scoop on this one.
This is certainly a feather in Mike W.'s cap but will probably have little, or no, effect on the vote.
District 7 is maybe 10% black and of that 10%, maybe 3 voters pay attention tthe PAC's endorsement list. By and large, District 7's demographic just doesn't normally pitch their tent in the Simkins campground.
Posted on October 21, 2004 7:30 PM
David: you're dead on...according to the last voter registration stats that I crunched for the district is was about 9.5 percent African American. And you're right, it's not a district where the PAC endorsement tratitionally holds sway.
Our somewhat bland story on the PAC endorsement can be found in today's paper and, I think, made that point.
Posted on October 21, 2004 8:09 PM
Sorry, Mark.
I was out of town. Now that I'm home I see that it was the front page headline.
I guess there would be no reason to have posted THAT online.
I haven't had a chance to read the story yet, but look forward to getting into the stack on my kitchen table.
Posted on October 22, 2004 11:36 PM
I showed up to the Simkins PAC interview with my bi-racial family, gave the right answer on a new prison building only meaning "more prisoners" and in a recent forum stated I would have voted to rebuke Yow on his downgrading T-shirt stunt. All this to no avail.
If the influence of the PAC in District 7 was going to be more of a factor, I would have spent more working on an endorsement. I think I could have gotten Earl Jones and Skip Alston in my camp, but Steve Bowden struck me as someone convinced he knows more about The John Birch Society than I do.
I had thought I made inroads on my choice of employer and the seriousness of my campaign with Allen Johnson as well, but apparently not looking at the only line given to my candidacy in today's editorial on District 7:
"Also, there's Libertarian Jim Capo, 44, the state coordinator for The John Birch Society."
Posted on October 23, 2004 7:40 PM