Conservation Insider Bulletin, Dan Besse

Conservation Insider Bulletin
Published weekly for the Conservation Council of North Carolina
Conservation News to Peruse & Use

Editor: Dan Besse, earthvote@ccnccpac.org

October 5, 2007

--Campaign Watch:
Boone Developers Pour Cash Into Campaign
Challenger Launches Attacks in Durham
Green Candidates Get Support in Asheville
Small Towns Debate Growth Too
New Candidates Declare

--Judicial Watch: Supreme Court Says NC Must Answer Water Suit

--Education & Resources
Learn How to Monitor Streams
Sustainability Conference

Boone Developers Pour Cash Into Campaign: A developer-led PAC is spending heavily in an attempt to persuade voters to replace an environmentally-friendly mayor and council majority in Boone. The political action committee Citizens for Change is conducting an independent expenditure campaign, reportedly costing tens of thousands of dollars, in print and broadcast attacks on the incumbents. The attack campaign is a response to the passage last year of new regulations limiting development on mountainsides in the town. The anti-regulation PAC is targeting incumbent Mayor Loretta Clawson and Town Council Members Bunk Spann and Lynne Mason for defeat. Allied with these incumbents in this election is newcomer Liz Aycock.

The 2007 Boone campaign appears to be this year's most dramatic and rawest attacks on environmental protection advocates at the local level in North Carolina. The independent expenditure level is very high for a small town with fewer than 12,000 eligible voters, of whom only about 800 voted in town elections two years ago. The outcome of the voting may provide a good read on public response in this region to an all-out frontal assault by development interests in a local election campaign.

Challenger Launches Attacks in Durham: An ex-employee of an anti-environmental advocacy group, the John W. Pope Civitas Institute (one of the organizations associated with wealthy "conservative" Art Pope and his John Locke Foundation), now running for mayor of Durham, has gone on the campaign attack against his incumbent opponent. Challenger Thomas Stith has launched negative direct mail and professional phoning attacks aimed at Durham Mayor Bill Bell. Media reports indicate that Stith is financing these attacks from his over $100,000 in contributions mostly from business and development interests, including $4,000 from Pope himself. Stith's campaign themes this time feature crime and immigration; in the past, he has also focused on attacking "liberal special interests" which increase government (often code phrases for environmental rules and social welfare programs). (Independent Weekly, 10/4/07.) (CIB Editor's Note: By our definition, a generalized opposition to strong, effective pollution control rules counts as "anti-environmental"—no matter what fantasies the advocates in question may entertain about purely "market-based" approaches. Those of us who don't live in Fantasyland understand how poorly that ideology works for pollution control.)

Green Candidates Get Support in Asheville: The N.C. Chapter of the Sierra Club has announced its endorsements in this year's Asheville city elections: incumbent Council Members Brownie Newman and Bryan Freeborn, and newcomer Elaine Lite. Asheville voters on October 9 will send six of 15 candidates on to the November 6 general election, where the top three vote-getters will win four-year terms on the city council.

Small Towns Debate Growth Too: Many of the small towns around North Carolina are facing their own sets of growth and development issues, and this is reflected in their own election debates.

For example, the 5,200-resident town of Harrisburg in Cabarrus County recently faced a hot debate over a proposed "big box" retail development in the town. Its town council ultimately voted by a mere 4-3 majority to keep the store out. Now, five of six candidates seeking four available seats in this fall's election are stated opponents of big-box development in the town. (Charlotte Observer, 10/4/07.)

In the 2,600-resident town of Rural Hall in Forsyth County, population is expected to nearly double in a mere five years. That's producing a spirited discussion of growth-related issues (such as traffic, infrastructure, and "small-town atmosphere") in this fall's election there. Two incumbents seeking re-election (John McDermon and Durward Smith) specifically cite the need to manage growth and make the town more "walkable". (Winston-Salem Journal, 10/5/07.)

New Candidates Declare: The 2008 federal races in North Carolina picked up a couple of new candidates this week. Jim Neal of Chapel Hill is a corporate financial advisor who has acted as a fundraiser for presidential candidates but not previously run for office himself. Neal announced that he would seek the Senate seat held by Elizabeth Dole (R-NC). (Associated Press, 10/5/07.) Meanwhile, up in the mountainous 11th Congressional District, a second Republican candidate announced his intention to challenge first-term U.S. Representative Heath Shuler (D-NC11). Spence Campbell has chaired the Henderson County Republican Party for three years, and previously worked as president of an insurance and real estate company in Hendersonville. (Raleigh News & Observer, 10/5/07.)

Judicial Watch: Supreme Court Says NC Must Answer Water Suit

The U.S. Supreme Court this week gave the State of North Carolina 30 days to respond to South Carolina's complaint over interbasin water transfers authorized from the Catawba to the Yadkin-Pee Dee river basin. (North Carolina earlier this year permitted the cities of Concord and Kannapolis to pump up to 10 million gallons a day from the Catawba River without returning it to that river basin. The plan is also opposed by environmental advocates and many local governments in the Catawba basin.)

Under the U.S. Constitution, the U.S. Supreme Court can accept original jurisdiction over lawsuits between states. This week's order encourages South Carolina's legal representatives to believe that the Court will choose to hear its claims in this case.

Education & Resources: Learn How to Monitor Streams; Sustainability Conference

Learn How to Monitor Streams: SMIE (Stream Monitoring Information Exchange) is sponsoring a free training session for prospective volunteers on Saturday, October 20, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Haywood Community College in Clyde. More information on this program or SMIE generally is available from Gracia O'Neill at Clean Water for NC, 828-251-1291 or gracia@cwfnc.org.

Sustainability Conference: The sixth North Carolina Sustainability Awards and Conference will be held October 22 in Chapel Hill. Workshops will include climate change issues and sustainable business practices. Details can be found at www.sustainnc.org/2007awards.