Who counts the votes in Graham county?
The Graham County Commissioners and the Graham County Board of Elections are on opposite sites of a legal dispute over who can hire and fire employees of the elections board, a situation which North Carolinians for Free and Proper Elections said gives new meaning to the observation by Joseph Stalin “He who votes decides nothing; he who counts the votes decides everything.”
The dispute began in November when commissioners moved a full-time employee from the BOE to the county tax assessors office. The election board hired two-part time employees as replacements. When the commissioners refused to pay the salary of the second part-timer, the elections board took the matter to court.
“There is nothing more essential to the honesty and integrity of our elections than an independent board of elections,” said NCFPE President Jordon Greene. “The actions of the Graham commissioners strike directly at the heart of our electoral process.”
“If elected officials are the judge of their own elections, than our electoral process means little,” he said.
In a ruling issued Nov. 30, just 14 days after the lawsuit was filed, Superior Court Judge James L. Baker ruled that under North Carolina law commissioners “have no right or power to fire an employee” of the elections board. He said the commissioners had “failed to perform their ministerial duty.”
Insulting socialists
Posted by Brian in Politicians on March 5, 2010
LA Progressive.com Quotes Socialist Brian Moore on Obama Label | Independent Political Report.
Calling President Obama a socialist is an insult to socialists says the 2008 Socialist Party USA candidate for president. ““The Republicans really don’t believe he’s a socialist,” said Brian P. Moore. “They just know calling him one gives them an edge and puts the Democrats on the defensive.”
Moore apparently does not understand that hypocrites don’t care about insulting people.
Another challenge to NC’s ballot access laws
Posted by Brian in Electoral reform on March 2, 2010
Ballot Access News » Blog Archive » Another North Carolina Ballot Access Lawsuit Filed.
Independent candidate Mark Brody filed a lawsuit in Mecklenburg County Feb. 11 challenging the state ballot access laws for independent candidates.
The Road to Dictatorship
Posted by Brian in Rights, The Constitution on March 2, 2010
The “PATRIOT” Act, all several hundred pages of it, was passed in the dead of night without being read, without being adequately debated, and with the full official approval of both parties, who unhesitatingly wiped out two-hundred years of constitutional law in a procedure that lasted for less than an hour.
via The Road to Dictatorship by Justin Raimondo — Antiwar.com.
Help the NCFPE candidate survey
Posted by Brian in Electoral reform on March 1, 2010
The North Carolinians for Free and Proper Elections PAC believes we most all help protect the right of others to vote, just as much as our own if we want to retain that right. They are preparing to survey candidates for NC Senate and House of Representatives on the ballot access issues, particularly on whether or not they would supporting reducing NC’s highly restrictive ballot access barriers.
The survey is designed to help them provide North Carolina voters with information to to allow them to make a better and more informed decision on election day according to where the candidates stands on your right to vote and that of others.
Read more here.
Libertarians complete filing
While the Libertarian Party have not have fielded a large slate of candidates this election cycle, it nonetheless made some significant history.
Three Union County Libertarians have teamed-up to run for three seats on the board of commissioners. The candidate triumvirate of Stephen Burr, Brandon Derr and Tom Hohman filed on the last day.
Two of the three candidates for U.S. Congress, Lon Cecil in CD12 and Thomas Hill in CD 8 filed by petition, rather than paying the $1740 filing fee. Mike Beitler filed for U.S Senate and Tom Rose filed for U.S. House 2 by paying the fee.
And what might be a first, but surely is an interesting development in Libertarian politics, T.J. Rohr filed for District Attorney in district 25, which covers Burke, Caldwell and Catawba counties. Rohr is a two-term Lenoir town council member and has run for NC House before.
State auditor behind on property taxes
Posted by Brian in Politicians, State Government on February 17, 2010
State auditor is behind on her property taxes – State – NewsObserver.com.
State Auditor Beth Woods owes $1,234 in property taxes on her $124,00 town home.
Is this a big deal? It certainly is not as big a deal as former N.C. Senate leader Tony RAnd using his influence to allow Blue Cross/Blue Shied to gouge taxpayers for medical care given to prison inmates.
Woods claims she was just an “average citizen” who ran for office, without big corporate backing, and that she is struggling with her finances like all of us.
That may be so. But shouldn’t we expect even “average” people who get elected to office to act above average? Or are we to be content to lower our expectations to the lowest common denominator?
Democrat can’t get signatures
Replacing Bayh: 2 GOP candidates officially in, 2 Dems out | IndyStar.com | The Indianapolis Star.
Boo hoo! One Democrat could only get two signatures on a petition in order to run for U.S. Senate when she needed 400. This in a state with more than 4 million registered voters. Some counties even have more registered voters than residents. Maybe she should have asked the Libertarians for advice on how to run a petition drive
Appeals court upholds Google tax breaks
N.C. appeals court rebuffs challenge to Google tax breaks :: WRAL.com.
Libertarians Mike Munger and Barbara Howe, both taxpaying citizens of North Carolina, have no “standing” to sue over use of their money by the State, according to the N.C. Appeals Court.
Guess the only solution is to throw Google in the harbor.
Beitler first to file for U.S. Senate
Posted by Brian in Elections, Federal government on February 8, 2010
Dr. Mike Beitler was the first candidate to file for U.S. Senator today. Beitler is seeking the Libertarian nomination. No other Libertarian candidate is expected to file, so Beitler will probably be in a three-way race in November.
He was joined by three Libertarian candidates for U.S. Congress at the State Board of Elections office in Raleigh. Thomas Hill filed for the 8th Congressional District and Thomas Rose filed for the 2nd CD.
Hill collected more than 300 signatures rather than pay the $1,740 filing fee. “That’s $1,740 I now have to run my campaign, rather than giving it to the government,” Hill said.
The third libertarian, Lon Cecil, is also collecting signatures in order to file for the 12th Congressional District seat. He was 40 signatures short of the required 200 certified signatures.
Beitler is business practice professor in The Bryan School of Business and Economics at the University of North Carolina-Greensboro. He’s authored three business books used in MBA programs and hosts the internet radio show Free Markets With Dr. Mike Beitler on the VoiceAmerica Business Network.
