Showing posts tagged “Joe Hackney”
Joe Schwartz ·
1 Mar 2010, 5:57 PM ·
1 Comment
Twenty-eight candidates are vying for 16 seats tied to Orange County this election season. This cycle, which centers on a May 4 primary and climaxes during the Nov. 2 election, features a crowded race for a spot on the Orange County Board of Education and experienced contenders competing both in the sheriff and county commissioner at-large races.
Lindy Pendergrass, who won his first term as Orange County sheriff back when Michael Jordan hit the shot to down Georgetown, is seeking his eight term and will square off against Hillsborough Police Chief Clarence Birkhead in the democratic primary. Republican Buddy Parker, who lost to Pendergrass in 2006 and earned just 19 percent of the vote, awaits the winner in the general election.
Meanwhile, the Board of County Commissioners race will see three-term incumbent Barry Jacobs face a challenge from former Hillsborough Mayor Joe Phelps and current Carrboro Alderman Joal Hall Broun in contest for the at-large seat. Long-time incumbent Alice Gordon doesn’t face competition for the District 1 seat and three newcomers, Earl McKee and Renee Price on the Democratic side and Greg Andrews on the Republican end, are seeking the District 2 slot.
District 1 consists of Chapel Hill and Carrboro and two-thirds of the Chapel Hill Township, while District 2 makes up the northern parts of the county.
Candidates have a one-in-two shot to gain a seat on the Orange County Board of Education with eight hopefuls eyeing one of four seats. Two incumbents, Chairwoman Anne Medenblik and second-term hopeful Debbie Piscitelli, face Will Atherton, Brenda Stephens, Laura Nicholson, Donna Coffey, Keith Cook and Charles Williams.
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Orange County, politics 2010 election, Anne Medenblik, Barry Jacobs, Bill Faison, Board of County Commissioners, Brenda Stephens, Buddy Parker, Cathy Wright, Charles Williams, Clarence Birkhead, clerk of court, Debbie Piscitelli, Deborah Brooks, Donna Coffey, Earl McKee, Ellie Kinnaird, Greg Andrews, James Stanford, Joal Hall Broun, Joe Hackney, Joe Phelps, Jon Bass, Keith Cook, Laura Nicholson, Lindy Pendergrass, NC General Assembly, Orange County, Orange County Board of Education, Orange County sheriff, register of deeds, Renee Price, Rick Smith, Ryan Hilliard, Soil Conservation District Supervisor, Verla Insko, Will Atherton
Joe Schwartz ·
11 Feb 2010, 5:29 PM ·
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It’s a slow news day down at the Orange County Board of Elections with only two candidates filing for office. N.C. Speaker of the House Joe Hackney surprised no one by declaring his intent to run for a 16th term. Newcomer Renee Price signed up to run against fellow challenger Earl McKee for a county commissioner seat in district two.
“We’ve had a quiet day,” said Tracy Reams, Orange County Board of Elections chairwoman. “We’re hoping to get some more candidates in here. I think when you have races that are opposed, more people feel like their vote matters.”
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Orange County, politics Carrboro Town Hall, clerk of court, Joe Hackney, Morehead Planetarium, NC General Assembly, one-stop voting, Orange County Board of Commissioners, Orange County Board of Education, Orange County Board of Elections, Orange County sheriff, OrangePolitics, register of deeds, Renee Price, soil conservation supervisor, Tracy Reams
Matt Saldaña ·
28 Jan 2009, 5:48 PM ·
1 Comment
Well, that was fast. Within one hour of the 2009-10 N.C. General Assembly’s opening session–and shortly after being defeated, along party lines, by Joe Hackney, D-Chatham, for the position of House Speaker–Rep. Paul Stam, R-Wake, invoked the Defense of Marriage Act. He did so while arguing, fruitlessly, against temporarily approving the legislature’s house rules, a formality of the inaugural session.
Apparently, Stam’s disapproval has also been an opening-day formality, at least for the past two decades.
“It’s been since 1989 that I’ve voted to approve the temporary rules,” he said.
At issue was the technical definition of “committee chair” that, according to the rules, also includes co-chairs. In the case of the all-powerful appropriations committee, Stam noted, that means a total of eight positions doled out by Speaker Hackney and his Democratic majority–in addition to the party-apportioned committee membership.
“In 2009, we are going to have a tough budget year. Major decisions will be decided by the co-chairs solely,” Stam claimed. “If I were in the majority party, I’d want to share some of that pain.”
Stam turned to the Defense of Marriage Act, which would constitutionally prohibit same-sex couples from marrying, as an example of why he’s upset the majority party is hogging all that pain.
“We’re the only state in the Southeast without a marriage amendment,” he said, owing to the bill not being heard “because of these rules.”
Rep. David Lewis, R-Harnett, who nominated Stam for the speaker position with an odd speech that invoked “The Dark Night” (”It’s always darkest before the dawn”) and something about how “the beautiful red cardinal returns after the pall of winter is lifted,” also backed up Stam on his motion to deny the rules.
That prompted Bill Owens, D-Camden–who made the original motion to accept the rules– to reply: “If you’ve got the votes, Rep. Lewis, you can change (the rules).”
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North Carolina, media, news, politics Bill Owens, David Lewis, Joe Hackney, NC General Assembly, Paul Stam
Lisa Sorg ·
27 Jan 2009, 6:25 PM ·
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On the eve of the state Legislature’s opening session of 2009, House Speaker Joe Hackney (D-Chatham, Orange) pointed to a “confluence of factors” promoting smarter energy policy and green-collar job creation—the kind of ideas that could kickstart the economy and perhaps even improve it.
Read the Indy’s coverage of Hackney’s presentation, sponsored by N.C. Policy Watch, a progressive think tank.
North Carolina, business, economy, environment, politics green jobs, Joe Hackney, state legislature
Fiona Morgan ·
13 Jan 2009, 12:45 PM ·
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Governing magazine has put the North Carolina House speaker on its cover this month.
The profile describes the Orange-Chatham legislator as an upstanding farmer-slash-divorce lawyer who rose to leadership when the Jim Black scandal suddenly made ethics and fairness qualities in demand. It’s an interesting window onto the processes of the legislature.
North Carolina, politics Joe Hackney, NC General Assembly
Lisa Sorg ·
11 Sep 2008, 4:50 PM ·
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Not C-SPAN, but NC-SPAN: N.C. House Speaker Joe Hackney has appointed eight lawmakers to the House Select Committee on Televising House Sessions. (How many times can you say House in one sentence?) Triangle reps include Wake County’s Grier Martin and Linda Coleman.
Although audio of the House and Senate sessions and finance and appropriations committees are available through the General Assembly Web site, political observers have long wanted the sausage-making televised for additional transparency.
In the House and Senate chambers, the press gets a front row view of the machinations, which are sometimes entertaining and other times like watching something akin to high school study hall: a lot of whispering, wandering around and occasional arguing. But like C-SPAN, wonderfully unfiltered.
politics Grier Martin, Joe Hackney, Linda Coleman, NC General Assembly, Television House Sessions
