The Independent Weekly’s view on the news
Raleigh’s Public Policy Polling has Obama up by 17 points in Wake County. (Bush won it by 2.) Hagan and Perdue also lead, though by less. It’s all here.
And in the Wake commissioners campaign, their polling puts Democrat Stan Norwalk ahead of incumbent Republican Kenn Gardner by 9 points. The Realtors’ attacks aren’t working, apparently. Democrat incumbents lead the other two commissioners races by even more. That’s all here.
Good story, across the top of page 1, in the Old Reliable: The N.C. Association of Realtors is going all-out to trash Wake County Commissioners candidate Stan Norwalk, and it’s not letting the facts get in its way.
The Indy, as you know, endorsed Norwalk — he’s running against incumbent Commissioner Kenn Gardner — in no small part because of Stan’s willingness to take on the Realtors and other powerful development interests. (2)
[The Realtors also fired a volley at state Rep. Ty Harrell, another Indy endorsee, as the N&O article reports.]
Now, for some footnotes to our entry:
1. In reality, the N&O’s headline doesn’t use the word “slime.” (It says “rips” instead.) We thought you should know that, so we’re noting it here.
We offer this in contrast to the faux quote and bogus footnote used by the N.C. Realtors PAC in one of the anti-Norwalk mailers. The mailer cites the N&O for its assertion that Norwalk has a “shady” past concerning campaign contributions (the word “shady” is highlighted in red). And to further convey the idea that the mailer is actually quoting the N&O, the assertion is accompanied by a red footnote (1), with this tagline immediately beneath it: “The News and Observer (sic), (Raleigh, NC), May 8, 2002 Wednesday, FINAL EDITION.”
Note that the tagline isn’t offered as an official (1) explanatory footnote, however. Because that could be considered fibbing.
The truth, according to the N&O itself in a sidebar to the main story:
“The N&O never called Norwalk’s actions shady.
2. From the Indy’s Norwalk endorsement:
“He has a record of advocating for alternatives to property tax—he lobbied the legislature hard to get the highly unpopular land transfer tax referendum option passed, showing he has no interest in ingratiating himself to the developers’ lobby. But on other forms of spending, Norwalk is tight-fisted. He questions the necessity of a $30 million administrative headquarters and believes the county could save money by consolidating duplicate services.”
The North Carolina Homeowners Alliance, an astroturf group for the real estate lobby, has sponsored this robocall (MP3 file) against Wake County Commissioner candidate Stan Norwalk, blasting him for a “radical tax plan.” “Did you know that Stan Norwalk has never seen a problem he couldn’t solve with a new tax?” the call says.
The Realtors group is still sore over Norwalk’s efforts to support the real estate transfer tax as an alternative to further property tax increases to pay for schools, roads and other infrastructure.
Norwalk’s campaign fired back with an email to supporters, seeking contributions to run his own radio ads. “The real estate lobby is desperate to maintain their control over the County’s tax policies through Kenn and by intimidating others on the Board of County Commissioners,” the email said. “The lobby wants the full burden of infrastructure to fall on working people rather than on them. I am a direct threat to their twenty year record of control.”
Apparently, Wake County Commissioner Kenn Gardner’s dip in the pool is too much for The News & Observer’s endorsement committee. The paper backs Democratic challenger Stan Norwalk for the District 4 seat.
Public Policy Polling finds the three Democratic candidates ahead by 10-15 points over their Republican opponents in the Wake County Commissioners race. The one Democrat who’s a challenger, Stan Norwalk, leads incumbent Republican Kenn Gardner by 10 — and by 23 among the minority of voters aware of Gardner’s swimming pool issues.
In the big-league races, Democrats Obama, Hagan and Perdue lead in Wake by 17, 19 and 9 points, respectively, PPP finds. Remember, Bush carried Wake County in ‘04.
Kenn Gardner finally answered questions yesterday about his work as architect-designer for the Triangle Aquatics Center in Cary and his opposition (but now he says it wasn’t really opposition) to a rival Cary Aquatic Center. He talked to the N&O’s Michael Biesecker; doesn’t sound like Biesecker was persuaded that Gardner had no conflict of interest when he pursued public grants for the TAC. And why did Gardner mislead the public about his deal with TAC? He said in public he had “not beeen paid a dime” and was “donating” his services while knocking the Cary project. Turned out he expected to be paid, and was paid $244,355 by TAC. Not a lot of money, actually, given the scope of the TAC project. But not nothing either, Commissioner.
Note to N&O: Ask Gardner for a new photo, eh?
Kenn Gardner would like you to know that he did not “misuse his office.” But for those who have fallen prey to the “mistaken perception” that he did, the Wake County Commissioner would like to “offer an apology,” reports the N&O.
“I love Wake County too much to even think about doing something like that,” said Gardner before yesterday’s meeting of the Wake County board.
The above statements mark the first time Gardner has publicly addressed allegations that he used his office to advocate for a Triangle Aquatic pool project that, as it turns out, he benefited from financially.
But while Gardner isn’t admitting guilt, it seems that he’s been chastened:
Later in the meeting Monday, when an item on $10 million in funding for a pool project in Cary that would compete with Triangle Aquatic came up on the agenda, Gardner recused himself from the discussion and abstained from the vote.
The row between Wake County Commissioner Kenn Gardner and the non-profit he says owes him hundreds of thousands in back-pay has ended, reports the News & Observer.
In exchange for dropping his lawsuit, the Triangle Aquatic Center (TAC) has agreed to pay Gardner $25, 000, a relative pittance compared to the $400, 000 he was demanding for his role in the design of a Cary private pool. The settlement has not, however, stopped TAC officials from filing a countersuit seeking damages for what they say are the pool’s architectural failings.
Meanwhile, Gardner, a one-time TAC board member, remains tight lipped amidst accusations that his public advocacy of–and compensation for work on–the TAC backed project constitutes a conflict of interest.
Between his now-public legal battle with the Triangle Aquatic Center and The N&O’s clip files, Wake County Commissioner Kenn Gardner’s got some ’splaining to do about why his work for the TAC — for “donated” architectural services that turn out to have been quite well paid-for (but not as well as Gardner wanted them to be) — did not constitute a serious conflict of interest.
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