Dave's Picks
Dear Friends,
Several people have asked me who I recommend that they vote
for in the July 20, 2004 NC Primary Elections.
Note: Republicans can only vote in the Republican primary election.
Democrats can only vote in the Democrat primary. Unaffiliated
voters may vote in either primary.
Since I'm registered Republican, I can't vote in the Democrat
primary, so these recommendations are just for the Republican
races and the "non-partisan" judicial races. So if you will be
voting in the Democrat primary, only my judicial recommendations
are pertinent.
Dave's Picks
Note: I didn't bother to list some of the uncontested races.
I recommend...
STATEWIDE REPUBLICAN RACES:
U.S. Senate: Richard Burr
Governor: Fern Shubert
Lt. Governor: Thomas Stith
Attorney General: Joe Knott
State Auditor: Leslie ("Les") Merritt
Labor Commissioner: Lloyd Funderburk
Insurance Commissioner: Cindy Huntsberry
Superintendent of Public Instruction: Jeanne Smoot
MOORE COUNTY:
NC HOUSE Dist 52: Peggy Crutchfield <== VERY STRONG RECOMMENDATION!!!
WAKE COUNTY:
2nd Congressional District: Billy Creech
4th Congressional District: Todd Batchelor
13th Congressional District: Johnson or Boyd
NC Senate District 14: John Odoom or Johnnie Mayfield
NC Senate District 15: John Carrington
NC HOUSE District 34: Don Munford (has no serious primary opponent)
NC HOUSE District 36: Nelson Dollar <== STRONG RECOMMENDATION!!
NC HOUSE District 37: Paul Stam (has no serious opponent)
NC HOUSE District 38: Phil Jeffreys
NC HOUSE District 39: J. Sam "Sam" Ellis <== STRONG RECOMMENDATION!!
NC HOUSE District 40: David Robinson <== STRONG RECOMMENDATION!!
NC HOUSE District 41: Russell Capps <== STRONG RECOMMENDATION!!
LEE COUNTY:
At the end of this page is an email from Carmen Ledford, a
Christian in Sanford who has excellent political judgment.
Please consider her recommendations.
JUDICIAL ("NON-PARTISAN"):
Court of Appeals: Marvin Schiller
District Court Judges, 10th District: Kris Bailey & Donna Stroud
You can check your voter registration at the State Board of
Elections web site, here:
http://www.app.sboe.state.nc.us/votersearch/seimsvot.htm
Wake County residents can also check it on the Wake County
Board of Elections web site (which contains roughly the same
information):
http://web.co.wake.nc.us/bordelec/
Also, here's a link to a spreadsheet with all 206 state-wide
judicial candidates, who are running in "non-partisan" elections
this year. The Democrat-controlled NC General Assembly doesn't
want you to know who the Republicans and Democrats are, so
the candidates' party affiliations won't be on the ballots this
year, but we tracked 'em down. This spreadsheet shows all
206 candidates' actual party affiliations:
http://www.mooregop.org/judicial_with_party_2004.xls (Excel)
http://www.mooregop.org/judicial_with_party_2004.csv (Other)
http://www.mooregop.org/judicial_with_party_2004a.htm (web page)
(My thanks to the good folks at State GOP HQ for filling in the
ten that I couldn't find.)
Supplemental notes:
NC HOUSE District 41:
Russell Capps <== STRONG RECOMMENDATION!!
State Rep. J. Russell Capps is one of my very favorite people.
Russell is a retired State or County employee (sorry, I don't
remember which), a sincere Christian gentleman, a solid
conservative, and a very hard worker. Truly, there's nobody in
politics with more integrity and decency than Russell Capps:
http://www.ncleg.net/gascripts/members/viewMember.pl?sChamber=H&nUserID=13
Russell has a Republican primary opponent named Thayne N.
Conrad. I've never met him, but he was apparently recruited
by the evil Richard Morgan & Paul "Rasputin" Shumaker.
PLEASE vote for Russell Capps for NC House Dist. 41!
NC HOUSE District 39:
J. Sam "Sam" Ellis <== STRONG RECOMMENDATION!!
State Rep. Sam Ellis is also one of my favorite legislators.
He is smart, energetic, and a principled conservative. Like
Russell Capps, Sam is being challenged by a recruit of the
evil Morgan/Shumaker machine. I've never talked to Sam about
his Faith, but he certainly acts like a Christian.
http://www.ncleg.net/gascripts/members/viewMember.pl?sChamber=H&nUserID=13
Sam's opponent is running ads which make despicable, dishonest
attacks on his character. Don't be deceived!
PLEASE vote for Sam Ellis for NC House Dist. 39!
NC HOUSE District 36:
Nelson Dollar <== STRONG RECOMMENDATION!!
Nelson is challenging incumbent State Rep. David Miner, who
represents me in the NC House. I use the word "represents"
loosely, however, since David won't even talk to me or many
other Republican constituents. I've called him and left messages
about 30 times over the past 3-4 months, and I even went to
the legislature and left him a hand-written note, asking him
to call me. But he won't call me back.
Nor am I the only one. I've talked to several other people
in my district who say that he won't call them back, either.
David has joined the Democrat/Morgan coalition, and ever since
he did so he has been behaving like a Democrat.
David is running an outrageously dishonest campaign. He is
claiming that he's the true conservative, and that he eliminated
the marriage penalty and increased the child tax credit. Those
are lies. Those phased-in tax law changes were enacted back in
2001, and the only change to them which can be partially credited
to his "leadership" is that they REDUCED the child tax credit by
restricting it to children under age 16 (reduced from 18, or 22
for students). Here's the 7/19/04 Winston-Salem Journal quoting
John Hood of the non-partisan John Locke Foundation:
Morgan and his allies [incl. David Miner] have run ads saying
they cut taxes by voting for an increase in the state's child-tax
credit and doing away with its marriage-tax penalty.
"It's malarkey," Hood said. "It makes a bill that raised
taxes into an apparent tax cut. I find these ads the most
odious ... telling a deliberate falsehood based on the
assumption that people won't check it out."
http://www.journalnow.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=WSJ%2FMGArticle%2FWSJ_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1031776759551
And, believe it or not, it gets even worse. Saturday's mail
contained a David Miner "news release" claiming that NC Right
To Life was endorsing him. But I called Barbara Holt, who is
President of NC Right To Life, and she told me that they have
made NO endorsements in this election. It seems that David
Miner took an old NC Right To Life endorsement, from when he
was running against a pro-abortion Democrat, and deleted
the date, and sent it out as a "news release" indicating
that he has the NC Right To Life endorsement in THIS race,
when he has a pro-life opponent. See for yourself:
http://www.mooregop.org/minerRTL.png
http://www.mooregop.org/minerRTLenvelope.png
Not only that, Miner recycled an old "thank-you" voicemail
from President Bush from several years ago, and used it in
an automated phone message saying that President Bush supports
him in this primary. The RNC both phoned him and sent him an
overnight letter demanding that he cease using the President's
voice in his deceptive advertising, and then David did it again!
His message plays the President's voice and says, "Don't let
President Bush down! Vote for David Miner!"
NC HOUSE District 40:
David Robinson <== STRONG RECOMMENDATION!!
Like Nelson Dollar (in HD-36), David Robinson is running
against one of the small group of so-called Republicans
who have allied themselves with Richard Morgan and the
Democrats. David's opponent is Rick Eddins, who helped
Morgan and the Democrats gerrymander North Carolina's
legislative districts to keep Democrats in control.
NC SENATE DISTRICT 15 (WAKE):
John Carrington has two Republican primary challengers:
Jean Koch: http://www.newsobserver.com/politics/elections/ncraces/ncsen/bio/story/1340083p-7417300c.html
Neal Hunt: http://www.newsobserver.com/politics/elections/ncraces/ncsen/bio/story/1342685p-7374925c.html
John Carrington generally votes right but is not very accessible
to his constituents. Still, I would vote for him if I were still
in his district. Neal Hunt is currently on the Raleigh City
Council. Jean, unfortunately, has health problems, which worsened
after it was too late for her to withdraw from the race.
CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT 4:
This seat is currently held by an EXTREMELY liberal Democrat,
David Price, who greatly annoyed me years ago by lying to me at
a "town meeting" about the "ABC bill" ("Act For Better Child
Care"), which he tried to make MORE discriminatory against
Church-affiliated daycare centers. Grrrrr!
There are FOUR Republicans in a primary, who want to challenge
David Price. (That's very surprising, because it is a very
tough district for Republicans.) Three of them are well known
and respected in Republican circles:
Todd Bachelor
Robert ("Whit") Whitfield
Howard Mason
(The fourth is someone I've never met, who doesn't seem to be
campaigning at all: James Powers)
I'm also in the 4th District. I like all three of these guys.
However, from talking with them, I've been slightly more
impressed with Todd Bachelor. He is very well-spoken and
likeable, and seems to be a sincere Christian, and a good
conservative. He is also campaigning very hard, which will
be necessary if we are to have any chance at all of beating
David Price. So I intend to vote for Todd Batchelor.
Here are brief bios on all four:
Todd Batchelor: http://www.newsobserver.com/politics/elections/ushouse/bio/story/1378238p-7374911c.html
Howard Mason: http://www.newsobserver.com/politics/elections/ushouse/bio/story/1337047p-7417280c.html
Robert "Whit" Whitfield: http://www.newsobserver.com/politics/elections/ushouse/bio/story/1364020p-7485210c.html
James Powers: http://www.newsobserver.com/politics/elections/ushouse/bio/story/1337033p-7374966c.html
Also, the State GOP has links to their web sites:
Here are their web sites:
http://www.batchelorforcongress.com/
http://www.masonforcongress.com/
http://www.whitforcongress.com/
http://www.powersforcongress04.com/
For U.S. Senate, there are three names on the Republican
Primary ballot, but the only serious candidate is Richard Burr.
For Governor, I really like Fern Shubert. She is a wonderful
person, a CPA, a very brilliant lady, a fine Christian, and I
think the person who has the best chance of beating Easley in
the general election. The others running in that primary are
five men: Vinroot Cobey, Ballentine, Barrett, and Little. I've
talked with all of them, and they are all serious candidates and
likable individuals. But Fern is best!
http://www.forfern.com/
For Lt. Governor, we have three candidates running:
Thomas Stith, Jim Snyder, and Timothy Cook. In my opinion,
Thomas Stith stands head and shoulders above the other two.
I've met him several times, and heard him speak several
times, and he's very impressive. I also know Jim Snyder,
but I like Stith a lot better. (Cook is not really a
serious candidate.)
Stith is an extremely effective speaker, and a solid conservative.
He is also a man with a strong backbone -- of necessity, since
he is African-American, and it requires a lot of backbone for
an African-American in North Carolina to withstand the social
pressure to be a liberal and a Democrat.
Snyder is an orthodox conservative, too. However, he did a
very odd thing during this campaign, which makes me question his
judgment. His campaign delivered one of those automated telephone
messages touting his candidacy, which is not unusual, but it ended
with him saying that his "plan" is explained in his new book, "The
Conservative Mind."
Well, for a "movement conservative" like me, that was shocking
to hear, because that is the title of Russell Kirk's classic
book, which has gone through about 7 editions over the last 50
years. It seems nothing short of bizarre that Jim Snyder would
use Russell Kirk's title for his own book.
Anyhow, I'm going to vote for Thomas Stith:
http://www.stith04.com/
There's a Republican primary for Labor Commissioner, between
the incumbent, Cherie Berry, and challenger Lloyd Funderburk.
I don't know much about Funderburk, though I've talked with
him briefly on the phone, and he seemed like a good guy.
However, I know a lot about Berry, so I'm definitely voting
for Funderburk! He has a web page here:
http://www.lloydfunderburk.info
For Superintendent of Public Instruction, we have a Republican
primary between Jeanne Smoot and Bill Fletcher. Bill served
many years on the Wake School Board. He is fairly conservative
on social issues, but not on fiscal issues. Jeanne is one
of these people with big, impressive, lists of academic
credentials. Bill is a bright, likeable fellow, and a Christian,
but I will vote for Jeanne, mainly because she is more
supportive of the school choice movement. Here are brief
bios on both of them:
Bill Fletcher: http://www.newsobserver.com/politics/elections/ncraces/publicinstruct/bio/story/1386537p-7509887c.html
Jeanne Smoot: http://www.newsobserver.com/politics/elections/ncraces/publicinstruct/bio/story/1337067p-7424162c.html
There's also a 3-way Republican Primary for Attorney General,
between Joe Knott, Wendell Sawyer, and Thom Goolsby. I don't
know these candidates (though I've met a couple of them
briefly), so for this race I have to rely on the advice of
others. Based on that advice, I'm currently planning to vote
for Joe Knott.
For State Auditor, I know and like Leslie "Les" Merritt.
I've never heard of Les's primary opponent, Jasper Albright.
There's also a primary for Commissioner of Insurance, between
Robert Brawley and Cindy Huntsberry. Based on the advice of
several people whose judgment I trust, I'm going to vote for
Huntsberry.
For State Supreme Court in November, I know and like and
strongly recommend Republican John Tyson. But there's no
primary. Note: the November ballot will NOT show that he is
a Republican.
For State Court of Appeals, there's a primary for one race,
between four "non-partisan" candidates, two of whom are
actually Republicans, and two of whom are Democrats. The two
Republicans are Marvin Schiller and Barbara Jackson. I am
going to vote for Schiller. Note: the ballot does NOT show
who the Republicans are!
For the general election in November there are also two other
races: I know and like and strongly recommend Republican Alice
Stubbs over Democrat Wanda Bryant. For the other race the
Republican is Bill Parker and the Democrat is Linda McGee,
but I don't know either of them.
There're no races this time in Superior Court district 10C.
In District Court district 10 (a/k/a "Judicial District 10"),
the ballot does not show who the Republicans are, but for the
contested District Court seats they are Kris Bailey, Marilyn
Maynard, Donna Stroud, Jennifer Knox. The only one of them who
I know personally is Donna - and I like her. I've heard that
Knox is good, too. Bailey is an incumbent and I've never heard
any criticism of him, which is a good sign. I know nothing
about Maynard except that she's Republican.
Bailey and Stroud both have primaries, for the others you'll
have to wait until November.
-----------------------------------------------------------
The State Republican Party web site is here:
http://www.ncgop.org/
Their candidate list is here:
http://www.ncgop.org/election_2004/index.html (This is great!)
The N&O's candidate list is here:
http://www.newsobserver.com/content/politics/elections/candidates.html
The Wake Co. Board of Elections web site is here:
http://www.wakegov.com/general/elections/default.htm
Their "composite sample ballot for Republicans" is here:
http://msweb03.co.wake.nc.us/bordelec/downloads/2004_REPUBLICAN_Primary_Composite.htm
The Wake Co. Republican Party web site is here:
http://www.wakegop.org/
My very own web site about the evil Richard Morgan and
Moore County Republican politics is here:
http://www.mooregop.org/
I hope this is helpful!
-Dave
Home: 1-919-481-0098 Cell: 1-919-244-3316
From: Carmen Ledford [cmc at theledfords.com]
Sent: Tuesday, July 06, 2004 3:08 PM
To: Carmen Ledford
Subject: Carmen's Picks Election Primary 2004
Because I follow politics pretty closely, every year people ask about
who I am supporting so here are my picks in the 2004 Primary for what
it is worth. I have only included candidates that have a Republican
Primary. If you are registered Democrat you can vote for the judicial
and school board candidates- please remember them in the general. This
includes candidates for Lee, Wake and Moore County so all will NOT apply
to you. Please let me know if you have any questions.
The polls opened on Thursday for the 2004 Primary at Early Voting
polling locations across North Carolina. Early Voting will last through
July 17th.
It's quick and easy! To vote, just go to your County Board of Elections
office and fill out your ballot.
IF YOU LIVE IN MOORE COUNTY, PLEASE GO VOTE FOR PEGGY CRUTCHFIELD!! FOR
MORE INFO SEE www.mooregop.org
I would also STRONGLY SUPPORT- Les Merritt, Billy Creech, Sam Ellis,
Russell Capps, Richard Burr and Nelson Dollar
US CONGRESS:
US Rep Richard Burr http://www.richardburrcommittee.com/
Governor:
I am supporting Patrick Ballentine. There are a lot of great candidates
but I think he has the best chance against Easley.
http://ballantineforgovernor.com/
Lt. Governor:
Thomas Stith http://www.stith04.com/mm.html
State Auditor
Les Merritt http://www.lesmerritt.com/
Superintendent of Public Instruction
Dr. Jeanne Smoot http://www.smootforschools.com
Attorney General
Joe Knott http://www.joeknott.org/
Labor Commissioner
Lloyd Funderburk http://www.lloydfunderburk.info/pages/1/index.htm
Insurance Commissioner
Cindy Huntsberry http://www.votehuntsberry.com/
US House 2nd District
Billy J. Creech
http://www.creechforcongress.com/default.htm
US House 4th
Todd Batchelor http://www.batchelorforcongress.com/
US 13th District
Virginia Johnson http://www.virginiajohnsonforcongress.com/
Court of Appeals
Barbara Jackson OR Marvin Schiller
District Court(Wake)
Kris Bailey
District Court (Wake)
Donna Stroud
District Court (Lee)
Donald E. Harrop
NC Senate 14 (Wake)
John Odoom
NC District 15 (Wake)
??
NC House District 34 (Wake)
Don Munford
NC House District 36 (Wake)
Nelson Dollar www.nelsondollar.com
NC House District 39 (Wake)
Sam Ellis
NC House District 40 (Wake)
David Robinson www.electrobinson.com
NC House District 41(Wake)
Russell Capps
NC House District 52 (Moore)
Peggy Crutchfield http://www.peggycrutchfield.com/
LEE COUNTY SCHOOL BOARD- WE NEED A CHANGE!!
Four-Year Seat Two-Year Seat
John Bonardi Frank Thompson, Sr.
John Quiggle
Bill Tatum
MaryEllen Axner
VOTE EARLY!!
Carmen Cox Ledford
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