Progressive Democrats of Buncombe Co Meeting

Meeting was held on April 8, 2008. There were eight people in attendance.

This meeting was planned to discuss endorsements of candidates for US Senate and Buncombe County Commissioners. All Democratic candidates for Buncombe County Commissioners were invited to talk to the group. Kay Bailey, Carol Peterson, Vernon Dover, and Bill Stanley had other meetings to attend. Cecil Bothwell and Bob Hill said they would come to the meeting, but Bob Hill did not attend. Holly Jones and Keith Thompson did not respond to the request.

Cecil Bothwell spoke to the group about reasons for running for country commissioner – he followed this path because of his prior investigative reporting on Commissioners and the lack of transparency. One example of this was the lease of county land in Woodfin to Progress Energy. They signed the lease “for any purpose” without public knowledge or input. He feels the core of what we need is good economic development. This means keeping dollars here, along with conservation and keeping energy dollars here. One means of doing that is to retro-fit homes for conservation. Another avenue to pursue is development of wind and solar energy. Cecil talked about the food crisis and food riots (mostly around grains), and he said that we need food security via local sources. County schools should serve local food first, and he felt that the proposed 70 acres for Woodfin power plant should be used for local farming, since this is prime land for growing food. Cecil did not like the fact that taxation is running people out of their homes here in Buncombe. He felt that more money is needed for health care and schools in Buncombe County.

We held a vote to decide if we should endorse some candidates for Buncombe County Commissioner. This motion was passed after some discussion. Cecil Bothwell was endorsed by a majority vote, and Holly Jones was endorsed by a majority vote. No other candidates were endorsed. We discussed the two candidates (Jim Neal and Duskin Lassiter) seeking endorsement for the US Senate race, and a vote was taken to see if the Progressive Democrats of Buncombe County wanted to endorse. This did not pass, since most people felt that they did not know enough about the candidates to endorse.

Isaac started a discussion and said that we need to get more progressives to run for office. He also talked about Martin Luther King Jr. and the “I have a dream” speech. What MLK had to say 40 years ago is similar to what Rev. Wright has to say today. Isaac said that we have moved past public accommodation as a civil rights issue, and moved into economic issues as a civil rights issue. He said that we have failed to see other areas of racism in our country. We had some further discussion of community gardens (Isaac helped start these) and our busing system and the transit authority here in Asheville. Susan said that she is stepping down from state coordinator for Progressive Democrats of America and stepping down from congressional district #11 contact person for Progressive Democrats of America. There is someone who is stepping into the state coordinator position (George Six), and so far no volunteers for congressional district representation. Susan is also planning on stepping down as the coordinator for Progressive Democrats of Buncombe County. Isaac felt that we should hold one more meeting for the Progressive Democrats and see if we can get people interested in running for office. Isaac thought it might be worthwhile to invite local candidates to our next meeting, which will be on July 8, 2008 at 7 PM at North Asheville Library.

Follow-up: Cecil Bothwell and Holly Jones were informed of the endorsement from Progressive Democrats of Buncombe County. Also, July 8, 2008 will not work for the next meeting, since Susan will be out of town. We will hold the next meeting on August 5, 2008 at 7 PM at North Asheville Library.

The photo above was taken on April 20, 2008 at Asheville Friends Meeting.