Campaign sign coda

As promised, below you'll find a couple pictures of the campaign sign garden. As mentioned in an earlier post, I had to get a little creative with Gary Underwood.


Using everything I learned from all those MacGyver episodes as a kid, I jerry-rigged a bendy straw, packing tape, and the Gary Underwood flyer into a small campaign sign.


We originally planned to move the signs around just to mix it up from time to time, but that plan fell through for the most part. There was one or two reorganizations, but we all agreed we liked them in a line as shown. While it may not be Waxhaw Arts Council good, it's not too shabby. Is there a better piece of living political art in Waxhaw?

A couple art hipsters walked by one day. After declaring it "eerily bold yet arrestingly subversive," they went on to describe it as an impressive piece of folk art that "fused scandal with nature, signifying death yet still paying tribute to the thin line of rebirth; a startling exclamation tattooed onto the struggling soul of small-town Waxhaw. Love the bendy straw!"

I shrugged my shoulders and went back to raking up my leaves. We'll probably take it down tonight.

Marathon update (for real this time)

I discussed last Friday the appalling lack of marathon updates from Tim (of Waxhaw fame) as he tries to run 12 marathons in 12 months.

Perhaps egged on by my post or perhaps due to that guilty feeling you get when not keeping up with your blog, Tim has posted updates to marathons #7, 8, and 9. Follow the links to read each post-marathon follow-up.

Could this be the first time this blog has affected real positive change in Waxhaw? I'll let you be the judge.

Results are in

The results of Waxhaw's latest election are in.

Incumbent Daune Gardner has won the mayoral race with a 122-vote margin, collecting 43.50% of the votes. Here's the details:


It would've been interesting to see the results of the election without Gary Underwood playing the role of spoiler like Ross Perot in 1992, although I have no idea if the result would be any different.

On the commissioner side, newcomers Mike Stewart and Sean Poccia both won election. Mike Stewart blew the rest of the candidates away with a 137-vote margin, collecting 30.32% of the votes.

Sean Poccia squeaked in with 23.24% of the votes. He had a mere 4 votes on Martin Lane and a mere 7 votes on Phillip Gregory.


Are there any takeaways from this? Did Mike Stewart earn a mandate with that vote total? Is it possible for the losing commissioner candidates to request a recount given the slim margin they lost by?

I suspect there are a handful of Martin Lane and Phillip Gregory supporters out there kicking themselves for not finding a way to get to the polls today.

One final thought compliments of the Union County Weekly. Per a Facebook post:

Overall, just ten percent of registered voters cast ballots in today's election. Out of 84,030 voters, just 8,540 came out today.

Pretty lame turnout.

Voter #339

That was me.

It took longer to run the gauntlet of politicians and their respective poll workers at Waxhaw VFD than it did to vote. I said hi to Mike Stewart, Phillip Gregory, Gary Underwood, and saw Lisa Thornton pulling in as I arrived.

Clarifying "Land of the Waxhaws"

I've linked to a handful of "Land of the Waxhaws" (LotW) stuff. For those who aren't aware, LotW is a local internet video broadcast run by Jim Black. Or I always used to think it was run by Jim Black. Actually, it's really a joint venture between Jim Black and our Mayor Daune Gardner.

Other than her frequent appearances on LotW, which I chalked up to her position as mayor and wanting to be in the public eye more, I had never seen any notice this was a vehicle for her other than noticing her business, Creative Plus, was one of the sponsors of the show.

But it turns out she's more than a sponsor and essentially a partner in the endeavor. I've questioned why so few candidates have appeared on the show. And the answer may be found in the fact that another of the candidates heads up the operation.

For the record, Daune stated that there was an open invite for candidates to appear free of charge on a segment if they agreed to allow her to interview them. While I think the odds are slim to none that Daune would take advantage of an opportunity to make the visiting candidate look bad (partially because I think this would rebound to reflect poorly on her), I can understand the other candidates' reluctance to provide her with more time looking gracious in front of the camera to help her campaign, especially Lisa Thornton and Gary Underwood.

If candidates chose to appear on their own segments (speaking with Jim Black instead of Daune), then they would be expected to pay the going rate of $50 per segment that is charged to local businesses.

However, that rate was apparently not set in stone as it appears different candidates were quoted different prices. For example, Martin Lane appeared on air with Jim Black so you would think he would be charged $50 for his troubles. But he paid nothing.

Gary Underwood and Mike Stewart were quoted the expected $50 price but declined to appear.

Lisa Thornton was quoted a $100 figure to appear before the candidates' forum at the Waxhaw Woman's Club.

Since we're speaking about LotW, Jim Black posted a last minute offer for candidates to appear on the show before polls close tomorrow. I'm not sure how much value it would be at this point, but here it is in case any are interested.

ALL POLITICAL CANDIDATES, IN WAXHAW, WHO WOULD LIKE TO PROMOTE THEMSELVES ON OUR INTERNET TV SHOW, CAN DO SO, BETWEEN NOW AND TOMORROW WHEN THE POLLS CLOSE... A FEE OF $50 FOR EACH HALF HOUR IS REQUIRED AND I WILL STREAM YOUR MESSAGE LIVE, FROM YOUR HOME, OFFICE OR ANYPLACE YOU DECIDE THAT HAS A WIRELESS INTERNET CONNECTION..SEGMENTS WILL BE SAVED FOR THOSE WHO CANNOT VIEW IT LIVE...
ALL OF YOU WHO SUPPORT CANDIDATES, PLEASE FORWARD THIS MESSAGE TO THEM...I CAN BE REACHED BY MESSAGE ON FACEBOOK, OR SEND EMAIL TO landofthewaxhaws@gmail.com
THANK YOU AND GOOD LUCK TUESDAY.....JIM BLACK

More ugliness this election season

I got an email from Daune Gardner and Marvin Councilperson Anthony Burman on Sunday about an apparently new email that some have received entitled "A Call to Action for Waxhaw" emailed out by the anonymous person(s) behind patrioticcitizenryofwaxhaw@yahoo.com.

While it was requested that I do not show the contents of the email, I don't think it's out of bounds to provide a brief general description of the contents since Daune references them in her response below. Besides calling attention to her dismissed DUI charge, providing a picture of her mug shot, and claiming she has a substance abuse problem, a considerable portion is devoted to railing against newcomer candidate Sean Poccia, who is enthusiastically supported by Daune, by claiming it provides Daune with control of the board when combined with Commissioners Erin Kirkpatrick's and Brett Diller's votes.

I'm not sure how many people got this email as this is the first I'd heard about it. I asked a few follow-up questions trying to learn who exactly received the email in an effort to determine exactly when it was sent and if others were CC'd on it, but I didn't get a specific response.

I emailed Anthony Burman, who is apparently working on Daune's campaign in some capacity, some of the same questions along with some others late last night, but still have not heard back. If he gets back to me with some additional details, I will try to update the post.

Did anyone else out there receive this email? I'm curious to hear how many people it targeted.

And as I requested in my previous post on bad behavior, feel free to email me with other similar types of less than desirable behavior by politicians and/or their supporters. Although with voting tomorrow, this will mostly going away until next election. I hope.

As mentioned above, Daune provided me with a statement that appears to be what she wrote up for the person who brought the email to her attention. Here it is for those curious:

Thank you for bringing this to my attention. It is disappointing that there are those who choose to spread lies, half-truths and innuendo on the eve of an election, and are doing so behind the anonymity of email.

While this may be the first you have heard of it, it is true that I was arrested and charged with driving under the influence in 2008. The case was dismissed and the judge went so far as to order all records expunged. Those events have NEVER diminished my passion or ability to perform consistently well and with strength and integrity as your mayor.

As for the allegations of corruption and so forth, my record both as a citizen activist and as your mayor shows that I have consistently stood up to bad development, encouraged citizen engagement and insisted on proper process.

Please call me at 704-578-0763 if you have further concerns or questions.

Best,

Daune Gardner

General election thoughts

Just a few miscellaneous last minute campaign thoughts that didn't seem to fit in elsewhere. I figured I'd get these off my chest before voting is over, but here we are at 8.30pm. So in no particular order:

* The addition of Gary Underwood into the mayoral race will benefit incumbent Daune Gardner the most. She will get the incumbent vote and Lisa and Gary will somehow split the anti-incumbent vote.

* Predictions: I think Daune Gardner wins the race for mayor for the aforementioned reasons. As for commissioners, I think Sean Poccia wins one spot mainly because all the Daune supporters will vote for her preferred candidate. As for the other slot, I'm not really sure. I think all three are good board candidates, but I'll give it to the more visible incumbent, Martin Lane. Bear in mind, I'm no political prognosticator, but those are my guesses. (NOTE: These predictions were made earlier in the day before any totals are in.

* A question: why was the campaign for mayor so much more heated than the board races? They seemed almost chummy in comparison.

* The campaign sign garden is officially complete at this time. I got signs from all the candidates except Gary Underwood. So I had to improvise. I will get a picture up time-permitting.