Waxhaw mayor charged with DWI

As most of you have heard, Mayor Daune Gardner was recently charged with a DWI among other things.

Per a Enquirer-Journal article:

Waxhaw police arrested Mayor Daune Gardner of Waxhaw early Monday morning with a .18 Blood Alcohol Level.

In addition to the driving while impaired charge, Gardner has also been charged with speeding and driving left of center on NC 16 in Waxhaw.

Later in the article, it is discovered that the mayor's earlier run-in with driving under the influence in Lancaster County 2008 was ultimately expunged. I'd always wondered what had happened with that.

The problem with these types of stories is that the media rarely follows up on the ultimate conclusion. For example, there was never any follow-up on Waxhaw's infamous marijuana growing, gun-collecting dentist.

The Union County Weekly has a bit more of a follow-up:

Gardner apologized to commissioners and Waxhaw citizens at the town’s board meeting Tuesday, June 11, calling Monday’s arrest “embarrassing” and saying she hopes the town can work together to move past these issues.

“I would like to apologize to you, the people of Waxhaw, my supporters and friends, the board and the staff,” she said.  “It is a private challenge that I face, and I will be addressing that in a private manner.  I hope that each of you is able to forgive me for the condition that I have put us in with my actions.  I hope that we can move forward and work together for the betterment of our community.”

The town won’t move forward without taking some steps to address Gardner’s alleged actions, first. Commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday night to audit the mayor’s town credit card expenses and suspend her credit card use until the audit is finalized. Gardner will be put on a reimbursement system like other members of the board for now.

Commissioners will begin the process of censuring Gardner during their next meeting.  The censure process is a formal reprimand from a government body that serves as little more than an embarrassing slap on the wrist and carries no loss of power or authority.  Town councils don’t have the power to remove mayors in North Carolina.

We'll see what comes of all this.

Obama looking to register Waxhaw voters

If there's any local Obama supporters left after the Supreme Court ruled Obamacare was a promise-breaking tax increase to end all tax increases, he's having a voter registration event on the 4th in Waxhaw.

It's at or begins at the Food Lion in Waxhaw. See here for the details.

And given the sheer number of emails I get exhorting me to donate to his campaign, I would be surprised if they weren't also collecting money, so if you haven't already coughed up your $3, perhaps the 4th would be a good time if you want him around for another four years.

That's assuming you haven't graciously offered up some of your wedding or graduation gifts in tribute already.

Recount is over and Poccia is in

The election is now over, so no one complain about campaign signs for another couple years.

Per a Union County Weekly Facebook update, Sean Poccia survived the recount and joins Mike Stewart as a newly elected board member.

Poccia still wins after recount. four provisional ballots in waxhaw, three not registered so only one counted. That extra vote went to Martin Lane, meaning he lost by three votes

A pretty tight race and an excellent illustration of the importance of getting out there and voting for your candidate. Tough loss for Martin Lane and Phillip Gregory, but I'm sure they'll be involved in town affairs one way or the other.

You know, this blog is always on the lookout for highly motivated former board members to sit in on town board meetings (since they're already in the habit of attending these meetings) and sharing their notes with the town. There are multiple benefits to this: not only will this educate local townsfolk as to what goes on at these meetings, but it also will make it so I won't feel I need to attend these meetings. Not like I attend them now, but I always feel like I should.

Let me end with a hypothetical question for county election junkies out there: what if the other three provisional ballots were all valid and counted for Lane, in which case he would've tied Sean Poccia for the last commissioner spot. Would there be some kind of runoff?

UCW on Gardner victory

The Union County Weekly has an article up on Daune Gardner's re-election. It was not as close as the commissioner race, of course.

A snippet:

With the win, she became just the second challenged incumbent Tuesday night in western Union County, along with Mineral Springs Mayor Rick Becker, to win re-election.

“That was very gratifying and humbling,” Gardner said. “I’m looking forward to the next four years. We’ve done a lot of work, got a lot accomplished.”

...

Gardner received the majority of votes at the Waxhaw Volunteer Fire Department, Waxhaw Bible Church and Kensington Elementary precincts. Underwood won the majority of votes at the Waxhaw Elementary precinct. All total, 17.75 percent of Waxhaw’s 6,158 voters cast ballots.

Read the whole thing.

UCW on recount

The Union County Weekly has a nice piece on the Waxhaw commissioner race, where Sean Poccia currently leads Martin Lane by four votes and Phillip Gregory by seven votes. The latter has requested a recount.

But first, provisional ballots must be checked. A snippet:

Whitley said there are currently 101 provisional votes throughout the county that his department needs to sort through before Tuesday, which could also affect the final tally. Provisional ballots are those that have to be checked, if a person voted in the wrong precinct or filled out information incorrectly.

Please note that this is county wide total; there is no word thus far how many of the provisional ballots apply to the Waxhaw races.

Luckily, we've got a good group on commissioner candidates this time around, so we should be okay with whoever ultimately wins.

Stay tuned to the Union County Weekly for more information on this as it becomes available.

11/11/11

Any self-respecting blogger worth his salt should get a post up on 11/11/11 at 11:11am. So here's mine.

To add something Waxhaw-related, half of my campaign signs disappeared from my yard on Wednesday. The kids and I had planned on keeping them for posterity's sake (much to my wife's chagrin), but some of the faster-acting politicians got to them first. I'm talking about you Daune Gardner, Phillip Gregory, and Sean Poccia.

I quickly gathered up the signs of Martin Lane, Mike Stewart, and Lisa Thornton and hid them deep in the bowels of my garage, so if they come looking for them, they will never find them.

Village Scribe on mayoral race

Mark over at the Village Scribe talks a little about Waxhaw's mayoral race. A snippet:

To satisfy the nattering nabobs who take issue with the results of a three-way race and apply the negative, I thought I’d expand it and cover that aspect.

So, by Waxhaw voting as they did,

56% Voted against Daune Gardner
67% Voted against Lisa Thornton
76% Voted against Gary Underwood

There you have it, for all you “glass half empty” types, more people voted against Lisa Thornton and Gary Underwood than voted against Daune Gardner.

I think this was pretty evident from the vote totals, but it is another way to look at it. I'm guessing this is a response to these "nattering nabobs" pointing out that only 43% of Waxhaw's actual voters (which is a small percentage of Waxhaw's registered voters and an even smaller percentage of Waxhaw residents for that matter) voted to re-elect Daune Gardner.

Recount requested

Per a Union County Weekly Facebook post, Phillip Gregory has requested a recount. He finished a mere 7 votes behind Sean Poccia. And Martin Lane could also benefit from the recount since he was 4 votes behind Poccia.

A follow-up comment from the UCW provided some more information:

Mr. Gregory had to fall within 9 votes in order to qualify for the recount. Scott's right, in that he was seven behind Sean Poccia. John Whitney, Union County Elections Director, said there are several provisional ballots to be counted between now and Tuesday. After that vote is complete, then Whitley will present Gregory's request to the Board of Elections next Tuesday, where the count will be done

So if I am understanding this correctly, these provisional ballots must be counted before the recount is to begin. So depending on the specific number of provisional ballots, it's possible that these could make the race even closer or change the results before the recount is under way.

I guess we'll have to stay tuned.

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.

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.

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.

Campaign nastiness?

Throughout the election season thus far, it seems like the politicians in Waxhaw haven't really been involved in any negative campaigning. From what I've been able to see or hear, the candidates seem to be treating each other cordially enough.

You can't necessarily say the same thing about the candidates' supporters.

Thus far, I have seen a limited number of Daune Gardner supporters who've been acting petty towards mayoral candidate Lisa Thornton. Other candidates' supporters make similar claims. For example, a Facebook friend of mine wrote a piece supporting Daune Gardner and Sean Poccia in which she included the following statement:

There has been a great deal of negativity in this election. Despite all of the attacks, misstatements, and even flat-out lies being spread about Mayor Daune Gardner, she has continued to keep this election about the issues, and has refused to sink to the level of one of her opponents and make attacks against them.

Like I mentioned above, the only campaign negativity I've seen up to this point has been directed towards Lisa Thornton. It wouldn't surprise if other candidates' surrogates have taken the same tact, but I have yet to witness it.

I emailed this person a couple days ago to not only get clarification, such as examples of the "attacks, misstatements, and even flat-out lies," but also to get verification that the negative attacks are occurring since I haven't been privy to them. I have yet to hear back.

I suppose there's no way to say whether this is essentially a proxy war between candidates using surrogates or just a few feeling so strongly about their candidate that they need to denigrate opponents. It surely wouldn't be the first time in politics, and likely not even in Waxhaw politics, that this occurred.

What's your take on the negativity of this campaign? Is it coming from all sides? Both in the mayoral and commissioner races?

Feel free to comment or email me with examples, but given the emotion involved in a topic like this, let's try to keep it relatively cordial. I'm not interested in naming names.

Another campaign sign

I may have maxed out the sign garden with a week to go in the election.

I got Mike Stewart's this weekend so I now have every candidate except Martin Lane and Gary Underwood. If I get any more, excellent. If not, it was a valiant effort. Although I've got my eye on some of those fancy banners; they'd make a fine addition to the garden.

Although my kids weren't quite as understanding. We were driving home today and my youngest asked "Why won't Martin Lane let us have a sign?" I don't know; I just don't know.

All kidding aside, I was really asked that question so the kids are getting a kick out of the signs. And for the record Martin did say we could have a sign, but I imagine he forgot in the hubbub of daily life which I imagine is only more amplified during election season.

On a side note, Mike Stewart actually stopped by the house to talk with me on Saturday. We couldn't speak real long since I was battling a cold, but he seemed like a pretty straightforward candidate worthy of your vote.

EDIT: fixed typo

Village Scribe on candidates

The Village Scribe, a blog that focuses on Union County politics, has put up an election guide. It is also one of the handful of select sites I link to on my sidebar. The site is run by Mark DiBiasio, who freelances at the Union County Weekly as well.

Without further ado, here's his guide as it currently stands:

If you visit his actual election guide and hover your mouse over the icons, you can see what each of them mean. I recommend doing so because it's not necessarily clear as to what each mean. For example, the recycle symbol does not mean Gary Underwood is the greenest candidate.

Ideally, it'd be nice to get further explanations for some of these icons, because it likely isn't clear to many how a candidate gets tagged as "developer friendly" for example. If you visit, check the comments where Phillip Gregory recently wrote a defense against being labeled as such.

Otherwise, based on the current guide, which has changed slightly from a week ago, it appears Mark is leaning towards favoring Daune Gardner for mayor and Sean Poccia and Mike Stewart for town board. Of course, he hasn't broken out a "thumbs up" for any Waxhaw candidates, which would be an official endorsement.

I'll try and check back to see if anything changes before the election.

UPDATE: How was the candidate forum?

Unfortunately, it appears Jim was unable to broadcast the forum from the Waxhaw Woman's Club so sickies like me will likely never know how it went down. Unless someone else made a recording of the event.

So any thoughts on how things went, not just for the potential mayors, but also for the potential board members?

If you have trouble commenting, just drop me an email and I can add the comment for you.

UPDATE 9.52a: I heard from the mayor yesterday and this was apparently the format of last night's forum, for those who weren't able to witness it firsthand. This seemed the ideal post to include this information.

Moderated by the League of Woman Voters. They will accept questions prior and will choose which to ask in the forum. There will be no direct questions from the audience and no debate between the candidates. Each question will be given to either the mayoral or commissioner candidates and each will be given an equal amount of time to respond. Some questions may be given to both sets of candidates.

Reminder: Candidates forum tonight at WWC

I just wanted to give you a reminder that the candidates forum is tonight at the Waxhaw Woman's Club. It kicks off at 7p.

I think I will have to sit it out as I've been fighting a cold since camping last weekend and a packed room will have little desire to have a local blogger hacking and blowing his nose throughout. To prove I'm not exaggerating, last night my better half described my cough as "annoying." I'm already walking a thin line with some of you as per the comments of this recent post and my sniffling attendance would likely only make matters worse.

Jim Black plans to stream the whole thing on Land of the Waxhaws if he can get an internet connection, which would be neat. I've never watched a LotW broadcast live before, but if Jim's there tonight with gear in hand, I may have to try it this time around.

Anyone know the format of the forum? Debate? Audience questions? Short spiels from each candidate?

UPDATE: Poccia's website updated

I wandered over to Sean Poccia's website and see that it has been updated with questions from a citizen asking for his positions on various issues regarding Waxhaw.

I was particularly curious to read his response on the Waxhaw's historical preservation and was a little disappointed. Here it is:

Waxhaw historical district and preservation: As for the historical district, this is an area of great interest to me. We all know Waxhaw is rich in history and we have some phenomenal buildings that we need to ensure stay true to their heritage. I have participated in and closely followed the Waxhaw Historical Committee meetings and spoken with many residents who own, live in or operate out of a historical building. The several versions of the historical overlay are solid documents. As I recently stated in a Historical committee meeting, there are opportunities to continue creating excitement about the significance of historical preservation. One such idea that I have seen work brilliantly in other communities is establishing an annual (or bi-annual) historical preservation day whereas we create a city sponsored event and bring in experts from around our region who specialize in historical preservation. These types of events allow residents to learn about the techniques, products, services and participate in workshops etc. that will allow a home owner or historical building owner to learn of resources and techniques about preservation. It's been said that knowledge is power and if we really want to become a city where preservation isn't just something we talk about, the government needs to do more than just establish mandates and rules.

I wanted to get his take on the failed historic overlay to see where he would fall on the issue that I've written about before. After parsing this, it reads like he is a supporter of the failed historic district overlay that would've essentially shredded the property rights within the proposed district.

But it must be added that he never comes out and says exactly which side he comes down on. Perhaps the mark of a true politician; I think he's ready for the job.

In other Sean Poccia news, he became the third person running for office to appear on Jim Black's "Land of the Waxhaws," when he was interviewed by Mayor Gardner no less. Two clips here and here.

The fact that the mayor personally interviewed him likely removes any doubt that she's endorsing him, as if the sign at Creative Plus and the Facebook plug weren't enough of a tell already. She's practically showing us her hand. I could continue on with these poker-related analogies but trust me, they'll only get worse.

UPDATE 10/28: The mayor is one who always has problems commenting on this blog so she emailed the following comment:

Every candidate running for office in Waxhaw has been invited to appear on the Land of the Waxhaws internet tv program. You may have seen the spot with Martin Lane from a week or so ago and Mr. Poccia agreed to be interviewed. Our new intern, Jeff Hodge, has contacted the other candidates and extended the offer to them as well. At this point, I believe Mike Stewart is the only other candidate to express an interest in doing so. The offer was made to all but it is their choice.

As for the question of whether I support Sean Poccia for Waxhaw Commissioner, the answer is “Yes, without reservation!”

I've got some further clarifications on Land of the Waxhaws and candidate appearances that I hope to get up later today. Keep your fingers crossed.

Campaign sign garden status

When I left for work this morning, I was still holding at two campaign signs - one from Daune Gardner and one from Lisa Thornton.

I dashed off a quick email to Sean Poccia earlier today and there are apparently two unique Sean Poccia signs in my yard now as well. What can we garner from this? That Sean Poccia is a man who likes to get things done at least as far as it concerns placating local bloggers and the strange artistic demands that come with them.

Martin Lane planned to contribute as well and I've got emails out to Phillip Gregory and Mike Stewart too. I also emailed Gary Underwood, but he doesn't have any currently available.

On the neighborhood front, a representative of the homeowner's association knocked on my door to tell me that the signs couldn't be as close to the road as they were so I had to move them back. I put up quite the fight, screaming something about free speech and flailing my arms and whatnot. Actually, I was packing for a Cub Scout camping trip at the time, so some might say I was as meek as a kitten in agreeing to move them closer to the house.

He did mention that the signs weren't really allowed at all; the lack of political free speech by the HOA seems a little strange, but maybe this is par for the course as far as HOAs are concerned. I suppose I'll have to dig up the HOA contract one of these days and dig into it a bit. Time-permitting, of course.