Robin Cape Dumps Davis, Endorses Elaine
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Robin Cape, who has an outstanding email list rumored to be around 5,000 addies strong, endorsed Jan Davis on the eve of the primary. She’s thought about it, and she’s decided to put her support behind a progressive instead of Davis. Cape’s choice removes the last vestiges of a blur between the two camps running for Council. The Real Estate interests’ and Republicans’ candidates, Russell, Davis, and Butner vs. the Put the Public First progressives, Newman, Lite, and Freeborn.
Mtn. X: “Asheville City Council member Robin Cape drew the ire of some fellow progressives on election day when one of her endorsements included incumbent Jan Davis, a self-described moderate.
In the general election, however, Cape says her ideals would trump her fondness for Davis and lead her to support Elaine Lite out of sheer pragmatism. It’s important, she says, that the vote not be split between fellow progressives Lite and Bryan Freeborn, which could help elect the more conservative Bill Russell. “I called Jan [election night] and said, ‘Don’t expect me to support you in the general election.’ I can’t, because of the issues I care about. … For the issues it’s important I get the most progressive people,†says Cape, who has two years remaining in her term.”
15 Comments
October 19th, 2007 at 4:22 pm
Early Voting is happening now.
No need to wait. Go down to the Board of Elections office (downtown, close to the County Building) during business hours, and you can go ahead and trumpet your vote to the masses.
Take your friends with you when you go.
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October 19th, 2007 at 4:46 pm
The mayor and the housing authority had a meeting today (at the housing authority offices) and it included pastors from across the city, school system reps and some city staff. I was there with 3 others from the APD.
It was a gathering about how a church in Greeenville, SC has partnered with city government, hundreds of business and thousands of local volunteers to develop mentoring, housing and counseling programs for kids and families in public housing. They are LITERALLY building homes for people, supplying kids with full school supplies, feeding families and paying for college educations.
They also get health care for the poor and get jobs for prisoners leaving the jails. Being natural cynic (and a “non-churched” person), I’m a tad skeptical, but I can’t deny that I was very encouraged by the people we met.
I thanked them sincerely for coming here to help us develop best practices on moving forward from drugs, gangs and generational poverty in public housing, according to Asheville’s specific needs.
Jan Davis was there. It was the second such meeting he has come to in recent weeks. He does care about this issue and doing his part.
That matters to me and it will certainly figure in when I vote.
…I really love to vote.
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October 19th, 2007 at 6:12 pm
OK someone needs to
1. teach me how this picture posting thing is suppose to work
or 2. make it easier for even when I follow Eric e-mail on how to it never works.
2 comments above were gif with people applauding oh well
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October 19th, 2007 at 6:16 pm
oh yes while we at it, the login thing is driving me nuts, every time I try I have to reset password but it does not let me back in the next time, so I start over with reseting password, help!
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October 20th, 2007 at 12:10 am
Does Robin Cape have any principled grounding or does she simple ride the shape-shifting, “pragmatic” waves of fortune.
Who are these people?
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October 20th, 2007 at 12:37 pm
Melissa, you keep posting important information about poor people, public housing, racism and gangs. You keep getting ignored on this website. When are you going to realize that Gordon and his cronies only care about one thing: what they and their clique think. These folks aren’t about public policy or community. They are just a bunch of self congratulatory yuppies who have convinced themselves that they are a political force in this community.
Don’t worry about Jan. The fact that he got the most votes in the primary (and will in the general) is proof enough that the people of Asheville want a candidate like him, broad based, community minded. Not a one trick pony like Elaine that can’t even come up with answers to simple questions if they aren’t about her only issue– “overdevelopment.”
The “environmentalist” (Holly, Brownie and Robin) voted right with Jan on every development project that has been approved in the last two years.
The difference is that Holly, Jan, and Terry also care about poor people and the community at large, not just about viewsheds.
I’d advise you to quit giving them the time of day on this blog and create your own blog with some people that really care about our community.
Oh, and Gordon, don’t forget to check my IP address! You wouldn’t want to forget about your censoring and anti-free speech project when you have already come so, so far!!
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October 20th, 2007 at 1:04 pm
Adrienne! How nice to have you over.
Melissa keeps bringing up issues of poverty, race, and crime. I’m glad she does. I have only so many hours in the day and can’t focus on everything all the time. Melissa has an area of expertise, and we’re learning.
My motto is More Melissa!
“Censoring and anti-free speech project”? What stripe of paranoia (or is it just reading too many of Richard Bernier’s comments?) leads you to say we’re about anything but openness and free speech? I think folks on the fringe right take any disagreement and call it censorship or “anti-free speech”. Say whatever you like, Adrienne, but don’t expect to have anyone agree with you or like your ideas.
That’s one of the nice things about blogs. If you don’t like mine, don’t read it! If you can’t find any you like, start your own! If you like coming by here and leaving paranoid and angry comments, go for it!
We’re working on a written policy for comments right now. Our rules, never before codified, will likely be some variation of:
Godwin’s Law
No Sockpuppetry
Something close to the journalistic standard for full disclosure.
What else? I think that’s it. Do y’all have any ideas?
Occasionally someone’s comment slips into the usually excellent Akismet Spam Filter, but if you want to say something here, say it here. Just don’t get all whiny and “poor me” when folks disagree, or you’ll be on my nerves.
Any other “policies” you think we ought to look at adopting?
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October 20th, 2007 at 1:41 pm
Melissa,
I see you harping on folks not showing up for a 8:30am meeting. Remember that Jan and Carl are the only people on council that do not have young children. Jan’s wife and son run his business so that he can be anywhere he wants to be. Attending a meeting may make people feel good, but if you look at Jan’s record it does not translate into action. Look at Freeborn and Newman. They have a record of taking community issues and bringing forward good public policy. I spoke with a friend of mine on the community relations council that relayed to me that Freeborn is on top of this.
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October 20th, 2007 at 3:10 pm
I think this is perfect. Robin Cape has, once again, proven what a complete flake she is. Just goes to show what kind of people we have on council and why we need a change. And, come on Gordon, “Put the public first progressives”????? Weren’t the progressives the ones who voted to not let the citizens of Asheville vote on a change in the city charter. Give me a break! I don’t call that “putting the public first”
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October 20th, 2007 at 3:48 pm
Christy,
1) Apparently Robin did tell Jan not to count on her support in the general.
2) We’ve seen a lot of scrutiny of campaign finance reports since the primary, and one reason for that is that the first real reports were due one week before the primary took place. Even then, a lot of last-minute spending (including the “Boss Newman and Boss Freeborn” mailer) didn’t show up, since the cutoff date for what was reported was the Friday previous.
As this information has become available, it’s possible that Robin has become more aware of the extent to which Davis, Butner, and Russell share supporters – and she may honestly have had a change of heart. I’d imagine she wouldn’t be alone among Democrats who felt that way.
3) Your comment kind of implies that Russell (who’s campaigning for “balance,” but seems entirely pro-business), Butner (who may very well have changed his registration out of political calculation), and Davis don’t change their minds about things. I doubt that’s the case.
4) Can you categorically state that no Asheville city council has ever amended the charter without first putting the question to a referendum?
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October 20th, 2007 at 5:00 pm
Adrienne has it right. If you listen to Elaine “Policy Lite” in her radio interview (it’s online, was it on Matt Mattan show?), her basic answer to everything was “uh, I’ll have to think about that, great question!”
Those who include Elaine in the “Progressive” category are in an Asheville mountain fog, victims of inbred thought, of too much time talking to each other, stroking each other. There is no real city in America where Elaine would be thought of as Progressive. Read The Progressive magazine or read about the Progressive movement in America. It’s about workers’ rights, civil rights, equality, a fair economy, free speech, civil liberties. Try to find the word Viewshed in the history of Progressive thought. Try to find elitism, exclusion, “keep out the newcomers” in Progressive thought.
I said “no real city in America.” The core motivator of Elaine and her fellow “Progressives” is that they are deeply ambivalent about Asheville being a city. Their attempt to exclude newcomers and new development grows from this ambivalence. They have moved here for a “cabin in the woods” and are afraid of seeing too many electric lights after the sun goes down. When we oppose a tall building downtown because too many songbirds will bump into it, we are afraid of being a city.
(By the way, why songbirds particularly, instead of just birds? Does their singing distract them, so they can’t see the building, and they bump into it? Do birds who don’t sing see the building and just fly around it? To think that songbirds are less intelligent than other birds is a depressing thought. I don’t know if I can live with that.)
When a value judgment is placed on single-family housing over condominiums or apartments, we are afraid of being a city. We want people who are just like us. We are afraid of the workers, the races, the uncertainties that often come with city life.
And Gordon, Adrienne is right that you investigate the identity of your correspondants. Remember, it’s not paranoia if they’re really out to get you. By the way, my email address is private@figure_it_out_from_my_ip_address.com.
This will be my last post here. Gordon is like every tv show. Television producers consider themselves successful if you watch the commercials. Gordon considers himself successful if you log on and even more so if you write in, giving him material. He’s like so many of us, he just wants to be noticed.
So Melissa, if you’ll start a blog, I’ll be there with you, because you care about more than afflicting the afflicted and comforting the comfortable.
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October 20th, 2007 at 5:39 pm
John, I told folks there are night meetings as well, and that for the schedule, you can contact Anthony at the Reid Center. You’re wrong about Jan, but that’s just the way I see it. He’s working on a Hope VI task force on the future of public housing.
I sent an e-mail to Elaine and got a very kind, thoughtful response from her on the stuff that I harp on all the time. I’m not going to dog her in any way, nor the Hooligans who have provided this space for me to harp within.
It’s all good. There’s always room at my table for anyone. Today alone, I must have hugged 3 or 4 Republicans!
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October 20th, 2007 at 5:59 pm
Oh, and Adrienne: thanks for the shout out. I really do appreciate it!
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October 20th, 2007 at 6:54 pm
Go Melissa,
If you would like to “investigate the identity of my correspondents”, go to the Sitemeter button and look. It’s public record.
Thanks for noticing me, GM. It’s really made my day.
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October 20th, 2007 at 7:59 pm
exactly…
and there are scores of free services like sitemeter…
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