Dec
02
And The Finalists Are…
ByThese candidates will be interviewed on December 9th. It’ll be a must-watch City Council meeting. Have a look at them and tell us what you think.
Kelly Miller
Esther Elizabeth Manheimer
Charlie Hume
Sylvia Farrington
Chuck Archerd
[UPDATE - since no one can be arsed to create a polling widget that doesn't break our website, I've set up a SurveyMonkey page to collect your votes. Click Here to cast your vote.]
39 Comments
December 2nd, 2008 at 8:33 pm
Aww. Good try Gordon. If you were running in Old Fort, I could have been more help.
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December 2nd, 2008 at 8:34 pm
My bet is on Farrington. This is the Mayor’s opportunity to build a her own council, not the voter’s council. So far the Mayor has not been able to exhibit leadership with the two council line ups she has presided over. Let’s hope that Jan’s move to help her out here will pay off for Terry, and more so the citizens.
Side note. I think that Hume’s interest in the appointment is funny. Let Asheville vote, just not for vacancies for elected office.
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December 2nd, 2008 at 8:35 pm
It was rigged beforehand, that’s why they went to this maneuver…Mr. Bothwell should have gotten an interview.
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December 2nd, 2008 at 8:37 pm
I was surprised that none of the folks that have actually been on a ballot did not get an interview. I agree with shadmarsh, this is a rigged process. My only hope is that people take notice when the go to vote for Mayor and council in 2009.
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December 2nd, 2008 at 8:41 pm
Hey hey –
good bunch here.
I believe Sylvia Farrington would have the best all around grasp of Asheville & our real community needs. Although if they are specifically looking for Holly’s budgeting skills Sylvia may not be the strongest candidate. Either way, there are a few surprise names in that bunch but they are all definitely ‘qualified.’ How representative are they is questionable.
To the Hooligan’s who applied: maybe we should meet over a brew and talk about running a candidate in the future. A lot of good ideas bubbled up in this process.
Good job everybody!
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December 2nd, 2008 at 9:02 pm
Brew, bubbles – nice, JBo.
It seems clear that (self-deprecation, modesty, and tongue-in-cheek aside) most applicants were at least secretly serious about this. I think it’s right that you all start coming out of your “dabbling” closets, and run like hell for office. You already speak for many. Start speaking for many more.
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December 2nd, 2008 at 9:13 pm
Exactly. The last thing Council and Bellamy have an interest in is a Democratic process or the voice of the people.
I really couldn’t care less for Bellamy’s agenda. She’s supposed to represent the citizen’s of Asheville, not herself. And if she can’t get her shit done with the liberal council she has now then she’s fucked anyway.
Bullshit bullshit bullshit.
Shoulda been you, Freeborn.
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December 2nd, 2008 at 9:20 pm
I was robbed, robbed I tell you! I could have been a contender.
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December 2nd, 2008 at 9:22 pm
Surprise Quinn didn’t make the short list. That’s a bit like throwing the pilot off a plane with engine problems.
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December 2nd, 2008 at 9:31 pm
It was an excellent exercise for me. I learned a lot.
JBo – an excellent idea.
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December 2nd, 2008 at 9:35 pm
Hey, I got the polls working again! Check out the top-right sidebar and LET SCRUHOO VOTE!!!Actually, scratch that. It’s not working. Shit.
I guess I’ll set up a SurveyMonkey page…
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December 2nd, 2008 at 9:54 pm
I don’t see it, Arratik. Firefox.
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December 2nd, 2008 at 10:11 pm
you can vote at the Mountain Xpress here:
http://www.mountainx.com/forums/viewthread/715/
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December 2nd, 2008 at 10:19 pm
City Council will come together here on what talents the candidates have to offer, and in my mind, Council is looking for either an attorney or a financial expert to contribute. That narrows the list to Manheimer and Archerd.
I’m guessing Archerd gets the nod. He’s connected to the power elite through Asheville Christian Academy and all his financial and real estate ties. Manheimer, as an attorney for one of Asheville’s most prominent law firms (Van Winkle), also has connections, but she feels a little greener to me.
Archerd it is.
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December 3rd, 2008 at 12:27 am
Ash: I think you’re wrong. If Farrington doesn’t blow the interview, I think she’s a lock. Otherwise I’ll give the edge to Manheimer.
…And since when does Asheville Christian Academy equal “power elite”? And who exactly are the “power elite”?
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December 3rd, 2008 at 5:48 am
I’d have to respectfully disagree with some of the folks here. I’m not inclined to believe in conspiracies, and I don’t think there was any prior collusion here.
I do think Carl is to be congratulated for putting Bryan’s name forward. Given the circumstances and political dynamics, that should not go unrecognized or unappreciated.
MM
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December 3rd, 2008 at 6:13 am
To me, the real power elite are the ones who can stroll down to the dean’s office at the Asheville School and get their kids admitted instantly after a couple of neat shots of The MacAllan 50 and a couple of Montecristo Cervantes; they wouldn’t have to settle for ACA.
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December 3rd, 2008 at 7:42 am
Michael,
I was celebrating my mother-in-law’s 60th birthday last night, so I didn’t get to see the Council meeting. How did the process work? Carl suggested Freeborn?
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December 3rd, 2008 at 8:24 am
Bryan Freeborn is a good guy, but he lost one election, and then despite the name-recognition benefit of being appointed to council, he lost again. Just how would appointing him be a plus for local democracy?
Given the political make-up of city council, wouldn’t it be impossible for Cecil Bothwell (or on the other side, another Carl Mumpower) to get 4 votes? As deserving as Cecil might be, why would you have council waste its time on a non-starter?
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December 3rd, 2008 at 9:01 am
Each Council member named the applicants they wanted to interview and the top five were selected:
Archer – 3
Farrington – 4
Hume – 4
Manheimer – 4
Miller – 4
Both Newman and Mumpower listed Freeborn as on of their picks. Jan Davis was the only one to list former Councilman Ed Hay as a pick.
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December 3rd, 2008 at 9:15 am
If there is any applicant of the “power elite” it would be Kelly Miller given the clout and power the Chamber of Commerce has in this town.
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December 3rd, 2008 at 9:46 am
Gordon,
The process was a little awkward, which was nice to see, frankly. It reaffirmed my belief that there was no back room deals cut.
There was some repeated confusion as to how each Council Member should submit their individual preferences, one at a time or as a block. It was kind of cute. Bill wasn’t present so the Mayor read his preferences first and Carl added that he thought it best that each Member offer up a name one at a time and go around the table. He wanted to avoid any last-minute political maneuvering, which upon further reflection, I think was probably the way it should have ideally been done (although that didn’t happen that way). It was good to see each Member on record as to who they wanted; it would have been easier (but far less transparent) had they all just thrown their names in a hat and tallied them after the fact.
Carl submitted Bryan’s name after Brownie nominated both he and you. Carl was driven by fairness, and considering the initial controversy surrounding this process, I think was very admirable.
I didn’t make notes as to who submitted what names, and only a few stood out it my mind because of my personal relationship with the prospective candidates. If anyone remembers those, it’d be nice to see them again.
I was a little surprised that there was no support forthcoming from Robin for Bryan or you, not that it would make a difference. Robin also nominated Reverend Hardaway (which I thought was cool) although he only received two votes, if I recall correctly, which surprised me too.
Whoever is seated has a clear advantage going into the ’09 cycle, of course. I can’t wait…I’m going through campaign withdrawal bigtime.
MM
P.S. Hope you saved me some tangelos!
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December 3rd, 2008 at 9:50 am
Oh hey, Arratik…
When I submit a post (like I just did), my browser page doesn’t refresh..it just goes all white. I’m using Safari 3.2.1, Mac OS X 10.5.5. I have to relaunch the site entirely.
MM
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December 3rd, 2008 at 10:14 am
Michael – yeah, it’s that dreaded WordPress “Blank Screen of Death”. It’s been happening on the admin back end for a while now, and it just started happening with comments as well, with both Firefox and IE. It could be any number of things that cause this (sloppy code, corrupted plug-ins, low PHP memory) but I haven’t been able to trace the cause yet, but I have a few ideas.
On my own website, I’m running the same version of WP with the same plugins, and it works flawlessly. Which leads me to believe that it’s an issue with PHP memory (which makes sense – this site gets ~40X more traffic than mine, easily) or our WP theme (which has been hacked beyond recognition to keep it working over the last few years).
There are a couple of things I need to try, but I won’t be able to get to them until later this afternoon. Hopefully your patience will be rewarded.
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December 3rd, 2008 at 10:31 am
No worries at all…I didn’t mean to sound like a jerk, just thought you’d wanna know what it was looking like on my end. Your skills amaze me, and I know these things take time and are always much harder than they look. I sure hope Gordon is paying you well.
MM
We should drink beer again soon. After you fix the site, natch
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December 3rd, 2008 at 10:41 am
Thanks, Michael. I didn’t know Brownie brought my name up.
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December 3rd, 2008 at 10:54 am
On Safari as well.
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December 3rd, 2008 at 12:38 pm
Okay, it looks like whatever I did fixed the comment problem that cropped up. Does it work for anyone else?
(It also looks like whatever I did sped things up quite a bit… wow)
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December 3rd, 2008 at 12:46 pm
Let’s see. I’ll time it.
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December 3rd, 2008 at 12:47 pm
Holy mackerel, it looks like whatever I did got rid of the Blank Screen of Death from the admin side as well!!! (happy dance)
So Michael, about those beers…
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December 3rd, 2008 at 12:47 pm
Wow. Flawless refresh on Safari and way better at 4.9 seconds.
Good job, A. Time for beer.
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December 3rd, 2008 at 12:54 pm
“For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be.”
I wonder what you’d do for a fifth of Maker’s Mark?
MM
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December 3rd, 2008 at 1:00 pm
You got rid of it altogether? Huzzah!
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December 3rd, 2008 at 2:11 pm
In the process, I ended up killing the archives page. Sigh. Back to the drawing board on that one… but for now it’s a fair trade-off, I think.
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December 3rd, 2008 at 3:18 pm
Sometimes the best strategy in moving forward is to unshackle yourself from the old things that no longer work.
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December 3rd, 2008 at 3:18 pm
Wow. 3.2 seconds that time.
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December 3rd, 2008 at 6:56 pm
Here are the nominations from each Council member as reported by Mtn. X
Brownie Newman:
Esther Elizabeth Manheimer
Sylvia E. Farrington
Linda S. Fowler
Gordon Smith
Bryan Freeborn
Linda Carol Williams
Bill Russell (absent):
Charles W. Archerd
Charlie Hume
Esther Elizabeth Manheimer
Kelly Miller
Jan Davis:
Ed Hay
Esther Elizabeth Manheimer
Sylvia E. Farrington
Charles W. Archerd
Kelly Miller
Charlie Hume
Terry Bellamy:
Charles W. Archerd
Sylvia E. Farrington
Spencer Ellis Hardaway
Charlie Hume
Kelly Miller
Jay Marino
Robin Cape:
Sylvia E. Farrington
Esther Elizabeth Manheimer
Linda S. Fowler
Linda Carol Williams
Spencer Ellis Hardaway
Carl Mumpower:
Brian P. Woods
Clifford O. Feingold
Bryan Freeborn
Charlie Hume
Kelly Miller
George E. Keller
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December 3rd, 2008 at 7:02 pm
The archives page is back! w00t!
I’m guessing the small handful of people who used to incessantly bitch about how slow the site was will surely find something else to complain about now…
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December 3rd, 2008 at 10:37 pm
I think it’s funny, too, that Hume is on the list after all the hell he raised about a democratic process. Every one of the Council members should have had Bryan on the list since he was next highest vote-getter and to not interview Cecil is a slap in the face to many in their base.
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