Newspapers / The Carolina Times (Durham, … / Oct. 30, 1982, edition 1 / Page 13
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Second District Races Poses Questions (Continued from Front) would writhe in political ' Michaux was caught in pain, and supporters of independent black political 'movements' would jump gleefully in to the fray. r - And so measured against' the "possibility for significant ' and ? long range impact, , the 2nd district race is probably one of the, most impor the middle. Each end of '? the district had a ' favorite son candidate. ; ; i v " !'c In the western end,1 which includes, Person, , Granville, : Vance , and Caswell counties, t Ramsey, the : favorite, son, had the edge. v In the - eastern end, , tant political contests hvT which includes Halifax, mis siaie s nisiuiy. .:. But first, let's set the : background. : -S, , - Michaux, a purham attorney, former state legislator and U.S.' At tornrey in the . Jimmy, Carter . administration, : announced his candidacy for the 2nd district con gressional seat back in January. " Initially, he was , -. challenging venerable L.H. Foun tain, who had held the. seat . for about thirty years. Michaux based his challenge on the fact that urban : and urbane Durham had been added to a mostly rural district. , The articulate black ' politician '. counted on both his popularity at home, and the implica tion of what Durham could offer the rest of the district to help him overcome . Foutain's "home field" advan tage. Fountain is prac tically venerated in the eastern part of the . district. But Fountain hurled a curve. He retired, throw ing the field wide open. Shortly, I.T. "Tim" Valentine announced his candidacy, and it was generally understood that he was running under the Fountain man tle. Then Jim Ramsey, another former legislator from Roxboro threw his hat in the ring and now Nash, Edgecombe, and Wilson . counties, ;, plus CNeal township in 'Johnston ; . County, : .Valentine, the favorite son, had the edge. : , K . " That left Michaux with Durham and War ren counties as his base. ' - Thus we have the first ; of. several : questions. Was the corraling of ' Michaux into the middle of the district, forcing him to campaign against favorite sons in the eastern and western fr inges a matter of mere circumstances or .a carefully crafted political strategy? 1 According to one highly placed source in the state Democratic Party who asked not to be identified for fear of being drummed out of the party, Party; leaders simply didn't want Michaux as its nominee in the fall. "Paranoid about the growing strength of the Congressional Club in the state," the source said, "Democratic Party leaders decided they didn't want to field a candidate who, could clearly be labeled a liberal. Besides, the Republicans had early said that the second district was a seat they wanted." There is no way to prove the charge because party - leaders , Won't . discuss the issue, , But their very silence raises -the ' second of several '-questions. As party leader in the state, why didn't Hunt support Michaux? ' ' SH Through his .'. press i secretary, Hunt says that he never gets A into -: primary races. . , Sensing a chance to in-. crease their presence in a 1 state where they are out numbered 2-1 in ; registered voters, North Carolina v Republicans , came. up with Durham : lawyer Jack Marin, who came out on top in the June primary, and then didn't have to face a runoff. Thus was the field set, and from all indications, the Republicans wanted the choice to be a clear one. When Michaux led the field of three in the Democratic primary, but had to face Valentine in a runoff in July, two days before the runoff vote, State Republican Party chairman David Flaherty appealed to Republican faithful throughout the state to send in the money "...so that we can begin a district-wide effort to defeat Mickey Michaux in the general election." Therefore, the first segment of this congres sional race appears to have boiled down to the following conclusions: Blacks wanted Michaux because -they like him, and he was one of the most attractive and qualified candidates they could field right now. Republicans wanted Michaux because they felt he could be easily beat in the fall. The race ' left voters to vote their would have beerfa clear 'racial convictions, some choice between a black voters launched a Democratic candidate write-in movement, sensitive to once-popular The ' pressure sociaT issues,, ' and a - mounted. ; Republican candidate V'. "There is .,". no who thinks President question,' the . source Reagan is not doing such said, . "but v that a a bad job- i . ; v ' . Michaux write-in effort y . Democrats ; didn't is far more damaging to waniv Michaux ;. because ; us than ? , to the they - feared -i the t Republicans. If Michaux RepubUcan challenge, . iv gets a good vote, Marin Therefore,; the . 2nd s will probably win. congressional race boiled ;. Marin is banking on down to an issue in black that. He hopes the write and white, and since then in campaign will siphon little has changed. -X r A enough ; Democratic "When : Valentine votes from Valentine to won" the Democratic get Marin elected. He Party source said,; hopes against hope that "everybody in the party . the write-in effort won't breathed a little easier 4 be successful enough to hi SATURDAY, CCTCrXS 33, Mil discuss issues that would mittee. "help set them apart in the - - The issue surfaced voters minds. It has not again about two weeks ,been ? easy, v because' ago,-this time with a though there - are dif- unanimous vote from the - ferences between the two sub-coramittee, and in . candidates, they are not; siders say the organiza easy to see. , v; '' :': tion is likely to support ! On another - . level, ! the write-in effort.when mostly ''. behind-the- it holds its. endorsement scenes, both Marin and, meeting this week. , Valentine have been raw ; ' M e a n w h i I e ? s:r ning against the write-in. : throughout the district, f t Enter the Durham , leaders of the , write-in Committee on the Af- movement have fbeen fairs of Black 5 People. quietly trying to con The oldest, the most . vince black voters to take respected and most ef- their pencils to the polls, fective local - ' black They have basically said political organization in that neither Valentine the state, the Durham nor Marin offers a viable Committee can usually, choice for blacks in this deliver more than 90 per district. -THE U?.ZU" T;:S-13 because now it was a matter of numbers and quickly the edge had swung back to us." Quickly, Gov. Hunt moved1 to rally the troops behind their standard bearer from the east. But then . Michaix, hoping as he said later to send the Democratic Party a message, hinted at a write-in effort at a press conference where he said, "...some people take pencils, to the polls." Weary and frustrated over losing a toughly fought campaign where the party had obviously put v Michaux Washington. Valentine just wishes the whole write-in thing would go away. He says: "It behdoves minority people to stick with the Democratic Party." But then he added: "I can't say I intend to do anything specifically for whites or any other peo ple of this district." And so, since about July, the 2nd district campaign has operated on two levels. Publicly, Marin, 37, and Valentine, 56, have run against each other, trying valiantly to cent of the Durham black vote to candidates it endorses. But with the write-in, the Committee has been asked not to endorse a candidate Michaux early on disassociated himself from the write-in effort but a concept of insurrection and in dependence. So far the organiza tion has hedged, playing its bets close to its chest. Several weeks ago, the organization's political sub-committee recom mended the write-in on a .split vote, but the organization's member ship sent it back to com- ' In recent days, Marin has launched his own of fensive against the write in. Operating under the banner, ' ' Concerned Blacks for Marin", a small group of local black Republicans has been lobbying quickly for the former NBA basketball player. This week they launched a series of radio commer cials on local stations programmed to the black community, saying basically that Marin is a viable choice, now that Michaux is out of the race. And so the stage is set. There are three can didates in Tuesday's 2nd district concessional race. They are: ' Marin, Republican, who says he's much, much different from Jesse Helms and John East, North Carolina's ' two ' ' -: Republican senators. ' t . . -Valentine, a Democrat, whtf in his campaign has talked' about almost everything but the Reagan ad ministration's economic policies.,' y The write-in, a seldom used concept by black voters that could in many ways establish' both the destiny and the power of blacks in this state for years to come. And there we have the final of several impor tant questions: Will blacks vote for destiny and power, or for tradition? F2 ATZSifciG TIY f 1982 Donwy LaboratoriM. Division of Sandoi. Inc.. Lincoln. Nebraska MAOl Jac k Marin, Tim Valentine Differ Little On Most Issues By Donald Alderman Differences between the Democratic and the Republican can- -didates for the 2nd district congres sional seat are relatively hard to Both Jack Marin, the Durham Republican, and I.T. "Tim" Valen tine, the Nashville , Democrat, shared their views of the write-in ef fort for H.M. "Mickey" Michaux and on timely domestic and foreign affairs issues in interviews this week with The Carolina Times. Marin hopes the write-in cam paign will siphon enough Democratic votes, ones that Valen tine would ordinarily get, to push him not Michaux into the , hallowed halls Of Congress. Valeri" tine admits that the write-in could do just that . Democratic Party leaders recognize the black disen chantment with the party, but have no concrete plans to mend the fence. Marin, 37, a Durham attorney and former professional basketball player who is backed by Jesse Helms' National Congressional Club, say blacks should vote for him because he'd be in & better posi tion to bring new employment to the district, with his party's administra tion in the White House. He said he supports a targeted jobs program which allows jobs to be created in , the private sector, by the business community, rather than by the public sector of government. Valentine, 56, a hjashville at-' torney, said it "behooves minority people to stick with the Democratic Party," but added that "I can't say I intend to lo anything specifically for whites or any other people of this district." Both candidates say they intend to have bi-racial congressional staffs, if elected, though they declin ed to give any percentages, and Valentine says he intends to have a Durham office and a mobile office to travel through the district, gathering information upon which to base decisions and political ac tion. The district stretches from Caswell in the west, to Warren in the east, dips inland to Durham and further east to Wilson. The district's other counties are Person, Gran ville, Vance, Warren, Halifax, Nash, Edgecombe,, plus O'Neal township in Johnston. Voters can expect business pretty much as usual in foreign affairs if either candidate is elected. While , both candidates say they oppose South Africa's apartheid system of government, a system where blacks are treated even worse than blacks were treated in this country during , slavery and segregation, neither can didate advocated a policy stronger than the current actions of hopeful negotiation., v Valentine said: "I think we ought to continue policies that would in- -cticate our displeasure with the way they're treating the blacks. But there are limits of what we can do in other . people's affairs.. .We live in a real world and, unfortunately, 7" democracy is limited to certain peo ,; , pie. In South Africa, for example,.. :k our-choices are o -dsakl a totalitarian government that's friendly or a totalitarian govern ment that's communist. " Valentine, noting that the govern ment has been too generous, said the whole question of foreign aid should be examined. "Sometimes it (the money) goes for a new palace for the dictator or a new limousine." Marin, addressing the South Africa question from a business sense, said increased pressure could cause turmoil which, in turn, "could bring that economy down." "The pressure we could bring on them could hurt blacks more than help them," he said, noting that countless numbers of blacks would be killed in case of a revolution. He said the solution to the South Africa dilemma "should be diplomatic, should be negotiated." On the role of the federal govern ment, both candidates, in varying degrees, say its role should be decen tralized, allowing state and local governments to supply most needs. Noting that he doesn't see any need "for any general retreat of democratic doctrines of the past," Valentine called for "fiscal restraint" and a change - in "bureaucratic thinking." "At the end of the fiscal year, if there's money left, they (bureaucrats) find a way to spend it. We need to change that... you don't just spend it because you've got it." Marin, criticizing government .policies of the past, said he supports reduced federal regulations that hamper efficiency of the private sec tor, and he supports a further reduc tion in taxes. "We have to have a government that lives by cost benefit analysis. If benefits exceed the cost, then we go with it." He said government policies of the past have created more needy rather than reducing their numbers. With Durham, a mostly urban center, hew to the largely rural district, both candidates say they view the union as a complementary one. . One area where you get a feel for different views is one where conser vatives, led by Jesse Helms, just recently suffered damaging defeats in Congress. That is the body that should decide issues such as abor tion and school prayer, Valentine : supports the deciding of such issues through the judiciary process while Marin, though he leans toward the ' Congress, says he hasn't decided which he'd prefer. 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The Carolina Times (Durham, N.C.)
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Oct. 30, 1982, edition 1
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