Newspapers / Winston-Salem Chronicle (Winston-Salem, N.C.) / Jan. 16, 2014, edition 1 / Page 2
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12th District rep won't be seated soon BY TODD LUCK THE CHRONICLE Some of those seeking to succeed Mel Watt in Congress are panning Gov. Pat McCrory's decision to leave Watt's 12th Congressional District seat unfilled for nearly a year. Watt left the U.S. House late last year to lead the Federal Housing Finance Agency. McCrory decided against holding a special election to let vot ers pick a candidate to fin ish Watt's current term; instead, the 12th Congressional seat will be decided along with other midterm races, with the primary on May 6 and the general election on Nov. 4. Watt would have been up for reelection this year (all members of the U.S. House are), so November's victor, who will be sworn-in immediately after the elec tion, gets a full two-year term of his or her own. McCrory said his deci sion to tag the 12th District election onto the midterm ballot will save tax payers up to $1 million and cut down on confusion. Critics say the Republican gover nor is leaving the largely black and Democratic 12th District without representa tion for a long span by design. "It really disenfranchis es 600,000 people," said N.C. Rep Alma Adams, one of about six people who plan to run for Watt's former seat. "That means that citizens of the 12th District will have no repre sentation. They'll have no vote, no voice. There are a number of critical issues facing the Congress in 2014 and there will be no one to speak for us for almost a year." The 12th District offices will remain open under the supervision of the Clerk of the House to receive and undertake con I stituent casework until a new representative is elect ed. Adams, who is in her 11th term in the General Assembly, said while a dis trict office can handle some things, there are many times when it takes a legis latr\r cfonrtirtrt in IUIV'1 oivppillg III to get things done for a con stituent. The Guilford County Democrat is working on leg islation to pre vent such a pro longed vacancy in the future. She wants to prevent vacant seats from being left open for six months or more and to shorten the required 10 week period between and primary and a runoff. N.C. Sen. Malcolm Graham, a Democrat who has represented Mecklenburg County for five terms, also plans to run for the seat. (Candidate fil ing doesn't begin until Feb. 10). i He agrees that it will 1 take an "unusually long" time to fill the 12th < Congressional seat and dis- I agrees with the governor's i argument that the decision was a financial one. "I think the taxpayers of the 12th Congressional District deserve a voice and a vote. We have over a $20 billion budget, and I'm pretty sure in that budget, ...? ~ C_ J .L _ wc toil iiiiu me resources nec essary to give the citizens a voice sooner than later," Graham said. The North Carolina Democratic Party also dis agreed with the move. Spokesman Micah Beasley said that it means that there will be less representation for the state's diverse popu lation in Congress. "We're disappointed in the decision," said Beasley, "This is a reflec tion of the governor's pri orities. He has money for big tax cuts for the wealth iest North Carolinians and out-of-state corporations, but then says we can't have an election to allow Congressional District 12 lo have representation for almost an entire year." N.C. Rep. Marcus Brandon, a Guilford County second-termer who says he is also running for the seat, sees things differ ently. He says the cam paign should be a long one, since it will elect someone who may hold the seat for decades to come. The elec tion schedule will result in higher voter turnout, he said. He said other candi dates oppose it because a longer campaign would help lesser known candi dates like him to get their name out in a district that virtually runs the length of the state. Brandon also said current elected officials planning to run for the 12th Congressional District seat fear giving up their current seats, as state law prohibits a candidate's name from appearing on the ballot twice. Brandon, Adams, Graham and all General Assembly members are up for reelection this year. Brandon sees the longer election cycle as a win-win. "If you're a leader, you're not scared of people voting, and you want to go through a process where everyone has the opportu nity to have their voices heard (and) all the candi dates have the opportunity to make their case to the people," Brandon said. Wake Forest University politics professor John Dinan said while it's a longer than normal vacan cy, McCrory's decision only prolongs the process by a few months. Any spe cial election would take some time, he said, to give candidates a period to file and Americans living abroad to mail absentee ballots. Also, he added, federal law states that there must be at least 45 days between each time voters go to the polls, meaning that several months would be required for a primary, a runoff (if the top candidate gets less then 40 percent of the vote) and the general election. "It seems a long time to go with a vacancy, but k turns out scheduling the special election cycle with the general election cycle is probably the least confus ing and the least problem atic for voter turnout," Dinan said. Dinan said the new rep resentative would be swom in right after the November election, as soon as the results have been certified. Other candidates who have announced they're running for the seat include Mecklenburg County School Board General Counsel George Battle III and former Charlotte City Council members James Mitchell and Curtis Osborne. Submitted Photo Vice President Joe Biden prepares to swear-in Mel Watt last week as head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency. Graham Honors will be given at MIX program SPECIAL TO THE CHRONICLE Forsyth County Commissioner Walter Marshall and Mel Watt, the newly-installed leader of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, will be honored Monday for their "tireless and dis t i n - guished service" at the 3 4th Annual Martin Luther King Jr. Noon Hour Commemoration. The two men will receive MLK Dare to Make a Difference awards during the ceremony, which is free and open to the public and will start at noon at the Benton Convention Center. Commemoration founder and host Mutter Evans says other special guests will include poet Helen Losse, musical group David Allen & Company, Mayor Allen Joines, Democracy North Carolina's Linda Sutton and North Carolina NAACP President Dr. William J. Barber II, who will speak via satellite. U.S. Rep. G. K. Butterfield will give the keynote address. The for mer N.C. Supreme Court justice represents the state's 1st Congressional District. Butterfietd The Chronicle (USPS 067-910) was established by Ernest H. Pitt and Ndubisi Egemonye in 1974 and is published every Thursday by Winston-Salem Chronicle Publishing Co. Inc., 617 N. Liberty Street, Winston-Salem, N.C. 27101. Periodicals postage paid at Winston-Salem, N.C. Annual subscription price is $30.72. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: The Chronicle, P.O. Box 1636 Winston-Salem, NC 27102-1636 KMOW WHEN rRED or BLUE?*' r ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? JANUARY 2014 I ' ?UN | MOW ' rm j I 1HU m W] I 12 3 4 5 DODGED11 I 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 i leEBE^EI25 26 27 28 29 30 31 MARCH I I lUN ; MQM " T? | fp ; ' wT' 'v>1 I ' 1 2 EKKMX2 8 ? 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 I 16UHHEEI22 . V<11 25 26 27 28 29 MAY P? BTl KBi 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 1 11IHHHHH 17 I 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 | 25EEEEM331 ? JULY { iw i MOW TUi , W> \ I vo J I 1 2 3 4 5 i 6 Mm ??!?>?? ? 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 I 20EBEEI226 | 27 28 29 30 31 ? SEPTEMBER Willi 6 ? 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14|EBZ&BZE(20 ? 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 | 28EO ? 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Winston-Salem Chronicle (Winston-Salem, N.C.)
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Jan. 16, 2014, edition 1
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