FORUM
'I am the best person to beat Virginia Foxx'
Many in
CHARLIE Winston
Salem are
WALLIN ? still stinging
over the loss
Guest Alma
? Adams as
Columnist your repre.
. ( sentative and
having her
replaced with Virginia Foxx. I want you to
know that I am the best person to beat
Virginia Foxx in November and continue
the work that Alma Adams started.
There are serious issues to be dealt
with in Washington, and I believe that she
is out of touch with the people of this
- District. We need someone who knows
what it is like to work 40-plus hours a
week and try and make ends meet and pro
vide for a family. We need an everyday
person who represents the hard working
people of this District, and the only person
in this race that fits that description is me.
Our district has the highest rate of
poverty in the state, and because of that,
we also have the highest rate of children
going to bed hungry. I want to make sure
that our children are fed. 1 want to stimu
late the economy in a way that brings real
living wage jobs back to this District.
Poverty is a real issue not only in this state
but especially in this District. Winston
Salem is now the most poverty stricken
city in North Carolina. Wilkes County has
almost 50 percent of its children who qual
ify for free or reduced meals at school. In
a nut shell, we have serious problems in
the real wages we are paying people in this
country. We have to work with leaders in
Winston-Salem and Wilkes and other
cities in the District to recruit not just
industry and jobs but real wage jobs from
companies who are going to invest in the
long-term future of the cities and districts.
I want to make education more afford
able and keep student loan rates under con
trol. We need to be investing in our chil
dren and setting them up to succeed and
not fail. Graduation rates in the county are
slowly beginning to rise, but reading at
grade level in the lower grades is faltering.
There is still a big disparity in closing the
achievement gap between African
American and white children. When elect
ed to Congress, I will work to get schools
the help they need without interfering with
the local school boards and their ability to
teach as they see best for their children.
When elected, I want to do everything
possible to shore up Social Security,
Medicare and Medicaid. We have to rein
in the drug companies and the insurance
industry. This vicious and endless cycle
has to be stopped.
The legal system is in need of help as
well. We need to be fair in our justice and
do our due diligence in our investigations
and we need to do better about reforming
the true criminals and helping them get the
services they need. I want to restore our
focus on mental health, substance abuse,
and domestic violence to help end the real
problems that lead to violence in this
country.
When elected, I will bring my busi
ness experience and my community serv
ice experience to the table. Over the last
16 years, I have built relationships and
earned the trust of the district, and I look
forward to representing the fine people of
the Fifth.
Charlie Wallin lives in Boone with his
wife and daughter. He is the assistant
director of Appalacian State University
Food Services. He has been active in the
community and in the Democratic Party
for the last 16 years, and in 2015 he was
elected Chair of the Fifth District. He cur
rently serves on the State Democratic
Executive Committee and Council. He
served eight years on the Planning Board.
He is an active volunteer at Parkway
School and OASIS.
'' I
It is time for a political revolution
For any American under
Josh 35 years old, they've spent
their entire lives under a sys
Brannon tern where all the economic
gains have gone to those
Guest who need them the least. It
has not mattered who we've
Columnist had as president or which
party controlled Congress,
runaway inequality hasn't
slowed down since Reagan.
And it's not just economic inequality; it's inequality of
justice. Despite admitting to collectively hundreds of bil
lions, or even trillions of dollars in fraud, and paying tens
of billions of dollars in fines, no significant Wall Street
executive has gone to jail. Meanwhile, we have people in
cities and towns across America who go to jail on a daily
basis for something as small as having a joint of marijuana
in their pockets.
We cannot call ourselves a moral society when we
allow such atrocities of justice.
? It is time for a political revolution. It is time for people
and communities all over our country to rise up and elect
members of Congress who will: once again commit to
making our country a land of opportunity for everyone;
who will: implement true universal healthcare so that
whether or not you can go to the doctor when you're sick
doesn't depend on if you have enough money; who will:
get rid of our horrifically racist drug sentencing guidelines
and three-strikes rules and do away with the for-profit
prison system that perversely benefits from locking away
more people; who will: invest in public works programs
that improve our country while providing well-paying
jobs; and who will: reinvest in our education system,
including our higher education, so that no one is forced to
be an indentured servant to the banks just to be able to get
the education they want.
If you agree, I would appreciate your vote.
Josh Brannon is a candidate for the N.C. 5th
Congressional District.
?
Short ballot,
big races
BY TODD LUCK
THE CHRONICLE
A short ballot with important
votes awaits voters during the June 7
primary.
The race for the fifth district, N.C.
Supreme Court, and a re-do of the
extremely close South Ward City
Council race are on the ballot for the
second primary.
Fifth District UJS. House of
Representatives Incumbent:
Republican Virginia Foxx
Democrats
Josh Brannon is a software
developer from Watauga County who
lost to Foxx in 2014 by 22 percent.
He says he'll champion education,
economic equality and getting big
money out of politics. One of his
campaign themes is taking the coun
try back from the richest one percent,
who according to Brannon, have too
mucn control over its
politics.
"And we can do it
by convincing every
one we know just
how much is at stake,
and getting them to
vote for those who
believe in opportunity
for everyone, not just the one per
cent," said Brannon on his website.
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