2A
NEWS/The Charlotte Post
October 24,1996
Alexander saga drags on
Continued from page 1A
those charges and then they
will make a final decision
along with Mfume.
Alston said the delay is
proper.
“If you are going to charge a
person or allege certain things
about a person, that person
should have an opportunity to
prove his innocence," Alston
said. “We do live in a democra
tic society. You are innocent
until proven guilty."
Alexander has said in earlier
interviews that the complaints
against him are the political
motivations of those who
wanted to oust him, including
Alston, a Guilford County
commissioner, and longtime
nemesis Valerie Woodard of
Charlotte, now second vice
president of the state NAACP
conference.
He denies any wrongdoing,
save improper use of several
pre-signed checks after a new
treasurer took over last
spnng.
The delay in board action on
Alexander will likely cast a
shadow on the upcoming state
chapter annual conference in
Winston Salem next week.
• Alexander and the local
NAACP chapter, of which his
brother Alfred is president,
are hosting a civil rights con
ference Friday in conjunction
with the local chapter’s annu
al Kelly M. Alexander Sr.
Freedom Fund Dinner.
Ads polarizing voters, some say
Continued from page 1A
“This is the ad that set up the
hands-crumbling-the-letter ad
(in 1990). You had the first part,
which came about this time,
that Gantt profited from affir
mative action, and then they
closed it a couple of days before
the actual election with, ‘here’s
the reverse of that, a white man
suffering,’” Paletz said.
That ad showed a pair of
white hands crumpling a sheet
of paper while an announcer
said a sought-after job went to
someone else because of an affir
mative action quota. The ad
links Gantt to support for racial
quotas, which the Democrat
denies.
Rep. Mel Watt, who has taken
some negative hits in his 12th
District re-election campaign,
said “negative campaigning is
probably out of control.”
“There’s no code of conduct.”
Watt .said. “I’eople go away at
the end of the campaign feeling
very negative toward the
process. That’s why some people
are so negative toward politi
cians now. It is becoming a mud
throwing contest,”
But, Watt said, negative cam
paigning can be effective
because many people believe
what the see on television or
read in the paper.
“That’s why politial campaigns
have come up with the notion
that you must respond immedi
ately (to negative attacks),”
Watt said.
He said the answer to nega
tive campaigning is for voters to
“quit being so gullible in believ
ing all this crap. It is almost
disingenious the way Helms has
used it.”
A campaign spokeswoman for
Helms said the ad was not
about race.
“This ad has nothing to do
with race. Take a look at what
some of the major newspapers
Drug
program
gets grant
Continued from page 1A
Johnson Foundation grant
will allow Charlotte to contin
ue the pursuit of innovative
solutions to substance abuse
and related problems,"
Spickard said.
The Stop the Killing
Crusade founded by Rev.
James Barnett will be hon
ored Monday as one of the
most effective anti-drug
efforts sponsored by Fighting
Back. The crusade is the only
similar organization among
the 14 Fighting Back chapters
across the country.
Other activities Monday
include a bus tour of some
west Charlotte neighborhoods,
a 5:30 p.m. candlelight vigil
and a cilywide cookout. led by
Barnett. The public is invited
to the cookout.
Plighting Back director
Hattie Anthony praised
Barnett’s efforts. “The crusade
has picketed suspected drug
houses, stared down drug
dealers in practically every
troubled neighborhood in
Charlotte and jotted down the
license numbers of suspected
buyers," Anthony said.
Said Barnett, “In Charlotte,
we do more than raise aware
ness of the dangers of alcohol
and illegal drugs, we confront
the problem head-on.”
in North Carolina had to say
about Mr. Gantt's shady busi
ness deals,” Julie Wilkie said
Tuesday. The Helms campaign
provided reporters with scores
of articles to support claims
made in the ad.
The new Helms ad said: “In
1986, Harvey Gantt used his
minority status to purchase
interest in a TV station under
false pretense. ... Weeks later,
he and his partners sold the sta
tion to a white-owned corpora
tion, making millions.”
The ad also said Gantt, who is
an architect, used his minority
status “to get preferential treat
ment on public school con
tracts.” The ad does not specify
the contracts Gantt may have
landed.
The Helms campaign backed
up its claim with a copy of a
1994 article in The Charlotte
Observer in which school board
members said they wanted to
^iv(‘ Gantt’s firm more time to
negotiate a contract because it
would help meet minority con
tracting goals.
Paletz called the Helms cam
paign ads clever because they do
not directly attack a group, such
as gays, but identify Gantt as
supporting gays. The new ad
takes a similar approach.
“He’s not attacking blacks,
he’s attacking something that is
of benefit to Afncan Americans
which is unpopular in the state
and then he identifies Gantt
with that. There’s an important
distinction here, which makes
him less vulnerable to accusa
tions of race-baiting or gay bait
ing, even though that is what he
is doing,” he said.
The Helms ad also complains
that Gantt ads wrongly say the
24-year Republican incumbent
repeatedly voted to cut
Medicare. Helms has voted for
Republican budget-balancing
legislation that would have
curbed Medicare spending
increases.
“I think Jesse Helms is des
perately trying to change the
subject. He would rather rerun
false attacks than defend his
record on Medicare and Social
Security,” said Gantt spokes
woman Dalit Toledano. “The
fact is that Harvey Gantt is a
successful, award-winning
architect and businessman who
does not use his minority status
to get business.”
The television license was
raised against Gantt when he
ran for re-election as Charlotte’s
mayor in 1987 and by Helms in
1990. Gantt lost both contests.
Gantt applied with other
investors in 1984 to the Federal
Communication Commission for
a license to build a new televi
sion station in Belmont, about
10 miles west of Charlotte.
Gantt’s investment was about
$50,000. His return was
$450,000. plus 10 percent inter
est, over 10 years.
The ads won’t affect Carolyn
Moore’s voting for Gantt.
“I don’t think there is any
room for negative campaigning,
be it TV or be it written or ver
bal,” she said.
Bonds up for voter approval
Money for roads,
infrastructure
Continued from page 1A
communities on the westside.
City officials say the bonds will
be used for street improve
ments, storm drainage, curb
and gutters, sidewalks, land
scaping and fighting.
The idea is to use the bonds,
along with other city programs,
to stop the deterioration of the
affected neighborhoods and pro
mote development.
Other neighborhoods in the
bond package: Beatties
Ford/Trinity Park - $2.3 mil
lion; Choyce Avenue - $1.2 mil
lion; City View - $1.1 million;
Cummings Avenue/Lincoln
Heights - $1.3 million; Druid
Hills - $5.2 million; Grier
Heights - $2.5 million; Hidden
Valley - $4.4 million; Lakewood
- $1.1 million; Moores Chapel -
$1.7 million; Oakhurst - $1.5
million; Orchard Park —
$200,000; Plaza-Midwood - $2.2
million; Sterling^Sterfing Forest
- $500,000; Wilmore - $1 mil
lion; Wilora Lake - $1.1 million;
Wingate - $1.2 million.
Much of the money will be
used for basics like curb and
gutter and sidewalks in the
selected neighborhoods. Druid
Hills, Lakewood, Reid Park,
Sterling/Sterling Forest, Villa
Heights and Wingate had
received some improvement
fiinds earlier.
Bond supporters compare the
ini'ra.structure plans to city
funding of similar projects in
four neighborhoods - Belmont,
where $3,725,000 was spent on
curb and gutters, sidewalks and
storm drains; Genesis Park,
where $615,000 was spent on
similar projects; Lockwood,
$650,000; and Seversville, $2.6
million.
The claim each of those neigh
borhoods has improved as
places to five as a result of those
expenditures.
'The new bonds wUl not cause
an increase in property taxes,
according to city officials.
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