There were no responses when the Gazette asked for questions to ask our legislative candidates so the Gazette formulated four and has sent them to the candidates, asking they respond with answers by Monday, Oct. 1, to be able to publish them on Oct.3.
The questions are:
- How should the NC GA respond to the destruction caused by Florence? Should there be stricter restrictions about rebuilding the same structure in a flood plain or where there has been flooding from Floyd, Matthew, Hugo or Florence?
- What steps are you considering to assure teachers are paid enough to live on without second jobs and per student funding for materials, books and computers is adequate?
- What concerns you most about the state’s economy?
- Do you support extending Medicaid to cover all eligible North Carolinians?
The candidates in Senate District 18 are, in the order they will be listed on the ballots, Brad Hessel, a Libertarian; Mack Paul, a Democrat; and John Alexander, a Republican and the incumbent.
The candidates in House District 35 are Chris Malone, a Republican and the incumbent; Michael Nelson, a Libertarian; and Terence Everitt, a Democrat.
The candidates in House District 40 are Joe John, a Democrat and the incumbent; David Ulmer, a Libertarian; and Marilyn Avila, a Republican.
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Now the Gazette needs questions for the candidates for the District 1 school board seat and the seven Wake County commissioner seats. Candidates for the school board must live in the district and only district residents vote for them, while Wake commissioners must live in their districts but are voted on county-wide.
The District 1 school board candidates are Donald Mial of Raleigh, Heather Scott of Raleigh and Jim Thompson of Wake Forest.
In District 1 for county commissioner the candidates are the incumbent, Sig Hutchinson of Raleigh, Greg Jones of Wendell and Tim Jowers of Rolesville; in District 2 the candidates are Frann L. Sarpolus of Clayton and the incumbent Matt Calabria of Fuquay-Varina; in District 3 incumbent Jessica Holmes is unopposed; in District 4 Kim Coley of Cary is running against incumbent Susan P. Evans of Apex; in District 5 James West of Raleigh is unopposed; in District 6 incumbent Greg Ford of Raleigh is opposed by David Blackwelder of Wake Forest; and in District 7 Vickie Adamson of Raleigh is opposed by Jennifer Knox of Raleigh.
There is not time nor woman power to query the candidates for sheriff or the courts. Please send your questions to the editor, Carol Pelosi, at cwpelosi@aol.com.
We are not including the contest for District 13 for the U.S. representative to Congress for two reasons. The first is that the incumbent, three-term Republican George Holding, has not replied to any requests in the past.
The second is that the gerrymandered seat he holds has been declared unconstitutional but, because of the late date, the successful petitioners for new voting districts have agreed to let the election proceed even though the demographics are skewed against Holding’s opponent, Democrat Linda Coleman. We do hope voters keep that in mind when they vote.
Meanwhile, readers need to check their voter registration and register if they have not done so yet. The deadline for registration to vote in the Nov. 6 election is Friday, Oct. 12. The deadline to apply for an absentee ballot is Oct. 30. Anyone can ask for an absentee ballot. There will be early voting and Election Day is Nov. 6.
