wake county

Let me introduce myself. I’m Al Swanstrom, and I’m running for the NC House of Representatives in District 36, which my friend Greer Beaty almost won in 2006. It covers parts of Cary, Apex, and Swift Creek.

What kind of buildings would we name after the GOP minority leader? Here are some ideas:

• The Skip Stam Sewage Plant - planned to be located strategically in the center of New Hill between the 2 churches in that community. Now every Sunday, the odor will remind worshipers of how poorly Stam defended their rights.
• The Skip Stam Landfill expansion - As the mountain of garbage greets those entering Holly Springs, it will remind them that Stam was too busy defending marriages to worry about Holly Springs.
• The Skip Stam Toll Way (now with "Stam Tax"!) - Now as the good citizens of Southern Wake pay twice - once with gas tax and again with a hefty toll ("Stam Tax"), they can remember who neglected the roads. Of course, Stam can't even get funding passed to start building I-540 as a toll road.
• The Skip Stam Mandatory Year Round School and Trailer Park - Since Stam, a real estate lawyer, fights transfer and impact fees to the exclusion of doing anything for the district, it's only fitting to name an overcrowded school after him.

The Wake County Democratic Party held its annual convention this morning at Knightdale High School. The convention was heavily attended with 83 percent of organized precincts represented.

This post is aimed at those of you who may be delegates to the 2007 Wake County Democratic Party Convention on April 21.

Some of you may have clicked over to my blog, The Stinging Nettle, from an announcement I circulated. I post this here to catch some of you who did not.

Slate on Libby Day 1
NYT on Libby the puzzle
Firedoglake on they, the jury

Meanwhile,
Ali at 65

And in the wonderful world of Wake County, where subdivisions spring up unfettered by the heavy hand of government; where the homebuilding market is a gleaming success story; where the much-prized rights of property owners and the champions of the private sector have triumphed; it appears the masses who must rely on taxes to educate their children (poor things) are fussing. What would they have the more fortunate do? Cut profits? Slow the mighty engines of growth?
Let them eat trailers.*

How are the "values" Republicans, going to vote for a sheriff who had an affair with a married woman.

I have gotten an e-mail about a great resource on local Wake County races and wanted to pass it along to any one of our great readers that wants to do research into our local races. The compilation, put together by WakePol of the N&O blogs, contains stories on most of the candidates, a log of advertisements by them, and mp3's of interviews with a good number of the candidates. Check it out here.

This is a good year for the Democrats to win on all levels, including in Wake County, where the Republicans have dominated recently.

So this is more of a FOR YOUR INFORMATION but:

I recently heard that in the Raleigh Durham listening area, on 680 AM, Vernon Robinson will be a guest between 5PM and 6PM. I cannot verify it thru the marvels of the internet.

So if its true lets do what we do best. Make it known that Democrats and progressives have developed a lot more than a backbone since 04.

And if he's not on there, then talk radio isnt so bad.

Today the Wake County School Board will come to terms with the issue of mandatory year yound edcuation. Whether it goes forth or suffers a defeat may largely have to do with a new bond proposal they will discuss tonight.

The debate is over whether to pass a $1+ billion bond to support new schools and trailers, OR to ask for a lesser bond around $600 million and convert almost all K-8 level schools into year rounds.

This is a very important issue for anyone with children in Wake County. And it may also be important to those in the surrounding counties as well as Guilford and Mecklenburg Schools. I don't have any kids, but as a progressive and democrat (small d) education is one of the key moral issues of our era. Better and smarter education policies will be the cornerstone of how the next few generations survive in the world's economy. Not to mention the future leaders of NC, espicially politicans, will come from this 48th in education state.