Vote Tomorrow! Races to Watch in Mecklenburg County [UPDATE]

I had this post almost written and Firefox crashed. Unfortunately, I lost the post. I was reviewing some of the contested races in Mecklenburg County and I started with the most important race.....my mother's.

City Council District 1 - Patsy Kinsey (D) v. Tariq Bokhari (R)

Patsy Kinsey (aka Mom) served two terms as a Mecklenburg County Commissioner and is running for a third term on Charlotte's City Council in District 1. Her opponent, Tariq Bokhari registered to vote after election day on November 2006 and cast his first vote in the Republican primary this year. His campaign can be summed up in two words - indecent exposure - as in his lack of exposure to the electoral process is indecent for someone seeking election. He is a moderate Republican and agrees with Patsy Kinsey on many of the issues facing the district. His only difference is he doesn't think we should have to pay for improvements in infrastructure. Apparently, Tariq, along with most Republicans is counting on the magic fairy to wave her magic wand and Charlotte will find a way to magically pay for schools, roads, police, fire, medic, libraries....etc.

Since I can't speak objectively about my own mother, I'll let the CharO say it for me. :)

Ms. Kinsey, 66, is public relations director with an architectural and engineering firm. She is a Charlotte native and served two terms as a Mecklenburg County commissioner. Ms. Kinsey takes independent positions on City Council, and consistently seeks middle ground on issues in order to move the city forward. She has been a responsive, although quiet, voice for the concerns of close-in neighborhoods, twice supporting budgets that put more police officers on Charlotte's streets and strengthened other core services.

Heck...I'll even quote my mother's opponent. Tariq says of Patsy:

"She is a really nice lady, who shows up to every neighborhood meeting," Bokhari said.

Heh heh, :) That's almost an endorsement.

City Council District 7 - Warren Cooksey (R) v. Nicholas Heath (D)
District 7 is currently served by Republican Don Lochman. Again, I will have to turn to the CharO for help.

Both candidates support the half-cent sales tax that pays for mass transit and share concerns about traffic and congestion. Cooksey said he would focus on three things: roads, crime and taxes. He suggested using the city's annual $5 million in growth revenue to widen existing roads and build new ones.

Heath said he would work for better police officer pay, improving road conditions and air quality.

Both candidates have run for office before, but Cooksey has more experience in areas that will help him serve on the council.

Mr. Cooksey, 37, served seven years on the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Planning Commission, including two as vice chair. That experience left him well-grounded in the complexities of land-use decisions, an important city responsibility. He has solid ideas for improving both the process and outcome of development. He also is an avid student of government, as evidenced by his work as an instructor in the League of Women Voters' Civics 101 program.

Mayor - Beverly Earle (D) v. Pat McCrory (R)

I'll give you the really short version on this one. Pat McCrory is running for a record seventh term. He's a moderate Republican who supports public transportation, but also seems to believe in that magical fairy who swoops down and pays for infrastructure....well...outside the half cent sales tax. He's for that one. I don't have a problem with Pat McCrory. He's not done a terrible job as mayor. My only problem with him was when he carried water for Bush and national Republicans during the 2004 presidential elections. I got tired of seeing a rather moderate guy playing so far to the right.

Beverly Earle is the biggest threat McCrory has ever faced. She's a longtime state legislator which could help raise Charlotte's profile with the legislature if she were to win. You gotta love that CharO for making my life easy:

Earle tends not to seek out the media -- even brushing aside reporters' questions when she filed for office in July. Few major pieces of legislation carry her name as a primary sponsor.

Yet she is considered one of the most effective House members. She has guided state policy on aging and health. And until January, she served four years as co-chair of the House Appropriations Committee, aligning taxpayers' billions to what she and her co-chairs thought the state's priorities should be.

:::snip:::

Rep. Debbie Clary, a Cleveland County Republican, says Earle has been inclusive in committees and in the informal talks where legislative deals are made.If Clary couldn't make a meeting, "Beverly Earle would actually stand with her mobile phone on so that I could hear the discussion in the aging commission," Clary recalled. "Then she would pick up the phone and ask, `Well, what do you want to do?' "

:::snip:::

Overall, Earle has the voting record of an ardent Democrat. She sticks with her party on major votes and has championed more spending on social programs and a moratorium on the death penalty.

:::snip:::

Rep. Verla Insko, a Chapel Hill Democrat, said Earle's mastery of the budget shows.

"When there's not enough money to go around, she would be the one to say, `I know where there's extra money we can tap into, and we can fund both of these programs,' " Insko said.

There's quite a bit more, so feel free to go take a look.

You can find out more about Pat McCrory here. Sorry, I'm losing steam fast. Writing this twice stinks.

UPDATE
DilworthDem makes a good point in the comments about McCrory, so I thought I'd bring the quote up here for more to see.

McCrory is a moderate Republican on most issues. However as a gay Charlottean I can't vote for him. He refuses to have any type of constructive or postive dialogue with Charlotte's gay community. Instead he ignores us and panders to the local gay bashing wingnuts by boycotting the yearly HRC Dinner and refusing to support any gay inclusive city policies. He is loathed by the majority of gays in Charlotte and he deserves every bit of the scorn. Earle is not going to win. McCrory is quite entrenched and supported by the Uptown establishment that really runs the show. This is a damn shame in my opinion as she has indicated that she would be more responsive local gay concerns. McCrory's stone age stance is an embarassment.

Transit Tax or Half Cent Sales Tax

Steve Harrison of the CharO did an excellent job of boiling this hefty issue down to a concise summary. Here's his intro, but I encourage you to go read the rest of the article.

Mecklenburg voters will decide Nov. 6 whether to keep or repeal a half-cent sales tax for public transportation, which was passed by voters in 1998.

The tax has paid for a massive expansion of the city's bus system, as well as construction of the state's first light-rail line, which is scheduled to open in late November.

:::snip:::

Tax supporters have warned that if the sales tax is repealed, the city of Charlotte will be forced to raise property taxes to recover some or all of the lost revenue. It's been estimated that roughly 30 percent of the transit tax is paid for by non-Mecklenburg residents.

Tax opponents say that CATS could operate bus and rail service for less money than it does today. Some have also proposed putting the transit tax back on the ballot, so long as the county pledged not to spend the money building more trains.

Great basic rundown of the issue.

Sorry to the City Council At-Large candidates. I've run out of energy and time. The Charlotte Observer has their online election central section which includes links to the League of Women Voter debate videos. Please give it a glance.

My original Union County rundown might post tonight.