Lord of the Flyers

Thankfully, Ernie's flyers are again making their way to my mailbox. Since Ernie has over $100K to spend, I expect nothing but the best BS in his flyers, and he has not disappointed me.

Today's flyer was very comforting to me. In it, mayor McSellout is attacking Harold Weinbrecht on a number of fronts. The best accusation Ernie can come up with is that Harold actually approved most of the development which has occurred under this administration. This begs a few questions:

• Throughout this campaign, Ernie has accused Harold of bringing growth to a standstill, and Ernie has proudly taken credit for bringing Cary out of those 'Dark days' and restoring healthy growth. Now he's blaming that same growth on Harold. Whose growth is it anyway?
  
• If the previous administration is in fact to 'blame' for all this growth, then why did mayor McSellout spend all that money on an economic consultant?
  
• If Harold is the one who approved all this growth, then why aren't the developers giving all their money to him instead of Ernie? This includes the out-of-town developers who gave Ernie almost $50K. Show me the money!

Like I said, nothing but the best BS from Ernie. The fact is, Ernie's administration approved all the building permits, not Harold's. Harold's approved the zoning for the developments Ernie points out, but as usual, Ernie only gives half the story. Harold's administration also had budget and ordinances in place to balance growth, both of which were doomed as of Ernie's first day in office.

So why am I encouraged? Ernie has sent out at least six different flyers and has his face all over TV. Cary people may be many things, but stupid is not one of them. Every time they see a flyer or commercial, they are reminded of who truly owns the mayor -- the developers who fill his campaign coffers. Cary people know that if Ernie really had a great story to tell, he wouldn't need $100,000 to tell it.

Ernie's biggest (and only?) political asset is his country-bumpkin charm and ever-present tan. Every time he sends out a nasty-gram, a little of that folksy image that he tries so hard to create gets chipped away, and Cary citizens learn a bit more about how ruthless mayor McSellout really is.

Ernie's best one-liner of the week comes from his News14 forum with Harold Weinbrecht. When asked a direct question about all the money pouring into his campaign from developers all over the country, Ernie said he "Makes no apologies" for all that money. This came across as arrogant, and again helped people see through the country-bumpkin image he works so hard to create.

16 Days

Hard to believe it is 16 days until the Cary election. I have enjoyed receiving all the campaign flyers and seeing just how creative people can be. A bit disappointing, I didn't receive Ernie's third and fourth flyers.

A shining example of creativity is Tommy Byrd. Mr. Byrd is a real estate agent/developer of the same ilk as Ernie. He has two websites up -- byrdforcary.com and byrd4cary.org. Interestingly, the .com website is for his campaign, while the .org is used for his business. I quote the following from his business home page:

Whether you need access to the latest national leasing and sales data, or information on the current politics of growth in our area, we have it. Our market is rated as one of the hottest in the country. It pays to know who is active, who isn't - and why. Let us be your eyes and ears. Making smart decisions is all about having the most current and accurate information available.

Seems like this guy built his business selling an insider's view of Town Hall, now he is running for Town Council -- scary.

Other 'Old Guard' candidates running for Town Council:

Nels Roseland: Almost $30,000 in campaign contributions from developers, voted for DHH
John Rigsbeee: Treasurer of Ernie's 2003 campaign.

'New Guard' candidates who are not beholden to developers:

Harold Weinbrecht, Mayor
Don Frantz, Town Council
Erv Portman, Town Council (incumbent, voted against DHH)
Gale Adcock, Town Council

Ernie-Gram Number 2

I enjoyed reading Ernie's second flyer which arrived in the mail today. Again, like the Easter Bunny leaving another nice, shiny turd.

Update: Something I missed on this flyer which was pointed out to me by one of the many people who know more about Cary politics than I do: The Mayor broke Cary's own law with this flyer. The flyer featured an image and watermark of the official Town of Cary Seal. This seal is copyrighted and can only be used for official town business -- reelection campaigns are not town business. Arrogant to the last, apparently Ernie believes the seal belongs to him and not the Town of Cary.

If Ernie wants his own seal, he should go with this:


There are 120,000 people in Cary and every household is probably receiving these mailers. Ernie's killing a lot of trees here, but that's what he is good at. Perhaps part of Ernie's clear-cutting of Cary was always intended to generate paper pulp for future use in his campaign?

Based on Ernie's flyer, it is clear that he is more than happy to sacrifice his loyal attendant (Nels Roseland) for the greater good of getting himself reelected. His only attack against Harold Weinbrecht is to criticize the 'previous administration' of fiscal irresponsibility. Nels was part of that administration.

Personally, I'm glad to see Nels get skewered, he deserves it. He's as bad as Ernie. He voted against pole signs, but that was actually after he voted for them. Cost: $500K. Ka-ching! He was largely responsible for wasting over $200K of our money on consulting fees for the doomed aquatics palace. Finally, he bought in completely to this insulting last-minute campaign sham regarding land-banking, and in doing so used our kids as political capital.

Nels bought into Ernie-nomics hook, line and sinker, and now Ernie is tossing him off his political Titanic.... A very good example to the people of Cary of just how ruthless Ernie can be when he's not on camera.

Goodbye Nels, you've lost the only guy who maybe could have helped you retain your council seat, and you are no longer a contender. Don Frantz is a great guy and I hope he wins. If not, I am sure Vickie Maxwell will still be a big improvement.

And Ernie, if fabricated 'fiscal responsibility' is the best you can come up with, you're in trouble. The only 'fiscally responsible' facet of your administration is your reelection fund, which is loaded with over $100,000.

We all know a rotten fish stinks from the head-down!

Water, Water Everywhere --- NOT !!

Just a friendly reminder... As Cary's water supply continues to approach the danger zone, remember that in 2000 we had a population of 98,000 people, today we have over 120,000 -- Mostly courtesy of Ernie McAlister. Over the same period of time we could have held growth flat and annexed the ENTIRE TOWN of Apex and reached the same result.

An Odd Campaign Story

Here's an interesting story from Plattsburgh, NY that my parents sent my way. Good for a chuckle, probably won't see any campaign signs like that in Cary, especially from Ernie.

Yesterday I finally received my long-awaited first campaign flyer from Ernie McAlister. My exxpections were met, and his flyer proves that you can indeed put enough polish on a turd to make it shine. I'd scan a copy and post it here, but I'm sure all living or dead citizens of Cary have already received their copy. This Lie-O-Gram is well-produced, but I guess when you have $100,000 of developer money to spend you can afford the best. On the other hand, when you have spent four years selling out Cary, you probably are forced to spend a lot of money on campaign collateral to make people think you were actually serving their needs.

By the way, I call Ernie's flyer a Lie-O-Gram because failure to tell the whole truth constitutes a lie as far as I'm concerned.

A few observations in the form of "Ernie said, Joe Said" ......

On "Making a difference" over the last four years ...

Ernie said "Successfully passed a $120M clean water bond to fund a regional wastewater treatment facility"
Joe said "I spent $120M of your tax money to keep my developer friends happy and let them continue to build.

Ernie said "Assumed ownership of SAS Soccer Park"
Joe said "Which loses money every year, but we're fiscally responsible!!"

Ernie said "Provided land to the Wake County Public School System"
Joe said "Gave them land which the previous mayor secured from developers"

Ernie said "Restored Cary's long term fiscal health"
Joe said "Increased Cary's debt to the largest amount in the history of the town"

On Ernie's "Vision for our future" ...

Ernie said "Invest $100M to build and expand Cary's roads"
Joe said "Again, your tax dollars at work to support developers' business interests"

Ernie said "Keep Cary's tax rate low"
Joe said "By continuing to go into debt and leaving it for the next mayor to clean up"

Ernie said "Initiate a land banking program [for schools]"
Joe said "Ernie, that one is just plain over the line. You have done zip for our students during your administration and made the BoE's even worse by driving over 6% residential growth. Now you come up with this six weeks before the election? [see previous post on this subject]. Cary students, two of whom are my kids, are not your political collateral to be exploited for the purpose of your reelection. To come up with a stunt like this dishonors all Cary students."

We got fooled by Ernie's pretty flyers and worthless promises four years ago, we won't get fooled again!

Mayor McAlister's Aug28th State of Cary Update

As usual, Ernie McAlister has only addressed a small part of what's going on in Cary -- and there made a weak attempt at imparting positive spin. As a citizen of Cary, I expect such addresses to be based on facts, and to focus on the things that matter to me, not what matters to the Mayor. As such, I took the liberty of including the mayor's update here, and added Joe's running commentary in blue to provide what I consider a good update would have addressed...

On June 28 the Cary Council unanimously adopted our annual town budget. Once again, Cary is proud to spend over $200M of taxpayer money to pay for new development. As we head into the new fiscal year (maybe he meant 'election' year), I am pleased to report we have an expanding local economy that allows us to continue to improve our services, address (think he meant to say 'create') critical needs like roads and public safety, increase our reserves, and still hold the line on our property tax rate. Fiscal discipline and a sound economy are the budgetary pillars that allow our town to expand services and improve our community’s quality of life. Our town's debt may be at a record-high, but as long as we can keep paying the bills we must be ok.

Over the past four fiscal years Cary has been able to reestablish a sustainable pattern of revenue growth larger than the growth in the town’s operational expenses. This may be a bit difficult for most people to understand given the mayor has shrank the operating fund margin every year. This allows us to maintain a six-month operational surplus of $52 million (again, lowest in 20 years), keeps our balance sheet strong, allows Cary to enjoy a AAA bond rating, and most importantly provides the resources to continue to improve and expand our roads, parks and utilities so that we can continue to add people and need more roads, parks and utilities. Highlights of the budget include six new police officers to help keep Cary safe and 11 new or extended staff positions to better serve parks, recreation and cultural needs. Maybe Ernie's in such a good mood he might even reinstate safety officers at schools! In the area of general capital spending, $28.2 million has been committed to improving roads, and $7 million-plus to parks, including the construction of the new Bartley Community Park. This should help relieve some of the traffic problems created by residential growth during the mayor's administration.

On the cautionary side, we still have a large share of capital debt inherited from commitments made by the previous administration between 1999 and 2003, and Ernie has done his level best to increase it every year. It will take time and a disciplined fiscal policy to pay down those long-term obligations, but don't expect Ernie to do it, he has to keep his campaign-contributing developers happy. Nevertheless, we have made a strong financial recovery from the depths of 2003, raising the bar for debt every year! This recovery was recognized by an upgrade in our bond rating by Standard and Poor’s earlier this year and underscores the positive trends we have established with our town's financial affairs. To put this in the perspective of the average consumer: You don't get a good credit rating if you never borrow money, you get a good rating by borrowing large amounts of money and somehow paying it off on time.

As with any enterprise, you are only as good as the people working for you. I wish to take this opportunity to thank our wonderfully talented town staff for their dedication, professionalism and creativity.

Here in Cary, we are blessed with an award-winning team of workers who provide our citizens with the best array of services available anywhere in the country. I ask you to join me in thanking our town staff as you see them around town or at one of our many venues. They’ll appreciate the pat on the back as much as we appreciate them. Some good people working there, I thank them too.

Cary continues to attract a talented and diverse group of newcomers who enrich our community and neighborhoods, and help to keep our economy strong. Most came to Cary from other parts of the country and sometimes from other parts of the world. This is how the mayor measures quality of life in Cary? As long as someone is willing to move here from somewhere else, then we must have a great quality of life? Together we have a very vibrant and livable community in which we are building on traditions like our nationally recognized Lazy Daze Festival, our summer music series with the North Carolina Symphony, Cary Band Day and many other cultural events, festivals and happenings throughout the year. One word of warning, don't have a heart attack at any of these events --Ernie's not giving Cary EMS any money this year, so you're on your own for ambulance service. On behalf of the town and the Council, I wish to extend our thanks to the many volunteers in Cary that make these events a great success and enjoyment to all year after year. As always, I appreciate the rich and valuable feedback you provide to me and our council as we serve on your behalf. Please continue to engage us as we work to keep our town's devel0pers prosperous.

Schools are a top concern for thousands of Cary families, and were a key element of the mayor's campaign platform. Pity they were not important enough to the mayor to include in his address.

Ernie McAlister is Cary’s mayor.