In January, I wrote an op-ed in the Asheville Citizen Times saying that the 2024 election would preserve the status quo at the local level and noting that nothing changes if nothing changes. I'm not satisfied with the status quo, and I believe the Asheville-Buncombe County region can do better. We're at an inflection point where some important decisions have to be made to set the agenda for where we're headed in the years ahead. In my view, we need growth in the number of housing units rather than hotel rooms, and we need to focus on maintaining and enhancing our infrastructure for local residents and tourists alike. Tourism is and will continue to be instrumental to our region's economy, but tourism related jobs are not going to bolster the overall economic health of area workers. We need to expand our economic aperture and work to create jobs that are sustainable and sustaining.
I'm attending an event next week where Van Duncan, the former Democratic Sheriff of Buncombe County turned unaffiliated candidate for Chair of the Buncombe County Board of Supervisors, will speak and take questions along with his opponent, Democrat Amanda Edwards, a current member of the Board of Supervisors
who was handpicked by the outgoing Board Chair to fill his seat. I was leaning towards Amanda Edwards all along, but I was willing to listen to what Van Duncan had to say to see if perhaps he might be the right person to shake things up a bit and disrupt the status quo. I thought that maybe he would have a vision for governing the county that would strike a chord with me. I don't need to wait until next week to make a final decision on Van Duncan. Rather than striking a chord with me, he struck out.
Turns out Van Duncan is a Mark Robinson supporter and donor. Mark Robinson is as vile a candidate as there is anywhere in America, and that includes Trump, Vance, Marjorie Taylor Greene, and Lauren Boebert. Robinson's incendiary comments have drawn national attention to North Carolina, and not in a good way. Many have asked whether North Carolinians are insane to nominate scum like Mark Robinson to lead the state.
Robinson says abortion is murder, despite the fact that he paid for his wife to have an abortion. He says the problem is women aren't "responsible enough to keep their skirts down," so they elect to kill a child. He claims the decision he and his wife made to abort her pregnancy was a difficult decision, but if he has his way no other North Carolinian will get to decide, the state will do it for them. And Robinson would be happy with a total abortion ban with no exceptions. He'd also end sex education and access to birth control. He says the LGBTQ community is "filth," same sex marriage is "wickedness," and that God made him to fight against those who are LGBTQ. He's Islamophobic, antisemitic, misogynistic, and has a slew of ethical lapses. In short, Mark Robinson is a disgusting human being and totally unqualified to serve as the Governor of North Carolina.
That brings me back to Van Duncan. He says he supports Mark Robinson because Robinson supports the Second Amendment. If guns mean more to Van Duncan than the millions of North Carolinians that Mark Robinson chooses to demonize, then that's all I need to know about Van Duncan. If you've heard a swishing sound while you've been reading this article, that the sound of me pressing the lever, flushing Van Duncan down the drain, and sending his candidacy out to the septic tank where it belongs. I'm voting for Amanda Edwards.
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