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This November, our community will see the largest turnout of voters in history --- with the Board of Elections predicting there may be over 130 thousand ballots cast. This would be the perfect time to provide our citizens the opportunity to vote on the important matter of how we elect our county commissioners here in Buncombe County.

My proposal to increase the number of commissioners by two and to change the method of our election from "at-large" to "by district" is not a novel idea. Despite the diversionary claim by my some that this matter has never come up before, it is, in fact, an issue the other commissioners and our citizens are very familiar with.

North Carolina law allows the Board of Commissioners to place this question to our voters. It has been thirty years since Buncombe County has changed the way we elect county commissioners. Back in the early 1970’s, there were only three county commissioners on the board, and all were elected at-large (with the chair being voted on directly by our citizens, as is done today).

In 1976, the county increased the size of the board from three to five commissioners. Back then, the county population was around 155,000 people, so there were about 31,000 people per commissioner. Today, there are over 225,000 people living in Buncombe County, which translates to about 45,000 people per commissioner. That's less direct representation now than 30 years ago.

Ten years ago, a bill was introduced in the NC Senate to make such a change in the election of our county commissioners. That bill never made it out of committee, when the majority of the Board of Commissioners at the time voiced their opposition. Also, about ten years ago, the Board of Commissioners (which included my opponent and all of the other current incumbent commissioners except for Commissioner Peterson and I) created a "study commission" to research the matter. That's often how elected officials avoid dealing with things. They continue to "research" them ;)

Partisanship

For the time I’ve been honored to serve as Chairman of the Board of Commissioners, I've never acted with a politically partisan motivation. I'm proud of that fact. Of course, there have been allegations in the press and on some internet blogs that this is some kind of partisan, election-year move on my part.

I'd say the opposite is the case: it's my fellow commissioners who are misbehaving in a partisan manner. They all refused to even discuss the issue, much less put it up for a vote. Remember, they're all from a different political party than me. Perhaps they're more concerned with keeping their lock on power, not a little afraid that voters might not see fit to return them to office. Now if that's not being partisan, I don't know what is.

In this year’s Democratic primary, outstanding candidates like Vernon Dover of West Buncombe and Bob Hill of Candler would have benefited greatly if district elections had been in place --- and in my view, the county as a whole would have been better off. I clearly recognize that I wouldn't be in office but for the votes of thousands of Democrats, some who almost never support a candidate in a different political party.

Remember, it's my colleagues who don't want you to have the right to vote on the matter.

Geographic Fairness

There is also the obvious question of geographic fairness. The French Broad River runs through the center of the county --- but it's been twenty years since a commissioner was elected from west of the French Broad. It's been sixteen years since a commissioner was elected from north of Asheville's city limits. Currently, there are efforts to incorporate several of our communities --- and one of the consistent complaints is that there's not a county commissioner that lives anywhere close to those communities.

In North Carolina, all of the counties larger in population than Buncombe have some form of district election of county commissioners (except Durham). Durham, however, is less than half the land area of our county and with only one municipality. Other counties have determined that some form of district elections work pretty well for them.

We elect our county school board members by district, our state legislators are elected by district, and the county appoints our Planning Board and Recreation Board members by district, so this is not a foreign concept to our community. These county boards function well, and the members are all passionate about what is best for the entire county, not just their district. To suggest otherwise is both insulting to the voter and future candidates.

Enough time?

To the ridiculous notion of whether or not there was enough time before the November election for adequate consideration of the issue, it's really just another stalling tactic. Our citizens would certainly have had adequate time to consider the merits: we're not stupid. The Citizen-Times and all the other commissioners (including my opponent) feel differently about us out here in the county, I suppose; they don’t seem to believe that our citizens should have the right to decide before an election how we pick our elected officials. I guess they think we are stupid.

Conclusion

What's critical to emphasize here is that our Board’s rejection (without any discussion) of my call for voters to decide on district elections was not about whether or not we should adopt the approach per se, but an arrogant attempt by my fellow commissioners --- more concerned with protecting their own power than trusting the will of the people --- to deny us the right to vote under North Carolina law.

Sounds downright fishy to this farmboy ;)