BUNCOMBE COUNTY EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETING

August 28, 2006

PRESENT (or Represented)

George Keller Kathie Lack

Chuck Durand Mary Ann Durand

Sandra Bradbury Catherine Jackson

Anna Cannon Zora Hays

Steve Roberts Bill Lack

Ed Osada Eric Gorney

Bill Reynolds Frank Kirkland

Don Yelton Jerry Lemonds

Alice Keller Dudley Camper

Katie Lack Bill Porter

Frances Cosgrove Bill Reynolds

Beki Taylor Aaron Pettit

Ken Selden Mary Jane Westall

Kathy Rhodarmer

NOT PRESENT (or Represented)

Nancy Day: 298-0196 Jennifer Styles: 667-8511

Marianne Reinert: 252-7559 Nicolette Payne: 626-3016

Gerry Kitch: 250-9805 Kyle Carver: 683-2075

Henry Mitchell: 274-3419 Ralph Eubanks: 253-6772

Larry Fowler: 253-5970 Renee Russell: 684-0037

Troy Dill: 242-6822 Laurie Boulos: 687-3560

Albert Sneed: 277-5646 David Brown: 298-4877

David Hughes: 298-2289 Bill Duckett: 683-3592

Gene Presley: 255-8559 Matthew Hebb: 337-0728

Steve Duncan: 258-6368 Tony Ponder: 684-0896

Steven Green: 299-0953 Tom Rightmyer: 225-0515

Judy Long: 258-3321 Bob Long: 258-3321

David Ivey: 274-3536 Ken Marshall: 251-9153

Bill Fishburne: 279-7562 Mark Delk: 687-8150

Jerry Orr: 669-9279 Casey Reece: 582-3205

Steve Roberts: 669-7803 Ron Dayton: 258-0807

Tina Marlow: 628-1356 Sylvia Arrowood: 669-5617

Nathan Ramsey: 628-1643 Kathi Robertson: 669-9278

Ray-Lee Jarrett: 683-9783 Kathey Gilmer: 669-7303

Ann Bell: 258-9271 Michelle Cox: 683-4620

Wayne Warren: 253-9041 Robin Ramsey: 628-1643

John Sutton: 667-3140 Bob Long: 258-3321

Daniel Rodriguez: 582-1568 Bob Brown: 628-4087

Steve Starnes: 667-0707 Sid Johnson: 254-2946

Jennifer Styles: 667-8511 Michelle Cox: 683-4620

Robin Ramsey: 628-1643

A QUORUM WAS PRESENT

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Chairman George Keller called the meeting to order at 6:30 p.m. at Ryan’s Family Steak House on Patton Avenue. Don Yelton gave the invocation and George led the pledge of allegiance.

Sandra Bradbury called the role.

George said the finance report and minutes of the last meeting are on the website. The minutes were approved. It was noted that using E-Mail saves time.

George thanked the candidates and festival volunteers for helping at Sour Wood and Goombay. He said Goombay was a real experience. Some man took a balloon away from a child because he found out it came from a Republican.

Phones are being used at Congressman Taylor’s office. We will have several phones at headquarters and calling will start September 11. Candidates are getting together to formulate a plan for calling. We are trying to get a good deal on an adjacent room at headquarters. George said we really need a Phone Bank Coordinator.

Mountain State Fair starts September 8. There are six vacant spots at our booth. Henderson County folks furnished 40% of the money. George urged workers to not bring out lots of materials and leave it there. We have a 10-foot booth. People can bring something, but take back what is left when their shift is over. Volunteers at headquarters need to check the outside mailbox. It will cost us about $200 for every phone for two months. Yelton asked if we can give a reduction for a Lincoln Day Dinner ticket if someone sponsors a phone. George thought that was an interesting idea. We will have candidates visit us at the booth.

Aaron is President of the Buncombe County Republican Kids Club. They have five or six members. They have recently addressed envelopes and Aaron said they need more jobs. George said he will bring back signs for judges on September 9.

George said we are effectively using our headquarters to help others in the district. This saves candidates from having to go to each county. George passes out information at the District meeting.

The Republican picnic will be held Saturday, September 23. Chuck passed around lists showing picnic items “provided by/transported by”. The picnic is coming soon and we have accomplished a lot already. Chuck will send out 200 invitations and is hoping for a success. Invitations will go to Area Coordinators, Precinct Chairs, Judges and Poll Workers. We never have done anything for the workers.

Mary Jane said the Blue Ridge Republican Women’s Club will provide all the condiments for hotdogs. George said the BCGOP will fund a nice porta-potty with hand washing facilities. We need three gas grills. There will be no speeches and no bands. People will bring games. This is being put together just to have fun.

Chuck said we might need to have a meeting of all volunteers. Don suggested Chuck just send E-Mails telling everyone what to do. We are trying to do something nice for our Poll Workers. Get together and thank them. People were asked to bring any hard-working Republicans to the picnic.

Chuck said the magic date to get worker lists to the Board of Elections is October 2. They are going to do something different this time. Alice Silver will use Republican Judges as the contact for their precincts. Judges know who they like to work with. Alice’s letters with a list of previous Poll Workers and Judges will go out asking Precinct Chairs to send worker names to Chuck. These names will still need to be prioritized. Precinct Chairs will still have to call Poll Workers and the Judge to be sure they realize November 7 is the polling day.

What do we do with One-Stop Voting? Chuck would like to have a Judge at every polling place every day for two weeks, but that will not happen. For the first time they will split the shift for Early Voting only. We can hire 35 people at $8 an hour, five-hour shifts. We will have Republican workers paid by Buncombe County on a two-shift basis for all One Stop Voting from October 19 to November 4. The ten locations are shown on our website.

Chuck said Buncombe County Board of Elections is printing out 70,000 3’x5’ colored posters showing How To Vote. There will be one scanner per precinct and it will not be in a private area. If the scanner does not accept a ballot, the voter will have to get a Poll Workers to check that ballot. Everybody gets to see the ballot. This means there will be no private voting. Ballots will be hand-counted in Buncombe County. We need to remember that the Board of Elections did not want this kind of voting machine, but they were overruled.

Ed asked how many Poll Workers will be needed each day at each voting place. No one knew. George thought it would be two Judges and paired numbers of Democrats and Republican workers.

George said no one at any festival knew any of the judge candidates. We need people outside Early Voting sites if only to pass out cards telling which judges to vote for. Kathy R. wants to put signs up outside voting places. There are 75 places to vote on November 7. We need 75 people to pick up signs and distribute literature at each location. George urged everyone to please vote early.

We need to write pro-Taylor letters to the newspaper. He should get some of the credit for getting money for the free busses instead of letting everyone think Brownie Newman did it all.

Ken talked about the Fair Tax issue. We have an opportunity to help fair tax along. This is a well-organized movement centered in Washington and is definitely a grassroots movement. They have found going to the corporate level is wasted effort because corporations are in bed with Washington. Opposition is coming from Washington, mainly Democrats. Labor unions are a little better, but they will do what their membership wants.

Ken said most people do not know what fair tax is. They want to get on the radio, write letters to the newspaper, etc. They are meeting resistance. This was a bipartisan issue, but Nancy Pelosi has threatened every Democrat and they have all withdrawn their support. Charles Taylor has also withdrawn. Ken said Taylor withdrew because he was getting criticism for being involved.

This is a 23% sales tax. When Democrats see people want it they will change their tune, but it is an uphill battle. Ken thinks this is a wonderful bill to revolutionize the economy. There are two opportunities to really let people know about this movement, the Mountain State Fair and the upcoming election. Ken said he can get cards to pass out. Several people thought no one would like what the cards say. We should ask people if they know what fair tax is. Most people don’t. It was agreed that Ken needs to bring a better piece of literature.

Signs are in about joining the Action Club. George said we will need registration forms and to read one before trying to explain it to anyone.

Eric noted that this group is the base. We are trying to get phone calls going. Please volunteer. A person has to be exposed to a name seven times before being recognized. It will cost $75,000 for Eric to do five mailings in his district and he will probably not raise that money. People are not knocking his door down to give him money. Eric is relying on us to help him. Calling is a good way. It looks like we will have a low voter turnout.

Don said he is the second challenger in his race since 1990. He has made a lot of enemies but does not care. Don thinks Republicans have been nice too long. Democrats have put up signs about gas prices. Don wanted to know if we would rather have $3 a gallon gas or gas lines.

With regard to Congressman Taylor, Don wondered why anyone would vote for somebody who acts like Taylor and says he is just like Taylor. Don said some people don’t like him. We need more people pulling together for the right thing. We have to stick together. We need to defend this position or the Democrats will beat us into the ground. Don needs our help. He has about $1,200 in his account, and $500 of that came from a Democrat.

Bill Porter said the Republican Men’s Club voted to spend $1,500 for an insert in the newspaper. It has become a mailing for the candidates instead of something in the newspaper, something to get the Republican vote out.

Mary Jane said the Blue Ridge Republican Women’s Club will try to get some volunteers to help with all these projects.

Alice said all of our candidates will be the Buncombe County Republican Women’s Club meeting this month, which is held on the second Thursday at 11:30 a.m. at the Cornerstone Restaurant. Everyone is invited. This club has put its funds for candidate support into radio ads in support of what the Action Club is doing. Alice felt we are all doing a better job of working together this year. She invited everyone to come to the picnic, it will be fun.

Kathie hoped everyone knew what the Action Club has been doing. The billboards were a big success, even though one was defaced. They got a lot of publicity. There was a tremendous amount of contact from other states and in the region. Action Club membership has increased and it has been good to get more people involved. Radio ads are the next step, using the immigration theme. They plan to name candidates running for the General Assembly and show how they have control of what happens with immigration in North Carolina. The Action Club needs more money to spread radio ads further.

Zola asked how this helps our candidates. Kathie said it names candidates and asks people to vote for them. George said the radio ads will say which candidates will stand up against illegal immigration.

Beki said she would like some information about a Get Out the Vote postcard. George replied we plan to send one out to Republicans twice. There are 35,000 Republicans in Buncombe County. Eric said it will cost $18,000 for both mailings. Beki said the Blue Ridge Republican Women’s Club is talking about that.

George felt the postcards and the phone calls give us a lot of exposure. The postcard will list all judge candidates. There are two Republicans running for the School Board. George has been trying to contact them to see if they want to be listed as a Republican. Bill Lack said every Republican who voted in the 2004 election will get a mailing from Freedom Works saying that Charles Taylor signed the Freedom Works pledge to protect your property.

There was a question as to whether it was possible to send cards to independents. George said yes, but it would be expensive. Beki said that is why the Blue Ridge Club talked about putting an insert in the paper. We need Democrat support, too.

An unidentified visitor said he has been a Democrat and unaffiliated for several years. He came to this meeting to sign up again as a Republican. He had received a mailer that came from Jim Black’s money. We have received no money from Raleigh. If Eric got 75% of Republicans to vote in his district he would win.

Beki felt that city Republicans are more fired up than county Republicans. Her office picked up 12 volunteers in one day in the city. She doesn’t know what has them fired up, but hopes to find out. Frances asked if we will we this literature at the State Fair. George said yes.

Bill Lack said they have drafted a letter to all ministers in Buncombe County and bought a mailing list for $178. Mike Harrison is getting that list now. It will have all Republican candidates listed.

The meeting adjourned at 8:00 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Sandra Bradbury, Secretary

Buncombe County Republican Executive Committee