BUNCOMBE COUNTY EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETING
PRESENT (or Represented)
George Keller Bob Rhudy
Chuck Durand Mary Ann Durand
Sandra Bradbury Frank Kirkland
Nadene Hutchinson Craig Young
Paul Purdue Bill Lack
Ed Osada Eric Gorney
Bill Reynolds Pat Regan
Don Yelton Maureen Flagg-Weber
Beki Taylor Matthew Hebb
Katie Lack Bill Porter
Tony Ponder
NOT PRESENT (or Represented)
Nancy Day Jennifer Styles
Marianne Reinert Wes Adams
Gerry Kitch Nicolette Payne
Henry Mitchell Catherine Jackson
Larry Fowler Kyle Carver
Troy Dill Renee Russell
Larry Modlin Laurie Boulos
Albert Sneed David Brown
David Hughes Bill Duckett
Gene Presley Dudley Camper
Steve Duncan Ken Selden
Steven Green Jerry Lemonds
Judy Long Sid Johnson
Tom Rightmyer Jeremy Wilson
Bill Fishburne Ken Marshall
Mark Delk Anna Cannon
Jerry Orr Casey Reece
Steve Roberts Betty Budd
Richard Mills Frances Cosgrove
Tina Marlow Ron Dayton
Nathan Ramsey Clarence Young
Bob Brown Jerry Murray
Ray-Lee Jarrett Jennifer Styles
Ann Bell Michelle Cox
Wayne Warren Robin Ramsey
John Sutton Bob Long
Steve Starnes Daniel Rodriguez
Denise Callahan Mary Jane Westall
Chairman George Keller called the meeting to order at 6:40 p.m. at Ryan’s Family Steak House on Patton Avenue. George gave the invocation and led the pledge of allegiance.
Matthew Hebb, leader of the Young Republicans, said the good news is YR now has membership. Matt brought two new members to the meeting, Lauren and Jesse, who used to be registered as non-partisan. Other new members have also changed over (they got four new members this week). YR will meet next month and let us know when and where. Matt’s 90-day goal is to have 20 members. They will appoint officers and write by-laws. Matt’s two goals are to recruit young candidates and raise money for them.
YR wants to be effective. New members joined because they agree with Matt’s beliefs. They are waiting to be convinced to be a Republican and we have to help keep them in this party. Matt said he sent out an E-Mail asking people about him potentially running for another office. He got various responses, none of them positive. He will be making decisions soon. YR will have a website soon.
George noted that minutes from our last meeting are on the website. Those minutes were accepted as written.
The financial report was passed out. George said we have received $1,000 in checks for the Lincoln-Reagan Day Dinner. We just need $6,000 more to break even.
Eric Gorney, a candidate, said he is starting his campaign and needs help with committees. Eric has a treasurer and advisory committee but needs a campaign manager, a media advisor and a finance director. He knows he will be overspent. Goforth will probably receive $200,000 from Speaker Black. Chuck Durand volunteered his van to drive Eric anywhere he wants to go house-to-house on his grassroots campaign. Eric asked the group to think about people to help on his campaign.
There was a discussion as to whether we should protest the free advertising Matt Mattan gives to Bruce Goforth by having him on his radio program all the time. Don Yelton suggested complaining to their corporate office and there was much discussion about how to handle this situation.
Eric asked if we will have a booth at any upcoming festivals. Bele Chere might be too expensive. A Sourwood booth would have to be rented by the Republican Party, not a candidate. We will decide about this during the Central Committee meeting in February. It cost $160 last year for Bele Chere. Goombay was handled differently.
George said the County convention will be held March 4 starting at 9:00 a.m., at Ferguson Auditorium at A-B Tech. We will put a notice in the newspaper. Postcards did not help last time, but were expensive to send.
Chuck talked to the Buncombe County Board of Elections and County Commissioners regarding paper ballots. We are missing 14 Precinct Chairs out of 72 precincts. Five precincts are going to be split again. Even after all the balancing we did for Area Coordinators when they split precincts before, we will be short five Precinct Chairs, five Republican Judges and ten Republican Poll Workers for the next election. That means we need to find 20 more people.
Bev Kirkland and Chuck will catalogue all previous poll workers. The Board of Election is not being cooperative in giving us information so Bev and Chuck will build our own data base. Some of the district now has City people in the County and vice-versa. Some areas will have different kinds of ballots. There are many older poll workers and paper ballots mean more work, maybe 13+ hours on election day. That’s a long day.
Chuck said we need to have more poll workers. We are short-handed and need to get organized. We need to be reacting now before problems come up. Alice Silver sent out letters to poll workers and we don’t know who got them or whether anyone got them. They go out too late. Chuck will meet with Alice and check with every Precinct Chair. Many decisions will have to be made. Chuck thinks Precinct Chairmen should manage their precincts. Additional training will be required for poll workers. Handicapped people (State law) have to have one station per precinct with automated voting. We have a lot of workers to recruit. Chuck and Bev will tell people where and how to work. They will be working 12-15 hours at the next election.
It was noted that the funeral for Mitch Carver was very moving.
George said Kathy Rhodarmer is still manning headquarters. We got a new volunteer recently to help her. There was a suggestion to ask for poll workers at the Lincoln-Reagan Day Dinner.
Some strategic work has been done looking at our organization. Officers and Area Coordinators are okay. We need a Second Vice-President for several other kinds of things, someone to do things before the last minute. Many felt we should require Precinct Chairs, Area Coordinators, etc., to come to Executive Committee Meetings. Mike Harrison thought they should be made to take a pledge to attend and to do the work assigned to them.
Chuck thought we should appoint a “Nag” who will call people who do not attend and ask for a reason. He thought these people should have personal responsibility. If they don’t like that, give them another job that they will do. Organize a phone tree, or E-Mail those who show and who do not show. Bev suggested calling before we start embarrassing people. Kathie Lack will start this program.
George said information about the Lincoln-Reagan Day Dinner reception and dinner information is on the website. We need to both write and call people if we want them to attend. George will get volunteers to call.
Bill Lack read a resolution from the Action Committee regarding the increased gasoline tax, asking that it be rolled back and capping the amount of the gas tax and ending the practice of diverting money to the general fund from the Highway Trust Fund. George will take an E-Mail vote of the Executive Committee (since a quorum is not present).
Eleanor Bradley and her husband, Edward, recently were in a bad automobile accident. They both have done a lot of volunteer work. Governor Easley cancelled their award ceremony due to the energy shortage, but did not cancel other state-financed trips during the same period of time. The resolution asks that the Governor recognize volunteer contributions in our NC society. George will take an E-Mail vote of the Executive Committee (since a quorum is not present).
If anyone wants to have a party on January 31 to watch the State of the Union Address, let everyone know when and where.
Alice Keller said the Buncombe County Republican Women’s Club fund raiser is a play at North Carolina Stage Company on February 23. They raised a lot of money with this event last year and hope everyone will attend this year.
Bill Porter said the speaker at the Men’s Club will be Gary Jackson, the new City Manager.
Due to Craig Young’s resignation for personal reasons, the Action Club is temporarily being chaired by Mike Harrison. The group will review their organization at the next meeting. There seems to be a strong expression from their membership about who will and will not run for election next time. Only Eric is a known candidate. The group will approach people to run on their “Dream Ticket” of candidates, then will present the ticket to the Executive Committee for its support. The Action Club is looking for an attorney candidate to run against Ron Moore.
Bev gets a list of all newly registered Republicans from the Board of Election. The numbers get higher every month. Letters go out to those people.
Freedom Works has a pledge for Eric to sign about not raising taxes during his term of office. After he signs, they will help his campaign.
The meeting adjourned at 8:05 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Sandra Bradbury, Secretary
Buncombe County Republican Executive Committee