In the end the 2009 elections in North Carolina told us very little about 2010.

There were good signs for Republicans:

-Energized conservatives turned out in large numbers for the Wake County School Board races, electing all of their candidates and defeating an incumbent Democratic Raleigh City Councilman in the process.

-Defeated Democratic Mayor Yvonne Johnson in Greensboro, the first incumbent ever to lose that office. Johnson’s loss is the continuation of Republican gains on the Greensboro City Council that began in 2007.

But there were also good signs for Democrats:

-Anthony Foxx turned out more Obama wave voters in the Charlotte Mayoral race than we had anticipated, pushing him over the top and bringing David Howard as a third Democratic City Councilman along with him. The lesson there is that the new voters will come back out- with a good candidate. Foxx was a good candidate. Creigh Deeds in Virginia and Jon Corzine in New Jersey were not.

-Democrats swept the Asheville City Council race, dispatching controversial conservative and 2008 Republican Congressional nominee Carl Mumpower.

Ultimately these races were decided by local issues and the strengths of the candidates involved. It was a good night for the GOP nationally but the lesson in North Carolina is that if Democrats have good candidates who run effective campaigns they may be able to overcome the national tide.

RALEIGH, N.C. — Raleigh City Council Candidate Jerome Goldberg has been challenged on his residency for District D.

The Wake County Board of Elections will have a hearing on the issue at 11 a.m.  Aug. 12. at the Wake County office building, 337 S. Salisbury St.

The Board will hear testimony under oath and receive such other evidence proffered by the challenger, candidate and others.

Pursuant to NCGS 163-127.5, the burden of proof shall be upon the candidate, who must show by a preponderance of the evidence of the record as a whole that he is qualified to be a candidate for the office of Raleigh City Council District D.

Raleigh Council District Map

RALEIGH, N.C.  – A new North Carolina elections board may soon be asked to examine campaign finance reports by former Gov. Mike Easley’s campaign.

The five board members are getting together Thursday for the first time since Gov. Beverly Perdue appointed them. The board’s staff has been looking at how Easley’s campaign changed several years of campaign finance reports after failing to disclose the use of a car. It also is examining whether free airplane flights by Easley exceeded donation limits.

The issue isn’t on the board’s official agenda Thursday.

The board ultimately could dismiss the matters or call for a public hearing. It could also issue fines or refer the case to prosecutors.

The probe is part of a broader examination of the former governor and his wife.

RALEIGH, N.C. – The Executive Committee of the Wake County Republican Party has announced its candidate endorsements for the Oct. 6 elections.

On that day, voters in Wake County will go to the polls to elect candidates in various municipal offices and four districts in the Wake County Board of Education.

Claude E. Pope, Jr., Chairman of the Wake GOP, said, “We are delighted with the high caliber of candidates who sought our endorsement, and look forward to providing significant support to these candidates, including financial contributions, volunteer workers, training, and election day efforts.”

The Republican endorsement is given on the basis of a vote of the party’s executive committee, which met Monday night at the NCGOP headquarters on Hillsborough Street in Raleigh.

The candidates endorsed at the meeting are as follows:

Wake County Board of Education:

District 1: Chris Malone
District 2: John Tedesco
District 7: Jerry Ballan
District 9: Debra Goldman

City of Raleigh:

Mayor: Larry D. Hudson II
At-Large: Champ Claris
District B: John Odom
District E: Lisa Elliot

Town of Cary:

At-Large: Philip Scarsella
District A: Jennifer Robinson
District C: Jack Smith

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — An information session about the Town of Chapel Hill’s pilot program for publicly funded local elections will take place Wednesday.

RALEIGH, N.C. – The North Carolina House narrowed the sample but approved a test of how much voters want to see the influence of money in local elections diluted by taxpayer subsidies.

The House voted 60-56 on Tuesday to let cities choose whether to use taxpayer money in some local elections. The cities would join Chapel Hill, which will allow public financing in local elections this year.

Changes adopted on Tuesday limited the experiment running through 2016 to cities larger than 50,000 residents. Cities must seek permission from the State Board of Elections to test using tax money for local candidates.

Statewide candidates for appellate judges and three other posts now get public funding.

The bill next moves to the Senate.

RALEIGH, N.C. – Lawmakers are delaying a decision on legislation that could let North Carolina cities and towns choose whether to use taxpayer money to fund some local elections.

The House tentatively approved the measure last week and scheduled another vote on Thursday. But the vote was postponed to Tuesday. If the bill passes, it moves on to the state Senate.

Supporters said using local taxpayer money for candidates would balance the power of big money in local campaigns. Proponents said taxpayers could be forced to support candidates they might dislike. Chapel Hill will allow public financing in local elections this year.

Statewide candidates for appellate judges and three other posts now get public funding.

RALEIGH, N.C. – The state House is on the verge of deciding on legislation that could let cities and towns choose whether to use taxpayer money to fund some local elections.

The House tentatively approved the measure last week and has scheduled another vote on Thursday. If the bill passes, it moves on to the state Senate.

Supporters said using local taxpayer money for candidates would balance the power of big money in local campaigns and include people who can’t afford campaign costs.

Opponents said taxpayers could be forced to support candidates they might dislike.

Chapel Hill will allow public financing in local elections this year.

Statewide candidates for appellate judges and three other posts now get public funding.

The State Senate Wednesday elected eight members to the UNC Board of Governors.Twelve candidates were nominated and the top eight vote recipients were to be elected.

According to a press release from the GOP, Democrats have controlled the voting process so that the real election is conducted behind closed doors.

“Their method is to select the winners in a closed caucus; they then have the nominees who fail to make the cut ‘withdraw’ their names,” the press release said. “The vote on the Senate floor then proceeds with only eight names eligible for the eight seats. Any ballot marked by a Senate member that contains a name other than the pre-selected eight is disqualified and not counted.”

Senate Republican Leader Phil Berger (R-Rockingham) made the following statement:

“Yesterday’s vote on the State Health Plan illustrated how Senate Democrats fix a bill behind closed doors. Today, we saw how they manipulate the UNC Board of Governors election. This “Soviet” styled balloting is an affront to our Democratic system and to the people of North Carolina.”

These are the members elected to the board:

• John Blackburn of Linville currently serves as Chair of the Appalachian State University Board of Trustees, of which he has been a member since 2005. He is President and General Manager of Linville Resorts, Inc. Blackburn has served on the Crossnore School Board of Trustees, the Cannon Memorial Hospital Board of Directors, and was a co-founder of the Avery County YMCA.
• Peaches Gunter Blank of Nashville, Tennessee, is a current member of the UNC Board of Governors, where she was first elected in 2005. She is private consultant in healthcare issues who previously served as Chief of Staff and Deputy to the Governor of Tennessee, President of the Hospital Alliance of Tennessee, and as a senior policy staff member for Governor Lamar Alexander of Tennessee. She served for five years as Chair of the Board of Trustees of North Carolina State University.
• Laura Buffaloe of Roanoke Rapids is a current member of the UNC Board of Governors, where she was first elected in 2006. She is a retired educator who worked at Halifax Community College, serving as Dean of Instruction from 1998-2000 and Vice President of Instructional Services until her retirement in 2005. Buffaloe is a graduate of Elizabeth City State University and received her Doctorate in Education from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and has served on numerous civic boards.
• Phil Dixon of Greenville is a current member of the UNC Board of Governors, where he was first elected in 2005. He is a practicing attorney, who has represented local school boards for the past 21 years. Dixon has served as Chair of the Pitt-Greenville Chamber of Commerce and the Pitt County Mental Health, Mental Retardation, and Developmental Disabilities Area Board. He is a graduate of Eastern Carolina University and received his law degree from UNC-Chapel Hill.
• Paul Fulton of Winston-Salem is currently serving his second term on the Board of Trustees of UNC-Chapel Hill. He worked for Hanes and Sara Lee Corporations for 38 years and was President of Sara Lee from 1988-93, Dean of the Kenan-Flagler Business School from 1993-97, and is currently Chairman of the Board of Bassett Furniture Industries, Inc. Fulton served as a Trustee at Winston-Salem State University for 8 years, Co-Chair of the Carolina First fundraising campaign at UNC-CH, and as Co-Chair of the state’s Higher Education Bond Oversight Committee.
• Hannah Gage of Wilmington is the currently Chair of the UNC Board of Governors, where she was first elected in 2001. She is a businesswoman and retired broadcast executive who built and managed radio stations across the Southeast. Gage served as a Member and Chair of the UNC-Wilmington Board of Trustees, on the N.C. Coastal Land trust board, and on Southeastern N.C. Community Foundation board. She is a graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill.
• Franklin McCain of Charlotte currently serves as Chair of the Board of Trustees for North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University. He is retired from Hoest Celanese Corporation and is Chairman of the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund North Carolina Committee. He received his undergraduate and Master’s degrees from North Carolina A&T and received worldwide acclaim as one of the four A&T students who took part in the Woolworth sit-in in 1960.
• Burley Mitchell of Raleigh is currently a member of the NC State University Board of Trustees. He was Chief Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court, on which he served from 1982-1999. Prior to that, Mitchell was a member of the Court of Appeals, Secretary of the Department of Crime Control and Public Safety, an Assistant Attorney General, and District Attorney. Mitchell is currently an attorney with Womble Carlyle in Raleigh. He graduated from NC State and received his law degree from UNC-Chapel Hill.

The UNC-Board of Governors is the policy-making body legally charged with “the general determination, control, supervision, management, and governance of all affairs of the constituent institutions.” It elects the president, who administers the University. The 32 voting members of the Board of Governors are elected by the General Assembly for four-year terms.