RALEIGH, N.C.  – Colleagues of the late Sen. Vernon Malone recalled him as a man who hated prejudice and poverty and wasn’t afraid to fight to improve the lot for everyone in North Carolina.

The Senate approved a resolution Thursday honoring Malone, a Wake County Democrat who died in April at the age of 77.
   
Malone was a four-term senator who formerly served on the Wake County school board while it went through a contentious merger with the Raleigh city schools. He served as a county commissioner from 1984 until his election to the Senate in 2002.

Current senators were emotional in floor speeches as they remembered his sense of humor and pointed interest in improving public education.
 
Like the Senate, the House approved unanimously the same resolution later Thursday. County school board while it went through a contentious merger with the Raleigh city schools. He served as a county commissioner from 1984 until his election to the Senate in 2002.

Current senators were emotional in floor speeches as they remembered his sense of humor and pointed interest in improving public education.

Like the Senate, the House approved unanimously the same resolution later Thursday.

RALEIGH, N.C. — The pending resignation of Wake Board of Education Chair Rosa Gill means change will come sooner than expected on the Wake County School Board.

Today is Gill’s last school board meeting. She will serve the remainder of the term for North Carolina state Rep. Dan Blue.

Blue gave up his House seat when he was asked to fill the unexpired term of the late state Sen. Vernon Malone.

Gov. Bev Perdue still must appoint Gill, but under state law she has to take the Democratic Party’s choice because Blue is also a Democrat.

Gill defeated Bernard Allen II in the party’s voting.

The 65-year-old Gill is a former teacher, administrator with the Department of Motor Vehicles and chair of the Wake County Democratic Party. She has been on the Wake County School Board since 1999.

Gill anticipates being approved by the Governor within days.

School board policy is that a successor is appointed by the board to serve the remainder of the term, which ends in 2011. Gill said there are no official nominees yet, but she expects her successor to be like-minded.

Gill anticipates the board will name her successor by the end of July.

One name being mentioned is Bernard Allen Jr., a leader in the Wake Democratic Party. He also was a candidate for the House seat. Venita Peyton, a longtime Raleigh political activist and Republican, also has expressed an interest in the board post.Four school board seats already will be on the ballot in the fall. District 2 Representative Howard Tart is the only board member running for re-election. Lori Millberg, Eleanor Goettee, and Patti Head have all said they will not run again.

Wake Schools Community Alliance (WSCA) is endorsing Chris Malone for Wake County School Board District 1, according to a release issued Tuesday. Malone announced his candidacy on June 5.

According to the release:

“Chris Malone and Wake Schools Community Alliance (WSCA) share the common objective of restoring parental voice and choice in our school system.  For too long, our Wake County School Board members have ignored input from parents and stakeholders.  WSCA members share Chris’s optimism that with the right leadership, Wake County Schools can do a much better job.”

“As an experienced businessman, community leader and parent with children with Wake County Public Schools, Chris Malone has all the tools to deliver effective representation for District 1 and all of Wake County.”

WSCA has an open invitation to all Wake County citizens to join our group and help achieve our immediate goal of electing four new School Board members who will remember that citizens are at the top, not bottom, of the government organization chart.  Our next meeting is Thursday, June 18, in Knightdale.  All Wake County citizens are welcome, and we especially encourage voters in District 1 to come to the meeting and meet Chris Malone.  Please visit our web site at www.wakesca.org to learn more about WSCA.

RALEIGH, N.C.  – Former House Speaker Dan Blue has a new title: North Carolina state senator.

Blue switched from the House to the Senate on Tuesday. Supreme Court Chief Justice Sarah Parker administered his oath in the Senate chamber while his family and new colleagues looked on.

He will serve out the two-year term of the late Sen. Vernon Malone. Wake County Democrats picked Blue two weeks ago. Gov. Beverly Perdue made the appointment official Tuesday.

Blue was elected to the House in 1980 and served as the state’s first black House speaker for four years. He remained in the House until 2002 to run unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate, then returned to the chamber in 2006.

Now Wake County Democrats must choose someone to finish Blue’s House term.

RALEIGH, N.C. — The person selected to succeed State Sen. Vernon Malone will be sworn in at 3 p.m. today.

State Rep. Dan Blue will be sworn in today in the Senate Chamber. Blue will serve the remainder of Malone’s term, which ends in 2010.

During the nomination process, Blue talked about the importance of carrying on Malone’s legacy and also working to close state’s budget gap and look out for state workers.

Malone, who died in April, had represented District 14 in the General Assembly for four terms.

State Rep. Dan Blue was nominated by the Wake Democratic Party Wednesday to succeed Senator Vernon Malone.

The party met Wednesday to discuss nine people vying for the position left open when Senator Malone died in April of natural causes.

Bernard Allen, Kim Luckes, Dan Blue and J. Mills Holloway were nominated, along with Rosa Gill, who dropped out.

Blue won with 52 votes out of 84. Blue has served in the house for more than 13 terms.

* Allen Jr., 44, is the son of the late state Rep. Bernard Allen. Allen. He has never held public office and works in juvenile delinquency prevention for the state Department of Crime Control and Public Safety.
* Dan Blue, 59, is former House speaker and a state representative. He is a partner at the law firm of Thigpen, Blue, Stephens and Fellers.
* J. Mills Holloway Jr., 47, owns a media consulting group.
* Kim Luckes is the provost for academic affairs at St. Augustine’s College.

Gill, 64, is the chairwoman of the Wake County Board of Education.

Malone had represented District 14 in the General Assembly for four terms.

A graduate of Shaw University, Malone held public offices in Wake County over three decades. As school board chairman, he presided over the merger of Raleigh city schools and Wake County public schools in 1976.

He served as a Wake County commissioner from 1984 until his election to the Senate in 2002.

In the Senate, Malone continued to work in education, co-chairing the Senate’s higher education committee and education budget subcommittee.

RALEIGH, NC – Today Marlowe Foster said that if nominated to fill the unexpired term of the late Senator Malone, he will accept no salary for the position through the 2010 legislative session.

“For me, this nomination is not about title or monetary gain.  It is about offering me to the people of the 14th District so they have representation that can be effective from day one and who can run and win in 2010.  I will donate the salary through the 2010 legislative session to Senator Malone’s scholarship fund at Shaw University.  I want to do my part to honor his legacy,” said Foster.

About 50 people at a forum sponsored by the Raleigh-Wake Citizens Association Saturday cast an unofficial vote on who should fill former Sen. Vernon Malone’s seat, the N&O reports.

Add Wake County school board chairwoman Rosa Gill as one of the candidates who want to fill the District 14 seat of state Senator Vernon Malone, the N&O reports.