Realtors Endorse Baldwin

Greetings Buncombe County visitors. Thanks to Chasing the Bread Truck I can see that you all are having problems similar to Wake County in terms of realtors influencing local politics. In a recent email circulated to members in Wake County the Raleigh Regional Association of Realtors (RRAR) played its hand and finally endorsed Mary Ann Baldwin and others, as expected, for Raleigh City Council seats.

In September RRAR formally endorsed the following Raleigh City Council candidates widely considered to be development friendly:  Tommy Craven, District A, incumbent, Jesse Taliaferro, District B, incumbent and Mary Ann Balwin, candidate for one of two At-Large seats. Also endorsed were unopposed incumbents James West, Phillip Isley and the current Mayor Charles Meeker.

The board also voted to endorse Nels Roseland, John Rigsbee and Tommy Byrd for Cary Town Council and the current Mayor Ernie McAlister. Sean O'Brien and Ron Margiotta were endorsed for Wake County School Board.  RRAR also endorsed Rob Bridges and David Camacho for Wake Forest Commissioner, Charlie Adcock for Commissioner in Fuquay Varina, Peter Atwell and Laurie Clowers for Councilors for Town of Holly Springs, Bryan Gossage for Town Council in Apex and Liz Johnson for Commissioner in Morrisville.

Update: A few snippets from the RRAR email:

This election is expected to have a very low voter turnout (11-13%), and REALTORS getting out to vote could make the difference for our candidates.
  :::::
"Strong municipal leadership from our elected officials will be a critical part of our future success," said Association President Phyllis York Brookshire.
  :::::
We'd like to thank everyone who contributed to RPAC this year. We are still trying to raise those last few thousand dollars to get us to $100,000; to date we have raised $94,000. These funds come back to us to help us support candidates in Wake County