New Take on the American dream

Wednesday, November 5th, 2008
Audio Report by Chris Fitzsimon [Click here to listen]

Election Brief

Ty Harrell and Cullie Tarleton return to the NC House, Tony Foriest returns to the NC Senate and, Stan Norwalk gets elected as Wake County Commissioner despite the best efforts of NC Realtors to defeat them. Transfer tax proposals in Polk and Tyrrell Counties were defeated as were some sales tax increases but some bonds were approved. Voters don't like to be taxed but they like having a say about it.

Realtors Spend Against Ty Harrell, Tony Foriest

Realtors dropped some last minute money on attacking NC District 41 Representative Ty Harrell and promoting his opponent Bryan Gossage, a darling of the right-wing. The NC Realtors also put more money into calls for Realtor Rick Gunn, their chosen candidate running against Tony Foriest, NC Senate District 24, who supported giving counties the option for a transfer tax:

Not all senators in swing districts are against the proposal. Sen. Tony Foriest, a freshman Democrat from fast-growing Alamance County, said he can support the proposal because it requires county voters to approve it before it could go into effect. He agreed with Easley that a land transfer tax could give counties another option to raise revenues rather than relying on the property tax. The six counties in Basnight's district have a 1 percent land transfer tax, and officials there say they have been able to keep property taxes low as a result.

"You might find yourself in a situation where the land transfer tax might be more palatable," Foriest said.

Harrell and Foriest are both African-American. Gossage and Gunn are white.

Tarleton Targeted Update: Soucek Did Not Pay

On October 8th we had a post entitled Tarleton Targeted about The NC Realtors' favorite push polling company, Fallon Research & Communication, targeting State Representative Cullie Tarleton in his bid for re-election. Tarleton has had the temerity to oppose the realtors political positions. Opponent Dan Soucek was unlikely to have paid for the polling given his limited campaign funds.

Third quarter campaign finance reports now indicate that this is likely the case. Soucek did not report any payments to Fallon Research & Communication and the only expenditures reported by a campaign to Fallon Research & Communication in 2008 have been:

$10,000.00    04/28/2008
NC REALTORS PAC for POLLING

$39,300.00    09/24/2008
NC REALTORS PAC for POLLING

$9,250.00    09/24/2008
LES MERRITT COMMITTEE for RESEARCH

Realtors, Builders Give Big to Kenn Gardner

From today's Raleigh News & Observer:

Realtors, builders spend heavily to back Gardner

An undisclosed amount spent on attack ads by the N.C. Homeowners Alliance, a group created by the N.C. Association of Realtors.

In addition to the ads against [Stan] Norwalk, Realtors and others tied to development stepped up to support [Kenn] Gardner's campaign. Of the $21,261 in receipts reported since July 1, about 71 percent came from Realtors, builders and others involved with construction.
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Gardner also got $8,000 from the N.C. Realtors Political Action Committee and the PAC of the N.C. Home Builders Association. Gardner did not respond to a message seeking comment.

Norwalk said Friday he has no hope of keeping pace with what the Realtors are spending to attack him. Disclosure reports filed with the state Board of Elections show that the Homeowners Alliance has received at least $880,457 from the Realtors association.

4th NC Realtor Mailer Attacking Stan Norwalk

Here's the 4th realtor mailer attacking Stan Norwalk which is the 2nd specifically from the NC Realtors PAC:
· NCAR Flyer #2 PDF on the web
Copy of the N&O articles referenced (out of context) in the NCAR flyer:
· 10/2/2003 Article
Stan Norwalk wasn't proposing a reassignment plan. He was just pointing to the Charlotte experience to help people better understand the implications of various kinds of choice related to schools in Wake County.