Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
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APRIL 16-22, 2014 UCW 5 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM Early voting begins in North Carolina on April 24, with the actual primary on Tuesday, May 6. The General Assembly has dramatically shortened our state's early voting period, so if you are planning to vote in the primary, you will have to — as we say in the South, "get a move on." And, brace yourself. With the legislatively abbreviated voting schedule, you may find yourself standing in line to vote. Political junkies, rabid partisans, voters who adore one candidate or another or, conversely loathe, a certain candidate can quit reading now. You are going to cast your ballot for your own heartfelt reasons and do not need encouragement from me or anyone else. Many of us, however, are not motivated to vote. In fact, I too often hear otherwise community minded people express some version of "Why should I bother? My vote makes no difference." It is you I am hoping to reach with all the reasons you should make the effort. In fact, I want you to understand why you should actually be fearful of not voting. Former Fayetteville City Councilwoman Val Applewhite would say that every vote does indeed count. She lost her race for Mayor of Fayetteville by a scant 260 votes, a squeaker. If that many more of her supporters had made the effort on Election Day, the outcome could have been entirely different. There are many other candidates whose races have been even closer. A North Carolina Senate candidate from down east ultimately lost his Senate race by so few votes that it took a month for elections board officials to figure out what the heck really happened. President Obama won North Carolina in 2008 by 14,000 votes — lots of people if we were looking at them, but another squeaker in elective terms. And who could ever forget the hanging chads of the 2000 Presidential election, which was ultimately decided by the U.S. Supreme Court? In any of these cases, the voters who did not show up could have changed the course of history. Need more reasons? How about the newly discovered "kissing Congressman?" Louisiana voters sent Vance McAllister to Congress in a special election last fall. The father of five campaigned as a Christian conservative. A month later, a security camera recorded the newly minted Congressman and his scheduler involved in what can only be described as a "major smooch," as opposed to a chaste peck on the cheek. The couple was recently outed when the security tape was made public, and the Congressman is apologizing and seeking forgiveness from everyone in sight even as former supporters call for his resignation. Meanwhile, his smooching partner's husband says the Congressman has "wrecked my life" and that he and his wife are divorcing. They are parents of a six-year- old. Oh, and did I mention that McAllister's office fired the scheduler as soon as the story broke? I truly doubt this is what the voters of that Louisiana House district had in mind. Here is another reason. Charlotte Mayor Patrick Cannon, elected just last November, abruptly resigned the top job in North Carolina's Queen City after being caught taking cash payments from an FBI agent and is now facing federal corruption charges. His wife, who is also apparently under investigation, has lost her job as a real estate agent. Cannon is a Charlotte native, a man raised in the inner city who rose to the highest political circles in Charlotte and who has ties to Governor Pat McCrory and his family. I doubt this is what the voters of Charlotte had in mind either. None of this is new. Our country and our state have suffered through all sorts of bad behavior involving sex — think Anthony Weiner, Bill "I did not have sexual relations with that woman" Clinton, Congressman Mark Foley who had a special interest in teenaged boys serving as Congressional pages, serial hubby Newt Gingrich, Appalachian Trail loving Governor Mark Sanford and, my favorite from the pages of history, Grover Cleveland. Cleveland was elected President after a bruising campaign in which his opponents coined this little ditty. "Ma! Ma! Where's Pa? Gone to the White House. Ha! Ha! Ha!"— a reference to Cleveland's having fathered an out-of-wedlock child. A sex scandal is — well, sexier than taking bribes, campaign cash, and the like, but there is plenty of that to go around as well. Think Watergate, North Carolina House Speaker Jim Black, and the Congressman who kept $90,000 in his freezer. It is hard to believe that any of these people would have been elected to public office and public trust if voters paid enough attention to have any idea what they were really getting. And that is why it is important that each of us do our research about candidates ourselves, not including negative TV ads and mailers. Ask around. If you do not know the candidates, someone you know does, so ask. Read news accounts, not just political ads. If we do not, it is hard to argue that we are not getting exactly what we deserve. Why Your Vote Matters by MARGARET DICKSON MARGARET DICKSON, Contributing Writer, COMMENTS? Editor@upandcom- ingweekly.com.. 910.484.6200. THIS WEEK WITH MARGARET Contest&RequestLine: 910-764-1073 www.christian107.com KeepingtheMainThing...theMainThing. visitusonline FocusontheFamily 20Countdown Magazine Adventures in Odyssey Serving Fayetteville Over 50 Years! EASTER SUNDAY SPECIALS starting at $6.99 Easter Sunday Serving: 7 a.m. - 3 p.m. 484-0261 1304 Morganton Rd. 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