Up & Coming Weekly

December 08, 2015

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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8 DECEMBER 9-15, 2015 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM Fayetteville voters survived a lackluster city election where challengers vied for only six of the 10 council seats, including mayor. Throughout the campaign, big-ticket issues didn't exist. The one issue that did come up at candidate forums asked where each stood on the Public Works Commission debate: should the city control the day-to-day operations of the city-owned utility or should it become independent of a city manager's ham-fisted oversight? But the public had grown weary of that debate. In fact, the public may have tired of most de- bates since the forums were sparsely attended. The mayoral race between incumbent Nat Robertson and his two-time challeng- er and former city council member Val Applewhite took center stage since only the mayor's seat is voted on citywide. Robertson won with 51.8 percent of the vote over Applewhite's 48 percent. Al- though a nonpartisan race, Applewhite is a Democrat and Robertson a Republican, and party affiliations do play a role. Robertson's victory spurred a local newspaper to allege that the results show a divided Fayetteville between the city's older white neighborhoods and those in the outlying areas with more African- American and annexed residents. The article did not show overwhelming proof in its assumption that race played a major role in who was elected. According to the article itself, the local NAACP president doubted race was the sole reason, and a local political pundit said it was about who raised the most money. However, had race, sex or party affiliation solely determined the elec- tion, Applewhite should have won. Fayetteville has 118,265 registered voters of which 62,769 or roughly 53 percent are democrats and 23,413 or approximately 19 percent are republicans. The remainder are either unaffiliated or libertarians. Also, 57,610 registered voters or roughly 48.7 percent are African-Amer- ican whereas 45,917 or 38.8 percent are white. American Indian, Asian and multirace voters make up the remaining 12.5 percent of registered voters. Furthermore, registered females outnumber males by about 12,650, ac- cording to a Cumberland County Board of Elections report. With the numbers working against Robertson, how did he win by twice the thin margin of the 2013 election? It's called campaign craft. After winning in 2013, he continued to cam- paign. He remained active in social media, and – unlike other candidates – did not "unfriend" or disengage. Instead, he posted often and took every opportunity to keep his persona in the public eye. As an incumbent mayor, he "officially" attended events giving him "optics." Finally, Robertson is a Fayetteville native who lives in one of the older neighborhoods, which obviously gives him a strong base there. Robertson's name through his family's jewelry business and other business venues is established in Fayetteville. His wife, Kim, is a popular principal in an elementary school and thus touches many parents. And he previously served on the city council. He is branded. He worked years before becoming mayor to position himself for both his first and subsequent mayoral campaigns. While he says that he runs his own campaign, he's had help in previous campaigns from political opera- tives who know the game well. For example, he kept issues that would ignite his opponent's base almost absent from the campaign. Applewhite is an affable, intelligent and capable candidate, but still considered an outsider by some. She hails from New York by way of a 20- year stint in the Air Force. She is efficient in arriving at decisions in a manner that may not work well in politics. As a former council member, she often butted heads with former Mayor Tony Chavonne. The public squabbles may have given her an unfair reputation as someone hard to work with. Applewhite supporters run across racial lines. Ron Harrison, is a 28-year military veteran and a white male who voted for her. He says of Applewhite's 20 years of military service, "One rarely accomplishes that without unquestionable integrity, attention to detail and the ability to ef- fectively problem solve, breaking large problems into a series of logical tasks. "There is no question in my mind that she is sincere in the need to focus on the entire city of Fayetteville, truly representing the needs and concerns of the middle, working-class and less fortunate neighborhoods, to include western Fayetteville," said Harrison. Victory in a political race comes down to how much money you can raise, and how you relate to people. At the Chamber of Commerce forum, Apple- white said raising money every two years is difficult, and she may depend on campaign staff too much to interact with voters. For example, this writ- er contacted the two mayoral candidates using their Facebook campaign pages and asked the question: What differentiates you from your opponent that will make people vote for you? I mentioned the response was for an article with a looming deadline. Robertson responded immediately with the message that he wanted to discuss the question in person. And although we played telephone tag for two days, he lived up to his online reputation of being a "responsive" politi- cal leader. Applewhite also responded two days later requesting that the question be resent to another email account where a response would be forthcom- ing. After doing so, a campaign manager responded several days later, not with an answer but with questions about who was asking and where the article would be published. The deadline had passed and both candidates missed out on unearned media. — Jason Brady Comparing Mayoral Candidates LETTER TO THE EDITOR Mayor Nat Robertson Former City Council Member Val Applewhite Does your advertising leave you feeling this way? Advertising can be pretty complex. You may not know which way to turn. ere is a sign you can rely on — ours. Call us today so that our professionals can make the most of your advertising investment. Free Papers Working For You Another sign we're working for you. 484-6200 wwwupandcomingweekly.com

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