Were Voters and The Pilot Duped?

As of Thursday, March 22, 2012

Were we voters and The Pilot duped in the last Southern Pines election?

Look at the facts. Last year, Mike Haney announced he would not run again for mayor, and Mike Fields announced he would not run for Town Council. Both threw their support behind David McNeill for mayor and Jim Simeon for council, both of whom were elected.

At the December agenda meeting, McNeill said numerous citizens had asked if Fields would consider appointment to the council vacancy created by McNeill’s mayoral election. Councilman Chris Smithson said he had no problem with Fields, but that he did have one with the selection process.

After much discussion, Smithson made a motion to advertise for the appointed council position and set up a formal interview and evaluation process. The motion died.

At the regular December council meeting, the first item was to appoint a council replacement for McNeill. Without any consideration of the two candidates who had run or any other qualified citizen, Fields — who had said he no longer wanted to be on the council, had not filed for the position, and spent not a dime on campaigning — was quickly appointed. Was this all planned in advance?

In January, the council changed the rules on the number of terms members serve on the Appearance Commission, allowing it to appoint people who had not even applied. At the same meeting, Simeon nominated Jim Curlee to replace him on the Planning Board. He was appointed without review or consideration of any other candidates.

I can find nothing in Mr. Curley’s application that qualifies him for the position.

Were we duped? I was. If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it probably is a duck.

Jim Crawford

Southern Pines

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DoubleHeroides 1 year, 2 months ago

While I understand your concerns Mr. Crawford, I would like to point out that it is not unprecedented that should a vacancy arise in an elected position that there not be yet another vote during a general election. I liken this to the position of Vice President of the United States. Should that position become vacated the president nominates someone and then Congress votes on the nomination. You (we) don’t get to vote on the new vice president even though we voted on the one that just left office for whatever reason. Further, in our representative democracy (as opposed to a direct democracy) when you vote a person into office the general public cedes certain decision making authority from their direct hands into the hands of their chosen representatives, such as choosing the advisors to the elected boards. Is it a perfect system? Not really. Is this the system that has been in place in America for decades? Yes. Am I saying I know particulars about Southern Pines or the details of the characters of these elected officials? No. Just putting some information out there for consideration.

RonCoffmanJr 1 year, 2 months ago

I don't think that there is any doubt that it was planned, but that doesn't make it wrong. And if you feel duped, that is your own fault. When a councilman runs for mayor, there is obviously going to be an open seat if he/she gets elected. It's not like they changed the rules so they would get their way. They just operated creatively within the rules. If you don't like what happened, try and get the rules changed. Suggest that a seat created by this scenario be given to the next highest vote getter in the election.

The real problem you have is that the people that got elected - won the election and appointed a guy that has won several elections in S.P. I don't think the majority is unhappy with the results, but I could be wrong.