I talked about Raleigh NC and Wake County back in January after the school board there introduced a plan to end busing and desegregation.
Wake County, home of the capital of the state I grew up in (a Southern state no less) is telling children and parents that diversity is no longer a proper or necessary goal for public schools.
Before the Tea Party took control of the GOP, Wake County was a held up as a model school district. It dropped racial integration for economic integration ten years ago and since then is one of the better ranked large school districts in not just the state, but the entire country.
Well, voters in Wake County had their say yesterday, and they threw the Tea Party out on their ignorant asses.
The big win for Democrats and desegregation represents a big loss for conservative benefactor Art Pope, who served as the architect of the 2009 school board election that saw an anti-diversity Republican majority win control of the officially nonpartisan body, and who along with his political network backed yesterday’s losing candidates. Pope is one of the most influential money men in North Carolina politics and is a close national ally of the billionaire Koch brothers through his role as a national director of the conservative advocacy group Americans for Prosperity, which backs school privatization and whose North Carolina chapter helped Republicans in the 2009 school board race.
With five of the board’s nine seats up for grabs yesterday, Democrats won four races outright and ousted board chair Ron Margiotta, a particularly divisive figure who also serves as a trustee for a private school run by Bob Luddy, a close associate of Pope and the Koch brothers and another major funder of this year’s anti-diversity-policy candidates. Margiotta lost to political newcomer Susan Evans by 52% to 48% in Southwest Wake’s District 8, considered the most strongly Republican of the board’s nine districts.
The fifth race looks to be headed to a runoff, but the Tea Party’s pointman in NC, Art Pope, took it in the shorts back in my home state. The difference was turnout, where election officials were expecting around a 10% turnout for the special election, the actual number was much higher driven by absentee/early voting and the controversy surrounding the school board. It was 9-0 Republicans in 2009. Four of them have been tossed, and Democrats can take a majority depending on the runoff results.
When you vote, you can change things, folks. Remember that.
Villago Delenda Est
OK, I think this is a non-ironic application of the Professor Farnsworth “Good news, everybody!” catch phrase.
fleeting expletive
Re the last thread, I am very glad that the Murdoch scandal is back in the news. There is vastly more corruption yet to be exposed, I’m thinking especially here in the US (FOX, WSJ). Lately it has seemed that even The Guardian was letting go of the story.
PeakVT
When you vote, you can change things, folks.
Well, yes, but the problem is getting people who aren’t already reading this blog or any other political blog to turn out on a regular basis. Physically dragging them there is illegal everywhere except maybe in Topeka, so I got nothing.
Ash Can
Good news indeed. Thanks for the post.
capt
Yes, yes – a thousand times yes.
More like this. The good people of Wake County have set an example for the rest of us.
*high fives NC*
kindness
Yeay! The world we live in isn’t completely evil.
cleek
the Dems in general and the Dems who replaced Margiotta (Susan Evans) worked hard on this. i got at least three phone calls, two door-to-door visits, at least one Dem-sponsored phone poll, maybe a dozen flyers from them, and nothing at all from Margiotta or the GOP. she was running explicitly against the tea party, too.
some of the flyers were awesome. my favorite was a big glossy one with a picture of Alice, of Wonderland fame, looking out the window at a crowd of sign-waving teabaggers, overlayed with the quote:
geg6
Can I just say that Raleigh is one of the few places I’ve been in the South that I felt “at home?”
Meaning that I understood the language without an interpreter (sorry, Southerners, but I can’t wrap my ears around most Southern accents), the people I met seemed to be quite progressive, and I didn’t see a single pickup with a Confederate battle flag flying from the antenna.
But perhaps I just didn’t go the places where that might have happened.
Raven (formerly stuckinred)
@geg6: Haven’t been to Athens huh?
Trinity
@cleek: Awesome.
BGinCHI
@Raven (formerly stuckinred): Or Asheville.
Hoodie
It was a nice turn of events, but you’re way off on your facts. It was never 9-0 republican and 4 of the 5 seats up for election yesterday were held by dems. Before yesterday, the board was 5-4 Republican. The republican chair, Ron Margiotta, who helped turn the operations of the board into a circus, was beaten by a relative unknown, so I think it was a clear repudiation of him. But don’t read too much into it. I think a lot of backlash was against the heavy-handed tactics of Margiotta and his cronies, not necessarily against all of the changes that were being proposed by the new superintendent.
The other dem backed candidates that won are in the more dem districts of the county, and won by big margins. The runoff is in a mixed district. There will still be three tea party types on the board (they weren’t up for election), and one republican that has sided with dems in the past on certain issues. The republican in the runoff is aligned with the tea party group, so the outcome of that race is critical, and I imagine Art Pope and crew will be pumping money into the runoff. You’re right about the turnout, though, it was twice what it was in 2009, when the tea partiers took over. BTW, dems swept the city elections in Raleigh by big margins.
BGinCHI
Great news in NC. Now the lazy teachers can sit around smoking crack while their students read about lesbians and Islam.
/Reality Check
BGinCHI
@Hoodie: The right can ONLY win when the turnout is low.
It’s obvious as hell, but 2012 is going to swing one way or the other depending on turnout/GOTV.
geg6
@Raven (formerly stuckinred): @BGinCHI:
Nope, never been to either. I really, really, really try to not spend much time or money in the South. I’m a Yankee, through and through. Hell, I don’t even like Florida and I’m told all the time that it’s “not really the South” by Southerners of my acquaintance. I’m not a fan of the Southwest, either. I can tolerate the Midwest and really love Chicago. I prefer the West Coast, East Coast, and Mid-Atlantic.
BGinCHI
@geg6: If you’re curious, get a subscription to The Oxford American. It will make you crave some things Southern.
If nothing else, food and literature/music. John T. Edge is one of the great food writers in this country. Fuck it: THE greatest.
Gin & Tonic
@geg6:
Aren’t you from somewhere around Pittsburgh? To a Yankee that’s the Midwest.
geg6
OT, but…
There has been a dearth of pep pics on this blog lately, so I thought it was mighty nice of the President to provide us one of his:
http://media.talkingpointsmemo.com/slideshow/2011-october-at-the-white-house/1-226253?ref=fpblg
geg6
@Gin & Tonic:
Yes, I’m from Pittsburgh. But in my heart, I’ve always been a New Yorker.
For real. Never have fit in here as a Yinzer. As a child, I vowed to never live anywhere else but NY. And then I found out how expensive it is to live there and got over that. But New York is still where, if I believed in reincarnation, I’d believe I’d been a native of in all my former lives.
jrg
You’re welcome :)
Hoodie
@BGinCHI: Exactly. And 2012 is important well beyond the presidential election. For example, the 4 republicans on the Wake Co. school board are up in 2012, along with a chunk of the county commission, which sets the budget for the school system. Because it’s a presidential election year, Dems have a good chance of building a majority, but there has to be enthusiasm for the top of the ticket to really drive turnout. I know a lot of folks are disappointed with Obama, but maybe it’s time to start putting some of that aside for at least a while, considering (1) the alternatives and (2) the downticket ramifications.
geg6
Another OT, but tangentially related because it’s about a Teabagger…
Anyone posted about this one yet?
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/10/joe_walsh_says_he_had_verbal_deal_not_to_pay_child.php?ref=fpb
BGinCHI
@Hoodie: It’s like a new law of nature: now that there is a Tea Party and older, whiter voters are coming out in numbers to vote GOP, everyone else HAS to vote now.
It’s like if you never locked your doors and then you got robbed. You gotta lock that shit up now. Now that the TP thieves are about, only voting will keep them out of your shit.
/potential analogy fail
BGinCHI
@geg6: I fucking hate that motherfucker.
Just when you thought the right couldn’t produce worse politicians, along comes this guy. Let’s hope to hell he’s a one-termer and that his wife keeps his kids far away from him.
Chris
@geg6:
I have a feeling that being “not really the South” is a lot like being “not really Christian,” e.g. if you start keeping track of all the people who’re “not true [whatever]” in some way or other, you’ll end up writing off something like 90% of the group you started off with.
I have a friend from central Florida who wrinkles her nose in disdain at South Florida in general and Miami in particular as “not really the South.” Your non-Floridan friends, apparently, don’t bother to make the distinction and just write off the entire state of Florida. Then you probably have people in Suburb A of Miami who proudly think that they’re still “the South,” but those silly sons of bitches in Suburb B are not… Etc, etc, etc.
cleek
@geg6:
i feel the same way about Boston. except i’m originally from upstate NY.
i blame my grandmother’s subscription to Yankee magazine. it made living in MA/VT/NH, but especially Boston, seem so awesome.
no, there wasn’t a lot to do at grandma’s house.
plus, for some reason, we got a Boston TV channel (38?). and it was always better than the NYC channels.
Bubblegum Tate
@BGinCHI:
No, the teachers will FORCE the students to read about lesbians and Islam, thereby turning the students into Muslim lesbians. Also: INDOCTRINATION!
But seriously, good on ya, Wake County.
NonyNony
@geg6:
Motherfucker.
I have no nice words for assholes who withhold CHILD SUPPORT from their kids. I don’t care if your ex-wife’s a bitch. I don’t care if her attorney is “screwing you”. They’re your GODDAMN KIDS you selfish motherfucking asshole. You are responsible for their general welfare and that means paying for their food, clothing, education, and yeah even thing beyond basic needs.
But assholes who withhold money from their kids and then turn around and spend ginormous sums of money on themselves? Those guys need to be kicked in the nuts repeatedly. Every day for the rest of their lives. And they still need to FUCKING PAY THEIR GODDAMN CHILD SUPPORT!
And I’ll bet Joe Walsh is one of those “personal responsibility” fucking hypocrites too. Grrrrrr….
Roger Moore
@geg6:
Not on the FP, but it’s been brought up in at least one other thread. Men like him give the rest of us a bad reputation.
geg6
@cleek:
I don’t know where my NYC love comes from. Perhaps it was from my somewhat glamorous paternal grandmother who used to jump on a train and go shopping in NYC every chance she got. She died when I was about 5 or 6, but she made a big impression on me. I think it was a combination of how she dressed, how she talked about NYC, and her British accent (she immigrated to the US from Cambridge as an adult).
NonyNony
@Roger Moore:
Men like him give the human race a bad reputation.
Hell, men like him give carbon-based life forms a bad reputation. There are probably bacterium who are ashamed to be composed of the same basic chemicals as that asshole.
BGinCHI
@NonyNony: It needs to become axiomatic in the MSM that if someone is railing about morals, it’s likely they are doing exactly what they are railing about.
This is an old song and dance, too. You can read plays by Ben Jonson and Thomas Dekker from around 1600 that have Puritan characters who preach to everyone about not doing this or that and then they promptly do it themselves. The satire on this in Jonson’s Bartholomew Fair is deadly. Worth a read just to see his Puritan character Zeal-of-the-Land Busy lose a debate with a puppet.
Jerry
@Hoodie: Just agreeing with Hoodie. It was a great result for the Democrats but the 9 seats are staggered so 4 are up for election and then 5 two years later. In 2009 all four went to Republicans who were newly elected. They will be up for reelection in two years. The original post should probably be corrected.
Turnout kept the four seats in Democratic hands and probably cost a few seats two years ago(technically these are all non-partisan seats) but the loss by Margiotta, who was also chairman of the school board, was really surprising since his district runs Republican. I’m in this district and the only election on the ballot (makes a quick voting process with only one race to vote on!). I’m not sure if all his precincts had this situation.
nancydarling
Art Pope is the Koch brother’s Mini-me.
jibeaux
I am very proud of my county. They turned out, and they fucking represented.
I read the New Yorker piece on Art Pope and it is truly frightening. But you just have to keep this in mind: these guys will gerrymander your district, they will make it harder for you to vote, they will spend millions and millions of dollars working folks will never have to put out astonishingly vile ads to convince you to vote against your own interests and a decent future for your children. They have so many advantages, so much money, and so much power. But at the end of it all, there are more of us than there are of them.
jibeaux
@Jerry: I was surprised about Margiotta too, but I guess it should also be noted that he’s a fucking dick from New Jersey. He’s rude and gruff and called parents at a public meeting “animals coming out of their cages.” A good ol’ boy with a more genial manner and exactly the same politics more than likely would’ve held that seat.
Roger Moore
@NonyNony:
I probably should have said “Men like him give the other 10% of us a bad reputation”.
Insomniac
@cleek: Ha, ha! I love that! It’s perfect! Would love to see a picture of it, if possible.
cmorenc
@Hoodie:
I live in the “mixed district” in north Raleigh that will be involved in the runoff. It should be noted that the leading vote-getter in the district was incumbent Kevin Hill (nominally aligned with the democratic faction), who with 49.7% of the vote just barely missed winning the seat outright over the tea party-GOP candidate Heather Losurdo, who received 39.9%, just a fraction shy of ten full percentage points behind. It’s encouraging that the third leading vote-getter Jennifer Mansfield (with 8%), is a critic of the school board who probably siphoned more votes from Hill than from Losurdo.
The GOP swept the races back in 2009 with very light turnout (about 10%), whereas turnout was far higher yesterday, with the increase mostly by folks upset with the conduct and direction of the GOP-majority board. If the GOP couldn’t extract higher turnout yesterday in the second-most critical district up for grabs (after the Margiotta seat), IMHO the only way they win a runoff is if voters driven to the polls yesterday by dissatisfaction with the GOP majority’s conduct fail to show up for the runoff. The only other office up for vote yesterday was the mayoral election, won comfortably by the moderately more progressive candidate citywide (with 60% of the vote), and the school board district in question is in one of the higher-income higher-educated demographically in the city, though it does have many concentrations of GOP-leaning suburban neighborhoods.
The only way Hill loses is if the folks who turned out for him (and some who turned out for Mansfield) fail to turn out in the runoff, and the election turnout falls closer to 10% rather than around 20% like yesterday.
cackalacka
As a lifelong@cmorenc:
I call the guy in the runoff election ‘Mr Hill’ because he was one of my high school history teachers.
Not my favorite teacher, but certainly in the top 5. He used to wear unusual belt buckles to class (like pistol-revolver shaped ones.) Sounds like in the intervening 20+ years he’s moved on to great things. Which is cool, as he has dedicated his life to public service, and was a pretty sharp/nice guy.
Most of the voters in north Raleigh yesterday were likely unemployed stay at home moms who are following the Art Pope shit-show very closely. Nobody is resting on their laurels or coasting in that district.
Yesterday was the first local election I’ve missed in a decade, thanks to the weather and work obligations. And I was well aware that the stakes have never been higher for me as a voter. Why, it’s almost as if having elections on workdays is designed to suppress voter turnout from people who work for a living.
The Populist
Thank you Zandar. OWS is changing things. I am feeling better than ever. Unless TPTB decide to implement martial law or extreme measures to shut us all up, the bullshit has now hit the fan and all over the tea party and their ilk. I am rubbing my hands in glee wondering how much 2012 is going to run back our way.
syphonblue
NC republicans to create bill reigning in early and absentee voting in 5…4…3…
cackalacka
Oh, and it wasn’t 9-0 Republicans in ’09, only 1/2 the board seats are open in a given election. They managed to squeek by in a couple seats, giving the Thugs a small majority.
Given the low voter turn-out in 1/2 the seats, resulting in a slim majority, the Republicans were as magnanimous as you’d expect.
They did manage to piss all over the drapes and make an awesome city with an even better school district into a national embarrassment. We should just move all the teabaggers out to Johnston County and detonate I-40 while we still have a chance.
Hoodie
@cmorenc: No doubt. What pisses me off most about Margiotta, Tedesco and their partners in crime is that, besides from being extremists and opportunists, they’re complete incompetents. They screwed around for two years, wasted a bunch of money, time and needlessly agitated what was a pretty damn good school system that had a few problems that could have been dealt with more sanely. The new superintendent they hired cleaned up some of their mess, but we’re stuck with an big investment in an untried plan that may have a raft of unintended consequences that no one can predict. They’re just like the bozos in Congress, reveling in sophomoric wet dreams, not knowing know what the hell they’re talking most of the time, but insisting on having their way or nothing at all. BTW, looks like a lot of Wake County folks frequent Balloon Juice.
kc
Yay for NC! I just read the New Yorker article about Pope and it was pretty depressing, so this is great news.
Nevgu
“When you vote you can change things”
Wow, more deep thoughts from the genius Zandar. Cole is really
scraping the bottom of the barrelrecruiting the top of the line typing monkeys these days.kc
Fuck you, Nevgu.
Morzer
@Nevgu:
Those typing monkeys get a lot closer to producing Shakespeare than you ever have.
Paul in KY
@Chris: I think the not-really-in-South comments are usually directed at Miami/Fort Lauderdale. Due (IMO) to a sizable contingent of people from New England who retire/vacation/moved there.
I lived South of Miami for 3 years.
curiousleo
As an NC person (though not in Wake County), the Wake county results give some hope–but the old majority were arrogant, non-NC native folks who pretty much were stupid in how they went about every change they wanted to make.
The next fight is a big one. May 2012 is when the vote against the proposed anti-same sex marriage amendment to the state constitution happens.
Public opinion polls show that a majority of NC folks support same-sex marriage or at least civil unions. Getting these same people to go vote will be a massive undertaking.
Going to vote is a big effing deal.
Ben Cisco
As a Charlotte resident I’m thrilled to read this. Thanks, Zandar for sharing it.
Lex
As a lifelong N.C. resident (18 months in NYC excepted), I find this thrilling — more so because my brother, sister-in-law and their 5 kids live in Wake. I hadn’t heard from him about this today, so this was a welcome surprise.