Polk Lore

And until this year, our school board was mercifully free of the direct influence of the political parties. But last year, North Carolina’s legislature, with the cooperation of our state representative and senator, and over the objections of the county commission, local leaders of both parties, and just about everyone else, made seats on the board partisan positions. So here we are. 

 But then a strange thing happened. Instead of a rush of candidates from both parties for the three seats up for grabs this election cycle, only two are being contested. Of the incumbents, Tryon’s Rick Covil, a registered Democrat, is running unopposed. And Cindy Allen of White Oak, who’s officially an independent, managed to get enough support to get added to the ballot, and is facing a challenge only from a Democrat, Syd Mutschler. Only Saluda’s seat, which is currently held by Democrat Rob Parson, involves a two-party race. His challenger is Rick Stich, who joined me on my porch in Saluda. Rick is, well, I’ll let him introduce himself.

Sources

Polk Schools Board Meeting, Aug. 13, 2024

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4L8V884pY7U

North Carolina General Statutes Section 143-318 (open and closed sessions

https://www.ncleg.net/EnactedLegislation/Statutes/HTML/ByArticle/Chapter_143/Article_33C.html

Redistricting

https://redistricting.lls.edu/redistricting-101/who-draws-the-lines/

NC State Board of Elections voting database                    

https://er.ncsbe.gov

Polk Library Submission policy

https://www.ncleg.net/EnactedLegislation/Statutes/HTML/ByArticle/Chapter_143/Article_33C.html

Effect of school vouchers (Carolina Forward)
https://carolinaforward.org/blog/school-vouchers-fail/

Why a candidate is seeking your support is probably a good way to tell the good ones from the bad. You don’t have to agree with their campaign platform to be able to trust them. You don’t even have to share their religion or philosophy. But any decent politician should have a good reason for running in the first place. The less selfish, the better.

Which brings us to this episode’ guest. You may or may not share Libby Morris’s concerns about the threats posed to Polk County by the nuclear power industry and the government that oversees it. But you have to have at least some grudging respect for someone who has identified a potential problem, spent countless hours researching the history and implications, and decided that they need to give up some of what would have been their retirement years to get into public office to do something about that problem — and a host of related issues that we all agree need addressing. We met at the Saluda Library earlier this month to talk about why she wants to be a Polk County Commissioner.

Resources

Libby Morris campaign site

Though Karen Pack's relationship with Polk County goes back a long, long way — longer than most of the candidates seeking a seat on the county commission — it wasn’t until 2022, when the state decided it wanted a slice of her family’s land along highway nine, that she realized that not everything was hunky dory with county politics. While the county commissioners eventually agreed to write to the State Department of Transportation opposing the widening our portion of the highway, the wording of the letter left enough wiggle room for the state to justify plowing ahead without the county’s official support. 

Two years later she added her name to ballot, as a Democrat. 

Of course, her history of community involvement, and her reasons for running for office, are far more complicated than that. In fact, as you’ll hear, she’s done a lot of thinking about the bigger picture surrounding county politics. She told me the full story earlier this month at the Saluda Library.

Resources:

2022 Polk Lore interview

Karen Pack campaign website

Even at the county level, it’s a bit surprising these days to hear a candidate for political office singing the praises of serving alongside members of the opposing party. But that’s Ray Gasperson for you. He was a Democratic county commissioner a few years back when his party held every seat, then when he had to share power, and then when he was outnumbered four to one by his Republican colleagues. If there’s anybody qualified to weigh in on what works best — and what needs fixing — in county politics, he’s your guy.

And there was a time, not so long ago, when the voters of Polk County seemed to agree with that assessment. But not so for the past couple of elections. Ray explains why he just can’t get enough of county politics during an interview recorded earlier this month at the Saluda library.

Resources

Polk County Elections

Ray Gasperson campaign site

Season 3 of Polk Lore begins with an onslaught of election interviews with candidates for county, state, and national offices. I invited everyone I thought might be willing or able to find the time to take part in my modest attempt to fill the vacuum left by the collapse of the local news business model. As of early September, not everyone had accepted, but there's still hope...

First up is incumbent county commissioner Paul Belier, an establishment guy who will appeal to pro-establishment voters. But as Polk County has learned over the past couple of years, sometimes the establishment doesn’t do exactly you want it to, even when your party is running both the state legislature and the county. So in this episode, which was recorded at the Foothills Community Chapel, where my guest is senior pastor, we talk about the implications of sticking with the status quo, in more ways than one. 

The chances that the Democratic Party will have to revert to what used to be called a brokered convention this year are non-zero. I think it safe to say they are significantly greater than that. This isn’t what the delegates to the convention signed up for.

Well, technically they did, because the party rules spell out exactly what they're supposed to do if something happens to the presumptive nominee between winning the primaries and accepting the nomination. It has been argued that such an event took place last week in Atlanta.

I was hoping that one of the five delegates for our district (NC 11) might be from Polk County, but no such luck. Fortunately, I didn’t have go to too far afield to find one and, even more fortunately, she agreed to share her thinking about her responsibilities as a delegate. Kathie Kline, chair of the Buncombe County Democrats, sat down with me at her home in Asheville just five days after the debate that introduced so much doubt to the whole process. 

Even the best schools these days have trouble teaching their students about the awe and wonder of the natural world. The goods news (yet again) is that Polk Schools, with the help of a non-profit called Champions for Wildlife, is doing something to make up for that modern-day shortcoming.

Drawing on our county's natural attractions and creative community, Loti Woods and Dale Weiler are using art to connect kids with nature and wildlife, and it's anything but a gimmick. I guarantee you will enjoy this episode, and not just because it has nothing to do with presidential debates.

Resources:

Champions for Wildlife

The Demon-Haunted World by Carl Sagan

"How to Read and Understand History" by Bertrand Russell

Taking the good things in life for granted is never a good idea, but that’s what happening in some corners of this country when it comes to the value of public libraries. In Georgia, legislation that would require all public libraries to sever ties with the American Library Association just passed the state senate. Over in South Carolina, the Greenville County Library system did just that years ago. You might think that no would consider an association dedicated to promoting literacy and supporting libraries and librarians to be a hotbed of radicalism and socialist propaganda, but you would be wrong.

The good news is Polk Country’s Public Library seems to have avoided falling into the trap set by the culture warriors. Our little county has not one but two library branches — the main one in Columbus and another in Saluda, and there doesn't seem to be any threat to its mission. In fact, as you’ll hear in this interview with the library’s director, Marcie Dowling, the list of services it provides is only growing, far beyond just providing free access to books.

Resources:

Polk Libraries

Polk Libraries Collection Policy

Georgia library bill

Swannanoa library to close

History of unions

Vaccines and human lifespans

American Library Association Freedom to Read statement

A good number of listeners will be familiar with Chrelle Booker, a Polk County native who’s been on a member of Tryon’s Board of Commissioners since 2017. She’s now Mayor Pro Tem, which is the municipal equivalent of vice-president. She’s also served as president of the National League of Cities’ Women in Municipal Government caucus. So, it’s not like she doesn’t have some experience outside of small-town politics.

But still, to call her campaign for the right to be the Democratic Party candidate for this November’s election for governor of the state of North Carolina an uphill battle would be understatement. And I think it’s fair to ask anyone facing such long odds: why bothering running? Which I do in the interview you’re about to hear. 

However much support Chrelle Booker ends up attracting, her mere presence on the primary ballot is worth more than a passing mention, and I think our half-hour talk is worth your time.

Notes:
Smoky Mountain News story

Sample primary ballots

Chrelle Booker campaign

This year’s elections are going to be a fair bit different, even if you’re veteran at casting ballots. For one thing, you're going to need photographic proof of your identify. And that not the only change that the state legislature has foisted on us. In fact, Polk County has been singled out for several additional changes to way we vote, and the way we’re represented, at the municipal, county, state, and federal levels. So I asked our county’s director of elections, Cliff Marr, to go over them with me, and he graciously agreed. I’m willing to bet you’ll learn a few things you didn’t even know you didn’t know.

Useful resources:

Voter registration lookup

Polk County Board of Elections

Absentee voting in NC

Polk County Geographic Information System