Gov. Bev Perdue's office has issued a statement reacting to the Obama Administration's decision to move forward with plans to eventually open up areas of the East Coast to energy exploration. Perdue has named a study committee to examine the issue of exploration for oil or gas off the N.C. coast, and the General Assembly has its own study commission looking at the same issue. Here's what Perdue said today:
"I learned of President Obama’s plans to open the Atlantic Coast to drilling exploration when I spoke to Sec. Salazar late last night.
"It looks like the Federal government is moving forward with this plan with or without us, so I made it clear to Sec. Salazar that as governor of North Carolina I will remain aggressively engaged in this issue.
"I reminded him of the three issues that I discussed with him before about North Carolina’s position on drilling:
"1) The protection of North Carolina’s tremendous natural and economic resources, and our military role in national defense, is crucial. We need to know the locations of the proposed drilling;
"2) If drilling off the North Carolina coastline is going to occur, we must share in any revenues realized; and
"3) It is vital that we maintain our ability to explore all options for energy production on our coast, including green opportunities such as wind power.
"Our Congressional delegation will hear from me, and our citizens will see me representing North Carolina’s interests during federal public hearings."
Virginia plans to move ahead aggressively on offshore exploration, but its plans may be hemmed in by military concerns. On the N.C. coast, where energy companies such as Duke are contemplating putting industrial wind farms and where much of the economy is dependent upon tourism, the state has generally taken a go-slow approach. But if, as Perdue mentions, there's some prospect for significant royalties from eventual production, enthusiasm for exploration no doubt will grow.
Meanwhile the Southern Environmental Law Center has taken a dim view of the Obama proposal, saying that six months worth of oil isn't worth the risk to the coastline.
Here's the center's statement:
"Today’s announcement by President Obama opening much of the U.S. east coast for the first time to oil and gas drilling risks too much for the South, according to the Southern Environmental Law Center. The Southern Environmental Law Center urges protection of the Atlantic coast and beaches of the South, and pursuit of energy efficiency and clean, renewable energy sources rather than drilling for the small amount of oil offshore.
“Opening the South Atlantic Coast to oil and gas drilling will do nothing to address climate change, provide only about six months worth of oil, and put at risk multi-billion dollar tourism and fisheries industries. One oil spill could devastate a coast,” said Derb Carter, director, Carolinas Office of the Southern Environmental Law Center. “Instead, reducing our dependence on such old, polluting energy sources by bringing America’s innovative talent to bear on fully exploiting energy efficiency and clean renewable energy sources should be the first step in an energy policy that generates jobs and keeps America technologically competitive.”
Drilling for oil would risk Southern tourism, rare wildlife, and fisheries for what the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Minerals Management Service estimates would be only enough oil for six months that would take seven to ten years to bring online. But it would have no impact on domestic oil and gas prices until at least 2030, and even then any such impact would be “insignificant,” according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
"Each year thousands of people enjoy the natural beauty and white sandy beaches of the Southeastern coastline with an economic impact of over $63 billion and over half a million jobs in Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia. Rare and iconic wildlife—including migratory birds, endangered sea turtles and the rarest of whales also enjoy the same coastal areas. Commercial fisheries bring in over a quarter of a billion dollars each year and are crucial to local economies and traditional ways of life in the region.
"Investing in clean energy could result in about 170,000 jobs for Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia according to estimates from a recent study by the Center for American Progress."
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Column follow: Big verdict in Mo. hog odor case
A lawyer friend read Sunday's column about David Kirby's new book, "Animal Factory: The Looming Threat of Industrial Pig, Dairy, and Poulty Farms to Humans and the Environment" and sent along a note about a former classmate whose law firm recently won a big damage award in a Missouri case invloving animal farm owners -- said to the be the "largest verdict on record in a hog odor case."
His email noted, "Rick Middleton of the Middleton Firm in Savannah, Georgia, and other firms in early March concluded a lengthy jury trial which resulted in an $11 million dollar verdict in trial related to this issue. They formed the Center to Expose & Close Animal Factories. In looking at the materials on this website, they posted an interesting memorandum on an economic analysis of litigation from the defense perspective."
Here's a link to the story.
And here’s the top of the PRNewswire release:
Missouri Jury Awards Residents $11 Million in Damages from Living Under Cloud of Stench Caused by Industrial Hog Farms
Verdict reached against Premium Standard Farms, subsidiary of Smithfield Foods, and ContiGroup; Families in town of Berlin, MO live near 4,300-acre compound where 200,000 hogs fattened for slaughter annually; Smithfield's Concentrated Animal Feed Operation generates some 83 million gallons of hog waste per year
Case won by Speer Law Firm, Middleton Law Firm and Seeger Weiss represents largest verdict on record in hog odor case; some 250 claimants remaining in cases against Premium Standard and ContiGroup
KANSAS CITY, Mo., March 5 /PRNewswire/ -- A state court jury in Jackson County, Missouri returned a collective $11,050,000 verdict against industrial hog producers Premium Standard Farms, Inc., a subsidiary of Smithfield Foods (NYSE: SFD), and the privately held ContiGroup Companies (previously Continental Grain) in favor of residents living near the defendants' vast farm operations in northern Missouri. The verdict, covering 11 years of damages, is the largest monetary award against a hog farm in an odor nuisance case.
Law firms The Middleton Firm, Seeger Weiss LLP and the Speer Law Firm represented the seven households, who filed their case in 2002.
Plaintiffs, some of whom have owned their farms for well over 100 years and spanning five generations, alleged that relentless and extreme odors emanating from defendants' finishing farm – known as concentrated animal feeding operations, or CAFOs – created an unreasonable nuisance. Family members testified at trial that the smell was intense enough to prevent them from venturing outdoors on many days.
After hearing nearly 5 weeks of evidence centering on defendants' land application of massive quantities of liquid hog manure, maintenance of multiple-acre wastewater lagoons, and other odor-producing activities at the Homan farm in Gentry County, MO, the 12-person jury agreed. Their verdict was delivered on March 4, 2010.
In the early 1990s, PSF bought and leased some 4,300 acres in the community of Berlin, Missouri, to create a "finishing farm," processing an estimated 200,000 hogs per year. The swine are brought into the facility weighing approximately 60 pounds and are grown to 260 pounds for slaughter. Each hog lives its entire adult life in a single hog pen, with no ability to roam. Berlin is located in Gentry County some 80 miles north of Kansas City.
The odors emanating from the hogs come from multiple sources. The hogs excrete waste into a slatted floor, which collects in basins beneath each barn, where it is evacuated through a piped flushing system that deposits it in four-to-five acre lagoons located across the property. Collectively, the lake-sized lagoons collect some 83 million gallons of hog waste during the course of a year – generating enormous quantities of methane, ammonia and hydrogen sulfide that can be detected for miles. The Berlin facility houses 80 barns, each holding 1,000 hogs at a time.
The waste is continually pumped out of the lagoons, which the defendants argued was used as fertilizer. "In reality, the jury recognized that the pumping is merely a disguised form of waste disposal – with the farms releasing far more effluent than the land can possibly absorb," said Charles F. Speer, who first started representing PSF neighbors in the mid-1990s. "The odors and flies coming off this farm have devastated the lives of these fine Missouri citizens. For them, it's been a living torment."
"The families who brought this case have been living under a toxic cloud of hog waste produced by Premium Standard for more than 11 years," said lead trial counsel Richard H. Middleton, Jr. of Savannah, GA. "Defendants claimed their operations complied with state environmental regulations – however, this trial showed that PSF produced industrial-scale pollution with complete lack of regard for the extreme toxicity its operation caused for its neighbors, day in and day out."
Co-trial counsel, Stephen A. Weiss of New York City added: "Rather than accept responsibility for their actions like a good neighbor, these defendants continue to deflect blame. We've offered repeatedly to sit down with their representatives to try to forge a fair resolution, but they continue to choose the courtroom over the settlement table. If I were a Smithfield shareholder today, I'd be none too pleased with their chosen path."
His email noted, "Rick Middleton of the Middleton Firm in Savannah, Georgia, and other firms in early March concluded a lengthy jury trial which resulted in an $11 million dollar verdict in trial related to this issue. They formed the Center to Expose & Close Animal Factories. In looking at the materials on this website, they posted an interesting memorandum on an economic analysis of litigation from the defense perspective."
Here's a link to the story.
And here’s the top of the PRNewswire release:
Missouri Jury Awards Residents $11 Million in Damages from Living Under Cloud of Stench Caused by Industrial Hog Farms
Verdict reached against Premium Standard Farms, subsidiary of Smithfield Foods, and ContiGroup; Families in town of Berlin, MO live near 4,300-acre compound where 200,000 hogs fattened for slaughter annually; Smithfield's Concentrated Animal Feed Operation generates some 83 million gallons of hog waste per year
Case won by Speer Law Firm, Middleton Law Firm and Seeger Weiss represents largest verdict on record in hog odor case; some 250 claimants remaining in cases against Premium Standard and ContiGroup
KANSAS CITY, Mo., March 5 /PRNewswire/ -- A state court jury in Jackson County, Missouri returned a collective $11,050,000 verdict against industrial hog producers Premium Standard Farms, Inc., a subsidiary of Smithfield Foods (NYSE: SFD), and the privately held ContiGroup Companies (previously Continental Grain) in favor of residents living near the defendants' vast farm operations in northern Missouri. The verdict, covering 11 years of damages, is the largest monetary award against a hog farm in an odor nuisance case.
Law firms The Middleton Firm, Seeger Weiss LLP and the Speer Law Firm represented the seven households, who filed their case in 2002.
Plaintiffs, some of whom have owned their farms for well over 100 years and spanning five generations, alleged that relentless and extreme odors emanating from defendants' finishing farm – known as concentrated animal feeding operations, or CAFOs – created an unreasonable nuisance. Family members testified at trial that the smell was intense enough to prevent them from venturing outdoors on many days.
After hearing nearly 5 weeks of evidence centering on defendants' land application of massive quantities of liquid hog manure, maintenance of multiple-acre wastewater lagoons, and other odor-producing activities at the Homan farm in Gentry County, MO, the 12-person jury agreed. Their verdict was delivered on March 4, 2010.
In the early 1990s, PSF bought and leased some 4,300 acres in the community of Berlin, Missouri, to create a "finishing farm," processing an estimated 200,000 hogs per year. The swine are brought into the facility weighing approximately 60 pounds and are grown to 260 pounds for slaughter. Each hog lives its entire adult life in a single hog pen, with no ability to roam. Berlin is located in Gentry County some 80 miles north of Kansas City.
The odors emanating from the hogs come from multiple sources. The hogs excrete waste into a slatted floor, which collects in basins beneath each barn, where it is evacuated through a piped flushing system that deposits it in four-to-five acre lagoons located across the property. Collectively, the lake-sized lagoons collect some 83 million gallons of hog waste during the course of a year – generating enormous quantities of methane, ammonia and hydrogen sulfide that can be detected for miles. The Berlin facility houses 80 barns, each holding 1,000 hogs at a time.
The waste is continually pumped out of the lagoons, which the defendants argued was used as fertilizer. "In reality, the jury recognized that the pumping is merely a disguised form of waste disposal – with the farms releasing far more effluent than the land can possibly absorb," said Charles F. Speer, who first started representing PSF neighbors in the mid-1990s. "The odors and flies coming off this farm have devastated the lives of these fine Missouri citizens. For them, it's been a living torment."
"The families who brought this case have been living under a toxic cloud of hog waste produced by Premium Standard for more than 11 years," said lead trial counsel Richard H. Middleton, Jr. of Savannah, GA. "Defendants claimed their operations complied with state environmental regulations – however, this trial showed that PSF produced industrial-scale pollution with complete lack of regard for the extreme toxicity its operation caused for its neighbors, day in and day out."
Co-trial counsel, Stephen A. Weiss of New York City added: "Rather than accept responsibility for their actions like a good neighbor, these defendants continue to deflect blame. We've offered repeatedly to sit down with their representatives to try to forge a fair resolution, but they continue to choose the courtroom over the settlement table. If I were a Smithfield shareholder today, I'd be none too pleased with their chosen path."
Friday, March 26, 2010
Chub and the Chatham County Courthouse
A regular correspondent of mine from Charlotte took note of the heartbreaking fire Thursday that destroyed the Chatham County courthouse, a marvelous structure erected in the 19th century and later added onto. His note evoked one of the most colorful political characters of the 20th century, a lawyer who lived in Carthage in nearby Moore County and who likely practiced his trade in Pittsboro from time to time. He wrote:
"The rumble you felt this morning was probably Chub Seawell rolling over when he heard about the Chatham County courthouse burning down."
Herbert F. (Chub) Seawell was a conservative Baptist teetotaler who ran for governor unsuccessfully in 1952 and who brightened the editorial pages of newspapers across the state with his frequent commentaries, always written with as much wit as passion. He also filled in for Jesse Helms in his Viewpoint commentaries on WRAL TV in Raleigh. It was Seawell, not Helms, as is often thought, who remarked back in the 1970s when the legislature was thinking of building a state zoo, that they just ought to "put a fence around Chapel Hill."
I grew up reading his letters in the 1950s and 60s in my hometown newspaper, the Greensboro Daily News, and thought they were funny -- describing Gov. Dan Moore as "Gov. Dan Klan" and referring to President Lyndon Baines Johnson as "Lendem Billions Nimrod Fountain Pen Beulah Father Divine Johnson." He sometimes stuck the phrase "Let the true church roll on" in his commentaries and often signed his letters, "Call your next case."
He called himself a "consecrated layman" and, as historian Julian Pleasants has noted, an "old-fashioned, deep water, missionary, pre-millennial, spirit-filled Bible-believing Baptist" and made sure people knew it. And, Pleasants has written, Seawell laid the groundwork for the development of the Republican Party in North Carolina.
I expect that Seawell, who died in 1983, would indeed have had a few things to say about the loss of the Chatham Courthouse, where he perhaps held judge, juries and spectators in rapturous awe from time to time with his orations in one trial or another.
Call your next case
"The rumble you felt this morning was probably Chub Seawell rolling over when he heard about the Chatham County courthouse burning down."
Herbert F. (Chub) Seawell was a conservative Baptist teetotaler who ran for governor unsuccessfully in 1952 and who brightened the editorial pages of newspapers across the state with his frequent commentaries, always written with as much wit as passion. He also filled in for Jesse Helms in his Viewpoint commentaries on WRAL TV in Raleigh. It was Seawell, not Helms, as is often thought, who remarked back in the 1970s when the legislature was thinking of building a state zoo, that they just ought to "put a fence around Chapel Hill."
I grew up reading his letters in the 1950s and 60s in my hometown newspaper, the Greensboro Daily News, and thought they were funny -- describing Gov. Dan Moore as "Gov. Dan Klan" and referring to President Lyndon Baines Johnson as "Lendem Billions Nimrod Fountain Pen Beulah Father Divine Johnson." He sometimes stuck the phrase "Let the true church roll on" in his commentaries and often signed his letters, "Call your next case."
He called himself a "consecrated layman" and, as historian Julian Pleasants has noted, an "old-fashioned, deep water, missionary, pre-millennial, spirit-filled Bible-believing Baptist" and made sure people knew it. And, Pleasants has written, Seawell laid the groundwork for the development of the Republican Party in North Carolina.
I expect that Seawell, who died in 1983, would indeed have had a few things to say about the loss of the Chatham Courthouse, where he perhaps held judge, juries and spectators in rapturous awe from time to time with his orations in one trial or another.
Call your next case
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Governor still backs ban on coastal groins
During the 2008 gubernatorial campaign, Gov. Bev Perdue told the N.C. Conservation Council she supported retaining the state's longtime ban on groins, jetties and other hardened structures such as seawall on the N.C. coast. The policy is meant to prevent the beach erosion at other sites near such structures. The question whether Perdue still supports the longtime ban, first imposed by the N.C. Coastal Resources Commission, arose in recent days after a study of proposals to allow "terminal groins" to be built at the terminal ends of coastal inlets to keep the inlet from moving. The study found that such groins can help stabilize inlets, but they require inlet management plans and also require beach renourishment -- pumping or bulldozing sand from other sources -- to rebuild and maintain beaches.
Coastal Resources Commission Chairman Bob Emory said the study showed no compelling reasons to do away with the ban on hardened structures or to amend it. But, he said in a letter last week, if the General Assembly -- which required the terminal groin study last year -- were to insist on altering the ban, then the commission should be given specific authority to do so with tight controls on their placement and power to require their removal. Additional alternatives to the ban have developed in recent days, prompting speculation that the Perdue administration had backed off on its support of the ban or was pushing a different view.
Not so, said Perdue's spokesperson, Chrissy Pearson. She said the governor continued to support the ban on hardened structures -- "Her position has not changed " -- and that she trusted the commission to study the data and make its own decision based on the study.
Coastal Resources Commission Chairman Bob Emory said the study showed no compelling reasons to do away with the ban on hardened structures or to amend it. But, he said in a letter last week, if the General Assembly -- which required the terminal groin study last year -- were to insist on altering the ban, then the commission should be given specific authority to do so with tight controls on their placement and power to require their removal. Additional alternatives to the ban have developed in recent days, prompting speculation that the Perdue administration had backed off on its support of the ban or was pushing a different view.
Not so, said Perdue's spokesperson, Chrissy Pearson. She said the governor continued to support the ban on hardened structures -- "Her position has not changed " -- and that she trusted the commission to study the data and make its own decision based on the study.
$25 million subsidy for out-of-state athletes?
N.C. Spin Host Tom Campbell turned the tables on UNC President Emeritus William C. "Bill" Friday Tuesday night at the N.C. State University Alumni Center. Friday usually does the interviewing on "North Carolina People with Bill Friday," but Campbell got Friday to agree to a videotaped interview to be used in conjunction with NC Spin's upcoming 599th and 600th programs. Friday is comfortably in the lead, by the way, with about 1,500 programs under his belt. Friday talked about public issues and controversial points in his 30 years as president of the UNC system as well as his unofficial work as the conscience of North Carolina since then. And he showed why people listen to him with several thought-provoking comments.
One with huge currency right now, given the headlines in this morning's Observer about CMS beginning to lay off 600 teachers, was his observation about how North Carolina's priorities are sometimes misplaced.
Noting that Gov. Bev Perdue had recently informed the state's teachers that there would be no money available in the upcoming year for salary raises, he said that as of yesterday, the taxpayers of North Carolina have spent a total of $25 million to subsidize the tuition costs of out-of-state athletes at UNC system campuses. The legislature decided in 2005 to allow athletic scholarships (and some academic scholarships as well) for out-of-state students to pay in-state tuition costs rather than the much higher out-of-state tuition costs. It saves athletics departments at UNC campuses a bundle – and costs taxpayers that same bundle.
There's something wrong with the policy of the state of North Carolina when it values out-of-state athletes so highly but the state's public school teachers so poorly, and everyone knows it. Point to Bill Friday.
One with huge currency right now, given the headlines in this morning's Observer about CMS beginning to lay off 600 teachers, was his observation about how North Carolina's priorities are sometimes misplaced.
Noting that Gov. Bev Perdue had recently informed the state's teachers that there would be no money available in the upcoming year for salary raises, he said that as of yesterday, the taxpayers of North Carolina have spent a total of $25 million to subsidize the tuition costs of out-of-state athletes at UNC system campuses. The legislature decided in 2005 to allow athletic scholarships (and some academic scholarships as well) for out-of-state students to pay in-state tuition costs rather than the much higher out-of-state tuition costs. It saves athletics departments at UNC campuses a bundle – and costs taxpayers that same bundle.
There's something wrong with the policy of the state of North Carolina when it values out-of-state athletes so highly but the state's public school teachers so poorly, and everyone knows it. Point to Bill Friday.
Monday, March 22, 2010
The Chief': Good cop whose words cost him House seat
Former Raleigh police chief and U.S. Rep. Fred Heineman died Saturday at age 80. Martha Quillen had the story this morning. U.S. Rep. David Price, a Democrat representing North Carolina's 4th Congressional District, issued a gracious statement about Heineman:
"Lisa and I are saddened to learn of Fred Heineman’s passing, and our thoughts are with his family at this difficult time. Long before he ran for Congress, I worked with him and admired his service as Raleigh’s Chief of Police. His work in law enforcement helped make the Capital City one of the best places in the country to live and raise a family. His colleagues in Congress well understood his commitment to public safety; he was known on Capitol Hill as “The Chief.” One could never doubt Fred’s strength of conviction and dedication to public service," Price said in a statement Sunday.
The warmth of Price's statement masks the sharp competitiveness of two races going back to the mid-1990s when Heineman, a popular police chief known for his compassion and willingness to give those in trouble a second chance, knocked off Price from the House in the 1994 election, only to lose the seat back to Price in 1996.
In 1995, then-Rep. Heineman was quoted in a newspaper story for remarks that set the tone for 1996. In that 1995 story, he said, "When I see a first-class individual who makes $80,000 a year, he's lower middle class. When I see someone who is making anywhere from $300,000 to $750,000, that's middle class. When I see anyone above that, that's upper middle class."
Heineman's income at the time was about $183,000, including his congressional salary of $133,000 and police pension of about $50,000. The statement made Heineman look arrogant as well as out of touch in a state where many families were struggling to rise above the poverty level, let alone dream about making $80,000 a year.
And in the 1996 campaign, Price's campaign took advantage with a funny but biting ad now known in political lore as "Earth to Fred." It played on the far-out character of Heineman's remarks and included such lines as "Earth to Fred. Come in Congressman" and "Fred Heineman, he's out of touch with average families here. Way out."
But that wasn't the only thing that beat Heineman that year. He was also ill, in the hospital for a while and losing weight, and could not campaign hard for weeks. Heineman had beaten Price by about 1,200 votes in 1994, but Price beat him soundly in 1996, winning 54 percent of the vote to Heineman's 45 percent.
Heineman and his allies argued that his remarks about income and class levels were taken badly out of context, but it was hard to find a way to put them in any context where they didn’t look dumb prior to the 1996 election.
As I wrote at the time 15 years ago, “Egad. The chief got elected to Congress barely a year ago and has been in Washington only 10 months. That's mighty quick to lose touch with so many constituents who make considerably less than Heineman's salary but who thought they were in the middle class. The fact is that per capita N.C. income is $18,760; median family income is about $28,424. Less than 8 percent of N.C. families had incomes of $75,000 or over. Perhaps 1 percent have incomes as high as the chief.”
"Lisa and I are saddened to learn of Fred Heineman’s passing, and our thoughts are with his family at this difficult time. Long before he ran for Congress, I worked with him and admired his service as Raleigh’s Chief of Police. His work in law enforcement helped make the Capital City one of the best places in the country to live and raise a family. His colleagues in Congress well understood his commitment to public safety; he was known on Capitol Hill as “The Chief.” One could never doubt Fred’s strength of conviction and dedication to public service," Price said in a statement Sunday.
The warmth of Price's statement masks the sharp competitiveness of two races going back to the mid-1990s when Heineman, a popular police chief known for his compassion and willingness to give those in trouble a second chance, knocked off Price from the House in the 1994 election, only to lose the seat back to Price in 1996.
In 1995, then-Rep. Heineman was quoted in a newspaper story for remarks that set the tone for 1996. In that 1995 story, he said, "When I see a first-class individual who makes $80,000 a year, he's lower middle class. When I see someone who is making anywhere from $300,000 to $750,000, that's middle class. When I see anyone above that, that's upper middle class."
Heineman's income at the time was about $183,000, including his congressional salary of $133,000 and police pension of about $50,000. The statement made Heineman look arrogant as well as out of touch in a state where many families were struggling to rise above the poverty level, let alone dream about making $80,000 a year.
And in the 1996 campaign, Price's campaign took advantage with a funny but biting ad now known in political lore as "Earth to Fred." It played on the far-out character of Heineman's remarks and included such lines as "Earth to Fred. Come in Congressman" and "Fred Heineman, he's out of touch with average families here. Way out."
But that wasn't the only thing that beat Heineman that year. He was also ill, in the hospital for a while and losing weight, and could not campaign hard for weeks. Heineman had beaten Price by about 1,200 votes in 1994, but Price beat him soundly in 1996, winning 54 percent of the vote to Heineman's 45 percent.
Heineman and his allies argued that his remarks about income and class levels were taken badly out of context, but it was hard to find a way to put them in any context where they didn’t look dumb prior to the 1996 election.
As I wrote at the time 15 years ago, “Egad. The chief got elected to Congress barely a year ago and has been in Washington only 10 months. That's mighty quick to lose touch with so many constituents who make considerably less than Heineman's salary but who thought they were in the middle class. The fact is that per capita N.C. income is $18,760; median family income is about $28,424. Less than 8 percent of N.C. families had incomes of $75,000 or over. Perhaps 1 percent have incomes as high as the chief.”
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Drye dropping run for 104th House District seat
Republican Jerry Drye, who filed to challenge Rep. Ruth Samuelson, R-Mecklenburg, in the May primary for the GOP nomination for the 104th House District, has withdrawn from the race. Drye, who ran unsuccessfully for the Charlotte City Council last year, said Wednesday he had decided not to pursue the campaign. His decision enter the race came late in the filing period, and his decision to withdraw was difficult, he said, but this was not the time to seek the seat.
Samuelson said Thursday that she and Drye had talked earlier and that he had said he would support her -- and would even hold a fundraiser for her. Drye's name will remain on the ballot.
The Republican nominee will face Democrat Frank Deaton in the fall.
Samuelson said Thursday that she and Drye had talked earlier and that he had said he would support her -- and would even hold a fundraiser for her. Drye's name will remain on the ballot.
The Republican nominee will face Democrat Frank Deaton in the fall.
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