Wake County school board members know for sure at least one of the county commissioners who will be elected this fall.

The filing period closed today with no Republican filing to run for Commissioner James West's District 5 seat. West is running unopposed in the Democratic primary. He's the first person running in an uncontested race for Wake County commissioner since 1994.

West, who was appointed to the board of commissioners in September 2010 to fill a vacancy, has said the school system will remain one of his priorities.

In District 4, Republican Dale Cooke will oppose Democrat Caroline Sullivan. In District 6, Democratic incumbent Betty Lou Ward will run against Republican Paul Fitts. The races are countywide even though the candidates must live in their district.

Erv Portman has become the third Wake County commissioner to seek higher office this year.

Portman announced today he's filed for the state Senate seat now held by Republican Richard Stevens, who isn't seeking another term. Portman's candidacy means he's giving up the chance to run for the seat on the commissioners that expires this year.

Portman, a Democrat, was appointed last year to fill the opening caused by Stan Norwalk's resignation.

It was with a smiley face on her ballot that Wake County school board member Debra Goldman finally ended the 2 1/2 hour struggle on Tuesday to name a new vice chairman

A look at the 56 rounds of votes shows that Goldman voted for herself 48 times, in all but one case being the lone vote. She voted seven times for other people, usually Chris Malone or Carolyn Morrison, before finally going for John Tedesco in the 56th round to break the stalemate.

“Our chairman keeps saying somebody holds the key here and it's pretty obvious through the vote," Goldman said before the final ballot. "I’m going to cast my vote different this time because this is number 56, which is the year my parents got married and for me that's a good number because it showed unity and it showed commitment and it showed values. I am going to cast my vote this time and take myself out of that position.”

As expected, the new Republican majority on the Wake County Board of Commissioners voted 4-3 this evening to rescind the resolution expressing concern about resegregation of the school system.

Paul Coble, newly elected chairman of the board of commissioners, said it was time to remove the "political hammer" that was used by the prior Democratic majority to go after the school board for eliminating the diversity policy.

Coble said that commissioners should have run for the school board if they had wanted to get into student assignment.

UPDATE

By a 4-3 vote, commissioners approved adding lifting or eliminating the cap on charter schools to the board's statewide legislative goals. It was a straight party-line vote after Norwalk unsuccessfully added an amendment saying charter schools should reflect the diversity of the community.

Click here for today's article of the meeting by Thomas Goldsmith.

Harsh words are being exchanged over a new campaign mailer from Democrat Steve Rao that blasts Republican Commissioner Tony Gurley over his election as chairman and how he reacted when Commissioner Stan Norwalk asked for a recess for health reasons.

In the mailer, Rao questions Gurley's leadership for taking advantage of Betty Lou Ward's unexcused departure for a potty break last December to be elected chairman. Rao also accuses Gurley of denying Commissioner Stan Norwalk his insulin by voting against recessing the lengthy meeting.

Gurley argues that Rao's campaign is lying about him denying Norwalk insulin. He also accused Rao of engaging in negative campaigning.

UPDATED TO INCLUDE STATEMENT FROM GURLEY AT END OF POST

Wake County school board members Ron Margiotta and John Tedesco and county commissioners Tony Gurley, Joe Bryan, Paul Coble and Betty Lou Ward are slated to attend a special showing tonight of the documentary "Waiting for Superman."

Those elected officials are among the nearly 200 people that Parents for Educational Freedom in N.C. says have agreed to attend tonight's free screening and post-film discussion. The Raleigh-Wake Citizens Association is partnering with PEFNC in sponsoring the screening at 6 p.m. at Regal North Hills Stadium 14 in Raleigh.

"The discussion will allow parents and community leaders — including members of the Wake County School Board and the Wake County Board of Commissioners — to share questions and ideas about local educational issues and solutions for reform," according to a PEFNC media advisory.

Taxpayers won't be footing the bill for four Wake County school board members to attend this week's Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce trip to the Greater D.C. area.

Chamber VP Drew Moretz said that the group wanted school board members to attend the trip so much that they're picking up all the costs. School board members Debra Goldman, Anne McLaurin, Deborah Prickett and John Tedesco are attending.

But taxpayers may foot the nearly $2,000 cost to send four county commissioners on the trip.

CORRECTION/UPDATE

The chamber says that McLaurin paid for the trip herself.

Parrish said Gurley has reimbursed the county for his share of the trip.

Here's a quick recap of today's budget discussion at the joint meeting of the Wake County school board and county commissioners.

David Neter, the school district's chief business officer, gave an overview of the budget that was adopted Tuesday by the school board. the budget includes a $313.5 million funding request to commissioners - the same amount as last year.

During today’s meeting, school board finance committee chairman Keith Sutton asked commissioners to increase funding to the school system.

How many times will County Commissioners Chairman Tony Gurley gavel Commission Stan Norwalk out of order today?

Gurley, a Republican, and Norwalk, a Democrat, have been going at each other since Norwalk was elected in 2008. For instance last month, Gurley accused Norwalk of using his diabetes as a political ploy to stall for more time so that Democrat Betty Lou Ward could be elected vice chairwoman.

Gurley said he and fellow Republican Commissioner Paul Coble even came up with a special "Stan Norwalk Quarter" last year when Democrat Harold Webb was chairman.

We're getting partial poll results from Public Policy Polling.

The Democratic polling firm released survey results Thursday indicating the public isn't happy with how Republicans elected Tony Gurley to be the new chairman of the Wake County board of commissioners.

But PPP didn't release results from that same poll about questions they had asked about the Wake County school system.