GOP Wake County Commissioner Joe Bryan has usually come off as a moderate over the years but is pushing himself as a conservative defender of taxpayers in his latest round of campaign advertising.

In this campaign mailer, Bryan calls himself "our first line of defense against higher taxes. Bryan, who is running against Democratic Don Mial, says he's "on the front lines, fighting against the reckless big-spending liberals."

"Joe Bryan knows that ever dollar saved in government spending is a dollar that you're not paying in taxes," Bryan says in the mailer. "That's why he led efforts to balance the county budget without raising taxes. Instead, he cut $30 million in spending while safeguarding needed funds for Wake County schools. And he voted to cut his own salary by 10% to make it happen."

All of the final pre-election campaign finance reports are in now and they show that the four Republican candidates for Wake County commissioner have raised more than their Democratic opponents.

Republicans got $48,000 from Art Pope and his family and $31,000 from political action committees for realtors and homebuilders. They also got thousands of dollars from individuals involved in both fields.

Democrats got $13,000 from Jim Goodmon and his wife. Democrats didn't get anywhere close to the Republicans in terms of PAC money. But they did a lot  of individual smaller donations from people who've opposed the school board's elimination of the diversity policy.

Businessmen Art Pope and Jim Goodmon are out in the financial forefront when it comes to backing candidates for Wake County Board of Commissioners.

As noted in today's article, the latest round of campaign reports show that  Pope and his family have given at least $32,000 to Republican candidates for commissioner. Campaign reports also show that Goodmon and his wife have given at least $13,000 to Democratic candidates for commissioner.

“It’s a contributor referendum on the school board,” said Democratic candidate Jack Nichols.

You would have been disappointed if you had gone to Wednesday night's forum hoping the candidates for the board of commissioners would talk about Wake County's student assignment fight.

As noted in today's article by Thomas Goldsmith, the Wake Schools Community Alliance stayed clear of student assignment questions at the forum the group sponsored. While discussing other school issues, candidates from both political parties blamed the other for the economic woes facing the nation and county.

Some differences emerged with Democrats Jack Nichols and Steve Rao both saying the county will have to consider impact fees or other means to meet school construction and renovation demands that could easily run to $2 billion in the next 20 years.

The Independent is calling this year's Wake County Board of Commissioners elections "a referendum on the policies of the Wake school board and its majority of five Republican members."

In this week's issue, the Independent is endorsing all four Democratic candidates for commissioner after having endorsed two of the Republicans in 2006. The liberal weekly says "the (school board) majority is out of control" and that it's the job of the commissioners to reign them in.

"True, the commissioners can't and shouldn't micromanage the school board," the Independent writes. "However, when five members of the school board are acting recklessly while simultaneously shutting out public debate and input from anyone not a card-carrying member of the Republican right wing — including the four other school board members — the commissioners have a duty to step in."

It looks more and more like this year's races for county commissioner will turn into a battle over the Wake County school system.

As noted in today's article by Thomas Goldsmith, Republicans running for commissioner are backing the new school board majority while Democrats are opposing the end of the diversity policy. At stake could be how much financial support the school board majority gets to implement the changes it hopes to make.

"I don't approve of that all," said Democratic Commissioner Lindy Brown of eliminating the diversity policy in the article. "I don't see the business community or the citizens of Wake County going that route."

Wake County school issues and next year's county commissioners' races are about to be inextricably linked.

Joe Ciulla, a leader of the Wake Schools Community Alliance, said the group plans to be involved in next year's election to back commissioners who will help the new school board majority carry out its campaign pledges. The WSCA helped elect all four new school board members this year.

Jack Nichols, chairman of the Wake County Democratic Party, said he's also expecting the school system to be a major part of next year's commissioners' races.