State Senate candidate Mike Woodard has hand-delivered overdue reports that had prompted his opponent to file a complaint Monday with the state Board of Elections.

But the campaign chairman for Woodard's opponent in state Senate District 22, Durham attorney Kerry Sutton, has found another ground for complaint about Woodard's campaign management.

Woodard's Statement of Organization, which was due Feb. 25, identifies his campaign treasurer as Michael S. Wilson of Louisville, CO. North Carolina elections law requires campaign treasurers to be North Carolina residents.

Woodard names himself as Assistant Treasurer and as Custodian of Books.

Wilson was listed as Woodard's treasurer on a 2005 statement filed with the Durham Board of Elections, with a Durham address. Durham County tax records show that Wilson sold that residence in 2008, and do not show him as current owner of real property in the county.

Colorado records show Wilson as a registered voter in Colorado.
 

State Senate candidate Mike Woodard is tardy with some financial paperwork. His campaign organization has yet to file an organizational report with the state Board of Elections that was due two months ago.

Amy Strange, campaign finance compliance specialist with the state Board, said  Monday that her office had attempted to contact Woodard's campaign and had no response.

Woodard said he received a written notice about the missing report last Friday. The notice gave him 30 days to comply, he said.

The next Election Day is more than seven weeks away, but candidates' campaign signs have proliferated all along Durham's streets these past few days.

If it seems a little early for that kind of thing, times have changed. So have Durham's election rules, and some in the political community are miffed that not everybody got the word.

"This is about fairness. No more, no less," said George Lawrence, campaign chairman for state Senate candidate Kerry Sutton, one who didn't get it, while her opponent is, current City Councilman Mike Woodard, is one who did.

Because he, like some other candidates, asked for it. It's like this –

City Councilman Mike Woodard filed today as a candidate for state Senate.

Woodard, in the middle of his third four-year council term, is running against attorney Kerry Sutton for the new Senate District 22, which covers part of Durham County along with Person and Caswell.

Before redistricting, the 22nd District covered Moore and Harnett counties. Most of the city of Durham remains in Senate District 20, along with Granville County. District 20 incumbent Floyd McKissick has yet to file for re-election.

Three Durham City Council members were appointed or reappointed to committees of the National League of Cities this week.

• Councilman Farad Ali, appointed to the Community and Economic Development Policy and Advocacy Steering Committee. The committee deals with community and economic development, financial institutions, international trade, housing, land use, and recreation.
• Mayor Pro Tem Cora Cole-McFadden, reappointed to the Human Development Steering Committee. The committee is concerned with employment and job training, child development, aid to needy families, unemployment support, immigration, health, education and equal opportunity..
• Councilman Mike Woodard, reappointed to the Transportation Infrastructure and Services Policy and Advocacy Steering Committee. The committee works in public transit, streets and highways, aviation, and passenger and freight rail.

The National League of Cities is a resource and lobbying organization representing 19,000 municipalities. Its committees decide policies for the league on various public concerns.
 

Good news this morning for the Triangle Veterinary Emergency Clinic and the folks of Morreene Road: NCDOT has changed its mind.

According to City Councilman Mike Woodard, highway department engineers met this morning and decided the clinic will not have to add a turn lane in front of its planned new clinic at Morreene Road and Linden Terrace -- thus removing the need to move a city sewer line and saving the clinic around  $250,000.

As reported in last Saturday's Durham News, residents near the clinic site -- former Mariner's Cove restaurant location -- want the clinic to move in and renovate the warehouse eyesore in their midst. After learning that DOT's requirements for the turn lane and sewer move jeopardized the clinic's plan, they mounted a campaign to convince DOT to reconsider and enlist city and state officials on their side.

After hearing about police frustration over stopping criminal goings-on around the intersection of South and Enterprise streets near the Durham Freeway, City Councilman Mike Woodard summed up the situation with a quote from his Uncle Buster:

"It's hard to cut grass in a graveyard because you don't get any help from the residents."

City Council Ward 3 candidate Allan Polak has requested a city inquiry into a code of ethics violation he alleges his opponent, council member Mike Woodard, committed this week.

City Council candidate Allan Polak called a statement by councilman Mike Woodard "a complete lie" during a candidates' forum Tuesday night.

The accusation came after Woodard told Polak a statement he had made was "incorrect." Woodard did not respond to Polak's "lie" statement. Woodard and Polak are opponents for the City Council's Ward 3 seat in next Tuesday's election.