In the latest shot at GOP Wake County Commissioner Tony Gurley, Democratic challenger Steve Rao is accusing his opponent of flip-flopping on the issue of mandatory year-round schools.

In this campaign mailer, Rao says that Gurley "voted for mandatory year-round schools before he flip flopped and opposed them." It's part of what Rao says is a "more of the same" approach to governing by Gurley.

Rao cites the minutes from the Aug. 21, 2006 meeting in which Gurley voted to put on the ballot the $970 million school construction bond issue that included the use of mandatory year-round.

Wake CARES has announced that it's endorsing the four Republican candidates for Wake County Board of Commissioners.

The group notes that in 2006 it had endorsed Republicans Joe Bryan, Paul Coble and Tony Gurley and Democrat Lindy Brown. But WAke CARES says only the three Republicans kept their promises on mandatory year-round schools.

"Unfortunately, Brown quickly broke with her campaign promise to support families who could not make the mandatory year round calendar work," Wake CARES says in explaining why they're endorsing Republican Phil Matthews.

Phil Matthews' willingness to fully align himself with the new Wake County school board majority may have been what put him over the top in the District 2 GOP primary for county commissioner.

As noted in today's article by Thomas Goldsmith, Matthews ran as a strong supporter of the school board's move to community schools. He bested Phil Jeffreys, who supported mass conversion of schools to a year-round calendar, and Champ Claris, who said he wanted more info from the school board.

"The school board, they were duly elected, they have just been in office a few months, and they are doing what they were elected to do," Matthews said. "I think we need to give them time to put their plan in action."

The Wake County school system is a big issue for the three Republican candidates running in the District 2 primary for county commissioner.

Former Commissioner Phil Jeffreys, who had run-ins with the old school board during his previous tenure, is hoping to regain his seat. His GOP challengers are former Garner Alderman Phil Matthews and Raleigh real estate agent Champ Claris.

The winner will take on Democratic incumbent Lindy Brown in November. At stake could be which party controls the board of commissioners during a time in which the new school board majority will be trying to implement community schools.

UPDATE

Click here for Thursday's article by Thomas Goldsmith about the race. 

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."

School board candidate John Tedesco has overtaken Cathy Truitt for the fundraising lead in District 2.

In this campaign report received today, Tedesco reported having raised $20,065.96 as of Oct. 19. Through that same time period, Truitt had reported raising $19,425.31.

Tedesco also has a lot more money than Truitt available for spending in the final week. He reported having spent $12,936.07 and having $6,100.40 on hand.

If you missed Wednesday's countywide school board candidate forum, you've got another chance next week.

Former Wake County Commissioner Phil Jeffreys has organized a forum for Thursday. While Jeffreys was a harsh critic of the school board during his time in office, he's recruited a majority of the candidates to attend.

SEE UPDATE AT END OF POST