Campaign heating up

With the passage of Labor Day, campaign season is heating up. Knightdale and Zebulon figure to have gentlemanly — but contested — races, with the exception of the Zebulon Mayor's race, which will be gentlemanly, but uncontested. Incumbent Bob Matheny is the lone candidate.

Wendell, on the other hand... Well, for the second year in a row, this looks like an election with all the ingredients for a pressure cooker. There are seven candidates vying for three seats. Two of the three incumbents decided they didn't even want to run again this year. That leaves Ronald Thompson and six challengers.

The two open seats figure to be important ones. The two candidates who chose not to run — Buddy Scarboro and Bill Connolly — have been part of the town board's ruling majority for some time.

Two years ago, folks got behind Sid Baynes and pushed his candidacy over the top, creating a two-person voting bloc on the board of commissioners. Baynes and Hinnant rarely vote in opposition to each other and, often-times when there is a split vote, Baynes and Hinnant are on the losing end of a 3-2 vote.

That could change in November. 

Christie Adams, Ginna Gray and Glenn Harris are running as a block and they have created a joint Web site that includes some basic information about their campaigns. Adams' portion of the Web site is extremely well populated with information.Check it out here.

The trio also has the support of a handful of people who spearheaded the creation of the Wendell Community Coalition. That group now seems largely defunct, but the powerbrokers behind it are still active. Dan Edwards, one of those Wendell Community Coalition founders, and his wife, Judy, are hosting a campaign event Sept. 22 featuring Adams, Gray and Harris.

And in the past 24 hours, I've been asked by two other people about advertising options. I have no idea yet, who those ads would support.

Voters in all three towns will have an opportunity to hear from the candidates at forums planned for October. The Wendell forum is scheduled for Oct. 8 in the Wendell Community Center. The Zebulon forum is Oct. 13 at Zebulon Town Hall. The Knightdale event is Oct. 20 at Knightdale Town Hall. All three begin at 7 p.m. 

Voters can participate by submitting questions to be asked of the candidates at the forums. Send them to us at johnny.whitfield@nando.com or you can fax them to 269-8383. You can also mail them to Eastern Wake News, PO Box 1167, Zebulon NC, 27597 Attn: Johnny Whitfield.

The election is Nov. 3.