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OrangeChat
How are we doing? If you have a question, complaint or suggestion about coverage of Orange and Chatham counties in The News & Observer and The Chapel Hill News, post your comments in this blog or e-mail us. Comments here may be reprinted in The News & Observer or Chapel Hill News.
Czajkowski files to run for Chapel Hill mayor
Chapel Hill Town Councilman Matt Czajkowski filed with the Board of Elections to run for mayor this morning, saying taxes are too high, the town is growing too fast and downtown is moribund. Here is his statement:
I am running for mayor because I believe deeply that the citizens of Chapel Hill deserve a clear choice as we confront the issues which will shape the future of this town we all love. One choice is to continue the policies and attitudes of the last eight years which have resulted in:
-- an unsustainable tax burden that is driving out the very people who have contributed so much to the diversity of Chapel Hill;
-- a policy of unrestrained growth which has led to development projects which are shocking to many; and
-- a downtown that is sadly still lacking vitality.
The alternatives for which I have been advocating since I have been on the council are:
-- fiscal restraint and an appreciation for the burden of property taxes on our homeowners;
-- rethinking our approach to growth; and
-- taking the actions necessary to bring downtown back to its former vitality.
As the only candidate for mayor with a business and financial background I look forward to a debate on the issues during the campaign. The choice will be very clear and the voters of Chapel Hill will at long last be able to choose between continuing the policies of the last eight years which have led us to where we are today – or a new practical approach which insists on fiscal discipline, pursues growth which is right for Chapel Hill and does the necessary things to revive downtown.
I am grateful to the voters of Chapel Hill who elected me to the Town Council, as well as the many who have subsequently thanked me for the common sense and practical approach I have brought to Council discussions. You have made it possible for all the citizens of Chapel Hill to have a choice on November 3rd. I am asking for your vote for change in Chapel Hill.
Mark Schultz
Mark Schultz is the editor of The Chapel Hill News and The Durham News, and one of the Western Triangle editors for The News & Observer.
Comments
Where do I send my contribution?
Sat, 07/11/2009 - 20:35 — ActLocalWhere is Matt accepting contributions?
Claudius what does it matter
Fri, 07/10/2009 - 21:10 — masomenosClaudius, what does it matter if Jason WAS working for some candidate? Secretly? What a conspiracy! Is something wrong with that? So what candidate(s) are YOU working for??? I don't even need your response it is perfectly clear. Give me a break. Go back to Rome. Me thinks you think you know more than you do.
What Does It Matter?
Sat, 07/11/2009 - 12:15 — ClaudiusHe should be upfront and comment on Matt C's position on the issues instead of complaining about his e-mail list; that's less than forthright in my mind.
At least for me
Fri, 07/10/2009 - 21:23 — elvisboy77It would explain why his whine-ometer is pegged at 11 on a scale of 1 to 10 on this topic.
I have to
Sat, 07/11/2009 - 11:23 — TBlakeagree. the whole "WHAAAAHA he sent me an unsoliceted email" is so.......20th century. Grow up, get over it, move on, be progressive :)
Emails
Fri, 07/10/2009 - 10:31 — fhblackGood points, Terri. Are we going to treat email differently from US mail and phone calls coming to your home? I think the technology is still far ahead of policy.
Irrespective of the emails, I doubt that there is anything that MattC might do that Jason would approve.
It should be noted
Thu, 07/09/2009 - 13:16 — jasonbaker... as was mentioned on OrangePolitics.org, he seems to have involuntarily added an awful lot of people to the email list to which he sent this, including myself and my partner who very much would not like to be spammed with his campaign propaganda. His list also seems to include a whole bunch of people who are not even Chapel Hill residents and have no idea how they got added to the list.
What better way to kick off a campaign than by spamming people against their will!
Email announcements
Fri, 07/10/2009 - 06:35 — tbucknerI've received a couple of other email announcements, as I'm sure Jason and anyone else active in local politics has. What makes one announcement spam and another not? In this instance, I would say it's not spam unless you ask to be removed from the list and the sender refuses to do so.
The difference...
Fri, 07/10/2009 - 09:28 — jasonbaker1) This is not the first email that has been sent to this listserv. Unlike other candidacy announcements I've received this season, which were a single email, I've received multiple emails from Matt on this listserv which he created for his campaign. The first, notably, was touting himself as the champion of the SCVTF, which received admonishment from some of his council colleagues as inappropriate.
2) He appears to have scraped just about every email address he could find, including numerous people who have never lived in Chapel Hill and others who do not participate in local politics.
3) Typically, listservs (as opposed to single emails, which this was not) operate under the policy of opt-in. I choose to be a part of the list. This list is being operated as opt-out. Most of the folks who I've heard complain about it have never given out their email address in any context by which they should reasonably be expected to be added to a campaign list.
These reasons, I imagine, are why many people have received an apology email from Matt over the past 24 hours.
Email List vs Listserv
Fri, 07/10/2009 - 10:16 — tbucknerMatt's message came from a email list (from an address book) rather than a listserv. Listservs use subscriptions. Email lists reside within someone's email application.
The question is, did you ask to be removed from the list? And if so, were you?
I just don't understand what the complaint is. I got way more unsolicited emails from the Obama campaign than I wanted. And because they were coming from so many different sources, I couldn't get myself free of them. Yes, you have a different political perspective than Matt does. But that
doesn't justify using an emotional descriptor like "spam" to an email message, anymore than I would use that descriptor to the unsolicited messages from Obama (whom I voted for but still didn't appreciate all the emails).
Matt's messages...
Fri, 07/10/2009 - 10:48 — jasonbaker... came from iContact, an email marketing listserv management company, not a personal email from an address book.
Maybe you got a personal notification. The rest of us who are annoyed by it didn't.
And, to answer Claudius's question below, no, I'm not actively working for any of the mayoral candidates at this time. I've met with multiple candidates in the municipal races regarding their campaigns, but I'm not campaigning for anyone at this point. Given the way things seem to be shaping up, I expect that I will work for multiple candidates this fall, but I am waiting until after filing closes and all of the candidates emerge to decide which slate best represents my views. It's no secret that Matt is not one of those people who represents my views; all the more reason I don't want to be getting emails from him.
Did you get removed?
Fri, 07/10/2009 - 11:44 — tbucknerJason--have you asked to be removed from the list wherever it came from? What response did you get from the request?
Since it's a mass mailing company running the list...
Fri, 07/10/2009 - 12:04 — jasonbaker... my removal was automated.
To his credit, I have heard from several other people who received personalized apologies from Matt for being added to his list. I am glad he is trying to do the right thing and clean up his mess.
I hope that other candidates also consider the appropriateness of their actions as they begin their campaigns. I was not happy to see that Gary Wallach (or his supporters) are already putting up campaign signs in at least a couple places around town.
Just to be clear.....
Fri, 07/10/2009 - 12:48 — tbucknerthis wasn't spam. You got 1 message, and you were removed immediately upon request as were others. Other candidates have also sent emails announcing their intent to run for office, and have not been subjected to public criticism.
Fine
Fri, 07/10/2009 - 13:01 — jasonbakerFine, then, it was just an indiscriminately sent unsolicited bulk message mass mailed to what appears to have been a scraped email list. And it was not the first. If you don't call that spam, I'm not going to argue with you, because I don't think we'll get anywhere from such an argument.
I'll gladly raise my concerns about any other candidate who does the same, whether or not I support their positions on the issues pertinent to their office. I brought up the same point with the campaigns of a lieutenant governor candidate and state treasurer candidate last Spring, and notified the student attorney general of similar abuses when I was active in campus elections years ago.
My, my, my
Fri, 07/10/2009 - 16:58 — elvisboy77how touchy.
Enough Already!
Fri, 07/10/2009 - 16:07 — ClaudiusJasonbaker - Could It Be?
Fri, 07/10/2009 - 10:21 — ClaudiusMethinks thou dost protest too much. Give it to us straight, slick - you're secretly working for one of the other mayoral candidates, aren't you?
Maybe you should
Thu, 07/09/2009 - 16:58 — elvisboy77consult someone who is knowledgeable about computers- they can set up a spam filter for you. Then you would not be bothered.
So, is the fact that I got multiple, unsolicited mailings (in color, I might add!) from Lydia Lavelle last election cycle supposed to cause me to be outraged? At least Mr. C did not kill any trees or send a carbon spewing vehicle out to deliver them. Who is greener?
As far as emailing people for support outside one's voting district- do you feel the same about folks such as Mike Nelson and Lydia Lavelle, for example, both of whom got the majority of their campaign contributions from "way outside" of their voting constituency? I don't recall anyone complaining about them getting money from special interests outside of the County, and even State.
Sheesh, if I got that upset every time I got an unsolicited email I would just quit using email. I wonder if the email had come from Mark Kleinschmidt if you would have been equally upset?
Wow! You have my vote!
Thu, 07/09/2009 - 12:59 — lrollinsWow! You have my vote!