Payback Time

WakeCounty is North Carolina’s most Democratic county. President Obama carried the state in 2008 because he racked up a 60,000-vote margin in this county alone.
 
But two big and bitter battles yesterday showed what a split county this is – and that there are no final victories in politics.
 
The votes – the City Council on Raleigh’s public safety center and the Wake school board on the diversity policy – were direct slaps at some formerly high-riding politicians: Mayor Charles Meeker and the staff and ex-majority on the school board.
 
Just last week, Meeker’s record of rebuilding downtown was toasted at a big dinner.
 
This week, he got only four votes for another downtown project. The left and the right joined hands to beat him.
 
As for the schools, the staff and the old board majority (including the mayor’s wife) had earned a reputation for turning a deaf ear to parents’ concerns.
 
You may not like what the new majority is doing, but they’re listening to the people who elected them.
 
Sometimes in politics, victory sows the seeds of defeat. That’s because, too often in politics, winners get so full of themselves they forget to listen.
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Gary Pearce

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Payback Time

WakeCounty is North Carolina’s most Democratic county. President Obama carried the state in 2008 because he racked up a 60,000-vote margin in this county alone.
 
But two big and bitter battles yesterday showed what a split county this is – and that there are no final victories in politics.
 
The votes – the City Council on Raleigh’s public safety center and the Wake school board on the diversity policy – were direct slaps at some formerly high-riding politicians: Mayor Charles Meeker and the staff and ex-majority on the school board.
 
Just last week, Meeker’s record of rebuilding downtown was toasted at a big dinner.
 
This week, he got only four votes for another downtown project. The left and the right joined hands to beat him.
 
As for the schools, the staff and the old board majority (including the mayor’s wife) had earned a reputation for turning a deaf ear to parents’ concerns.
 
You may not like what the new majority is doing, but they’re listening to the people who elected them.
 
Sometimes in politics, victory sows the seeds of defeat. That’s because, too often in politics, winners get so full of themselves they forget to listen.
Posted in , ,
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Gary Pearce

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