In the fight (“Give back the Yadkin, dammit”, Indy, Nov. 18) between Stanly County and Alcoa for control of the Yadkin River and its profitable hydroelectric power generation, the local officials standing against the rapacious multinational corporation were — are — Republicans. Now comes word from Carter Wrenn, a solid Republican if ever there was one, that Alcoa is throwing the big bucks into the local primaries in an effort to unseat a trio of Republican county commissioners.
Wrenn’s point: If you thought the U.S. Supreme Court decision in the Citizens United case, the one sanctioning unlimited corporate spending on political campaigns, was a mistake — well, consider the case of Alcoa’s corporate treasury in any little county it thinks it should own.
