Letters: Superficial, Entitled Progressive Grandstanding

This being the last issue before the October 8 elections in Raleigh and Durham, we’ll give critics of our endorsements (see our 2019 Voter Guide) their say. 

B. Taylor professes disappointment in our support for Durham incumbents Javiera Caballero, Jillian Johnson, and Charlie Reece: “Those three so-called progressives have completely abdicated their responsibilities to Durham in favor of an ego trip of epic proportions. Most of all, they have joined with our equally patronizing mayor to create an unholy mess in downtown. Let’s see them pay for all the front-end alignments and ruined tires citizens have suffered and the ill-planned over-development and gentrification of Durham. Just no, no, no. They are poster children for superficial, entitled progressive grandstanding.”

G.C., meanwhile, says Raleigh council member Stef Mendell is right to question our motives. “Hellooooo? [The INDY’s] owner is Richard Meeker. Brother of former Raleigh mayor Charles Meeker, current mayor Nancy McFarlane’s political mentor and longtime ally. As is apparent to anyone who follows Raleigh politics, the mayor declared war on council members Mendell and David Cox long ago. Her husband verbally and physically berated council member Kay Crowder, which led to McFarlane’s decision not to run for re-election. That incident isn’t something you would know by reading the INDY, of course. Given the strong Meeker-McFarlane relationship, it isn’t inconsequential to the question of the INDY’s objectivity.”

JT writes that she’s with the NIMBYs: “I admire the responsiveness that Cox, Crowder, Mendell, and Russ Stephenson showed with the RDU quarry. Though the entire council has said (finally) that they are against the quarry, these four and Sam Hershey (running for District A) were the only ones who spoke out. I’m sticking with supporting the people who deliver on what they say, I’ve seen in action, and have made a stand for the environment.”

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