Democrat County Chairman cuts GOP out of decision
I covered this on Friday, but since then the Chairman of the Buncombe County Commission weighed in on the matter.
From the Citizen-Times:
Brownie Newman, chairman of the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners, exceeded his authority when he told a state board that commissioners would pay for adding an early voting site south of downtown, Commissioner Robert Pressley says.
Pressley said Friday that Newman should not commit the county to spending money for something without a vote involving all commissioners.
I read the article - interested to see how Chairman Newman would explain this action. [Emphasis added]
Newman, a Democrat, said he only had a short time to respond to a request from residents on the issue before a meeting of the State Board of Elections and Ethics Enforcement. He said he called commissioners on the phone to discuss the issue and once he determined a majority of commissioners backed the idea, he stopped calling and wrote the letter.
Gee, I wonder which commissioners he called first.
All he'd need to do is call his three Democrat colleagues, get their support, then write the letter.
This is not good governance - particularly when you're trying to convince the public that the Board of Commissioners is not as corrupt as the three former administrators who just got indicted by a federal grand jury.
Non-profit won't stop handing out needles
Groups running a homeless shelter and needle exchange cited by the City of Asheville for zoning violations say they won't stop their work.
The article this weekend in the AC-T makes it pretty clear that the various groups running the operation have no intention of stopping.
The city has taken complaints from nearby schools, businesses and neighboring residents about public safety concerns, Ball said. Those included complaints of loitering and camping, complaints that residents had found hypodermic needles littered on neighboring properties and that people had seen intravenous drug use in public.
"There has also been an increase in calls to APD (Asheville Police Department) in the area of 610 Haywood Road," Ball stated.
In addition to Kairos West, The Steady Collective, a needle exchange program that operates weekly in the back of Firestorm Cafe, was another organization affected by the violation notices.
The Steady Collective said it has helped 47 people avoid overdose deaths since January by issuing overdose reversal kits like Narcan and other tools. In addition, the Steady Collective safely disposed of nearly 15,000 needles in 2017, according to an annual report.
The groups could be facing fines of $100 a day.
Reality show villain does her thing
I'm not sure why anyone would be shocked or surprised by the allegations from former White House employee (and Celebrity Apprentice repeated failure) Omarosa Manigault Newman...
Donald Trump is a “racist” who has used the “N-word” repeatedly, Omarosa Manigault Newman, once the most prominent African American in the White House, claims in a searing memoir.
The future US president was caught on mic uttering the taboo racial slur “multiple times” during the making of his reality TV show The Apprentice and there is a tape to prove it, according to Manigault Newman, citing three unnamed sources.
On virtually every episode of Celebrity Apprentice, Donald Trump gave Omarosa the benefit of the doubt. He took her side in virtually every argument, as her rivals caught her trafficking in nasty lies, personal insults, and sabotaging her own team's efforts in order to secure a better position for herself.
Trump virtually always defended her and let her get away with it.
My wife and I discussed this a few times as we watched the series, and assumed it was because Omarosa's constant conflict was good TV and good for ratings.
But when President Trump hired the reality-TV character to his White House I wondered if he genuinely likes Omarosa and maybe feels sympathy for her (Trump offered his condolences when her fiance died unexpectedly).
Now, the President is learning the lesson that every contestant on his TV show tried to explain to him - that Omarosa is a miserable, self-serving, deceitful, dishonest, and ethically devoid human being.
And her new target is him.
But, wait! There's more!
Buncombe County to end contracts with company tied to kickback allegations.
Rep. Mark Meadows will join us on the show today at 3:30 to discuss the Steele Dossier, the race for Speaker of the House, shadow banning, and more!
FBI agent Peter Strzok has been fired over anti-Trump texts.