Friday, October 11, 2013

The Lesson of Pete Gilbert

Pete Gilbert, standing. Montravius King,
2nd from right
Pete Gilbert is the chairman of the Pasquotank County Republican Party. Pete Gilbert successfully induced the Republican majority on the Pasquotank County Board of Elections to kick Montravius King off the Elizabeth City municipal ballot. Pete Gilbert hated the idea of college students voting in local elections, let along running for local office. Pete Gilbert got scolded for that at the State Board of Elections hearing which ended up reinstating Montravius King to the ballot. On Tuesday of this week, Montravius King won a seat on the Elizabeth City town council, becoming the youngest elected official in the entire state of North Carolina.

We can't resist wondering how Pete Gilbert feels today. He had bragged, back when he was successfully suppressing Montravius King, that he was going to take his crusade against college students across the state, and Civitas Action was clearly gearing up to help him. Susan Myrick of Civitas, who sat next to Gilbert when he got Montravius kicked off the ballot, was subsequently seen conferring with Republican Party officials in Watauga County.

Mark Templeton
Anne Marie Yates, Chair of the Watauga County Republican Party, could not contain her glee about secret plans to hobble the voting of Appalachian State University students. She and other Republicans had a plan that was going to get her brother Mark Templeton elected to the Boone Town Council. Mr. Templeton made it clear at Tuesday night's candidate forum in Boone that he was the leader of a handpicked team of the other Republicans candidates, Matt Long and James Milner.

Anne Marie Yates burbled about her plans to get that team into office to a Watauga Democrat reporter, and that interview has since become an exhibit in the petition to remove the Republican members of the Watauga County Board of Elections for malfeasance.

One of those two Republican members of the Watauga BOE, Bill Aceto, also could not contain his glee at what was about to happen to Watauga County voters (more specifically, ASU voters) at the notorious August 12th meeting of the Watauga BOE. According to the petition referenced above, Aceto told a Democratic candidate in the upcoming election that he and Luke Eggers were about to take the gloves off.

Pete Gilbert might have words of wisdom for these folks, if Pete Gilbert has learned anything in the meantime.

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2 comments:

  1. Anonymous10:41 AM

    I spent the day in Elizabeth City Tuesday. The election played out interestingly. EC has a Ward system, 2 council members from each ward, and only the voters in that ward vote. Remember ECSU is a very small school, enrollment 2400. Between early voting and election day 189 students voted in the ward 4 election out of a turnout of 869. King had 585 votes, meaning he even got a majority of the NON students. Each voter had two votes, and 27-year old Darius Horton grabbed the second seat with 565 votes. The other 5 candidates were much older, but the two young winners went door to door everywhere in the community and worked together as a team behind the scenes. There was one long-term incumbent in the race, she got just 220 votes. Everyone in EC was STUNNED by the election results, except of course the voters. The other dynamic in the race -- all 7 candidates were black Democrats, and a white Republican filed the challenge, and it could be fairly said that townspeople were not happy about him going after the student candidate. 70% of the registered voters in the ward are black.

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  2. Anonymous7:50 AM

    JW, thank you for bringing up the name of Ms. Yates. As a registered Republican and member of this community I find that what is happening has gone beyond "politics" to "bullying". It is wrong and should not be tolerated. I applaud others for filing the complaint and will do my part to share my dislike of their political machine and system.

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