The County Commish Race in Transylvania County

Wise

Lauren Wise is about as qualified as a county commission candidate can be. He's served on the Transylvania Co planning board for five years, currently as its chair. He's an architect and clearly has an eye for planning and long-range policy. He's been a bridge-builder and consensus leader on the planning board -- which is majority Republican -- but Wise has reputedly gotten unanimous recommendations out of them. Which then promptly die in the hands of hard-right county commissioners.

For example, in 2017 a new comprehensive plan for Transylvania identified a stretch of US 276 in the southeastern part of the county known as Cedar Mountain, bordering Henderson Co and South Carolina (the area contains the DuPont State Forest; its "heart" is some 20 minutes from the county seat of Brevard) -- someone with development stars in his eyes put his thumb on Cedar Mountain and declared it a "Designated Growth Area/Commercial Node."

The whole area is "without public water and sewer" and its long-time residents went gulp at the idea of being transformed by devil-take-the-hindmost commercial development (hello, Pigeon Forge), so they petitioned the county commission with a comprehensive plan of their own, a plan championed by Lauren Wise which would carefully limit different types of development, and encourage other including affordable workforce housing, none of which has to negatively impact historical and cultural norms. Some stuck-in-the-mud and beholden-to-special-interest Republicans on the county commish went "eek, zoning!" and tabled any further consideration of the plan in October 2021. And there it rests.

Is Lauren Wise going to run into the "zoning" buzzsaw that has ruined so many political movements in rural counties?

The historic Transylvania Courthouse was built in the 1870s and has been outrageously neglected by skinflint Republican commissioners who have been much more married to low taxes (the only issue they care about) than they are to historic preservation. Apparently the place is not only run-down but dangerously run-down, with some plaster ceilings prone to collapse. That's according to a letter of official complaint that a senior judge addressed to the county commission. He outlined outdated design and cramped conditions "that allow close contact between, for example, accused criminals and the people they are accused of victimizing." Did the commish take action? No, another prime example of why change is needed in Transylvania County, according to Lauren Wise.

In 2018 a bond issue authorizing some $68 million "to pay the capital costs of constructing, improving, renovating and equipping school facilities" easily passed in Transylvania County, and Democrat Wise is campaigning against Republican dilly-dallying over using that bond:

“Commissioners have spent the four years since this voter-approved bond issue passed collecting taxes, stalling contract negotiations, questioning the ability of voters to understand the complexity of the issue . . . and suggesting that Clark Nexsen, one of the most respected school architects in the country, is somehow fleecing our county with fees,” Wise has said.

“They have done everything possible not to move forward.”

It's a pattern of conservative foot-dragging all too familiar, especially when it comes to building tax-supported infrastructure for the good of the wider community instead of services for purely commercial interests.

It would be a huge indication of changing plate tectonics if Lauren Wise were to win this race. And no big surprise if he doesn't.

Two seats are open on the commission. Three candidates are running -- two Republicans (one an incumbent) and Wise. Two of the three will be elected. 

The Best Little Party in the State

 

"Very red Transylvania County." Brevard is the county seat. Voters there haven't elected a Democrat to the county commission since 2006. Trump took 57% of the Transylvania vote in 2020. Madison Cawthorn, 56%. Those were big wins -- but nowhere close to the 70% that Trump took in some other rural NC counties. The star Democratic candidate on the local 2020 Transylvania ballot, the engaging and credible Sam Edney, lost to incumbent whippersnapper Jake Johnson, but Edney took over 44% of the vote. The hurdle to victory, six percentage points. I know it may be a dreamscape, but that's a number I could work with if I had a fired up bunch of Democrats with me.

The Democratic Party of Transylvania County is on fire, the good kind. While some rural county Democratic parties have essentially given up and sunk out of sight into visible despair, Transylvania Democrats are projecting enthusiastic muscle. They've produced a couple of smashing TV ads (one is shown below), and their website is possibly (probably) the best website for any county Democratic Party in the state (and that includes the website I've been desultorily involved with for going on 30 years).

They ran a Democrat for county commish in 2020, David Siniard. He came in 4th, so missed getting a seat, but his vote total was only 2.3% behind the 3rd-place Republican -- some 1,200 votes. That's already substantially cutting the Trump/Cawthorn margin. Can that be whittled all the way down this year? You bet it can.

This year, Transylvania Democrats have a strong, well prepared co commish candidate in Lauren Wise. I have just read a long, in-depth piece of reporting on him and his candidacy on the BrevardNewsBeat (and I'll have more to say about him). He has the marks of someone who could pull off an upset.

Especially if the Party can get out the vote, especially the women. Certainly, the homegrown ad that the Transylvania Party just produced can't hurt that effort (and confirms what some of us have been saying, that the Dobbs decision plays well even in rural counties). (And by the way, what a find Shay Donahue is!). (Another less-than-a-minute Transylvania spot highlighting education can be seen here.)