I know that there are some questions about me and my positions. I have answered a few general questions for you to get to know me better. I welcome your questions, as well. Since this information was originally posted two months ago, I figured that it may be hard to find in the archives. So, I am reposting it here for any of those who have not read it thus far. You can click on any of the monthly archive entries on the right side of the page to see previous writings.
Q: Why are you running for office in the first place?
A: I can answer that in two words: PUBLIC SERVICE. I have a long history of public service. I have not been doing a lot of public service over the past few years and have wanted to get back into that mode for a while. I have seen candidates run unopposed for a while in various elections and that bothers me. It especially bothers me if a liberal runs unopposed. The last election cycle, I even went to the county courthouse on the last day for filing and was ready to file for office on the county level if any Democrat was running unopposed for any office for which I was qualified to run. Fortunately, a conservative Republican was the only person who filed to run in that election, so I let him have it all to himself.
Q: Then why Selma? Why town council?
A: Because I live here. I moved to Selma because I wanted to live here. When we were looking to purchase a house, we had only a few areas in which I wanted to look. We found a decent deal on a house we wanted near downtown (oops, excuse me…Uptown) Selma. My wife and I liked the quaint, small town feel we could still have in Selma. We also liked the access to highways, shopping, and the growth we found in Johnston County.
Since this is where I chose to live, I believe in serving and blooming where I am planted. I have had the strong burden to get involved in my community in some fashion. I knew the elections were upcoming, so I decided that was a good way to serve my community.
Q: Describe your political views.
A: That is easy to know but maybe a bit harder to express. I am a registered Republican, but only because there is really no other choice or political party that I can call "home". I have a problem with much of the Republican Party as a whole, but there is no other party that is on the ballot that I can come close to identifying with. If they become more well known and popular, I might join the Constitution Party. I don't see that happening anytime soon, however.
I am very conservative in my political views. I believe that there are essential services that government is supposed to provide, for which we pay taxes. I believe that the government that governs least governs best. At the same time, I do believe in smaller level governments being proactive in promoting and protecting their towns and cities.
I guess that I can put it this way. If you like Jesse Helms, you will love me politically. I may not agree with every social viewpoint he held, but I do believe in his conservative message. His reputation for having spine enough to say the word "NO" regardless of the populist opposition, I find honorable.
Q: Where are you from?
A: I spent the first two decades of my life in New Hampshire. While there, I was active in the local fire department, went to school, and worked my way through college at a radio station. Much of my family is still there. After graduating college, I relocated to Raleigh to take a position at NC State University in my field of study. While living in Raleigh for nine years or so, I found a beautiful wife, was active in ministry outreach, worked to found several Christian fellowship groups, and worked to pay the bills. Eventually, I relocated to Smithfield where I closer to where I worked here in Johnston County. I lived there for about five years until my wife and I could afford to purchase a house in our chosen hometown of Selma. We moved to Selma about three years ago.
Q: What do you see as the greatest challenge for the Town of Selma?
A: Maintaining fiscal accountability and responsibility while experiencing growth. I have addressed this a bit in my blog in the past, but it is well worth repeating. There are issues that I see that are worth re-evaluating. One big one that jumped out at me as I read it was the growth plan for our parks and recreation facilities. Selma only has about 6,000 population. We may well experience growth in the future. However, I do not believe that building seven mini parks and three dog parks in our little town makes good economic sense. It seems wasteful to me. I do not want our town to be turned into another Cary, North Carolina.
If we want to maintain our slogan of "A Charming Place to Be", then we must continue in the things that make us charming. We need to make effective use of our resources while still making our town charming. There are some areas in which we do well. There are other areas in which we could stand some improvement. I do not know ALL of those areas, but I will be diligent to work for improvement where it is necessary.
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