
{"id":6650,"date":"2009-08-06T06:42:15","date_gmt":"2009-08-06T14:42:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/?p=6650"},"modified":"2009-08-06T06:42:15","modified_gmt":"2009-08-06T14:42:15","slug":"candidates-for-chapel-hill-mayor-prepare-for-marathon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/2009\/08\/06\/candidates-for-chapel-hill-mayor-prepare-for-marathon\/","title":{"rendered":"Candidates for Chapel Hill mayor prepare for marathon"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By Kirk Ross<\/strong><br \/>\n<em>Staff Writer<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>Chapel Hill  \u00e2\u20ac\u201d <\/strong> When Chapel Hill Mayor Kevin Foy opted not to seek another term, he set off a predictable wave of speculation about who would replace him.<\/p>\n<p>Since mayors run every two years, there are more opportunities for contested elections, but unlike elections for the eight-member town council, there are fewer chances of there being an open seat.<\/p>\n<p>This year is one of those rare open-seat years, and, as a result, a highly competitive race has started early and with a record four candidates vying for the job.<br \/>\n<!--more--><br \/>\nFoy\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s announcement, which came in late May, is one reason interest in the campaign started early, but that announcement also combined with other factors \u00e2\u20ac\u201c including new rules for public financing, the conclusion of a long negotiation over Carolina North and a newly launched initiative to review growth and the future direction of the town \u00e2\u20ac\u201c to elevate interest that much more.<\/p>\n<p>More than any other time in the town\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s recent past, this election season opens with Chapel Hill at a crossroads and the leadership that will decide its direction in flux.<\/p>\n<p>The mayor\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s race already has affected the town council, with two of its members \u00e2\u20ac\u201d Mark Kleinschmidt and Matt Czajkowski \u00e2\u20ac\u201c running for mayor. Kleinschmidt\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s council term is up this cycle, and his decision to run for mayor creates an open seat in the council race, an election that features eight candidates  \u00e2\u20ac\u201d including three incumbents \u00e2\u20ac\u201d running for four seats.<\/p>\n<p>Should Czajkowski win, a fifth council member would have to be appointed to fill out the remaining two years of his term.<\/p>\n<p>Changes in leadership are not just in store because of the elections. Bill Strom\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s resignation from the council last week, which came too late for his seat to be included on this year\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s ballot, means his former colleagues will have to nominate and select his replacement, who will serve out the remaining two years of his term.<\/p>\n<p>Depending on how incumbents fare, the change in the mayor\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s office will be accompanied by no less than two new council members and possibly as many as six.<br \/>\n<strong><br \/>\nThe candidates<\/strong><br \/>\n(in order of filing)<br \/>\n<strong><br \/>\nAugustus Cho<\/strong><br \/>\nAugustus Cho was the first to sign on to the mayor\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s race. The 50-year-old writer and tae kwon do instructor said he is running because he believes it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the obligation of citizens to get involved.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Public service is an integral part of living in a community,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said in a recent interview. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153If the opportunity presents itself, we should all dedicate some time for our fellow citizens.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>Cho has been in the public eye as a recent chair of the Orange County GOP, a columnist for The Chapel Hill News and as a member of the town\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Transportation Board, on which he serves as chair.<\/p>\n<p>Cho expects the election to be important in deciding the direction of the town.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Chapel Hill is at a turning point where the decisions that need to be made will impact our community for the foreseeable future,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said.<\/p>\n<p>For his campaign, Cho plans to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153go as green as possible and practice what I preach.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>That, he said, means relying on the Internet \u00e2\u20ac\u0153instead of phone calls and unsolicited emails.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d He said he also plans to get out and campaign and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153press the flesh\u00e2\u20ac\u009d as well.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Matt Czajkowski <\/strong><br \/>\nTwo years ago Matt Czajkowski mounted a successful and well-funded campaign for town council and edged out incumbent Cam Hill in the vote totals. Given that in two years on the council he has often challenged his colleagues over past decisions and reasoning, his run for mayor was not unexpected.<\/p>\n<p>Czajkowski, 60, said he decided to make the move this year in part because of Foy\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s decision, but also because he feels the time is right for a change.<\/p>\n<p>He said he ran two years ago because he was concerned about the way the town was growing, the state of downtown and rising taxes.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Here we are two years later,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153and we are close to a property tax revolt.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>His elderly neighbors and others he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s met who \u00e2\u20ac\u0153are the very people who gave their all to Chapel Hill\u00e2\u20ac\u009d now find taxes so high they have to consider moving elsewhere.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Many people are anxious about the future,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re at the breaking point on taxes.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>Czajkowski, a former investment banker who has managed financial services for local biotech and energy companies, has stressed \u00e2\u20ac\u0153fiscal sustainability\u00e2\u20ac\u009d while on the council and finds the need to rein in spending even more acute. He plans a vigorous campaign, and while he expects to campaign through traditional means, he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been studying alternative ways to get his message out.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re going to look for every other way possible to communicate directly with voters,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Kevin Wolff<\/strong><br \/>\nThe past two mayors of Chapel Hill were elected after losing in their first try. Of the four candidates, Kevin Wolff is the only one to have made a previous attempt; in fact, two of them. Wolff lost to Foy in 2007 and 2005, gaining 29 percent and 21 percent of the votes cast, respectively.<\/p>\n<p>This time out Wolff, 50, said he is running because he is concerned that \u00e2\u20ac\u0153a moderate voice is not adequately heard on the current board.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I want to be that voice for the people of Chapel Hill,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he wrote in an email response to The Citizen.<\/p>\n<p>Wolff, a patent lawyer, singled out Czajkowski, saying that although he supported his run for council, Czajkowski would be a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153lame duck\u00e2\u20ac\u009d mayor from the outset \u00e2\u20ac\u0153with the first act of a contemptuous council being the filling of Matt\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s council seat with one of their own, perhaps Mark Kleinschmidt or Cam Hill,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he wrote. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153From then on, he will be unlikely to ever have any council member give him a second on any meaningful motion.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>Wolff said if he were to win the mayor\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s race, he would have at least one other \u00e2\u20ac\u0153moderate voice\u00e2\u20ac\u009d in Czajkowski on the council to work with.<\/p>\n<p>He was not specific in how he plans to get his message out to voters, saying he hopes to run a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153citizens-based campaign.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Mark Kleinschmidt<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>With his second four-year term on the council coming to a close, Mark Kleinschmidt, 39, said he believes he has the experience the town needs in a mayor as it faces the challenges ahead.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve worked on eight budgets and have knowledge about the way the town operates,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve also worked hard at including citizens in the process.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Seeing the challenges ahead convinced me I need to put my hat in the ring,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Kleinschmidt, a lawyer who is executive director of the Fair Trial Initiative, said he is excited about the opportunity to participate in the town\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Voter Owned Elections process, which provides public funding for mayoral candidates who opt in to spending rules and receive at least 150 contributions that add up to $1,500. Of the four mayoral candidates, he is the only one to apply for the funding, although the others can still opt if they qualify.<\/p>\n<p>Kleinschmidt said he is worried about the influence of money on municipal races. He hopes that once he has qualified for the funding he won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have to spend his time raising money to run.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I can put aside fundraising and spend with people,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said.<\/p>\n<p>He plans to campaign \u00e2\u20ac\u0153in the typical way \u00e2\u20ac\u201d wearing out the shoe leather\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and by setting up meet-ups and visits around town to get together with voters in small groups and one-on-one.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153People have a clear choice,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said of the field of candidates. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I know if I work hard I will win this race.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Kirk Ross Staff Writer Chapel Hill \u00e2\u20ac\u201d When Chapel Hill Mayor Kevin Foy opted not to seek another term, he set off a predictable wave of speculation about who would replace him. Since mayors run every two years, there are more opportunities for contested elections, but unlike elections for the eight-member town council, there&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6650","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","category-top-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6650","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6650"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6650\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6651,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6650\/revisions\/6651"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6650"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6650"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6650"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}