Environmental endorsements for Tuesday's primary

Tomorrow is North Carolina's primary election. To help voters make wise choices, environmental groups have issued endorsements relevant to voters living in the Raleigh area.

One is the Conservation Council of North Carolina's political action committee, whose endorsements for several contested primaries include:

* Winston-Salem City Councilman and longtime environmental champion Dan Besse for lieutenant governor (click here to read full endorsement as a PDF);

* State Sen. Janet Cowell for state treasurer (click here to read a PDF of the endorsement); and

* Josh Stein for state Senate District 16 in Wake County.

C-PAC has also endorsed a number of legislators who do not face a challenge in the primary but who have an excellent voting record on environmental issues. They include:

* Rep. Jennifer Weiss in Wake County's House District 35; and

* Rep. Deborah Ross in Wake's House District 38.

To read C-PAC's complete slate of endorsements, click here.

The North Carolina Sierra Club has also issued primary endorsements. Like C-PAC, it's also endorsed Besse [PDF] for lieutenant governor and Cowell [PDF] for state treasurer. It notes that that whoever holds the position sought by Cowell, a former Sierra Club leader, will have the opportunity to capture the emerging market in clean energy technology.

The Sierra Club has also endorsed Weiss and Ross, along with state Sen. Vernon Malone in Wake's District 14, Rep. Grier Martin in Wake's House District 34 and Rep. Linda Coleman in Wake's House District 39.

To read the Sierra Club's full list of primary endorsements, click here.

N.C. voter registration deadline this week

If you're planning to vote in next month's primary election here in North Carolina, now is the time to get your paperwork in order.

This Friday, April 11 is the registration deadline for the May 6 election -- though folks who miss that cutoff will still be able to register and vote on the same day at the state's early voting sites between April 17 and May 3. If you've moved since last registering, you'll need to register again.

To download an N.C. voter registration form and for instructions on where to send it, click here. For more details on same-day registration, click here.

Taliaferro cancels runoff plans...

... handing the victory in the Raleigh City Council District B race to challenger Rodger Koopman, the News & Observer reports. Koopman advocates higher impact fees for new development and opposes special tax breaks for developers, and his election further solidifies smart-growth advocates' control over the council at a critical time, as the city is about to update its comprehensive plan.

As we reported previously based on an analysis by Below the Beltline, developer-friendly Taliaferro got at least 86 percent of her campaign contributions from real-estate interests, compared to just 2 percent for Koopman, who won 44 percent of the vote. Taliaferro came in second with 33 percent, while third place went to Angel Menendez, an anti-tax conservative who got 22 percent.

Here's the text of an e-mail Koopman sent to the Wake Progressives e-mail list this afternoon:

To: wake_progressives@yahoogroups.com
From: rodger@rodgerkoopman.com
Date: Thu, 11 Oct 2007 15:19:30 -0400
Subject: [wake_progressives] It's official - I won the City Council seat for District B

Dear Wake Progressives,

Thank you for your support. I also want to thank Jessie Taliaferro for having the integrity and courage to make one of the toughest phone calls an incumbent has to make, to call your opponent to concede.

This is a time to be gracious and magnanimous, and to honor Jessie's courage. I also want to thank her for her four years of service and hard work on the city council.

I look forward to serving you on the Raleigh City Council. We have a 5-3 progressive majority which means we can do many good things for the citizens of our great city.

Sincerely,
Rodger Koopman

Besides Koopman, the new progressive majority also includes Mayor Charles Meeker, District A newcomer Nancy McFarlane, District D veteran Thomas Crowder, and at-large veteran Russ Stephenson. The other council members are unchallenged incumbent James West in District C, District D veteran Philip Isley, and new at-large representative Mary-Ann Baldwin.

Raleigh voters reject Big Real Estate's candidates

It's a great day for those of us who think Raleigh would be a better place if the real estate industry held less sway over city politics.

With election results close to final, it appears that Raleigh's council may be governed by a majority that wants developers to shoulder a greater portion of the costs of growth. Mayor Charles Meeker, who wants higher impact fees on new development and limits on tax breaks for developers, will now have key allies in victorious council challengers Nancy McFarlane in District A and perhaps Rodger Koopman in District B. (Koopman did not win 50 percent of the vote outright, and incumbent Jessie Taliaferro told the News & Observer that she plans to request a runoff.)

McFarlane appears to have defeated incumbent Tommy Craven, himself a developer, while Koopman garnered more votes than Jessie Taliaferro, an incumbent whose campaign was heavily funded by development interests. In the at-large race, incumbent Russ Stephenson, another Meeker ally, has held onto his seat by a comfortable margin. The winner of the second at-large seat appears to be Mary-Ann Baldwin, the director of marketing for Stewart Engineering (a firm involved with real estate development) and a major recipient of developer cash.

According to an analysis by the folks at Below the Beltline, 65 percent of Baldwin's contributions in the last campaign finance reporting period came from development interests. For Taliaferro, that figure was 86 percent, compared to just 10 percent for Stephenson and 2 percent for Koopman. The blog A View of the city puts the portion of Taliaferro's campaign cash that came from development interests in the latest period at an even higher 93.8 percent.

The triumph of smart-growth advocates over pro-development candidates is particularly important this year, as Raleigh is about to kick off the process of updating its comprehensive plan.

'A vote for the Parks bonds is a vote to pave paradise'

Earlier this week we reported on the local Sierra Club chapter's endorsements for the upcoming Raleigh municipal elections. In passing, we also referred to The Independent's picks for the city -- including its endorsement of the $88.6 million parks bond issue. But before you go ahead and reflexively vote "yes," read the piece titled "Pink Hotel" by "Lunsford Lane" at the terrific Below the Beltline blog that makes a progressive argument against the bond issue.

Environmental group makes Raleigh municipal race endorsements

The Capital Group Sierra Club has announced its endorsements for the Raleigh municipal elections set for Oct. 9:

* For Raleigh mayor, the group has endorsed incumbent Charles Meeker, who's running unopposed.

*In District A, Sierra's choice is Nancy McFarlane, who's challenging incumbent Tommy Craven.

* In District B, it endorsed Rodger Koopman, who's running against incumbent Jessie Taliaferro, as well as another challenger, Angel Menendez.

* The group declined to make any endorsement in District C, where incumbent James West is running unopposed.

* In District D, it endorsed Thomas Crowder, the incumbent who's running unopposed.

* It didn't make any endorsement in District E, where incumbent Philip Isley is running unopposed.

* And in the at-large race, Sierra endorsed incumbent Russ Stephenson. Also running for one of the two at-large seats are Paul Anderson, Mary-Ann Baldwin, Will Best, Helen Tart and David Williams.

To learn more about the candidates and the issues, check out the Independent's endorsements online here. The Independent also endorsed the $88.6 million parks bond issue that will be on this year's ballot; that money will be used for projects including greenway acquisitions along the Neuse River.

For more details about the upcoming election, including a copy of the composite ballot and a list of one-stop voting sites, visit the Wake County Board of Election's Web site.