Updated with new filings at noon Thursday, July 16
By Kirk Ross
Staff Writer
The race to succeed outgoing Chapel Hill mayor Kevin Foy heated up this week.
With only a day and a half left to file for municipal and school board races, four candidates are vying for the mayor’s job. Chapel Hill Board Transportation chair Augustus Cho and council member Matt Czajkowski were joined by Kevin Wolff, who filed late Friday, and council member Mark Kleinschmidt, who filed late Monday. Wolff ran unsuccessfully for the job in 2005 and 2007, losing to Foy by a wide margin in both contests.
The race for four seats on the Chapel Hill Town Council also got more competitive, as challengers Matt Pohlman, Jon Dehart and Gene Pease and incumbents Laurin Eastholm and Jim Merritt joined a race that at press time last week Penny Rich had all to herself. [Update: Incumbent Ed Harrison filed for re-election Thursday morning.]
Both Kleinschmidt and Rich have singed up to run under the town’s new voter-owned election law, which created a public financing system. Under the law, candidates can opt in to the system but must reach certain contribution thresholds to qualify. For town council races, candidates must have at least 75 qualifying contributions that add up to $750; and for mayor, at least 150 qualifying contributions that add up to $1,500.
The contest for three seats up on the Chapel Hill-Carrboro School Board of Education also turned more competitive this week, with incumbent Gregory McElveen joining challengers Michelle Brownstein, Gary Wallach, MaryAnne Gucciardi, J.M. (Joe) Green and Christine Lee.
By contrast, Carrboro races were under-populated, with Mark Chilton, who saw two challengers in 2007, so far running unopposed. And at the end of business Wednesday, Sammy Slade and incumbents Jacquie Gist and Randee Haven O’Donnell were the only candidates to file for the three seats up on the board of aldermen. [Update: Amanda Ashley filed for mayor Thursday morning.]
Also running unopposed so far is Hillsborough Mayor Tom Stevens. Meanwhile, the race for two seats on the town’s board of commissioners is shaping up to be a rematch of the 2007 election between incumbents Mike Gering and Frances Dancy and challenger Bryant Kelly Warren Jr.
Candidates have until noon on Friday to sign-up to run for town offices and school board races. The Orange County Board of Elections website will keep track of candidates as they file, at co.orange.nc.us/elect/2009CandidateFilings.asp