Bryan Freeborn, the West Asheville carpenter/activist whose energetic grassroots supporters swept him within inches of a come-from-nowhere win in the recent Asheville City Council elections, has lately been the object of a smear campaign by next-to-last finisher Chris Pelly. Why some candidates who bill themselves as "progressive" decide to slam other progressives who whupped them is one of those sad mysteries of the political world.
But, in Pelly's case at least, there is a clear motive. He wants the Council seat vacated by Terry Bellamy when she was elected Mayor. What he couldn't achieve at the polls he is now trying to gain by swaying votes on the Council that will vote for a replacement. Pelly has taken his putatively high-minded attack to the Citizen-Times and WLOS.
At issue is Freeborn's community activism a couple of years ago, when he and his neighbors wanted to protect their kids from high speed drivers in a residential neighborhood. They took matters into their own hands and did a street painting that measurably slowed traffic, but the City had it removed and billed Freeborn for their trouble.
It was a bill that Freeborn took issue with and lately paid. He probably figured he had bigger fish to fry now that he is the clear choice of the people to fill the vacant seat.
There's a complete and pretty accurate account of the whole incident in today's Citizen-Times, and they have re-endorsed him for the council seat.
1 comment:
freeborn has my support!
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