On the record
This information and a lot more is available from Yes Weekly. It contains excerpts from a forum on Sept 16 .
Don Vaughan on the record
On transparency and accountability:
“North Carolina needs to have more open government than we’ve had in the past. I truly believe that the meetings law and the public records law needs to be enforced in North Carolina. That’s certainly a very good starting point. One of the reasons I’m running for election is to represent you. I served on the Greensboro City Council for 14 years. I was very open; I was very accessible. I would expect that of any leader in the North Carolina General Assembly. You’ll certainly find that in me.” (Source: Sept. 16 candidate forum)
On mental health:
“Those people that billed the state improperly in North Carolina, that’s fraud and they ought to be criminally prosecuted. They have taken your tax dollars and they have not properly used those. I would encourage the state to prosecute those that have over-billed. The mental health system, as you’ve read in the newspaper, has still got more revamping to do…. It’s certainly something I’m going to tackle when I’m [in Raleigh] and take a very hard look at.” (Source: Sept. 16 candidate forum)
Joe Wilson on the record
General pitch:
“The things that I see that’s important to me, the reason that I’m doing this is — I’m not a career politician. I’m not any type of politician. I’m an average person just trying to take care of people and represent average people that are out there every day. That’s my strength in this thing. I’ve not been on city council for fourteen years, and I’ve not been on any commissions or boards or anything like that. I’m just like you, and I just want to do what’s right, and while I may not have the experience of my opponent I do have the knowledge to do what’s right and I know how to get things done. I’ll spend your money just like it was mine.” (Source: Sept. 16 candidate forum)
On transparency and accountability:
“If you know anything about me — last year I ran for city council — I have a blog, I have a website, and you have direct access to me in my day-to-day activities, my day-to-day life. If elected — when elected, I should say, hopefully — my office will be available. There will be phone numbers available anytime you want. I intend to use web-based communications. And if that doesn’t work for you then we’ve still got a telephone. Anything you want to know about what’s going on, I’ll post everything that I’ve sponsored, every bill I’m working on. Any questions you’ve got I’d love to get ’em, and that’s the way I will do things in Raleigh. It’ll be just exactly like you sitting here.” (Source: Sept. 16 candidate forum)
On mental health:
“Having never been in office myself I look at these problems — one thing I thought would even the playing field… where you have the same benefits for mental illness as you do for physical illness. In any program across the state, any dollars that we’re spending that we’re not getting value for, you can believe that I’ll be looking after it and I’ll do something about it. I do say mental health is very complicated. Something I just learned while I’ve been running for office is most of the people you see on the streets are mental health patients that have run out of benefits. So revamping the mental healthcare system, we’ve got to work to get the benefits in place. And of course, we’ve got to stay on top of the money that’s spent more.” (Source: Sept. 16 candidate forum)
political nonsense
This mess with the mortgage “crisis” has been allowed to happen in large part as a by-product of ridiculous party politics. Instead of “crisis” I feel cataclysm is a better term. My six year old daughter is estimated to be $100,000 dollars in debt 15 years before she enters the workforce.
In 2003, the Democratic members of Congress and Home building/banking lobbyists blocked the creation of a commission to get Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac back in line after the Bush administration had proposed it. Lobbyist, tell me again why we need lobbyists? …Special interests need lobbyists, we on the other hand can’t afford any more lobbyist.We need patriots!
I heard a guest on the krantz show today essentially say the banks and mortgage companies were victims of their own generosity when they allowed the poor to borrow more money than they could afford to pay back. So, there it is ,the poor caused this . The poor banks, the banks who are for the most part getting “made well” in this deal with tax dollars. I might add that a signifcant part of the debt in this country is owned by the Chinese government so in effect we are also bailing out a country that REALLY doesn’t need our government’s help backing up investments they made in our private sector economy.
To paraphrase Darrow, you can hang this on the people who did it or anyone suspected but until you fix the elemental causes it will happen again. I think it was caused by simple old fashioned greed and the lust for power by low people in high places.
Now, I would like to predict that this post will elicit a kneejerk political response based on partisan bias. That is my point, we are wasting our time bashing each other based on false party idealism when the real problem is that no one is watching the people we elect and what kind of back room deals that are occuring to cause catastrophes like the current one.
Please join me in looking beyond party politics when it comes to politicians. It is now more important than ever to become simple-minded and remember the early lessons of right and wrong when considering the people we elect. Judge them by their past actions or inactions when they had the chance to do something for all of us instead of just some of us.
combustible solutions
The day before the great filling station robbery occurred I was riding around with a videographer and a campaign staffer talking about issues and looking back at my life in and around Greensboro over the past 40 years. We were talking about my developing a plan for getting NC ready for the energy revolution that is looming .We noticed a car that was running on bio-diesel augmented with an onboard hydrogen generator. The ingenuity of the American citizen is limitless and the resourcefulness matches it. We have to reduce our consumption while practicing conservation until we find a domestic solution to our ravaging thirst for gasoline and internal combustion engines.
When elected I will work to ensure that solutions are rewarded and encouraged. I think in lieu of a $600 rebate check, everyone should have received a hydrogen generator and $400 to have it installed. This device will work with current combustible engine technology with minimal upfit and increase your fuel mileage up to two thirds. When elected I will champion the benefits of offering meaningful tax credits to citizens who install energy-saving devices in their home, businesses and vehicles. I will draft legislation to reward North Carolinians who seek solutions to our ” energy consumption crisis”
One reason North Carolina is falling behind with alternative energy solutions is the insatiable hunger for tax dollars of her General Assembly. I heard of someone who creates their own bio diesel that was stopped at a flea market by an official from the state who said the fuel in their tank had been determined to be home made. The person was fined $2000 for using untaxed fuel ! This issue was later taken up by a member of the Gen. Assembly and a bill was drafted to allow people to make their own bio fuels for their personal consumption with no penalty under law.
This was a move in the right direction and you know what they say about the road to hell? The final result of this bill was to make it legal to create your own fuel for personal consumption. The tax hungry part comes next. Under this law If you create enough extra fuel to be used by neighbors and sell it, there’s a per gallon tax upon it, unless you export it out of North Carolina. Bio diesel sold outside North Carolina is not subject to the same tax. Once again your tax dollars at work against you,this November you can change that.
In another example of the Gen. assembly sending our tax dollars outside of our state.North Carolina taxpayers spend about $5 million a year to fund research of alternative means of fuel for combustible engines and for other energy uses…research that occurs in states other than North Carolina. This money is also used in jobs creation in this alternative energy field, in states other than North Carolina. Read House resolution 329 to learn more about this effort to correct this, incidentally HR 329 primary sponsors are two Republican women.
Please understand that in N.C. the minority party is the Republican party ,if you want change then you should look to the peole who have been proposing new ideas but do not have the majority vote it takes to get these ideas turned into law. In other words if you are not happy about your state government,thank a Democrat,they have been in majority rule in NC for decades. I know,I know, I’m making party distinctions after saying ” issues transcend party lines” but this is as they say ” the fact of the business”.The discussion of bringing change to NC must begin with the root of the problem, a complete disregard of the needs and concerns of the lower and middle income families in our state by our out of touch majority.
I want to hear your ideas for solutions to our energy consumption crisis.
We were alone.
On my drive to work yesterday morning I noted that oil was down. The price of gas was coming down, both typical occurrences during an election. On my way back to work from lunch I saw this was no longer the case. I waited for the cavalry to come and put an end to the price gouging that was occurring. The run on the pumps was like something I’d seen as a young boy during the 70s. It occurred to me that I actually needed gas and that I would have to enter the fray.
During a 40 minute wait, making conversation with my fellow travelers, I noticed a young mother coming out of a public restroom carrying water jugs with a small child behind her. It seemed surreal as I imagined the scene was common near Galveston Bay. I wasn’t in Galveston Bay, I was north of Greensboro and there was no hurricane looming. Yet people were lined up up out into the street to purchase gas that had been increased at least $1.50 per gallon since my ride to work.
There was in fact a crisis, our elected leaders created it by not informing the public of what was getting ready to happen. There was no public service announcement, no press conference called, we were left to decide how to best fend for ourselves. it became clear to me that I was right about oil and our future, the solution to our energy crisis must must come from within ourselves.I also knew that I was right in my decision to enter this election, everything must change.
I knew there were laws to prevent price gouging during emergency situations yet no one was doing anything to stop it. It was just then as I went inside to pay, I saw political mudslinging on the television above the counter blaming Elizabeth Dole for what was going on outside. I wondered what my state senate representative was doing at that time other than using the panic for her political gain. Kay Hagan wanted you to believe that Elizabeth Dole had single-handedly raised gas prices.I have to say the timing of the ads was sheer genius in a diabolical way, much like an ambulance chasing attorney at the scene of a plane crash.I just watched in disbelief.
In lieu of responding to the situation and trying to stop what was happening to people who are already struggling to purchase fuel and pay their other bills, it seems it was more important to somehow hang this on her opponent’s head than it was to be in the streets doing anything about it. She was not alone I didn’t see any elected official other than Billy Yow, trying to raise a point about how despicable what was happening was.
No one else saw fit to stand up on the behalf of the people they had asked to allow them to represent them.At some point these people had pledged to stand up for the citizens in times of need,Yet I suspect most of them just stood in line like I was doing.I hope you will remember the signs that did not display numbers late yesterday afternoon, these are the establishments you should never frequent again and remember they took advantage of the public simply because they could.
The opportunity to stop this had not passed by this morning, as I was out in the community shaking hands, delivering signs, gas prices still loomed near five dollars. The hurricane had come ashore while we slept, the destruction of the refinery that allegedly justified the price spike had not occurred yet the prices have not gone down. neither has my contempt for the people who did this to us.
Regardless of your thoughts in the upcoming election, you surely must realize we were alone yesterday afternoon. We must vote for change in the upcoming election. The status quo failed us Friday afternoon.Should you choose to elect anyone who has had years to exhibit leadership qualities and failed to do so, then expect more of the same.
I urge you to spend more time getting to know the candidates this year and shake things up.Vote for change ,vote for candidates who may lack experience but make up for it in their desire to change the leadership that failed us Friday afternoon and will remember who they work for.
Don “PAC-Man” Vaughan: Under the influence
“Why does Progress Energy* have an interest in Don Vaughan’s campaign?… Why does he get money from every PAC left, right and otherwise? The thing that concerns me the most is the amount of influence he is succumbing to in Raleigh and other parts of the state, the number of interests he’s aligning himself with that have nothing to do with District 27.”
– Joe Wilson, in the News & Record, Saturday, July 26, 2008
*Progress Energy has no customers in Senate District #27, and yet their employees’ PAC gave Don Vaughan a $1000.00 contribution.
» Click here to read the article.
Joe Wilson fundraiser Saturday the 19th
I would like to personally invite you all to a party for my campaign, tomorrow, Saturday, July 19th, but I can’t, so I am posting the invite here. Please come out. I would love to talk to all of you and I’ll also grill you a dog or a burger while we talk.
We are going to have Live music with Diffendal-Rumley, Marc Diffendal (Wonderwall, Lava Lamp Explosion!) and Joe Rumley (Thick As Thieves.)
So come on! — burgers ,dogs, cold drinks and backyard games. It’s going to be great American summertime fun from 1:00-5:00 p.m.
the view from the bottom…
How comforting it must be to look up at the rescue boat after you have sunk to the bottom.That’s what the citizen’s of the Cardinal area must be feeling after hearing that it is going to be illegal to do to someone what has been done to them.
Is it just me or does the timing of the recent annexation seem to be very convenient based on what is going on in Raleigh now. I also seem to remember that the City Council in 2001 sent a resolution to the N.C. General Assembly to block further municipal annexation in Greensboro, perhaps someone knows when that was rescinded to allow forced annexation here again.
What I did on July 4th
On The 4th of July, I walked, ran, shook a bunch of hands, and I smiled a lot, because I felt like smiling. Greensboro is a great city on Independence Day because everywhere I went I met really good people who care about their families and our collective futures. Some of those people are shown here.
I believe we are going to have to care about each other even more in the coming months as our financial woes worsen, so remember everyone is having a tough time of it . Live and let live, and if you can help someone, do it.
We need to remember that we are all in this together and we deserve hard work from the people we elect . We cannot afford to elect more self serving individuals who only want to line their pockets with the contents of ours,those who prefer status to hard work.
Stay away from candidates who have become real accustomed to being in office for long periods but have provided no hard evidence of leadership. Who are perfectly o.k. with the stagnant status quo and all of the corruption that unchallenged power brings to those susceptible to it.
Where do you stand?
I posted on Jon Lowder’s blog recently and I feel the issue is worth keeping alive for everyone’s sake.
MEETING!
I am having a meeting this Wednesday night, June 4th, at 7:00 p.m. to organize and activate those wonderful souls who wish to be a part of my political efforts this year.
Reply here, at the website or email me for information .
We are giving away a week at the beach to some lucky supporter — it could be you.
