(The following article was recently published by Pundit House www.pundithouse.com)

Mecklenburg County Lacking Leadership

Like so many others, I was nearly paralyzed with anxiety last spring as the economic landscape was darkened by recession, massive layoffs, and corporate implosion. As a public school teacher, I thought I was in a ‘recession-proof’ industry. I was wrong.

Even the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School system (to which I am still faithfully employed) was not immune to the perils of economic “catastrophe.” As was the case with so many other businesses, CMS was forced to make deep cuts to staff, benefits, and programs. Mecklenburg County leadership insisted that the “dire circumstances” of the budget shortfall required drastic measures that would not be easy to accept.

The verdict: a $35 Million gutting of the CMS budget, forcing the layoffs of hundreds of employees and bringing many programs to a grinding halt. In the months that followed, my wife (who is also a teacher) and I watched as several friends and colleagues received the bad news that their contracts would not be renewed for the following year. It was a painful experience to say the least, and it mirrored what was happening in “Corporate America” all across the country.

To be fair, Mecklenburg County was not alone in making school cuts. Following our $35 Million pace, Wake County was a distant second, cutting a whopping $3 Million from its public schools. Guilford County cut even less. Laying sarcasm aside, the comparisons aren’t even close.

Yet, county management told us (with their final budget) that there were no alternatives. The situation was that bad. We were broke, and as a county, we were teetering on the precipice of certain economic doom.

That was when I began to pay close attention to the decisions being made by the Mecklenburg Board of County Commissioners, and more specifically, County Manager Harry Jones.

Since those CMS budget cuts of ‘09, county leaders have often discussed our current budget woes, yet their actions have done little to prove their conviction to fixing them. While some measures have been taken, they amount to little more than band-aids on bleeding wounds that require stitches. Despite the deep economic abyss in which we are still treading, new spending initiatives have been launched. Adding insult to our plight, the bad-taste still lingers in the mouths of the general public regarding the unknown fate of well over $100,000 in DSS funds.

"If Tim can't change the way he is, he ought to bow out of the race," Huddleston told the Observer.

...

Candidates drew cards with random questions. When Huddleston was asked if he supports eliminating several federal agencies (as D'Annunzio has said he does), he replied without mentioning D'Annunzio.

When D'Annunzio tried to respond, organizers told him that according to their ground rules, he couldn't. The party chair grabbed his microphone. He walked off the stage.

D'Annunzio supporters accused the chair of favoritism and called her treatment of him rude. Huddleston disagreed.

"When you walk off of a stage because you're not happy about something ... you're walking away from voters, you're disrespecting voters," Huddleston said.

Promote CONSERVATIVES that are running for office!!! Very important! As we complain about elected officals, we neet to VET candidates at the Local, State and Federal levels!  If you cannot find a webpage or newspaper links that tell what these candidates stand for CALL THEIR HOME.  We have a right to this information.

I live in Forsyth County NC and there are 4 candidates running for County Commissioner (only 2 have websites with information available).  There are 26 up for election to the school board and only 9 will be elected.  WE NEED TO VET ALL THESE CANDIDATES.

Also remember, candidates at the Federal levels manage to get big bucks in campaign contributions, those on the local level do not.

My husband is running for Forsyth County Commissioner at large.  His website is FredBenson4Commissioner.com.  Watch the last 2 video links on the media section to find out who he is and if you like what you see, feel free to help us out!  We are not accepting donations during the primary, we hope to pass the word through facebook, twitter, emails, conservativenc and other computer networks.  Feed back is always welcome.  Our home phone number is on the website.