I started reading Scrutiny Hooligan way back when it was just run by Gordon Smith himself and he was making those over-the-top "Chainsaw Charlie" parody videos (now scrubbed from the internet). That must have been around 2006. Three years ago I was banned from the site because I offered challenging opinions which his administrator found irksome. I was banned under the phony pretext of breaking a rule. Now the site is quite awful and the worst example of ideological echo-chamber nonsense in the Asheville cyber-community.
So why are you running for City Council?
Following all the workings of city government is daunting for the ordinary citizen. And that's what I am: an ordinary citizen of Asheville. It's not enough to attend weekly city council meetings. You have to attend regular committee meetings, commission meetings and community meetings. And you have to research and understand the issues and the backgrounds of a wide range of public policy matters. Then comes analysis and policy recommendations to communicate to lawmakers. It's really a full time job. So, I've decided to do just that: to make it my full time job by running for a seat on city council.
What’s your skill set?
I'm trained as a technology consultant, data analyst and project manager, but I also have a background in economic theory and political philosophy. Also, I am the only candidate that understands the proper role of government; which is to protect individual rights, including property rights and economic liberty.
Any recent Council decisions that you’d like to comment about?
I'm happy that city council finally came around to see that URTV was a disaster and had been for years and pulled funding. Although, the RFP for a new venture is so overloaded with requirements, I don't see how anyone could possibly take it up. Also, I'm still curious as to how the new Ingles Super Market on Smoky Park Highway avoided the two-year-long protests, criticisms and resistance that greeted Walmart when they proposed a Super Center on the same site several years ago. The new Ingles will be almost twice as large when finished. (Of course, the woeful trailer park residents are long gone now, and so is the $7,500/per unit displacement money that Walmart offered them.) However, I'm glad that the project was approved with little fanfare, virtually no public outcry and was able to avoid the politicized harassment, over-regulation and extortion that Walmart was subjected to which caused them to relocate just outside the city limits, taking the sales and property taxes with them.
What do you do when you’re not working?
I do research and drink alcohol.
Who’s your favorite Beatle?
George Martin. He took an extraordinary talent set, added his own to it with little credit and multiplied the overall value. I like that. [Real answer: George Harrison]
Challenge: In twenty-five words or less, sum up your goals for a term on City Council.
To move toward the Public/Private Partnership model that has successfully transformed cities like Sandy Springs, Georgia, into an efficient, effective and proper local government.
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