Moffitt-Turner overdrive: The fight is on

Democrat Brian Turner’s campaign has countered a recent charge by the Buncombe County Republican Party that 80 percent of Turner’s campaign donations are coming from outside the state House district he wants to represent.

The situation is not that clearcut, Turner’s campaign has said, claiming that nearly all of the funding of his opponent (incumbent Rep. Tim Moffitt, R-Arden) is from outside the district.

The BCGOP stated in a June 18 press release that “A Biltmore Forest resident looking to unseat Rep. Tim Moffitt draws the overwhelming majority of his support from outside Buncombe County’s 116th House district.

“According to his most recent campaign finance report, over 80 percent of Brian Turner’s financial contributions come from outside the district he is hoping to represent — with the vast majority of those coming from residents of downtown Asheville. Many come from other states.... It’s interesting to note that every Asheville City Council member has donated to Turner’s campaign.... This map clearly shows who is funding Turner: downtown progressives,” BCGOP Communications Director Nathan West stated in the press release.

Continuing, the BCGOP’s West asserted, “It’s the same crowd that wants us to pay higher taxes out in the county, so they can funnel money to their liberal activist friends in the city. But voters won’t be fooled by this — and they certainly won’t let their district be represented by an elite shill of the Asheville City Council,” in a not-so-veiled reference to Turner.

West added, “Turner has made it clear he supports the Moral Monday agenda, which would cost North Carolina anywhere between $7 to $10 billion, adding an additional $4,000 in taxes for each family of four in our state.

“For a first-time candidate, it is unusual to see so much financial support coming from outside the district,” West said. “It really leaves some troubling questions about who this guy will actually represent if he’s ever elected. It’s a good thing he won’t be.”

Meanwhile, Turner’s campaign said their candidate raised $90,389 from 354 people in the first quarter and has $149,585 to spend. In addition, Turner gave himself $11,559.

As for Turner’s support from all members of City Council, reporter Jon Ostendorff noted in a June 19 story in the Asheville Citizen-Times that “Moffitt has angered City Council with efforts to merge the city’s water system with a regional authority, legislation ending forced annexation and, more recently, supporting a law that would end the business privilege license tax, which would cost the city more than $1 million annually.”

However, Ostendorff noted in his story that, despite West’s concerns about Turner’s supporters, “Moffitt could face the same criticism as his fundraising heats up.

“He (Moffitt) raised $43,365 in the first quarter, with $31,000 coming from political action committees, according to a finance report filed April 30. He reported five individual donors. Two live in his district,” Ostendorff reported.

In May, Moffitt reported receiving $5,000 from a political campaign in Catawba, $1,000 from an asphalt industrial political action committee based in Raleigh and $5,000 from Rep. Brawley of Matthews.

Political scientist Chris Cooper, at Western Carolina University, told the Citizen-Times that, while West may have a point, any money is better than no money and candidates happily accept out-of-district donations to pay for mailers and other ads.