LEICESTER — The Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office needs to keep its deputies focused on protecting homes and businesses instead of “riding around with the Highway Patrol” and writing traffic tickets, according to Mike Bustle, the Republican candidate for sheriff.

Bustle and Christina G. Merrill, the latter of whom is the Republican candidate for District 2 county commissioner, each spoke for roughly  15 minutes about their political aspirations during a picnic-dinner meeting of the group Citizens for Change on July 7 at the picnic shelter near the historic Brick Church.

About 30 people attended the gathering of the group that bills itself as nonpartisan. However, all of the officials who attended — and the two speakers — were Republican. Leicester resident Peggy Bennett led the meeting.

Elected officials in attendance were Mike Fryar and Joe Belcher, two GOP members of the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners; as well as Henry Mitchell, chairman of the Buncombe County Republican Party.

“I’m a fiscal conservative running for sheriff this November,” Bustle said, in beginning his address. “I have an uphill battle. I’m running against a person who has been there about eight years now.” 

As for why he should be elected, Bustle asserted, “First, I was born here. I grew up over in North Asheville, Attended Asheville High and South French Broad (High). I was there during the riots. I went to Wingate College  and then to UNC Chapel Hill...

At UNC, “I had to go to class many times in my police uniform... Girls wouldn’t talk to me, down at Chapel Hill — ‘There’s a cop,’ they’d say... My psychology professor stopped the class one day and asked me, ‘Why are you here?’ I said, ‘because I’m trying to go to college and get a degree’.... It was fantastic. It was a great experience.”

Bustle noted that “My Dad was a hardware man down on Merrimon Avenue. He gave me a hand along the way, but I worked several jobs on the side” to help pay his way through college.

“I came back here to Asheville after I graduated and worked for the Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office... I worked the (county’s) north end (around Barnardsville) most of the time. After two years... I worked for the city (police) for two months and then got a job with the SBI (State Bureau of Investigation) and was assigned to Fayetteville. It was known as the armpit of North Carolina, but it was a wonderful experience. I worked for the SBI almost two years.” Nonetheless, he said a low point was when he busted a woman he knew from Asheville “for hooking” (prostitution).

Speaking about his political motivation, Bustle said, “I loved sheriffing because law enforcement in the sheriff’s department is about as close to working with the people as you can get. I worked in every area of the sheriff’s department — even the jail. Now folks, that’s where you really motivate people — in the jail.” The meeting attendees laughed with Bustle his touch of levity on his observations of jail life.

Merrill, who spoke first, noted that she just had undergone spinal surgery... but I’m feeling pretty good now... I’m really, really excited about 2014. I think. as conservatives, this will be a good year for us... I think you’d all agree we got robbed” in the last election.

She added, “I’ve tried to get to anything I could go to since the start of the year.” At least, in part, Merrill said her efforts were an effort “for fair elections. People who have been getting away with intimidation... here in Buncombe County.” She noted that she took her recent narrow election loss to Ellen Frost, which she felt was the result of political shenanigans, “all the way to the Supreme Court in Raleigh... In 2016, if our case set a precedent... that’s a huge accomplishment for us and for the state.”

Continuing, Merrill said, “So as your District 2 nominee, I am a true fiscal conservative. I’m trying to get on the board to help Mike and Joe.... Nobody I know wants their taxes raised. I know people who are Democrats, who are not Republics,” saying that “we need someone who says, ‘We cannot afford it.’” 

She asserted, “I need to be the voice we have not had up there... We have two voices (Fryar’s and Belcher’s). We need Miranda (DeBruhl) in District 3 and me in District 2 — along with (incumbents) Mike and Joe.

“My opponent (Frost) is a very good politician — I’m not. My opponent has managed to give herself two raises in the less than two years... as vice chair. She’s a good politician. I saw her hire the attorney who disenfranchised (thousands of couty votes) — and now he’s the county attorney.” Her reference was to Robert Deutsch.

In a verbal blast at Frost, Merrill said, “She’s not a great voice for the people of the county. I want to be that great voice. ... One thing I know about communications is that listening is the most important thing... I’m not a politician — and I’d like to be a servant....

“I feel like there’s not anybody who’s seeing this great recovery. You don’t know how many phone calls I get from friends, asking if I’m going to the meetings (of the Board of Commissioners) — and to be sure to say this and that,” Merrill said.