From Staff Reports

The Buncombe County Republican Party recently commissioned a poll and the results — released Sept. 12 — show that most voters believe Buncombe County is headed in the wrong direction, with only 28 percent of likely voters believing Buncombe is headed in the right direction, according to the BCGOP.

“I think it’s a reflection of voters realizing that the path the Democrats have had us on, by voting to raise our taxes, handing out money to their friends in these non-profits, and voting to give themselves raises while county residents struggle to put pay their mortgage. People are waking up...” BCGOP Chairman Henry Mitchell said. “The chickens are coming home to roost.”

The poll, which surveyed 600 likely Buncombe County general election voters on Aug. 28-29, revealed that voters are unhappy with recent actions of the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners and are taking the election cycle seriously.  More than 64 percent of respondents preferred cutting spending to raising taxes when faced with a budget shortfall, but the county raised property taxes on residents to cover their budget gaps. 

In a response requested by the Daily Planet, Kathy Sinclair, chair of the Buncombe County Democratic Party, wrote Sept. 29, “It’s sad that the BCGOP is focusing on push polls rather than explaining their positions to the voters, but we’re not surprised.

“When the Republican majority in Raleigh, led by Representatives (Tim) Moffitt and (Nathan) Ramsey, cut $500 million from public education, it was the Buncombe County Commissioners, led by Democrats, that made the additional investments in our schools to close the gap, so that teachers’ jobs would not be lost and our kids would have the resources they need to be successful in the classroom.”

Continuing, the BCDP’s Sinclair, wrote, “It is our commissioners that are providing economic incentives to employers like GE and Linamar that are bringing to bringing good jobs to our community, all the while, the Republicans in Raleigh have cut off additional economic incentives, crippling our state’s ability to compete for new industries and jobs.

“Too bad the BCGOP didn’t want to ask the question of what the voters think of their representation in Raleigh, they might have been shocked at the answer,” Sinclair concluded.

Regarding the poll results, BCGOP First Vice Chairwoman Patsy Gardin stated in a press release, “You vote to raise our taxes then raise your pay. That seems to be something residents are fired up about and more than 90 percent say elected officials shouldn’t be permitted to vote for their own pay raises. Yet that’s exactly what they did.”

 The BCGOP said it believes that “it is time for change, time for fiscal responsibility and time for new leadership and that is what this poll reflects.” The party “is proud of the Republican candidates running to help the residents of Buncombe and will continue its efforts to turn us in the right direction.’

On a separate matter, Buncombe County school officials say an innocent mistake caused a Reynolds High student to omit the words “under God” while reciting the Pledge of Allegiance during morning announcements at the school Sept. 25 — and the omission sparked a tweet from Nathan West, the BCGOP’s communications director.

West tweeted: “Reports coming from students @BuncombeSchools Reynolds omitting ‘under god’ from pledge.” 

However, West’s Twitter account include a dislaimer stating that his tweets do not represent the BCGOP.

“It was just an innocent omission,” Donald Porter, a spokesman for the school system, said in the aftermath. “There was no intent on the part on the student or the school to omit the words ‘under God’.”

Porter said the pledge was read in its entirety the next day.