Two of the four Republicans — who are planning to run as a bloc in May’s election for four contested seats on Asheville City Council — made a major step in their campaigns by appearing and speaking Jan. 14 at an East Asheville neighborhood meeting.

The two making an official appearance were Dr. Clifford O. Feingold, a retired dentist who is running for mayor; and Alexander Cobb, a Realtor who is both openly gay and a Republican, and who is running for a council seat. Their pictures taken by the Daily Planet at the forum appear to the left.

The other two Republicans seeking council seats — for which the newspaper was unable to reach for interviews or to obtain pictures from before this edition’s print deadline — are Doug Brown and Andy Ledford. 

Only Cobb has officially filed to run, as the process has been suspended by the court system for a while. Feingold said it is his understanding that filing should resume Feb. 24, when he immediately will file to run. He also said Brown and Ledford have vowed to file, too. 

While Asheville council seats are billed as being nonpartisan, all of the seats have been held by Democrats for more than a decade.

In a Jan. 16 telephone interview, Feingold confirmed to the Daily Planet that reports — that “‘the four’ are running ‘as a team’” — are correct. He added, “It’s three Republicans running for City Council — and me (also a Republican) running for mayor.”

Feingold said the four men “met in December and decided we have similar ideas, but we’re (also) a diverse group, so we figured we could represent City Council. 

“There are three City Council seats open and the mayor’s seat (held by Esther Manheimer who has announced she is running for re-election) is open, so we decided to join forces and get our message out as a unified group.

Regarding Cobb, Brown and Ledford, Feingold said, “I feel like all three of them would make excellent city councilmen.”

He added that the bloc is considering running as “Your Team Asheville” — “a name that’s still under consideration,” but “we’ve decided not to use ‘The A Team’ (with the ‘A’ standing for Asheville) because of potential copyright issues with the former hit television show of the same name.

Further, he said, “There is a document that our group is working on called a ‘Contract With Asheville,’” modeled after former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich’s 1985 Contract With America. “That’s a work in progress and will soon be publicized. We haven’t had our campaign literature finalized yet.”

Speaking of his candidacy, Feingold noted that he opened his dental practice

in Asheville in 1977.

“I decided to run for mayor four weeks ago. I just … the way things are going in Asheville… do not feel like they’re going in the right direction and felt someone had to step up to ‘right the ship.’ So nobody was stepping up, so I figured I had to step up and ‘right the ship.’

“I’ve lived in Asheville since the age of 3 ... for a total of 69 years. Primarily, I’ve lived in North Asheville most of the time, including now.”

While Feingold confirmed that he is a Republican, he stressed that he is “a moderate Republican … I believe in policy — not politics.

“I’m not just somebody who just goes along with what the party does,” which is his definition of a “conservative Republican.”

Further, Feingold said, “I use common sense and do what I think is right all the time, rather than what I’m told to do.”

He reiterated, “I’m definitely not a ‘politician.’ I’ve voted in just about every election... A politician is somebody who is involved with running the city, county or state or nation.

“But I’ve had a lifetime of leadership. I’ve been the president of most of the organizations that Ive been a member of,” including chairman of the WNC Sports Award Banquet, president of the Buncombe County Dental Society and many others.

Regarding his campaign platform, Feigngold said, “No matter what is said or ‘slung’ at me, I’m definitely going to conduct my campaign as a gentleman. I’m not going to speak badly about any opponents or people who speak badly of me

“It’s very disappointing the way the city government has treated the police department — and that needs to be rectified. One of my top goals is to re-fund and defend the police department.

“My second thing that I’m most interested in is restoring Asheville to being a business-friendly city. I think some of the taxes and fees charged to businesses are not business-friendly.

“Third would be ... I want the city government to be totally transparent to the citizens of Asheville. The main example is the city budget. I tried to download it online and its 180 pages. That, to me, is not transparent.  At 180 pages, only an accountant could appreciate it.”

So what does Dr. Carl Mumpower, one of the last Republicans to serve on Asheville’s council (his eight-year term ended in 2010), think of “the four” challenging the city’s one party rule?

“I think it’s great that people have come together and organized” to challenge the city’s heavily entrenched power structure, Mumpower, who was at his home recovering from COVID-19, told the Daily Planet during a Jan. 16 telephone interview. 

While he would not call “the four” politically conservative, “they’re interested in just being pragmatic, just getting back to the basics to what city government should be. I think it’s a well-intended effort.”

After a pause, Mumpower asserted, “It all comes down to this, though. It’s a question of whether the progressive machine has run out of momentum and, amazingly, I don’t think they have. They have such a strong base and organization, that despite a rough three-year (horrific) history” of misleading the city, the leftists still stand strong in Asheville.

“I think they’ll have a tough time with the progressive cabal... Also, people (in Asheville) don’t like voting blocs. It sounds like a good idea, but we haven’t” seen anyone have any success with that tactic in recent years.

As for businessman Chris Peterson’s assertion that Democrats have exercised one-party rule in Asheville for 70 years, Mumpower gently differed with Peterson’s assessment.

“There was a time in the ‘80s and ‘90s where we had a conservative majority (on Asheville council), but they were people who talked conservative more than they voted that way.”

As for Feingold, who is running for mayor, Mumpower said, “He’s a grounded person.”

Regarding Cobb, who is one of the three seeking a council seat, the psycholgist said, “He seems like a grounded person....

“I probably think they have a much tougher road to hoe than they know ... because progressivism is much better at stealing seats the seats of government than managing their government,” Mumpower said.