The Contender 

Beverly Earle is running hard for the mayor's office. When I arrive five minutes late for an interview with the Democratic mayoral candidate at a coffeehouse in NoDa, she's hunkered down in a small booth, talking on her cellphone. It's only 10 a.m., but our meeting isn't the first one she's had today, and it isn't even close to being her last. The Smelly Cat Coffeehouse was picked for our talk because it's near the location of her next meeting; she'll meet with a group of supportive church members, followed by a confab with other civic groups. And that's just before lunch.

"OK, I have to run," Earle tells the person she's talking to, hangs up, and smiles as she shakes my hand. Sitting there in a stylish, dark-green outfit, eyes sparkling, Earle radiates a surprising level of confidence and fire, especially for a candidate who, having hardly gotten out of the gate, has already been raked over the coals by the Observer for minor finance reporting oversights.

Her recent experience with the press is evidently on her mind when she says, chuckling, "Pleased to meet you ... I think."

I ask, "Are you this busy every day?"

"Oh, yeah," she replies, "I'm always busy. Running for mayor is definitely a full-time pursuit. But I don't mind."

We're both pressed for time, so I get down to brass tacks.

"Are you going to have enough money to be competitive in the race?"

Earle, who is currently serving her seventh term as a state legislator, replies, "I won't have the money that McCrory has built up. I haven't had the opportunity to be out there campaigning as long as he has, but we're getting good support, even from some of the same folks who've supported him. I don't have to spend the kind of money he'll be spending. Democrats have a long history of winning grassroots campaigns, so I'm out everywhere, building support. I'm seeing a lot of excitement; we'll have a good get-out-the-vote effort, so yes, we're definitely going to be competitive."

Earle is a native of Greensboro, but has lived in Charlotte for 27 years. She recently retired after working for BellSouth. When I ask her if she'll be campaigning in predominantly white areas of town, she looks surprised at the question.

"Oh yes, of course," she says quickly, "this is a citywide campaign, and I definitely will be doing that. My whole career, I've shown that I can work across party lines and across racial lines. When I was representing the north end of the county, I was elected three times, and we didn't talk about race, we talked about issues. In Raleigh, I've worked with Republicans very efficiently. I'm running to be mayor of the whole city, and I'm hearing from a lot folks in predominantly white areas of the city who are supporting me."

So, why does she want to be mayor rather than continuing in Raleigh?

"I think I can make a big difference here," she replies. "And I believe Charlotte city government needs to be run in a way that's different from how it's been run under Pat McCrory. We need to have more cooperation between groups and governmental organizations that can help the whole city thrive, and I can do that much better than it's been done lately."

"Can you give me more specifics?"

"The neighborhoods are the most obvious issue. Everywhere I go, I'm hearing that McCrory hasn't been as responsive to the neighborhoods' concerns as he has been to Uptown Charlotte. I think there needs to be a balance. We certainly need the economic development that comes with Uptown, and business and growth. But we also need to keep our neighborhoods vibrant. That's what great cities do. Charlotte is prospering, and I feel that we need to be sure that all of Charlotte is sharing in that prosperity, and that's certainly not the way it is now. When you are the mayor, you should be concerned about the entire city."

Earle and her supporters say Mayor Pat McCrory has been good for Uptown business development, which they have no problem with. But, after six terms of ignoring much of the city, they claim, the city desperately needs a change.

Earle's co-campaign manager Michael Evans says Charlotte's west side corridor and east side corridor -- which McCrory said contained "corridors of crap," after the murder of two police officers on the east side in April -- had been ignored too long. Evans suggests that Earle would like to help coordinate the start of "a Central City Partners type group for other parts of the city."

McCrory says Earle is mistaken. "She doesn't have her facts right," the mayor said. "We've approved tens of millions of dollars in bonds to help neighborhoods during my tenure -- more than ever in the city's history. She needs to check the facts." The mayor, confident as ever, added, "If she could get the state to get someone to pick up litter in those corridors, that would be great," followed by the zinger, "And if she'd help us get more prosecutors, that would be appreciated, too."

When McCrory mentioned prosecutors, he was poking at a sore spot. After his re-election in 2005, McCrory told the Observer his top priority was pressuring state legislators for more funding to hire prosecutors. District Attorney Peter Gilchrist has said he needs more prosecutors in order to properly try suspects and avoid having convicted criminals walking the streets. Since the criminal justice system is funded by the state, local officials can do little to increase the number of prosecutors other than pressure the county's state legislators to get them more money. With that in mind, McCrory led a "caravan" to Raleigh in February to pressure the legislature.

The way McCrory set up his caravan struck some people as an unnecessary politicization of a crucial issue. Traditionally, local officials lobby the county's legislative delegation ahead of time before making an appearance in Raleigh. And if the locals hold a Raleigh press conference about the issue at hand, it's usually along with the delegation. If you show up at the General Assembly and act otherwise, it's widely seen as an attack on your county's state legislators.

At the time of the caravan, McCrory told CL's Tara Servatius, "We've attempted to lobby for funding the other way for a decade and ... have been ineffective in getting our point across, and thus we are bringing in more of a grassroots coalition to express our concerns."

Earle felt the mayor was showboating and, more important, had been ineffective. "He didn't even let us know he was coming. We read in the paper that he was planning the caravan, and I kept hearing about it. Finally, I approached Boyd Cauble (senior assistant to the city manager, responsible for working with the Mecklenburg delegation), and told him 'This isn't how you approach the legislature -- your boss hasn't indicated to us that he's coming down here.' So later we get an e-mail from McCrory saying he was coming; this was two weeks after the whole thing had been planned. And when he came, he still did not involve the delegation in his press conference. I can tell you, it didn't help the perception of Charlotte in Raleigh. They already think we have everything and don't need anything more. Just because there are Democrats in the leadership, that doesn't give us any more edge to get what we want. Everybody's down there fighting for their district, and then you've got a mayor who comes down and acts arrogant, alienates everybody, well, at the very least it doesn't help us get what the city needs."

Beyond the prosecutor issue, Earle feels the city needs a more balanced community approach to dealing with crime. "We do need more DA's," she says, "and there's a plan for that, but I can work better with the legislature in terms of getting more DA's. McCrory can't make anything happen in Raleigh.

"In the area of young people and gang violence, we need more preventive measures. For instance, there are nonprofits that are getting state funding and foundation funding, and then you have churches -- local government needs to be working with these groups in a coordinated effort to create more preventive measures. I've talked to several churches that are doing things to keep youth out of gangs -- the city needs to be working with those groups. We need to work with the county, too. The city isn't responsible for social services, the county is; but if we can work with them to deal with dysfunctional families where a lot of the troubled kids come from, and also work with the school system, and make it all a coordinated effort -- rather than go around making speeches and putting on a show at the legislature -- then we can get some real progress made.

"Statistics show that for every 10 kids you have a chance to touch, that's at least five that you won't have to deal with in the criminal justice system. But it takes another approach than what we've had here in Charlotte, and that's all about working with community and neighborhood and churches and the county and schools. And that's just to deal with this one issue. I've already said I think we need to have a business advisory council. Maybe we need a crime advisory council, too -- let's see what other cities have done to deal with crime and use their successful ideas. Get some fresh ideas in here, especially since the way it's been handled lately isn't working."

In a nutshell, that approach -- seeking coordinated efforts with civic groups, working "across lines" with county government, and seeking new ideas to deal with citywide issues -- is at the core of Earle's mayoral campaign. Nearly every time she was asked about an issue, her response and solutions came down to getting various groups to work together to solve problems.

"I feel I'd be able to get Council to be responsive to what citizens want from the whole city. It's a matter of listening, responding when you can, and having the citizens feel that you are listening, and that they have a voice."

Can She Beat McCrory?

Even if you agree with Beverly Earle about the issues -- and obviously, some won't, especially many Republicans -- the question remains whether she has a chance of beating a mayor who has been re-elected to the office five times. People in the political realm whom we spoke to gave differing opinions.

Ted Arrington, a poli-sci professor at UNC Charlotte and longtime commentator on local politics, says Earle's candidacy is a longshot. "She's not an ideal candidate," Arrington said, "She doesn't have enough name recognition, and probably not enough money. McCrory has plenty of money, and he can saturate the area. She'll also need to reach white Democrats throughout the city and not just rely on the black vote. I'm not saying it's impossible. McCrory is beatable with enough money, but she probably won't have that. Plus, the truth is that more Republicans turn out to vote against blacks."

County Commissioner Parks Helms, a Democrat, says that, ironically, Earle can probably profit from McCrory having been in office so long. "She can benefit from 'McCrory fatigue' -- 12 years is a long time, as I know myself from being on County Commission for a while. He's a bit shopworn, and people on Council say he's become testy, as if he wants to leave but doesn't know what else to do. Charlotte is going through a lot of changes and we need a mayor who can be a deep thinker and see the city long-term."

One professional political worker said Earle should take the problems she has had, such as having to pay off her son's loan, reported recently in the Observer, "and turn that around and use it as a positive. Those are the kinds of things that have happened to thousands of people in Mecklenburg County -- she should say 'I'm one of you -- I understand what it's like.' Which, conveniently, is also true."

A longtime Democratic advisor who asked that his/her name not be used said that many Democrats don't believe Earle can beat McCrory on November 6, "and that is the main thing she needs to overcome. McCrory is as vulnerable as he's been, but there's not a lot of confidence out there that Beverly's the one to take him on."

Evans, Earle's co-campaign manager, strongly disagrees with that assessment, as you would expect.

"We're going to be more than competitive. As of now, we have more than 200 volunteers, we have $30,000 in the bank (McCrory has more than a half-million), our fundraising is picking up steam, and our support is growing very well. We don't need as much money as McCrory -- we're reaching out to the grassroots, as is customary in Democratic campaigns. I'll put it this way: we have way more money than Craig Madans did two years ago, and he got 43 percent of the vote." (Madans spent around $9,000 on his 2005 mayoral campaign.) Evans also said the campaign plans to take advantage of the new same-day registration rules, which allow early voters to register to vote at the polling place.

After weighing the views of various political insiders, these appear to be the factors working in favor of Earle's election:

• An energetic candidate with a new approach to governing.

• "McCrory fatigue."

• A strong history among Democratic candidates, particularly black candidates, of being able to get their supporters to the voting booth.

• Many east side and west side voters are unhappy with city government and feel ignored and taken for granted.

• She has a sizably larger war chest than McCrory's opponent had in the past two or three elections.

• So far, McCrory's challengers have been so weak, the mayor is, for all intents and purposes, untested in a serious re-election campaign.

• The perception among voters that Uptown businesses, with which McCrory is closely aligned, have a chokehold on city government.

• The same-day registration rules Evans mentioned.

On the other side of the ledger, some of the factors working against Beverly Earle's campaign are:

• McCrory's huge advantage in campaign funding, and the possibility of her being overwhelmed in terms of paid advertising.

• Pessimism among Democrats about the chances of defeating McCrory.

• Earle's name recognition is nowhere near McCrory's, largely due to her having spent years in the legislature in Raleigh while McCrory has been mayor for 12 years.

• The Charlotte Observer's coverage of Earle's failure to officially report all of her contributions in an earlier finance report, and the abovementioned repayment of her son's loan, on which she was a co-signer.

• McCrory has traditionally done well among moderate white Democrats, which could offset Earle's very strong support in the black community.

• Transit tax opponents, many of whom are Republicans, may come out in force in the general election. At least some of those voters will vote for McCrory even though he's seen as Mr. Transit, while it's doubtful they would vote for Earle. One source, however, said he thought Earle may get some of the anti-transit tax vote simply because McCrory is so inextricably linked to the city's light rail plans.

Agreement On Transit And Little Else

Support for the transit tax, and opposition to its repeal, is one of the few things Earle and McCrory agree on. Earle says, "Some people may not realize the implications of doing away with the transit tax. We are so far down that road of planning for all the different parts of transit for the city, there's just no turning back in some of those areas." In other words, some if not most of the city's transit plan will have to continue, but would need to be paid for by an increase in property taxes.

With the transit tax, says Earle, "the taxation is spread around. Paying for a good transit system (65 percent of the transit tax goes toward operating the bus system) is a shared responsibility. It's part of living in a city that wants to be thriving, just like paying for schools or police. We want to keep thriving, and part of that means having an infrastructure that encourages people to come here. Plus, we need to be able to move everybody around efficiently. We can't afford to keep paving all the open space in the city; it doesn't even make sense to think that way. You'll wind up with one big parking lot. You know, 'pave it and they will come' -- buildings follow the roads and the roads then become just as congested as they were before."

Earle says she's confident the transit tax will be retained, after which the city can go on to other issues she says have been ignored. "It's time to start catching up. Affordable housing is another issue I want to address. It's so critical, and needs to be addressed better. There are families with children that are homeless -- that's just totally unacceptable for a city like Charlotte. We're doing away with public housing as we know it, but then what are we doing to accommodate the people we're displacing? And I mean in something that is affordable, without those folks having to go to these by-the-week hotels. We need to see what needs to be done, and see how we can work with developers to build more affordable housing. One of the things the state is doing is funding the North Carolina Housing Trust Fund. They've subsidized affordable housing in other areas, particularly smaller areas in eastern North Carolina; maybe we can entice developers to tap into that, and maybe use some city funding, too, and see if they can build more affordable homes. We cannot continue to allow families with children to be out on the street, homeless."

Earle touched on other issues in our interview, as well. She says she would support a revival of the Living Wage Ordinance for city employees, phasing in a gradual increase in wages for the city's lowest paid employees -- something City Council passed in 2001 but was vetoed by McCrory. At the time, the mayor said he opposed the living wage approach because, "It's a free market that we live in."

Earle says she supports the living wage because "a lot of times government loses good people because they go into private business where the pay's better. We certainly don't want the kind of government that says, 'We don't pay our people for a job well done.'"

When asked, Earle said she would also support a non-discrimination ordinance for city employees that included sexual orientation.

She also thinks the city should sign on to the U.S. Mayors' Climate Protection Agreement, which says the city will work toward reducing greenhouse gases. The USMCPA has been signed by over 400 U.S. cities, including a dozen in North Carolina. Although Mayor McCrory chaired the mayors' committee that drafted the agreement, he vetoed City Council's attempt to add Charlotte's name to the list of participating municipalities. He later wrote an op-ed in the daily paper in which he said he opposed the agreement because it didn't tout the value of nuclear energy. McCrory is employed in the economic development department of Duke Energy, which is pushing to revive nuclear power as a popular option. Earle says, "I would definitely support the agreement; we need to send a signal that our city's interested in protecting the environment."

She went on to criticize what she says is a conflict of interest in McCrory's stance. "I certainly think it could be a conflict of interest that the mayor is working for an energy company and he doesn't want Charlotte to be part of this agreement. In fact, he should have recused himself from the whole issue, considering his employment."

McCrory responded by chuckling and asking, "I'm being accused of a conflict of interest by a state official? My employment is on the record, and it's stated every time I speak about these issues. I'm in favor of nuclear energy, and I'm also in favor of wind, solar and any other alternative form of energy that will give us more energy independence." McCrory did not say whether he planned to also write an op-ed in support of wind and solar energy.

Our interview was coming to an end, Earle checked her watched, and re-emphasized that she wanted to lead the city to look at some issues that have been ignored, and to restore faith in local government. "I understand the importance of economic development, and I believe in protecting and encouraging small businesses, but there also needs to be a balance. I want to help the whole city to have a real voice in what we do."