Let's make sure we've got the details straight here:
North Carolina's Democratic Party sent out a mailing linking wealthy developers and John Lassiter, a Republican who is -- you might have heard -- running for mayor. OK. Check. That's accurate -- Lassiter is the developer's main man. One in five dollar bills in his campaign coffer is from developers while only one in every 20 bucks in Foxx's is from the same group.
Lassiter called a press conference to whine about the mailer and admit his rival, Democrat Anthony Foxx, didn't have anything to do with the mailer. Um. OK. Check. Read Lassiter's media statement here.
In last week's debate, Lassiter even made the developer-yes-man connection himself:
Foxx took the first shot at Wednesday's debate. "During your many years in politics you have taken thousands of dollars from big developers and consistently sided with developer interests... Why are you so convinced that our economic revival is best left to big developers...?"Some expected Lassiter to dispute the premise. He didn't.
"Because so much of what we need to happen is at the hands of the development community," Lassiter replied.
The Observer's Taylor Batten goes on to say ...
In the constant tug between development and regulation, the record suggests Lassiter values the role developers and builders play in making things happen in Charlotte more than Foxx does. And it suggests Foxx values the role government plays in making sure developers do their business responsibly and with respect for certain aspects of Charlotte's quality of life more than Lassiter does.Who's right? You decide, Tuesday.
In case Lassiter hasn't noticed, there's more going on in Charlotte than construction projects ... and who really wants sprawl anyway?
With that, have you gotten off your lazy ass and voted yet? Why the hell not? Tuesday is Election Day. I don't want to hear any excuses. Go. Vote.
Find out where you need to go to cast your vote here. But, before you do, read this: Candidates offer closing arguments on their mayoral bids