So far, most of this year's election silly-season has focused on Ward 1 and Ward 2, where incumbents Cora Cole-McFadden and Howard Clement have faced the greatest number of opponents, and opponents who have kept in the public eye at that.
Ward 3's been quieter, with two-year Durham resident and challenger Allan Polak making his first public appearance in the campaign at Tuesday's NCCU candidate forum.
We noted at the Fishwrap this morning that the Herald-Sun reporting had Polak calling incumbent Mike Woodard a "Duke University plebe" during the forum.
Not so: upon further review, the H-S has corrected the quote to say "Duke University employee." We at BCR have heard the tape, and it's admittedly hard to hear -- but employee does turn out to make much more sense than "plebe."
In any case, Polak called BCR today to discuss the misquote, which also afforded this reporter their first chance to talk to the small business owner. Our conversation was interrupted after a few minutes as Polak had a business matter to attend to; I'm hoping we'll be able to have a longer interview later this week.
Polak emphasized that he had not called Woodard a plebe. Instead, he emphasized the word in his statement that he thought was more relevant to describing the one-term incumbent: technocrat.
It's a harsh-sounding term, perhaps, but it's one that comes back to what's probably the core of Woodard's reputation, as a Council member who dives deep into policy issues and neighborhood problems/complaints alike, and who has one of the deeper grasps of civic points large and minute among the seven-member body.
In our brief conversation, Polak called it a qualification that's useful in some contexts -- but not, Polak said, on the Council.
"Any city would be lucky to have Mr. Woodard on a zoning commission, any kind of commission, no doubt," said Polak, acknowledging what the challenger admitted is a deep knowledge of Durham policies and codes. But Polak said that he doesn't think Woodard has demonstrated "vision" on the Council, something that the challenger says he is stronger in, even if he lacks Woodard's experience.
BCR asked Polak if he could describe more deeply his vision; the challenger referred us to his web site or his profile at the Independent Weekly.
Those profiles don't go too far into how the vision would be achieved -- a vision calling for "work[ing] with Durham law enforcement to identify successful crime prevention programs and work tirelessly to ensure they received the support they deserve," "encourag[ing] sustainable economic development" and "exploring the city's current public relations efforts and identify fiscally responsible methods of allowing Durham's true qualities to show through."
We'll try to bring you more details on the challenger's vision for Durham -- and what has to be handicapped as a long-shot bid to unseat Woodard -- after a promised interview later this week.
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