Who is running for County Commissioner?

We should all know by now that two county commissioner seats are on the ballot this fall. I was curious about what public information each of the candidates has provided about their positions on the issues. We should all watch for evolving positions over the next four months.

Seeking District 1 Commissioner

Karen Howard is the incumbent Democrat. Howard's mailing address is Chapel Hill and is a former attorney. She ran unopposed in 2014 to fill a position vacated by Sally Kost and is now running in an opposed election.

Ms Howard has published almost no information about her positions on Chatham County. Her Facebook page is https://www.facebook.com/Howard-for-Commissioner-2016.

I cannot find a reelection website for her.

Emmett (Jay) Stobbs is the Republican challenging Karen Howard. Stobbs' mailing address is Durham. He is a West Point graduate and a retired Army officer and was a manager at Northrop Grumman. Stobbs has information on his Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/jay4chathamnc/, and he has a website at www.jay4chatham.com.

Seeking District 2 Commissioner

The incumbent commissioner for District 2 is Mike Cross. Cross was defeated by Mike Dasher in the Democrat primary. Cross lost the support of the Chatham Democrat Party leadership after voting against county-wide zoning which is supported by the other Democrat commissioners (Howard, Hales, and Crawford). Read about that at http://www.chathamforward.com or here.

Mike Dasher is the Democrat seeking the District 2 Commissioner position. He has degrees in political science and finance, and runs a business developing residential properties. Dasher  lives in Moncure. His Facebook page is https://www.facebook.com/DasherForChatham/ and he has a website at http://www.mikedasher.org.

Peyton Holland is running as an Independent (placed on the ballot by petition of county voters after the Primaries). In the past Holland has voted as a Republican. Holland lives in Moncure and has a graduate degree in management from NC State. He works as the Executive Director of SkillsUSA North Carolina. His Facebook page is https://www.facebook.com/OurChatham/ and his website is http://www.ourchathamnc.com.

Personal opinion follows
I chuckled when I saw a post on Dashers Facebook page stating that Howard and Dasher encourage citizen participation in a government that is thoughtful, deliberative, and transparent. I have not seen those qualities displayed yet by Commissioner Howard in the discussions about county-wide zoning.

Also interesting is that Mike Dasher runs a business developing residential properties. Will that be a conflict of interest for him during zoning discussions around residential development?

Anyway, (with the exception of Karen Howard who has seems to have no published political position) check out the political promises on each candidates Facebook page and website, and watch how those pledges evolve until the election. Remember to vote in November, and after the election try to hold your representatives to the commitments they make.