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Open Letter from City Council Member Brownie Newman

Dear Friends,

The Asheville City Council elections are less than a week away. On Tuesday, November 8, voters will elect a new Mayor and three members of Council.

Terry Bellany For Mayor and Progressive Leadership:
If you want to elect progressive leadership for Asheville's future, I hope you will vote for Terry Bellamy for Mayor and support the three progressive candidates who were the top vote-getters in the Asheville Primary Elections: Holly Jones, Robin Cape and Chris Pelly.

There are three good reasons to unite behind Jones, Cape and Pelly:

First, they are all great candidates and would be a great team. Holly has the benefits of four years of experience on City Council. Robin has solved critical issues related to water management on the Woodfin Water Board. Chris Pelly is the President of the Coalition of Asheville Neighborhoods. He has a strong background in assuring enforcement of our neighborhood and environmental protection laws. He is the only candidate to have been endorsed by both the Asheville Police and Firefighter Associations. Terry Bellamy is a native of Asheville and a working mom. Her family lives in West Asheville. It will be great to have a Mayor that is in-touch with the working families in Asheville.

Second, the Primary Elections demonstrate these candidates are our best chance for electing a progressive City Council. Of 10 candidates, Holly led the ticket in the Primary Election and Robin came in #2. The next highest progressive vote getter was Chris Pelly. Before the Primary, I encouraged people to support whichever progressive candidates they liked the best. Now we need to unite behind the Top Three to win the General Election. Chris Pelly came in significantly ahead of the next two highest progressive candidates. He received 12% more votes than Brian Freeborn and 29% more votes than Kieth Thomson.

Third, by uniting behind the Top Three candidates, there is a chance to appoint a 4^th progressive as well. The Primary results show that if progressive voters unite behind the three top vote getters, it is highly likely that all of them will win. If Terry wins the Mayors race (she received almost twice as many votes as the other two main candidates in the Primary), Council will appoint another person to fill her vacant Council seat. So, if you support one of the other progressive candidates, one of them can win too, if we unite behind the Top Three and Terry for Mayor.

Final Thoughts
Whoever are your preferred candidates—please don’t forget to vote!!! You can still participate in Early Voting this week at the Board of Elections office downtown at 189 College Street anytime between 8:30 AM- 6 PM during the week. The last day to vote early is Sat. Nov. 5 at 1PM.

Celebrate the victory!
Holly Jones and Robin Cape will be holding a victory party together after the polls close on Tuesday evening, starting at 7:30 PM. Our friends at The Laughing Seed Café have generously donated their space for the victory party. Please join us!

-Brownie Newman, Member of Asheville City Council

P.S. If you would be interested in volunteering for any of these candidates between now and election day, or on election day, please let me know. We need help making phone calls and working the polls on election day.