9-13-06

Where am I? You have reached the official web page of Randy Crow for New Hanover County Commissioners.

I want to thank from the bottom of my heart the nearly 19,000 true Americans, Democrats, Republicans, and Independents, who voted for me November 7 in the NH County Commissioners' race. I spent only about $1100.00, and the Star News belittled me as a perennial candidate with no chance of winning, many, not all, of the leadership of the New Hanover County Democratic Party gave me little support, so in my opinion my good showing is the result of true Americans expressing their voice for smaller government. True Democrats please get involved with the Democratic Party and urge Chairwoman Helen Worthy and other officers to recognize Randy Crow as a good fiscally conservative Democrat worthy of Democratic Party support. I need your help. A few connected Democrats seem to think they have the right to speak for the nearly 50,000 registrar ed Democrats in New Hanover County and decide on their own and against good business sense, (and now vote results November 7) that Randy Crow is to be ignored as a good Democratic candidate. This is not American thinking and goes against the American principle of majority rule and fairness. A large group of Democrats are financially conservative, just like me, and have a right to have a voice in the Democratic Party. The Star News is in favor of big government and belittles me as a perennial candidate. I am a perennial candidate because I view the Star News as the perennial mouth of big government. If anyone can exert financial pressure on the Star News, ie don't advertise and don't pay for their paper, because the Star News' supports big government which will force us to sell our property and cowardly rigs elections with their slanted coverage contrary to American principles, please do so. If anyone can exert pressure on the leadership of the Democratic Party to acknowledge Randy Crow is on the face of the Earth and he wants to be a voice for other good financially conservative Democrats please do so. Thanks. Randy

The Star News & the Subtle Art of Rigging Elections

Probably most readers would not see much difference in how the Star News presented the following candidates. However after ten years or so of watching how the media operates I see a difference.

One will notice that the picture of Randy Crow is darker. That is no accident. Darkness means bad to the eyes of the reader and the Star News knows this and they in this case made my picture darker.

Also look for lies in an article. I have a Business degree from a Business College which is more prestigious than a business degree from an Arts and Sciences college. It's supposed to be written Bachelor of Business Administration, BBA as opposed to, Bachelor of Arts, BA in business administration. Its not written the way it should be to the left, the Star News changed the information I gave them, lying to the people in effect, and state I have a Business Degree from a College of Arts and Science, BA, Bachelor of Arts. When my degree was written incorrectly a person who knows the difference between a BA and a BBA mentioned to me my degree was written in error. People take education very seriously and know the difference as obviously the Star News knows. Of all the lies the media tells about me they lie about my education most of all.

The following is the information I sent the Star News.

Name: Randy Crow Date of birth: February 12, 1946 Political affiliation: Democratic Party Family: Single two sons

Education: Bachelor of Business Administration degree, Sam Houston State University, 1970, Huntsville, Texas. SOARS degree, Texas A & M 1979, College Station, Texas

Career: Self-employed businessman for over 31 years. Previously owned and
operated high tech sewage treatment plant.

Political experience: Involved in many aspects of politics since 1997.

The Star News left out quite a bit of information I sent them especially relative to the information the Star News included on Caster and Greer. The Star News used 43 words from what Bill Caster sent the newspaper, 33 words from what Bobby Greer sent them, and 23 words from what I sent them. In some sense the Star News slants their coverage of candidates based upon how the candidate affects their income. The Star News receives a bunch of money from builders and the real estate industry and Caster and Greer receive most of their contributions from these sources. So the Star News supports candidates who receive contributions from Star News advertisers, especially the big block of advertisers, construction advertisers. In my case the Star News has belittled my candidacy for nine years because their construction advertisers have put their money on other candidates. Also the Star News belittles me because I hate communi$m and the Star News is the mouth of, an advocate of, big government, ie communi$m.

Ottie $ulzberger, owner and publisher of the New York Times, he is a communi$t, and if a person is running in an election who particularly hates communi$m, as I do, he tells his local publisher to make the picture darker or this, that, and the other to slant the reader against communi$t haters. This is not to say that Caster and Greer don't hate communi$m.

Patrick Gannon, Garath McGrath, and Robert J. Gruber do what the big communi$t who owns the New York Times, Ottie $ulzberger, tell little communi$t$ to do. Since my coverage was a little slimyer than usual this election it is my guess Gruber is a big time communi$t in his own name. I want small government. I developed name recognition by entering race after race. communi$t$ belittle me and laugh at me and call me a perennial candidate to rig elections and discourage true Americans to follow my example of courage.

Courage and determination is a respected American trait. But one has got to remember Gruber is not an American but a communi$t who lives for all true Americans to lick his boots and be his slave.

The New York Times communi$t$ want homeowners to loose their homes. If I would have been elected, a businessman, and it takes a good businessman to be a good county commissioner, this would have started an orderly transition of leadership. But by the Star News slants against me, the following paragraph appeared in the Star News,

State Rep. Carolyn Justice, a Pender County Republican, and Rep. Danny McComas, a New Hanover County Republican, don't have opponents either. Other incumbents, including New Hanover County Commissioners Bobby Greer and Bill Caster, won't face aggressive challenges Tuesday.

when it stated I am not aggressive competition. The Star News rigs the election by effectively telling voters not to vote for me because I have no chance of winning. Aggressive competition according to the Star News is a candidate who plays by the communi$t rules and spends big bucks.

The big guns on the NH County Commissioners, Caster, 66 years old and a board member for 14 years, Greer, a board member for 18 years, and Ted Davis will probably be stepping down in the next eight years. If two or three county commissioners are replaced at one time it is likely the county will get at least one big government advocate. The Star News is waiting on a big government advocate to run for the County Commissioners. That's what the Star News' wants. Tax and spend county commissioners who will tax our houses away. Stealing our houses by taxing them away is part of the communi$t plan to destitute the people. Orderly change, a seasoned businessman like myself who supports smaller government, is totally against what the communi$t$ want in Wilmington and all over the country.

To sway voters against me the Star News writes as if I have not wagged an aggressive campaign. An aggressive campaign is one in which a candidate spends money. I spent $1100.00. Caster and Greer had over over $40,000.00 each to spend. Do you think big government advocates want candidates to get in office who spend only $1100.00 and are not owned by some interest group? Good grief no. Instead of praising me for running a campaign which I finance myself - no attached financial strings - the Star News belittles me. Would one expect frugality, qualified to do the job, independence, creativity and American traits to be praised by communi$t$? Nope.

Are Caster and Greer communi$t$? No way. Actually they are very conservative and good people. The Star News belittles them regularly. The Star News sees me as a more smaller government advocate than Greer or Caster. The Star News want Caster and Greer gone provided they are replaced with a tax and spend commissioners who will take Wilmington down the road of taxing our houses away. That's the $ulzbeger Gruber communi$t way.

Greer, Caster win re-election

By Gareth McGrath
Staff Writer
gareth.mcgrath@starnewsonline.com

With little competition, the two longest serving members of the New Hanover County Board of Commissioners won re-election Tuesday.

Bobby Greer, currently board chairman, received 23,398 votes and Bill Caster, the current vice chairman, got 25,413 votes.

Democrat Randy Crow, the lone challenger in the race, received 18,835 votes, a surprisingly strong showing for the perennial candidate.

I get almost 19,000 votes and I am in the hunt spending $1100.00 and the Star News does not praise me but belittles me. That's big government's, the mouth of the communi$t$', the Star News, talking to rig elections and discourage small government candidates from entering elections.

Get this e-mail from the Democratic Party Chairwoman Helen Worthy, edited to remove info that did not pertain to the election. I get nearly 19,000 votes, loose by 4500 votes, against incumbents who should have beaten me by 10,000 votes and the New Hanover County Democratic Party does not even mention my name much less praise my performance in the County Commissioners' race. The Democratic Party says they are a democratic institution. There are 50,000 democrats in New Hanover County. Helen Worthy and a hand full of Democrats have the right to ignore me when thousands of Democrats voted for me? Talk about minority rule. Twenty five people speak for 50,000? If Helen Worthy and a handful of Democrats think they are acting in the American way when they ignore the voice of almost 19,000 voters who voted for me they are sadly mistaken. I am beginning to understand what it feels like to be forced to ride in the back of the bus or drink from the water fountain marked "Randy."

Newsletter – November 11, 2006

CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR ELECTION

CONGRESSMAN MIKE McINTYRE, SENATOR JULIA BOSEMAN, REPRESENTATIVE THOMAS WRIGHT, SHERIFF SID CAUSEY, DISTRICT ATTORNEY BEN DAVID, SCHOOL BOARD MEMBER NICK RHODES, JUDGES: REBECCA W. BLACKMORE, JAMES FAISON III, PHYLISS GORHAM, AND SOIL & WATER DISTRICT SUPERVISOR BILL HART

FROM NHCDP

THE party of values that values all people

Special thanks to everyone who worked during and leading up to the elections and to all who voted. You are appreciated. As you can see, your efforts paid off.

YOUR VOTE DID AND DOES COUNT!!!

THE party of values that values all people (Except Democrat Randy Crow and the voice of the nearly 19,000 true Americans, Republicans and independents who voted for Democrat Randy Crow.)

spirited democracy; results may show otherwise

By Patrick Gannon
Staff Writer

Democracy is apparently alive at the Love of Christ Full Gospel Church in Bolivia, where the sign out front reads, 'Let Us Pray and Let Us Vote!' It's alive for Maria O'Neil, 27, who stood outside New Hanover County's early voting room all day every day for two weeks, volunteering to tell voters about her favorite District Court candidate, Lori West Gaines, who faces incumbent Judge Phyllis Gorham

in Tuesday's election.

'It's worth it because I tried to help the community,' O'Neil said.

And election season also is apparently in full swing in Pender County, where Elections Director Dennis Boyles

said

campaign paraphernalia arrived at his house in droves this year, despite the fact that it's a mid

term election.

'I don't remember my mailbox ever being as full as it was this time,' he said.

But for every example that shows

a vibrant and healthy democracy near the coast, another

indicates otherwise. The amount of money being spent, the number of uncontested or non-competitive races on area ballots and the sounds of ugly mudslinging in selective contests are all working against an ideal democratic process, said Roger Lowery

, a political science professor at the University of North Carolina Wilmington.

'No, it's not healthy anywhere in this country that I'm aware of,' he said.

Tuesday is Election Day, and with a political divide nationwide over the War on Terror, immigration and other issues, voters throughout the region won't get to choose a president. Instead, they'll pick school board members, county commissioners, state legislators, judges, law enforcement officials and U.S. representatives, among other seats.

It's sometimes said that the more local the race, the more important the vote.

'These local elections, you see immediate results,' in the form of local decisions that have direct impact on residents' lives, said Atkinson Alderman Joshua Ellison

, 28, who voted early Friday

in Pender County.

In that county, voters will decide whether to spend $17.5 million for a new water treatment plant. They also have a choice for the county's top cop, where incumbent Sheriff Carson Smith

, unlike his counterparts in Brunswick and New Hanover counties, has an opponent, Doyle Christopher

. The Republican Smith has led the sheriff's office for four years. Christopher, a Democrat, is a retired first sergeant of the State Highway Patrol.

In Brunswick, Bladen and Columbus counties, Jon David

, the identical twin of New Hanover County's district attorney, tries to make criminal prosecution a family affair, taking on longtime District Attorney Rex Gore

. On Oak Island in Brunswick County, voters will decide whether to allow 41-foot-high buildings in part of the town.

In New Hanover County, four incumbent Board of Education members take on two challengers in a race where controversial redistricting decisions are in the forefront. Also, in perhaps the most talked-about race of the election season, incumbent state Sen. Julia Boseman

, a Democrat, faces Al Roseman

, a Republican, for New Hanover County's state Senate seat.

That race drew a spirited, Democratic-leaning capacity crowd to a debate last week at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. It has also inspired attack ads on television, on

radio and through the mail, as both candidates try to get a leg up in the county, which is nearly evenly split between Democrats and Republicans.

While the verdict is still out about whether negative campaigning increases or decreases turnout, the long-term impact of such negative campaigning isn't good for politics or democracy, said Bob Hall

, a campaign finance analyst for Democracy NC, a watchdog group.

'There is a point in modern campaigning where money doesn't equal speech in terms of educating voters,' he said. 'It can equally distort the truth and actually drive people away from the polls.'

There are other examples of a struggling process locally. Lowery, the UNCW professor, said there are 'way too many' safe or uncontested seats, where the incumbent gets a free ride to another term. Brunswick County Sheriff Ronald Hewett

and New Hanover County Sheriff Sid Causey, for example, are running unopposed. Ben David,district attorney for New Hanover and Pender counties, is also unopposed.

Helen Worthy, chairwoman of the New Hanover County Democratic Party, said Causey and David don't have opponents because they've earned it.

'I think it's a matter of being across-the-board respected by the people they serve,' Worthy said.

But Chris Dean, chairman of the New Hanover County Republican Party, said the reasons no GOP candidates stepped up to run aren't that simple.

Potential sheriff candidates from within the sheriff's office – a likely candidate pool – might be worried that if they lose to the sheriff, their jobs might be in jeopardy, Dean said. The sheriff has the power to hire and fire at will.

'That makes it an extremely precarious situation,' Dean said.

State Rep. Carolyn Justice, a Pender County Republican, and Rep. Danny McComas, a New Hanover County Republican, don't have opponents either. Other incumbents, including New Hanover County Commissioners Bobby Greer and Bill Caster, won't face aggressive challenges Tuesday.

Lowery said some potential candidates don't want to put themselves or their families through the rigors of campaigns, which can include personal attacks. Also, he said, campaigns are growing increasingly expensive, citing the Boseman/Roseman race, where the two candidates combined raised more than $1 million. Also, in some state races, voter rolls are so heavily skewed to one party because of redistricting that a challenger from the other party likely wouldn't stand a chance, especially against an incumbent with lots of cash.

In a mid term election like Tuesday's, with no presidential or gubernatorial candidates on the ballot, getting people to the polls can be an uphill battle. In Southeastern North Carolina, throw in a bunch of uncontested and non-competitive races and a dash of mudslinging, and that hill gets steeper.

But early voting numbers indicate a stronger-than-usual turnout. By Friday morning, more than 2,500 voters had cast ballots in Pender County, nearly 10 percent of the registered voters. In May's primary, just 11 percent of registered voters turned out for the entire election, said Boyles, the election director.

'If one-stop (voting) is any indication, we could go as high as 50 percent or more,' he said. 'We'll find out, I guess, Tuesday night, what has stirred the voters.'

By Friday morning in New Hanover County, 4,900 people had voted early, about 4 percent of the 127,800 registered voters. In Brunswick County, 6,795 voters had cast ballots by Friday morning, or nearly 11 percent of 63,540 registered voters.

Connie Smith, who voted early Friday at the Pender County Board of Elections, said no single, race caught her attention this year. By voting, she was 'just trying to be a responsible citizen,' she said.

Patrick Gannon: 343-2328

patrick.gannon@starnewsonline.com