April 18, 2007

Published in Wake Forest, NC

            “I wanted to do it [announce] early to give plenty of time to build a good solid base,” Bridges said.

            Bridges will be trying for one of the seats now held by Commissioners Stephen Barrington, Velma Boyd-Lawson and David Camacho. Barrington, who recently became the executive director for the Franklin County Chamber of Commerce, has said he will not run for re-election. Boyd-Lawson and Camacho have not announced their plans.

            The filing period for the Nov. 6 nonpartisan town election begins at noon on Friday, July 6 and ends at noon Friday, July 20. The filing fee is $15 and candidates may file at town hall or at the Wake County Board of Elections in Raleigh.

            A Wake Forest native, Bridges was elected to a four-year term in 2001 and lost a re-election bid in 2005.

            “There was a disconnect between me and a lot of people last time,” Bridges said. “Two years ago I told you I would run again. I’m real excited about it now. I think part of it is being away two years and being able to see things from a different perspective.”           

            Bridges said he had not put together a platform but there are issues he feels are important. Those include downtown and the importance of its economic health, transportation issues – people being able to move easily about town – and voter involvement in issues outside their own neighborhoods.

Will it be the same money game?

            Beginning in 1999, town candidates raised impressive sums for their campaigns, and it paid off until 2005 when Frank Drake and Margaret Stinnett won the two open seats with shoe leather and shoe-string financing.

            It was Bridges who both raised the most money – $23,700.91 – and declared after coming in fourth in a five-person race, “This should be dead-clear-proof that money does not win elections.” He also said, “You really shouldn’t have to set out to raise $25,000 for a local campaign.” Those statements were made early in 2006 when the candidates had finished reporting their finances.

            Bridges also said Drake, who led the balloting, was successful because he really worked hard, going from door to door to talk to people. “I pat him on the back every time I see him.”

            Drake’s success with limited funds – $6,209.15 of which $1,500 was a loan from his wife – should encourage other people who want to run, Bridges said.

            He had $10,924.85 left in his campaign kitty in 2006, and it is still in the bank.

            The fund-raising efforts for the other 2005 candidates were:

• Chris Malone raised $19,140 but lost his bid for re-election. Most of the money Malone and Bridges raised, over 90 percent in each case, came from developers, homebuilders, realtors and others involved in building and development.

• Margaret Stinnett raised $4,031 and won a seat on the board.

• Chris Kaeberlein said when he filed he would not raise more than $3,000 and therefore did not have to report contributions.

Vivian Jones, who ran unopposed for her second term, also did not raise more than $3,000 and reused yard signs from her 2001 campaign.