Now allow me to be clear, I have neither given up my write-in campaign for Mayor of Greensboro nor am I endorsing candidates just because I pick them to win. I'm just saying, based on years of watching the local political landscape and being a man of practicalities, who the winners will most likely be, and why.
District 1. Sharon Hightower hands down. It doesn't matter that she has multiple fraud convictions or that her largest campaign contributors are billionaire Roy Carroll through his Triad Good Government PAC and developer Marty Kotis, Ms Hightower has name recognition, so much so that no one can name her opponent.
District 2. Despite the fact that Thessa Pickett, who is running a write-in campaign, is by far the best candidate, Jim Kee's recent switch to the Republican Party in order to make himself available to run for the State House in 2018 has upset many of his would be supporters, thereby giving the win hands down to Goldie Wells who was appointed to her position by City Council last Spring.
District 3. It's the same old story in District 3, despite having illegally swayed city contracts to his own customers and being under investigation by the North Carolina Bar, Attorney Justin Outline, appointed to City Council by the rest of the cronies, has the name recognition, financial backing of Greensboro's 1% and will no doubt triumph over the honest and forthcoming Craig Martin.
District 4. It was with great dismay back in 2011 when I watched Occupy Greensboro break from the national ranks and endorse Nancy Hoffman for District 4. Without a doubt she proved them to be fools. And while there is little doubt that Ms Hoffman's base which includes the high rollers like the drunkard Zack Methany from Downtown Greensboro Inc. will give her the name recognition to win a win by Gary Kenton would be a welcome relief for all of Greensboro.
District 5. Tony Wilkins was first appointed to city council under Mayor Robbie Perkins, has never really been the conservative he claimed to be, never before had to mount a real campaign, and has recently been abandoned by local Republican Party big wigs who now see him for what he is. That, combined with the fact that the great white hope, John Brown, turned out to be no more that a liar at best, has completely deflated local conservatives. Most will simply stay home giving the election to Tammi Thurm.
At Large: As much as I'd like to see her back in office, T Diane Bellamy Small was simply too damaged by the previous smear campaign that the rest of the Greensboro City Council tricked myself, fellow bloggers, and the media to perpetuate against Ms Smalls some years ago. Diane simply wouldn't play ball with Greensboro's status quo and for that we all suffered. And there isn't enough time to reach enough readers to save her campaign now.
One candidate that is really too close to call is Michelle Kennedy. That's a shame really as the girl has real guts and proved it when she stood up to the spineless developers who put Amy Murphy up to leading the charge to run the poor and homeless out of downtown Greensboro. Don't let anyone fool you, the Chicken Lady was tricked into thinking that was a good idea.
There is a chance that Michelle Kennedy will knock out Marikay Abuzuaiter, Mike Barber, or Yvonne Johnson. As much as I'd like to see him win, I fear Dave Wills hasn't a chance.
It's really a shame so many of Greensboro's liberals were tricked by the Nancy and Trudy Show. Had Trudy Wade's redistricting bill been allowed to go through we would be ridding this city of almost every incumbent we have in office plus adding more minority representation to council. But alas, as usual you take your political positions based on knee jerk responses instead of the evidence.
Mayor: The Reverend Diane Moffet served her purpose. She's not evil. She simply got caught up in something evil while trying to do good. Even if those who talked her into running convinced her that she could become mayor, her residency would never withstand a court challenge. State law allows you to move to a city and run for office the same day but the courts have ruled that you must prove you intend to remain living in that city. The fact that Reverend Moffett never put her $400,000 home in Jamestown on the market would never stand up in any courtroom. I've no proof but I'm betting Skip Alston and Nancy Vaughan conspired to trick Reverend Moffett into running for Mayor in order to give the election away to Nancy Vaughan.
Why would Skip do that? To get City money, that's why.
So while I doubt it will ever happen, you could write-in Billy Jones for Mayor and Thessa Pickett for District 2 while voting the rest of the incumbents out of office to foil their plans.
