Election plan shows divisions

A tiff over how the county elects its leaders has led to another look at the way the rural and urban sectors interact in Orange County.

In an open letter to Rep. Bill Faison, D-Orange, dated March 25, Moses Carey Jr. — chairman of the Orange County Board of Commissioners — condemned the bill Faison introduced earlier this month that could lead to district representation for some Orange County commissioners.

Voters now elect the five commissioners in countywide races. Faison’s proposal would increase the board’s size to seven and put six of the seats on the ballot in district elections, with one at-large seat.

Chapel Hill, Carrboro and surrounding areas would receive four commissioners. The Hillsborough area would receive one commissioner, as would a district including territory along the county’s northern and western edges.

In his letter, Carey states that Faison has “completely disregarded the wishes of our board of commissioners,” calls upon Faison to withdraw the bill and announces that he will ask Orange County’s other legislative delegates to “actively work to defeat this bill.”

Many in the area have attacked Faison’s proposal as political maneuvering, designed to increase the conservative voice on the Board of Commissioners.

All five board members are now Democrats, and it’s commonly believed that the heavily left-wing, more populous southern part of Orange County overpowers the rest of the county in elections.

But Faison has countered that the issues at stake are cultural.

“When you get out to the rural part of the county … the issues are different, the issues are not about urban life,” Faison said.

He maintains that his bill would leave the Democratic hold on the board intact. “I think it would be inconsequential,” he said.

According to county voter statistics last updated Feb. 10, between 51 and 54 percent of registered voters in each of the proposed districts are registered Democrats.

At the same time, the proposed districts near Hillsborough and along the edges of the county each feature almost 30 percent Republicans, while the more urban area near Chapel Hill has fewer GOP members.

Regardless of what approach is taken, few deny that real differences exist between the urban and rural sectors of the county.

Margaret Cannell, an ex-officio member of the Orange County Economic Development Commission, said the primary economic difference between the county’s rural and urban zones is that urban zones have a single, driving economic force in the University.

State government jobs paid 49.7 percent of all 2004 wages in the county, according to county data.

But Cannell said the county’s northern and western parts feature a more varied economic base, including agriculture and manufacturing through facilities such as the General Electric site in Mebane.

Faison said that the social difference between country and town is too complex to be neatly summed up, but that views on land use are a representative example.

He said some urbanites think the countryside should be kept open for beautification while living on tiny, densely packed lots themselves.

But this presents an issue for some rural residents, he said, many of whom are land-poor.

“A lot of them (invest in) farms, as distinct from the stock market,” he said. “They don’t see themselves as a bike path.”

Faison’s proposal has a long way to go before it becomes law. He said himself that other members of the area’s legislative delegation will side with the commissioners — including Rep. Joe Hackney, the powerful House Democratic leader.

Said Hackney on Wednesday, “I am in favor of the county commissioners being given the courtesy of an appropriate time to study the issue.”

Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.