County Commissioner voting guide: know before you vote!

As early voting continues (schedule here), make sure you know some background on the candidates for Orange County Commissioner:

District 1- Two seats

Name: Mark Dorosin
Profession: Managing Attorney at the UNC Center for Civil Rights
Party Affiliation: Democrat
Government Experience: In addition to advocating for residents of low-income communities fighting racial discrimination, Dorosin served on the Carrboro Board of Aldermen from 1999 to 2003, co-chaired Orange County’s Census 2000 Committee, and was a member of the county’s Affordable Housing Task Force. He was also a board member and president of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro American Civil Liberties Union and has been actively engaged in a number of local civil rights and social justice issues.
Main Goals: Dorosin’s platform goals include promoting affordable housing, reducing economic injustices, refocusing land use, and promoting community-focused economic development and increased participation and engagement in local government. “I believe it’s critical that we address the growing racial and socio-economic disparities in our county,” Dorosin said in a press release. “Reducing these inequities must be the main goal of all county policies.”
website: http://markdorosin.org/

Name: Pam Hemminger
Profession: Vice-Chairwoman of the Orange County Board of Commissioners
Party Affiliation: Democrat
Government Experience: Hemminger is currently vice chair of the Orange County Board of Commissioners. She has also served as chairwoman of the Orange County School Board, Parks and Recreation Commission and Chapel Hill Greenways Commission
Main Goals: Hemminger said she wants to diversify the county’s tax base and ensure that property taxes stay stable by promoting economic development.
“We have an unsustainable fiscal model in our county that is based on very high property taxes that will ultimately drive out diversity in our community,” she said.
Hemminger said she thinks the board has made progress toward this goal but wants it to continue. Her other priorities include improving transit, schools and maintaining natural resources.
website: http://www.pamhemminger.com/

Name: Penny Rich
Profession: Owner of a personal chef and catering company, Chapel Hill Town Councilwoman
Party Affiliation: Democrat
Government Experience: Rich has served on the Chapel Hill Town Council since 2009, and currently serves on nine committees, ranging from the Sustainable Energy and Environment committee to the Community Design Commission. Rich also volunteers at the Inter-Faith Council’s Community Kitchen and serves on the Chapel Hill High School PTA.
Main Goals: Rich’s main goals are centered around economic development, transit and waste. Rich wants to encourage green business, business incubators and further develop the county’s transit system.
Rich also encourages the reducing the county’s waste by maximizing recycling and composting.
“We need a 21st century model of economic development that does not put the environment at risk, and that plans ahead rather than playing catch-up or copying the approaches used by our neighboring counties,” Rich said on her website, pennyfororange.com.
website: http://pennyfororange.com/2012/03/04/transit/

District 2 – One seat

Name: Renee Price
Profession: Office Manager at the Health Center of Hillsborough
Party Affiliation: Democrat
Government Experience: Price has Served on the Orange County Planning Board, the Orange County Commission for the Environment, the Orange Unified Transportation Board, the Historic Preservation Commission, the Orange County Human Relations Commission, the New York State Assembly, among others.
Main Goals: Price said she wants more collaboration between members of the board in addition to increased citizen participation.
“We are grounded when we’re not working together,” she said.
She hopes to ensure that county services such as public libraries are maintained, and wants to make sure the board fosters a dialogue with the school board.
website: http://reneeprice2012.com/

Name: Steve Yuhasz
Profession: Attorney, Orange County Commissioner
Party affiliation: Democrat
Government Experience: Yuhasz is currently an Orange County Commissioner and served as commissioner vice chair in 2011. He has also served on the Orange County Board of Health and on the Orange County Solid Waste Advisory Board and served as the commissioner representative to various county and regional boards.
Main Goals: Yuhasz said he wants to ensure financial stability for the county by shifting the distribution of the county’s property tax toward businesses.
“We have burdened our residents with a property tax that is about as much as they can afford,” he said.
Other priorities include improving public education and emergency services infrastructure, he said.
website: http://www.commissioneryuhasz.org/

Name: Chris Weaver
Profession: Businessman
Party Affiliation: Republican
Government Experience: Weaver is the precinct captain of Caldwell for the Orange County GOP. He has also served on the United States Fish and Wildlife Service.
Main Goals: Weaver said he wants to lower taxes and act as a conservative voice on the board, which he said he feels is not politically balanced.
“I’m not pleased at the way this one-party board has represented us,” he said. His platform calls for increased government transparency and more citizen participation.
“It’s unbelievable how uninformed the public is,” he said.
*website:*http://weaver4bocc.wordpress.com/

At Large – One seat

Name: Bernadette Pelissier
Profession: Chairwoman of the Orange County Board of Commissioners, former Chief of Research at the Federal Correctional Institution in Butner.
Party Affiliation: Democrat
Government Experience: Pelissier is currently Chairwoman of the Orange County Board of Commissioners. She has also served on the Orange County Planning Board, Commission for the Environment, Orange-Chatham Sierra Club and the Orange Water and Sewer Authority.
Main Goals: Pelissier said she is primarily concerned with economic development and wants to further develop the county’s land assets. Part of her platform is to complete the county’s water and sewer investment for economic development districts.
“Economic development of these properties will help decrease the pressure on residential property taxes and will help provide the financial resources to allow us to continue honoring our values of quality education, social equity and protection of natural resources,” she said.
Pelissier’s other goals include working towards the creation of a regional transit system and increasing citizen involvement in county planning efforts.
sources: http://www.bernadetteforcommissioner.com/

Name: Mary Carter
Profession: Owner of iDesignMobileApps
Party Affiliation: Republican
Government Experience: Though Carter has not been heavily involved in local government, she is a mother of five boys and observer of local politics. Her husband, David Carter, is a candidate for N.C. Senate.
Main Goals: According to her website, Carter’s platform goals include diversifying the opinions on the Board to represent the population better, encouraging business development in Orange County, improving education in the county, and improving efficiency in county government.
“Our current Board of Commissioners are far too liberal in their spending, pro-tax, and anti-business. Collectively, they have succeeded in driving business away and hurt the economy of Orange County and it’s tax base,” Carter said on her website marycarter.org. “We need to develop, promote, and encourage intelligent, thoughtful business development by creating an environment that is business friendly while maintaining the beauty and charm of our county.”
website: http://www.marycarter.org/blog/

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