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Danville City Council Race – Update #7

(Last update: Danville City Council Race – Update #6)

“Boom!” Everything that was known and assumed about the Danville City Council race went “Boom!” over the past five days. Let’s pick up the pieces and see if we can figure out what the heck is going on.

Thursday night, I published “Potential change in Danville’s mayorship?” here at SouthsideCentral. That was the equivalent of lighting up a big cigar in a fireworks store. I starting getting feedback on the article immediately, so I decided to make that the topic for last Friday night’s “Danville Tonight” StarNews show. FastForward to today and we’ve now got a sixth candidate in the Danville City Council field. It’s the “butterfly effect” in action.

Neal Morris, former police chief of Danville, has now declared his candidacy as a write-in candidate. Although anyone can be a write-in candidate, you have to file the proper paperwork with the registrar if you’re going to actively support yourself as a write-in candidate. On today’s “Buzz” show, Morris said that he filed that paperwork today. So what does that mean for the race and the candidates? Let’s go to a BreakDown.

Incumbents:

  • Adam Tomer: Tomer has went on record in saying that he’s not interested in the Vice Mayor position if he wins re-election and that he has not promised my support to anyone for mayor. This statement effectively blows up the plan to unseat Sherman Saunders. Tomer may lose some support from the pro-Campbell voters, but it looks like he’ll offset that with a strong gain of support from the pro-Saunders voters. Based on Councilman David Luther’s on-air comments, it’s a safe assumption that he’s supporting Tomer as well. Even with those changes in his potential voter base, Adam Tomer is SAFE in this election.
  • Gary Miller: Miller has played it quietly since out last update, and that’s not surprising. Miller is also SAFE in this election.

Challengers:

  • Alonzo Jones: Jones has also played it quietly over the past week, and that’s not surprising either. I’m not declaring Jones as a lock for this election due to Thomas Motley’s last-minute push and Morris’ write-in campaign, but Jones remains a strong favorite to win.
  • John Gilstrap: Gilstrap has consistently had the best campaigning throughout the entire race. He’s been seen at almost every event with a smile on his face. Gilstrap seems to have across-the-spectrum support from the voters, so I believe that John Gilstrap should win a council seat.
  • Thomas Motley: Motley’s got a good support staff behind him, but he’s got to stay focused to have a chance. Motley got a last-minute infusion of cash into his campaign, so let’s see how he uses it to get his message out. Motley has declared his support for current mayor Sherman Saunders which should get him some support from voters that wouldn’t have considered him before. He needs to get that declaration of support out to more people to have a fighting chance.
  • Neal Morris: Wildcard! Can Neal Morris get the 2000+ write-in votes he needs to win a council seat? In my opinion, it’s going to be almost impossible to overcome that hurdle with 5 days to go, but in this race, anything truly is possible.

One trend that we have to watch is the strategies of the voters. You can vote for up to four candidates in this race. In previous elections, the predominantly-black precincts have traditionally used bullet voting on the black candidates in the race. (Before anybody tries to jump on me for bringing race into this, they can shove it. The voting records speak for themselves statistically.) It will be very interesting to see if any other voters or voting precincts use that strategy to advance their favored candidate and also to “vote against everybody else”.

No OddsMakers on this update until I get a community feel on how Neal Morris’ declared write-in candidacy is viewed by the Danville voters. We’ll have another update coming in a few days.

Despite the silence and a level of denial, I firmly believe that there is/was an semi-organized effort to make Larry Campbell the new Mayor of Danville. While there’s absolutely nothing wrong with a competitive race for the city’s mayorship, having a plan in motion before the city council elections is a start towards a dangerous trend of closed-door “us-against-them” partisanship that will be horrible for Danville’s future.

14 comments to Danville City Council Race – Update #7

  • […] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Southside Central. Southside Central said: What a long, strange race it's been… and it's getting stranger. Danviile City Council Race (Update #7) – New SC at http://bit.ly/9EMJ3k […]

  • Dave

    I have been watching this race very closely from the beginning and until it was inserted in the last few days from dissenting individuals, partisanship and the “us against them” attitude was not even a part of the city council race. (publicly that is)

  • PDWifey

    Bruce, totally agree with you on this (psst…get out of my head)! I always thought why Gilstrap never put his hat in the race before now…hmmmm. I personally believe Philip will be running for council in the near future as well. Although I do not question Campbells commitment to this city I do question some of the motives. Wonder if this is the clique Motley kept referring to (U betcha) Motley I can’t seem to take serious but if he gets in over Jones not sure how the Mayoral vote will go. Neal Morris will be an obstacle for the Campbell alliance. I just know for me, although a Christian, do not want a council full of clergy. Where are the women in this race….Next race on a mission to end the all boys club; I know there are some qualified women leadership in this city. Oh well see soon on Danville Tonight and enjoy the blogs.

  • Inquiring minds want to know

    Maybe someone knows the answer to these questions-rumor has it that the now write-in candidate, Neil Morris, had a fundraiser for one of the other candidates at Coates. The rumor is that it was not for Adam Tomer. Morris says (according to R&B article today) that he only supports Tomer and the others are liberal. If the fund raising rumor is true, then he supported a liberal candidate. Is it true? If so, which one did he help? Rumor says it was for Motley-the one the same R&B article who is proud to be called a liberal.

  • Neal Morris

    I have not had a fund raiser for anyone. Do not know where this originated.

  • Neal Morris

    Nor have I attended any.

  • Inquiring minds want to know

    The official word I hear now is that Ms. Morris had one. True/False. I am sure Rev. Motley can say who has helped him raise funds.

  • Inquiring minds want to know

    Did not mean official in above post because I do not know if true or not….the point is to find out if Morris family helped one of the candidates raise money. The rumor is out there.

  • Inquiring minds want to know

    Well, it seems the word is that the fundraiser was held at the Morris villa. Will Southside Central contact Rev. Motley to ask about this cause…..

  • Neal Morris

    Mrs. Morris did not have one nor has she attended one. To answer the next false rumor, none of my family members or friends have held a fund raiser for anyone at our villa or any other place. Since you are getting all this false information find out who is spreading the rumor and what is their motive.

  • Fee

    This response is to PDWifey. The man that you say you can’t take serious is a man that has shown commitment and commpassion to the people in this city. He has helped over two hundred people with their utilities since October of 2008. He is very active in this community in talking with the youth. He receives numerous calls from people in this city that needs help(black & white)and he has never told any one of those callers,” I can’t help you”. This man wants the youth in this city to succeed and he constantly incourages them to stay in school and get an education. This man spends thousands of dollars out of his pocket to help people over the years. He doesn’t sit on any board or receive any money from the state. Again, he uses his money and he also has several fundraisers, that one hundred percent of the proceeds go towards paying a persons utility bills. And for the record he is one hundred percent for the mayor. He is for the mayor. My problem is, I can’t seem to take you’re statement serious, when I know what this man has done for the people in this city.What have you done? He heard the cries of the people in this city and stepped forward.Leadership with Compassion. He’s been working with the people, Now he wants to work for the people.The reason why he does what he do is becsause it’s the GOD in him! And if you don’t understand that as being a christian, well you need to so some soul searching for yourself.

  • Dave

    On to more important issues rather than the he said/she said stuff. Since we are not going to have an open forum to ask the former chief some questions about his platform, I’d like to take this time to ask one. With the crime rate and murder rate at an alarming level in the city, what is the plan of former Police Chief Morris to remedy or solve this problem and curb the violence and illegal activity?

  • Neal Morris

    The Safety Coalition is a start if we get beyond the statistics and people continue to attend the meetings. An involved citizenry is most important in any endeavor and crime is no different. In the short term the public needs to be the eyes and ears of the police department reporting suspicious activity, criminal acts and be willing to testify in court letting it be known crime will not be tolerated in their neighborhood. This was done when we assigned community poice in the Bradley Road/Northern Drive are of the city shortly after annexation. This was a drug and crime invested area and working with the residents this area was turned around. The police department needs to have an aggressive partol and continious undercover drug investigations. In addition, a well trained investigative division is imperative. The practice of moving detectives out of the division after a year or two does not give the officer time to develop the necessary skills and techniques and develop informers to be effective. This practice lead to the the dismissal of three murder cases and one being reduced to manslaughter in the last several weeks. I was police chief for 32 years and I don’t think we had but 3 murder cases dismissed in the entire 32 years. These cases, I was told, according to some jurors was due to inadequate investigations. I hasten to add that this is not the fault of the investigating officer but policy. You must understand that council members cannot becone involved in personnl matters but they can inquire as to what is going on through the City Manager. In the long term city government, private agencies, schools and churches must work together to teach parental responsibility, the dangers of drugs and their consquences so our young people can complete their educations and become productive citizens.
    This conversation could go on for sometime but I will stop here.

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