Sign the petition @ www.voteforlove.org

It was a business as usual tone of voice, a matter of fact presentation.  It could have been rehearsed.  The County Attorney said his piece, the Chairman echoed a few words, and in a Kafkaesque fashion he announced to the assembled crowd his pre-determined results:

You can have your public voice on the issue.  But you can only have one half hour.  You can’t do it tonight.  You can speak for three minutes per person.  It will be off the record.  We’ll do it May 7th, 24 hours before polls open on election day.  There will only be 10 of you.  We, the commissioners, will never vote on, or even be required to take a position on, the Amendment.

No really.  That’s what really happened tonight.

The Chair also announced that the Commissioners would be available for questions from the press after the meeting was over.  That announcement was disingenuous at best . I took this photo nearly three hours later, the meeting still going on.  Row after row of empty seats, all other opponents of the Amendment long since gone.

By 11pm, several more closed sessions later, the meeting was still going strong.   Our campaign, and the press, went home.

 Earlier in the day, I wrote a letter to the Commissioners on this topic, and It was quoted tonight in the Durham Herald Sun.

As you know, today is the first day of voting in this election.  I’m sitting in the office now, about 5:30am, about an hour until sunrise.  What will today bring?  Tomorrow? This Year?  This decade?

Durham is at a crossroads.  We have been growing and straining against that growth.  We wrestle with, then embrace, our history.  Soon, we will make important and irreversible choices.

Poverty in Durham, our public school system, our environment, our business climate, our neighborhood character, our traffic and transit… all of these could go one way, or the other.

By all accounts, our County Commission will see two new members next year.  That’s a 40% change, the greatest in a good long while.  Next year, there will be as many as 3 new members of the City Council, the greatest change since 2001.  Durham is changing, but what will that change look like?

I see Durham’s future, rising over the hill like a sunrise.  Durham’s gritty streets are here for it to see, all the good, all the bad.  But what will this day bring for it’s people?

As for Me:  

It’s the first day of early voting, and we have a half dozen different events to attend, and six early vote locations to keep staffed with volunteers.

And there’s a candidate forum tonight, with Kids Voting Durham.  

6:30-8:30 pm
Holton Center, 401 N. Driver St.

You should attend, if able.  It’s the last forum with all of us 14 candidates; I think I’m going to take the gloves off.

Finally, you can find an actual letter I wrote to the amazing City and County of Durham right here.   I wrote it for the Indy Newspaper a couple weeks ago.  It’s even more relevant today than it was then.  

It’s about the Durham’s big Political Committees:   the People’s Alliance, the Committee on the Affairs of Black People, the Friends of Durham.

It’s about the political culture we find ourselves in.  It’s about the good, and the bad.

30 minutes until sunrise Durham, good luck.

-John

It wasn’t just their endorsement that mattered to the campaign, it was what they said in the endorsement.

We believe John Owens is the single strongest candidate; among the fourteen candidates, we appreciate that at forums and in questionnaires, he is rarely evasive, and speaks directly and honestly without obfuscating his beliefs or his intentions. This quality is uncommon in any politician—and is sorely needed given the lack of transparency in Durham government. Some participants in Durham politics accuse Durham’s “progressive left” of being out-of-touch with the needs of low-income Durham residents—Owens’ life-story and background speak directly to his understanding of the role in government in helping to support citizens in their pathway out of poverty.

That’s a direct quote.

Along with Rev. Carl Kenney’s recent endorsement , the Duke Democrats endorsement shows that whenever grassroots groups and leaders meet John, they support him.

We are proud that Rev. Kenney endorsed John Owens today for Durham County Commissioner.

Rev. Kenney had many regretfully negative things to say about other candidates, but only positive words for John.  He writes:

The shocker:

John Owens. This kid has the stuff. I call him kid out of respect for what he brings, youthfulness, a fresh approach, an amazing understanding of the issues and a departure from business as usual in Durham [...]

Those in office may be a bit out of touch, and we need some new blood running the show. [...] The Rev-elution can see past the birth certificate. He’s among the best ”

Thank you Rev. for your endorsement and supportive words.  We’re going to keep bringing that fresh approach to this campaign and Durham government.

But we’re not that kind of campaign.  This is a grassroots effort, and that means hundreds of small-dollar donations, instead of a few big checks.

According to Board of Elections reports, Becky Heron currently holds the record for the most individual donors.  In her 2008 campaign, she had about 250.

Team Owens isn’t funded by the political establishment. We’re winning this campaign by engaging Durham’s citizens, not by selling our souls to the highest bidder.  We can win this, but we need your help.

Please donate now.  With your help, we can blow the current record out of the water.  

You can contribute any amount to the campaign.

Use the donation form on the right:  $50, $5, or even $1 helps us reach our goal.

Let the establishment in Durham hear your voice.  Tell them  you believe government should represent the PEOPLE, not just the people with money.

“I love forums like this because we get to pretend that issues and policies matter, when in fact, it’s incumbency, personality, and PAC endorsements that win elections. But some of the things we say tonight will influence the policies that are enacted next year. So I would like to hear what specific policies the fourteen of us are going to enact that actually tackle poverty and other problems that Durham County faces.”

This is a campaign about ideas, about substance and policy. This is also your campaign, so if you have a policy idea or even just feedback on our campaign, you can share those with John here on our feedback page. And thank you for playing an active role in tackling some of the challenges in our community.

In that time, the Durham People’s Alliance has never endorsed a single candidate under the age of 40, much less a candidate under 30.

Team Owens is proud that it came closer to winning that endorsement than any young campaign before us.

Regardless of the endorsement, we pledge to keep working with the People’s Alliance to defeat the Hate Amendment.  We are side by side in that struggle.

John and the campaign appreciate the democratic process by which the PA makes its endorsements. The votes can be unpredictable, and the process messy, but it’s still democracy at its finest.

The PA chose to only endorse 4 candidates for 5 positions.  We intend to win that remaining “5th” vote on the PA voter’s slate-cards.

Finally, our sincere gratitude goes out to the vocal minority who persisted through four hours of sweltering heat, advocating for our endorsement.

In the 2010 session, the Commissioners spent more time debating who would be chair, and who would be vice-chair, than they did discussing the school budget. They spent much more time this last session debating who they would appoint to the vacant commissioner’s seat, than they did on any other single issue. Ultimately, they agreed to appoint the only candidate who promised not to run against them in 2012.

But it’s not the individual Commissioners that needs to change, it’s the stale air in the Commission chamber. Durham is changing in good ways. Durham is evolving. But these changes aren’t represented on the Commission.

Durham is the youngest metropolitan area in the whole South. Our average age is 31. But the average age of our elected policy-making leaders is 66. More than 75% of Durham is under the age of 50, and exactly zero of our leaders are. Durham is now 15% Latino, and growing; more than a quarter of our public school students are Latino. But there are no Latinos in elected government. Durham has one of the largest, if not the largest, LGBT population in North Carolina– but none of our elected officials are LGBT, or even connected to the community.

These are the facts of a changing, growing, vibrant Durham–but they are missing from our County Commission. We must ensure that all the communities of Durham have a seat at the table.

Most importantly, the Commission needs creative thinking to solve problems, instead of just re-fighting the battles of the last few years and decades, over and over. We are moving into 2012-13 with a $14 million gap in our school budget. We might have to close a school because of under-enrollment. And violent, gang-related crime is on the rise. In the next few years, we will see a major drop in property tax revenue as valuations decline.

We will have to face and fix these problems. To do this, we need new voices at the table. We need a new generation of leaders who don’t fear speaking honestly. We need leaders who understand the challenges and the opportunities, the failures and the success, of what Durham is today.