Yes! Weekly’s Jordan Green analyzes the race for Guilford County Commissioner at large between challengers Larry Proctor and Wendell Sawyer and incumbents Paul Gibson and John Parks. (By the way, I actually heard Parks say something at last night’s commissioners’ meeting.)
Green’s good at following the money trail in local politics, and he found a little something on Proctor, who’s a veteran member of the county’s planning board:
Proctor has reached outside of North Carolina to accept two $500 donations – significant but not record-setting sums in local politics. One came from Leo Vecellio Jr., owner of the Vecellio Group, a privately held company in Florida that specializes in highway construction, mining and energy services. A subsidiary of the company, Sharpe Brothers, brought a rezoning request before the planning board in May 2007.
The proposal to rezone a site northeast of the intersection of the Urban Loop and US Highway 421 in Fentress Township drew protest from residents of the affluent Stonebrook Farms and Lynwood Lakes subdivisions, but minutes from the meeting indicate that Proctor noted his comfort with the zoning change by describing “the I-85 Bypass as a ‘divider’ of the residential and industrial uses.”
Vecellio did not return a message left at the company’s Florida corporate headquarters.
Proctor said he spoke to the county attorney about the donation. After assuring her the case was closed and that he’d had no prior communication with Vecellio about the check, he decided it was a legitimate campaign contribution and deposited it in his campaign account.
Proctor said he visited the Sharpe Brothers site a dozen times before voting to approve its rezoning request.
“If he came with another case, I’d do the same research,” he said. “I’d make the same common-sense judgment. You can’t buy my vote.”
Green notes that Gibson and Parks voted with the 9-2 majority at during the very entertaining commissioners’ discussion of the matter.
