Bill Whiteheart’s victory over Ted Kaplan for a Forsyth County Commission at-large seat shifts the board to the right, and Chairman Dave Plyler isn’t happy.
As a result, Plyler makes it known he will do everything he can to prevent Whiteheart or former Chairwoman Gloria Whisenhunt from taking control of the board. Plyler will instead support Commissioner Debra Conrad, ostensibly “less conservative” than either Whiteheart or Whisenhunt.
That’s to be expected from a rino like Plyler. But there’s actually specific reason why he wants control in more “moderate” hands:
Plyler said that with a more conservative board he wants to make sure that the county retains the services of a lobbyist hired in 2009 to get federal money. He said the key to that is making sure that neither Whisenhunt nor newly elected commissioner Bill Whiteheart control the direction of the board.
…The county board divided 5-2 in a 2009 vote that hired lobbyist Leslie Mozingo and The Ferguson Group to lobby for federal money for the county. Whisenhunt and Republican Commissioner Richard Linville opposed the plan, but Conrad voted in support of the hiring. The hiring came after a political primary season that saw Plyler ousting Whiteheart for one of the three GOP nominations available that year.
The county pays $63,000 a year for the services of Mozingo and The Ferguson Group, who also lobby for Winston-Salem and for projects of interest to both the city and county. Plyler said it sometimes takes several years to get projects in the pipeline, and that ending the contract now would be like “going to Charlotte and stopping in Salisbury.”
Conrad says she wants to keep the lobbyist in place, but only if she’ll seek fed money from regular appropriations, not earmarks. That should make everyone feel better.
