Activist Eric Gorny showed up to the Buncombe County Commissioners’ meeting in a T-shirt that said “[Chairman] David Gantt hates poor people.” Gorny, evidently, has discovered that fact and logic don’t have much pull in political arenas and is resorting to gimmickry. Not too long ago, Gorny addressed the commissioners as Braveheart, with a painted face and kilt on a chill winter day. Then, he was accompanied by half a dozen angry taxpayers brandishing cardboard pitchforks (with blunt ends to satisfy security personnel).

Gorny’s message was simple. Economic recovery could be boosted if the government quit taking money from the people and burning it. He asked that the county cut the tax rate by 5 cents. The commissioners, talking past Gorny, declared that they did care about the poor people. Holly Jones wanted to go on record advocating for non-core service spending in a tough budget year. She listed as vital to the county libraries, public health education, land use planning, and farmland preservation. When government funded these positions, it created jobs. Gantt echoed her stance. Speaking on behalf of the board, he said helping poor people get services was, “why we get up in the morning and work as hard as we do.”

The meeting progressed, and the commissioners received reports of receipt of WIA and ARRA funds for skills training, synthetic jobs, and corporate welfare. The county’s SNAP (formerly known as Food Stamps) program is experiencing a 25% increase in demand, and so $75,000 in newly-printed money was accepted from the federal government to hire more people to administer the increased caseload.