Questions were raised when Jackson County Chairman Brian McMahan opened the commissioners’ boardroom to a teleconference for presidential aspirant Senator Bernie Sanders. McMahan failed a prior sniff test for chairing a meeting of the local Democrat party in the Jackson County Justice Center. The following snippets were taken from an article covering the matter in the Sylva Herald:

Is the boardroom door now open to hate groups? No, said Frayda Bluestein of the School of Government in Chapel Hill.

GOP party Vice Chairman Aaron Littlefield questioned the wisdom of allowing partisan politics in a room intended for thoughtful deliberation.