SWAT wins with 90 percent majorities

Delivering unheard-of majorities of up to 90 percent, voters emphatically returned two incumbents and elected two political newcomers to the Burke County Board of Education.
Experienced politicians and longtime Burke County residents alike agreed they never before saw such overwhelming endorsements as Susan Stroup, Sam Wilkinson, Buddy Armour and Catherine Thomas received in Tuesday's election. Some predicted majorities around 80 percent; none expected nearly 90.
Among approximately 500 people who gathered to watch the voting results come in at Foothills Higher Education Center, many said the four known as the S.W.A.T team — an acronym of their last names' initials — received a clear mandate to stop the actions of the school board majority led by Chair Tracy Norman.
Norman received 940 votes — fewer than Justin Tate, a candidate for a different seat who withdrew from the race months ago, or Dianne Mobley, another who dropped out, but nevertheless received the fifth most votes behind the four frontrunners.
Susan Stroup outpolled Norman more than 13 to 1 in the contest for the remaining two years of an incomplete term representing the Western District. Bill Crump, who filed for the race after a frustrated local man offered to pay the registration fee for anyone who would oppose Norman, received 537 votes.
Catherine Thomas, another candidate who, like Stroup, never before ran for public office, received nearly 86 percent of the votes for the full-term Western District seat. Her opponent remaining after Tate withdrew was Linda Minich, who received less than 8 percent of the vote.
Both Stroup and Thomas said they learned a lot in their first foray into politics. Both gave much credit for their success to the many people across Burke County who supported, advised and worked tirelessly on their campaigns. Stroup and Thomas, too, put in long hours on the trail. Earlier Tuesday they visited 17 precinct polling sites to solicit votes and rally supporters.
The top votegetter was Sam Wilkinson, who's been on the board for nearly 12 years. He received 13,298 votes (slightly more than 90 percent) in his bid for re-election to the Eastern District seat. His opponent, Mobley, received 1,405 despite dropping out in the first week of September. She did not campaign, but her candidacy received a late-in-the-campaign endorsement from board Vice-Chair Tim Buff, who also endorsed perennial school board candidate James Stamey.
Stamey, who received about 820 votes in his 2007 bid, got 1,369 Tuesday, but was a smaller percentage among the 14,600 votes cast this year compared to the 8,000 in 2007.
Buddy Armour, a 12-year veteran board member and former board chair, outpolled Stamey by more than 9 to 1 on his way to re-election in the Central District.
The huge turnout was the other story of the night. Early reports from polling places Tuesday suggested a low election-day turnout after the unusually heavy 7,000 votes in early balloting. However, heavy voting Tuesday outside Morganton, where the board of elections operated the only two early-voting sites, swelled the final turnout to 26.3 percent of the 56,600 registered voters.
People interviewed at the Foothills center listed various reasons why voters so strongly endorsed SWAT and so overwhelming rejected Norman. Several said public sentiment tipped against the board majority when it decided in April to terminate former Superintendent David Burleson's contract just nine months before he would have qualified for his full pension.
"After that, they just kept pouring gas on the fire," said Stroup, summing up what many others said about the board majority's actions.
People said citizens increasingly became unbearably frustrated with and embarrassed by the board's actions that ultimately put the district high schools' accreditation in jeopardy.
Many said voters were rebuking the board majority for wasting taxpayers' money, particularly to buy out the popular superintendent's contract and then search for and hire a new superintendent and to sue the county, but win only $20,000 for the schools' 2009-10 budget while costing perhaps hundreds of thousands in legal fees.
Stroup, Thomas, Wilkinson and Armour all said they feel gratitude for the voters' overwhelming support and a strong commitment to fulfill the voters' expectations.
Wilkinson and Armour remain on the board and, along with Thomas, will be sworn in to their new terms on Dec. 7.
Stroup may take her seat much earlier. The board majority in June selected Nebo businessman John Aulgur to temporarily fill the vacant Western District seat. Lawyers consulted by The News Herald disagree on whether Aulgur's term ended with Tuesday's election — Stroup said that's what she was told — or ends as soon as the Burke County Board of Elections confirms the vote total. Regardless of which interpretation of the law is correct, the lawyers agree Stroup could be sworn in as a soon as the vote is confirmed, possibly on Tuesday.
Stroup said she also was told Ruth Ann Suttle, chair of the county board of commissioners, could administer the oath of office. Suttle said she hadn't heard that, but she'd be pleased to perform the ceremony.