Date: Sat, 12 Sep 2015 17:29:16 -0400
From: Casey Mann
Subject: Pittsboro Matters to Casey Mann
Dear Chatlist,
I am a candidate for the Town Board of Pittsboro and I want to hear from all community members regarding Pittsboro and its future.
Last week I met with Amanda Robertson, who is the chair of Pittsboro Matters.
We met on the advice of the attorney for Pittsboro Matters. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss my concerns regarding their misleading statements and factual errors about me in their educational e-newsletter.
I was surprised that Ms. Robertson did not want to discuss the inaccuracies and instead focused our meeting on her agenda. Ms. Roberston told me that my story was my responsibility to disseminate and not that of Pittsboro Matters.
Consequently, I discussed my concerns with Bill Willcox of the Chatham News and Record. Mr. Willcox followed up and wrote a story about our differences in last week’s Chatham News and Record.
He subsequently emailed me a copy of his story with permission to distribute it.
That story by Bill Willcox is immediately below:
Pittsboro Commissioner Candidate Casey Mann has taken issue with a portrayal of her in a newsletter sent out by the anti-Chatham Park group Pittsboro Matters and demanded a public retraction.
The e-newsletter was sent out about a month ago and sought to educate members of Pittsboro Matters about how the various candidates for Pittsboro commissioner might vote on issues related to Chatham Park. The newsletter included a disclaimer that it was not “endorsing†candidates, which would have threatened its non-profit status.
The portrayal of Mann in the newsletter started out by calling her a close political and business ally of former Mayor Randy Voller, an outspoken supporter of Chatham Park. Mann served as Executive Director of the NC Democratic Party during part of the time when chairman.
Mann replied that one could reasonably label a number of the candidates and a few of the Pittsboro Matters board members as “Voller associates.â€
For example, in 2011 Mayor Voller led the ticket to elect Commissioners Beth Turner and Bett Wilson Foley. Mann said Foley recently commented that she and Commissioner Turner were labeled “Voller’s girls” during the election of 2011.
Mann listed what she considered six factual errors in the newsletter and sent an email to Pittsboro Matters attorney Robert Hornik seeking a retraction. She then met last week with Pittsboro Matters co-founder Amanda Robertson to express her frustration with what she perceived as the inaccuracies.
Robertson said there was nothing about Mann on the website
Robertson defended Pittsboro Matters on two of the claims while calling them very minor points.
“I don’t see the need to waste time splitting hairs about this, and would hope she had bigger issues to deal with in managing her campaign,†she said. “One error we may have made is in her position with the CDC. She is apparently not a member of their board, but holds a different position.”
Robertson said she had hoped the meeting would be more about Chatham Park.
“Honestly, I had hoped to learn details from her about her position on Chatham Park, and asked her if she would have voted for the third master plan were she commissioner,” Robertson said. “She said there were details she was not privy to so wouldn’t answer the question. I rephrased, and asked how she would vote based solely on the master plan itself. She refused to answer.”
Mann claims that, in contrast to how she is portrayed in the e-newsletter, she has never refused to discuss Chatham Park with local media.
She offered her views on Chatham Park in response to an email.
“On the whole I believe the question is not if Pittsboro will have Chatham Park, because it will, but rather how it will move forward and be a benefit to the entire community,” she wrote. “I intend to get our values into the core of the project and leverage the benefits of the project for the whole community, which is why my campaign is focusing on implementing the Pittsboro Downtown Vision Plan and leveraging the strength of Chatham Park to get 21st Century high speed broadband for the entire community.”
She said he had experienced real poverty in her life and believed that Chatham Park should be a vehicle to create prosperity broadly in the community.
“I also believe that I am likely the only candidate in the race who has real experience as a child living in a very, very large planned community like Chatham Park, (Columbia, MD), which will allow me to provide helpful input to the board and the community,’ she wrote.
“In summary, I am not opposed to Chatham Park,” she added.
She said the future will be determined on “how effective the Town is in crafting a developer agreement that will be durable and perceived as a win/win by all parties, and how the process is shaped and approved to handle the small area plans submitted by Chatham Park.
She emphasized that she has never been a “rubber stamp†girl nor did she intend to become one if she is elected to the Town Board.
Mann said she empathized with the citizens who support Pittsboro Matters and the issues raised by the group.
But, she added, “I question their tactics, their strategy, and their leadership when it is painfully obvious that the way forward is a strong, constructive engagement with the stakeholders of the community and Chatham Park and not an endless stream of lawsuits, divisiveness, calumny and chaos.â€
Casey Marie Mann
Candidate for Pittsboro Town Board
Post Office Box 878
Pittsboro, NC 27312
919.830.8122