Graham city councilman Jim Young criticized the city’s mayor over a proposed new committee she is organizing outside of the official municipal committees appointed by the city council.
In particular, Young didn’t like the fact that the link for a so-called Graham Community Committee then goes to mayor Chelsea Dickey’s campaign website, which, Young said, “has donation buttons that go to Act Blue.”
The fact that the link is to a 2025 political page is clear from a banner in the center of the page which reads, “Chelsea Dickey for Graham Mayor, Vote November 4th, 2025.”
Young said he wasn’t contending that such a link was “illegal,” but said the “appearance” was not appropriate and “looks a little strange.”
For her part, Dickey described the thrust of the committee as a “vision building committee to talk about where we are, identify challenges and opportunities, and build on from there.”
Young continued to press about the underlying political nature of Dickey’s campaign page with its donate tab. “The only, only thing is, is, is just the appearance and like, you know, do these people know? I mean, it’s what what’s going to be done with that information. I only say this is because it’s on your candidate page, which is Act Blue.
Young said that when tapping the “donate” button, it takes the person to Act Blue. ActBlue is an online fundraising platform and non-profit organization used by Democratic candidates and other liberal groups.
Some of Dickey’s fundraising, according to campaign finance reports filed last year, came from ActBlue-affiliated donors, many outside Graham and, in some cases, outside North Carolina.
Ultimately, Dickey volunteered during this week’s city council meeting in response to Young’s concerns to “make a Facebook post to make sure that people understand that when they go to [her campaign] page, they are not obligated to click” on the donate button.
Young suggested Dickey should make it a Facebook page, instead. “I’m, just saying that the spirit of what you wanted to do, it was fine and dandy,” repeating again his concerns about the political fundraising connection, and Dickey repeating again that she would make a clarifying post about the distinction between the new committee and the “donate” button on her campaign site.
Young, along with mayor pro tem Ricky Hall, and council member Bonnie Whitaker are all unaffiliated in their voter registration, although each typically cast primary ballots in Republican races, according to the State Board of Elections. Councilman Bobby Chin is the only registered Republican on the Graham council, and Dickey is the only registered Democrat on the council.
The city councils in both Graham and Burlington (and other local jurisdictions) are ostensibly non-partisan, although Democrats worked last fall in both Graham and Burlington to elect Democratic candidates to those cities’ respective city councils – succeeding with Dickey’s win over Republican, then-incumbent Graham mayor Jennifer Talley and in Burlington with mayoral candidate Beth Kennett and former mayor Ian Baltutis prevailing over unaffiliated incumbent councilman Ronnie Wall, who was running for mayor, and Harold Owen, who was seeking reelection as a city councilman.
So Graham’s council is one Democrat, one Republican, and three unaffiliated members; Burlington’s is four Democrats and one unaffiliated member.
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