There was a standing room only crowd to witness the swearing in of Graham’s new mayor, Chelsea Dickey, and the departure of the mayor she defeated, Jennifer Talley. There was a celebratory tone to the festivities, until Dickey actually took the mayor’s chair.
Then, it didn’t take long for controversy to emerge.
One of the new council’s first orders of business was to decide which council members would serve as liaisons on various city boards and committees.
Dickey outlined a proposal in which she would serve as the primary contact, or back up another council member, on seven of the ten committees.
But Dickey’s recommendation to serve on the Alamance County Economic Development Committee didn’t sit well with council member Bonnie Whitaker, who also listed that committee as one of her top choices for service.
“I need to be in the room,” Dickey said several times, about the economic development committee that meets with the chamber of commerce.
Dickey initially tried to persuade Whitaker to serve as an alternate, rotating with her as the backup to mayor pro tem Ricky Hall.
But Whitaker wouldn’t have it, saying it would be “too confusing” to know which months she would be Hall’s backup and which months Dickey would. “I’m not going to alternate. That’s ridiculous,” Whitaker said.
When Dickey proposed the arrangement anyhow, the motion failed for lack of a second.
Councilman Bobby Chin then made the motion to have Hall be the primary member on that committee with Whitaker as the alternate, which passed 4-1, with Dickey voting no.
All other appointments were unanimous, 5-0 votes:
• Appearance Commission/Tree Board: Dickey
• Graham Historical Museum: Whitaker
• Historic Recourse Commission: Councilman Jim Young, with Dickey as alternate
• Recreation Commission: Chin
• Economic Development Marketing Committee: Whitaker with Dickey as alternate
• Alamance County Community Services Agency: Young
• Piedmont Triad Regional Council: Chin with Hall as alternate
•Transportation Advisory Committee: Hall with Dickey as alternate.
New council member’s stinging criticism of mayor’s campaign
A few minutes later in the meeting, when council members made their comments, newly-installed council member Jim Young read a statement, which appeared to criticize the new mayor’s recent successful campaign, although he did not identify her by name.
“The recent mayoral race in Graham crossed boundaries that should never be breached in a local, non-partisan election,” he said. “Our city was inundated with out-of-state money, outside political influence, and misleading campaign messaging designed to divide this community and sway voters. That is not who we are, and it is not how elections in Graham should be conducted.
“I believe this behavior eroded public trust and compromised the integrity of our electoral process. Local elections should be decided by residents – not by activist networks, political operatives, or donors who have never been to this city.
“…I plan to support measures that safeguard future municipal elections from similar interference. No matter the outcome, the people of Graham deserve campaigns rooted in truth, transparency, and basic decency.
“…I will serve with integrity, answer to the citizens of Graham, and defend the independence of our local government from outside agendas.”
Young had been part of an informal slate, or at least an alliance, of candidates that also included then-mayor Talley and councilman Chin. The three were endorsed, for instance, by the NC Police Benevolent Association and by Vote for Pets. Some ads and billboards highlighted those endorsements.
Dickey and Burlington’s newly-elected mayor Beth Kennett received significant donations from a group of Democratic donors that Kennett recently told The Alamance News hailed mostly from the D.C. area but chose to patronize three nonpartisan municipal races in North Carolina. Kennett and Dickey also received financial support from the Alamance County Democratic Party and Down Home North Carolina, a left-leaning advocacy group based in Greensboro.
Although both Graham’s and Burlington’s race are ostensibly non-partisan, Dickey is registered as a Democrat, Talley as a Republican. All of the candidates in this year’s race for regular seats on Graham’s city council candidates are registered as unaffiliated.
More than one-third of Dickey’s itemized contributions (about $3,000 of $8,500) came from out of state, according to campaign finance reports filed with the Alamance County Board of Elections. Talley financed most of her own campaign, chipping in $3,000 out of approximately $3,400 – the balance of which came from two other local sources.
