We didn’t have particularly high hopes when then-Haw River mayor Kelly Allen was tapped by the local Republican Party last November to serve out the remaining two years of Craig Turner’s term on the board of commissioners. Turner was elected to a district court judgeship, thus necessitating a replacement to fill out his term until the next general election in November 2026.
Allen had been a Republican Party loyalist, and a partisan worker-bee throughout various elections, thus earning favor with GOP officials who made the selection. Her service on Haw River’s non-partisan town council was largely uneventful, and she didn’t face the kind of tough decisions she’s now faced with as a county commissioner.
Haw River has a relatively small town government, and we were concerned she wouldn’t be prepared to be in the big leagues – or at a league bigger than the one in Haw River.
But whatever degree of hopes we had for Allen’s service were dashed this week when she joined commissioners Steve Carter and Pam Thompson in voting to raise property taxes and funneling millions more in spending to the school system.
Allen offered not a peep of coherent explanation of why she abandoned her previously-stated commitment to adopting a budget with no property tax increase.
She said barely a word during the four-hour meeting, and nothing of real substance.
In essence, Allen performed the duties of Mini-me, from the Austin Powers movie franchise by simply voting to reinforce the position of her more senior colleagues, Steve Carter and Pam Thompson.
In the Austin Powers movies, Mini-me doesn’t say much of anything (which fits the analogy with Allen), and he doesn’t contribute very much substantively (which also describes her participation, especially this week). Yet he dutifully and passively supports Dr. Evil, the principal villain, in a subordinate role.
The cinematic Mini-me has some sycophantic tendencies and wants to gain favor or advancement by parroting the actions and opinions of his more influential mentor.
Now, we don’t mean to suggest either Carter or Thompson are evil per se – although we very much think their enthusiasm for higher taxes is very seriously misguided.
But we now increasingly have to doubt whether Allen has the ability to navigate her duties as an informed and responsible commissioner after her poor performance this week, serving as little more than an echo for Carter and Thompson.
We suspect her actions this week were certainly not what Republicans thought they were getting when they selected her to be the party’s standard bearer last year.
We doubt they’ll make the same mistake twice when she must face Republican voters in next year’s primary, presuming any real conservatives run for the post.
