This blog is dedicated to helping Catherine Evangelista - former Cary Vice Chair of the Wake County Democratic Party in Wake County, NC - decide to run for public office so the rest of Cary or Wake County will see what a delightful person she is to work with. Catherine was removed from office by a 16-5 vote of the Executive Council of the NC Democratic Party, yet she still claims she did nothing to deserve it.

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Cathy's gonna run!

At virtually the last minute, Catherine Evangelista filed to run for Cary Town Council District C. Originally she was the third in a field of three candidates that included incumbent Jack Smith and challenger John Harvilla. A few days after the filing period ended, Harvilla dropped out of the race for personal reasons, leaving only one Republican (Smith) and one Democrat (Evengelista) in the race.

And the controversy is already starting...why is she running for office? Candidate Evangelista claims that Cary Mayor Harold Weinbrecht called her and asked her to run. This was posted at the Cary Politics website on 07-18-2009, 01:12 PM Many people have questioned this claim, especially since Mayor Weinbrecht has only endorsed one candidate - Julie Robison:

Politics has also cranked up since the period for filing for office is now open. I have been asked to endorsed or get involved in several races. While I will be glad to meet with any and all candidates I intend to only endorse Mayor Pro-Tem Robison and only if she wants me to.
When questioned on Cary Politics on her claim that Mayor Weinbrecht asked her to run, Candidate Evangelista responded on Cary Politics at 07-18-2009, 03:22 PM:

He asked me several months ago and we've been talking about it ever since. We spoke on this days before his mother passed away. I already answered the "why."

Why don't you call him about this...again?
Several people wanted more information about this claim, including a blogger who goes by the name of "Insider" posted Cary Politics at 07-18-2009, 07:44 PM:

Default Re: Cary - Distict "C"

"The Mayor asked me to run" implies that Mayor Weinbrecht endorses the candidacy and has given his permission to have his name used in campaign materials and publicity.

In the absence of such permission, it would be wrong to imply that Mayor Weinbrecht endorses this candidacy.

I personally will be looking for either the Mayor or the Candidate to produce evidence that the Mayor has granted this permission. Lacking that, if I were the Mayor (I'm not), I would be quite upset that my name was dragged into this race.

Many regulars on Cary Politics are having a hard time buying into that explanation, given what is known about Candidate Evangelista's stormy relationship with the Wake County Democratic Party and how that might effect other Democratic Party officeholders in Cary. Poster Karen expressed it this way on 07-19-2009, 11:17 AM:

According to Catherine at least 5 times in this thread she states the mayor ASKED HER TO RUN. Not asked IF she was running. I understand what you are saying very clearly. I would assume that Catherine would not state this if it were not truthful. She has had ample opprotunity to correct herself if indeed this were NOT the case, ie the mayor ASKING her to run.
On July 19th, Mayor Weinbrecht further clarified his endorsements for this election cycle:
This week was also marks the end of the filing period to run for town council seats. There is one challenger for the at-large seat held by Julie Robison, two challengers for the District C seat held by Jack Smith, and three challengers for the seat held by Jennifer Robinson. I will only endorse Julie Robison in the at-large seat. I will be glad to meet and talk with any and all candidates about issues. I will not endorse in any other race.
And yet Candidate Evangelista still claims that Mayor Weinbrecht asked her to run - but when? She didn't provide any specifics, but on 07-21-2009, 08:13 PM claimed it was several months ago - implying that it was in the not too distant past:

- The mayor called to ask me several months ago, so no, he didn't ask me on Friday.

Candidate Evengelista can't pick out a specific time when Mayor Weinbrecht called her several months ago and asked her to run for office given all the drama with the Wake County Democratic Party?

I can understand why Mayor Weinbrecht doesn't want to get drawn into this matter. He might have asked Citizen Evengelista to run, but I doubt it was anytime in the last year due to the drama she was involved in starting not long after the last Cary municipal elections in late 2007.

Mayor Weinbrecht may have asked Catherine to run for office in 2009 based on the work she did on the 2007 campaigns. That makes perfect sense. For example, I was calling local elected officials in the county a few years ago, and Betty Lou Ward asked me if I ever thought about running for public office, because of the need to develop fresh talent to run to be public servants. I guess she felt that the work I had done for the Wake Dems meant that I might be interested in running for office.

Back to Citizen Evangelista. Based on her work on the 2007 campaigns, I imagine she was asked to run for office someday. That is probably how she got her gig with the ToC Economic Development Commission AND her recommendations to attend the IOPL from her work on the campaign. It makes sense to develop political talent.

But lots of things have happened since late 2007, and I sort of doubt that Mayor Weinbrecht would ask Catherine to run for any Cary office at this time. Perhaps he was asked if he thought she should run, and perhaps he told her she should make peace with the Wake Dems before running for office and expecting them to support her. I think Mayor Weinbrecht has too much good sense to have asked her to run anytime recently.

Cary Politics bloggers have asked Candidate Evangelista for an explanation of her removal from her Cary Vice Chair seat in the Wake County Democratic Party by a 16-5 vote of the North Carolina Democratic Party Executive Council - here is one from 12-18-2008, 12:46 PM

Default Re: IOPL Graduates

However it is well known that Catherine Evangelista is planning her campaign for Cary town council district C in 2009. When she declares her candidacy, a detailed investigation about the removal from office will be appropriate for discussion on this web site. Cary voters have an obligation to be informed about candidates for public office, and to inform other voters about them. The voters will determine for themselves if Catherine Evangelista's record of problems in WCDP predict problems she will bring to Cary town council if elected.
That is something left to another posting - which I am working on now.