Time to Vote

The North Carolina Sheriff Police Alliance just recently held screenings for mayor and city council in Durham. We asked the candidates tough questions on those issues that affect the law enforcement community in Durham. We asked about pay increases, incentives such as take-home cars and assistance with home ownership, off-duty employment restrictions, and disciplinary practices. We then rated the candidates on their answers. We also took into account their voting record on past issues that directly impacted law enforcement if any such record exists. You see, just promising to help the law enforcementcommunity doesn’t help if you have failed to live up to past promises. The NCSPAwill hold politicians accountable for their promises.

After all was said and done, we announced our endorsements. The North Carolina SheriffPolice Alliance proudly endorses Diane Catotti, Eugene Brown, and Laney Funderburk for city council. We also proudly endorse Bill Bell for mayor. The mayoral endorsement was particularly close. Both Bill Bell and Thomas Stith have been good to law enforcement in Durham. When we pulled the voting records of both candidates they scored high for their past votes. Both were strong supporters of the pay overhaul in 2004. We have open doors to both politicians and have been encouraged by both to bring our issues to them. They both are good friends. However we couldn’t endorse both candidates. And what good is it to screen candidates if we are not going to endorse? The NCSPA will endorse in every race we screen, even the tough races. I hope Thomas understands that we respect and admire him and are proud to call him a friend.  However for this race at this time he finished second in our process.

I hope that our members will embrace our endorsements and trust us to have their best interests at heart. We are here for the law enforcement officers. We are going to do our best to improve working conditions for our members. And that starts at the city council level. In order to turn salaries and benefits around we must help elect those politicians that are empathetic to our needs.  We believe in this election those candidates that we endorsed represent our best chances to changes things in Durham for our members.

We ask our members to candidly tell everyone about our endorsements. Let’s work together to help our candidates get elected! And remember to tell us what you think. Feel free to contact me anytime to discuss our organization.

God bless ya’ll,
Andy Miller, President
N. C. Sheriff Police Alliance
866 736-2772       andy@ncpolice.org