Candidate filing begins Monday for 2010 election

A bid at the District 15 General Assembly seat and the pick for sheriff are the races to watch in Onslow County as candidate filing starts today.

The 2010 General Election includes races for judicial officials, U.S. Congress, N.C. General Assembly and several county offices. Up for grabs in Onslow County are associate justice of the Supreme Court, Court of Appeals judge, Superior Court judge, District Court judge, district attorney, U.S. Senate, U.S. House of Representatives, state Senate, state House of Representatives, Board of Education members, clerk of court and sheriff.

Rose Whitehurst, director of the Onslow County Board of Elections, said she expects two particular races to garner the most attention.

“We haven’t had a whole lot of interest in anything other than perhaps the sheriff’s race and (N.C. House of Representatives District) 15 race,” she said.

Onslow County Sheriff Ed Brown announced in December his plans to run for a sixth term as sheriff. Two Jacksonville residents, Martin Aragona Jr. and Phillip Shepard, said they plan to run on the Republican ticket for the District 15 General Assembly seat that Robert Grady has held for 12 terms.

Grady plans to seek the Clerk of Court seat.

Whitehurst said she isn’t expecting things too be to busy at the Board of Elections office in downtown Jacksonville as filing begins today at noon.

“I think we’ll see a few people come in because it does start in the middle of the day and I think they’ll come in a little bit every day and culminate, of course, in the last several days,” she said. “Those who hold off to see who has filed, sometimes you will have a mad rush on the last day.”

Anyone intending to file who plans to have a treasurer for the campaign is urged to bring the treasurer with them when they file, Whitehurst said.

“It’s very important to bring the treasurer in to sign papers,” she said. “If they can’t be there, they do have some time after initial filling to get the papers signed. But if they can bring them in, they should.”

The filing period ends at noon on Feb. 16. For information, visit the Web site onslowcountync.gov/elections.

Contact Molly DeWitt at 910-219-8455 or mdewitt@freedomenc.com.

Filing fees

Filing Fees are 1 percent of the starting salary of the office. The 2010 General Election filing fees are:

Judicial Branch officials

Associate Justice, Supreme Court - $1,372

Judge, Court of Appeals - $1,315

Judge, Superior Court - $1,244

Judge, District Court - $1,094

District Attorney - $1,193

US Congress

US Senate - $1,740

US House of Representatives - $1740

NC General Assembly

State Senate - $207

State House of Representatives - $207

Onslow County officials

Board of Education Members - $51

Clerk of Court - $1,025

Sheriff -$688

Carteret County officials

Clerk Superior Court - $824.01

Sheriff - $671.45

Register of Deeds - $439.97

County Commissioner, Districts 1, 2, 3 and 6 - $36

Board of Education, Districts 1, 3, 5, and 6 - $44