Five make bid to lead Minnesott Beach

MINNESOTT BEACH — An announced write-in candidate for town commissioner gives Minnesott Beach an unofficially contested November election — four seats and five candidates.

The addition of current board member Dave Stewart as a write-in choice did not sit well with challenger Ray Lee.

Lee, a former mayor and commissioner, lost his bid for mayor in 2007 to a write-in candidate, the late John Forster.

“That’s pretty bad. You can’t come forward and run, but yet if somebody does run that you don’t like, you can try to slip yourself back in there by write-in,” he said of Stewart’s bid. “I don’t know how that’s going to work out. I don’t think it is, but we’ll see.”

Lee said Stewart should have filed for office.

“If he wanted to run, he should have come and started just like everybody else,” Lee added. “The real thing is he (Stewart) doesn’t like me. We are not the best of friends. You can quote me on that.”

Stewart, who was elected for the first time in 2007, said later he was not surprised at Lee’s comments.

“A write-in candidate, that is part of the political electoral process,” Stewart said. “Anybody who speaks against that does not even know the electoral process. That’s my opinion. And, number two, it’s not a personal thing. It has nothing to do with Ray Lee, but trying to resolve the decisions made by previous boards.”

Lee, along with incumbents Eber Warren, Larry “Pete” Whorton and newcomer Tim Fowler, are the names that will be on the November ballot.

Incumbent Charles Salter, elected in 2007, also did not file for re-election.

Fowler, a retiree who moved to town from the nation’s capital in 2006, said he saw that two incumbents did not file and decided to run.

“I thought it was something that I could contribute to,” he said. Fowler has been active in town business and serves as the chairman of the planning board.

He said Minnesott Beach had been “like a second home” for years, since his late mother-in-law Rosemarie Hughes settled here in 1982. She later served as mayor and was on the town board.

Fowler said that after 20 years in the Coast Guard and more than a decade in Washington, his family retired here three years ago.

“It’s always been a beautiful place and we love it here,” he said.

Lee said he chose to seek a board seat instead of the mayor’s job because commissioners make the decisions.

“The commissioners, as you know, they are the ones with the power,” Lee said. “I don’t feel like the board that is on there now has done anything really to help the town. Of course, they haven’t done anything to hurt it. I decided to throw my name in the pot and get in there and maybe offer some good ideas, or some different ideas.”

When asked, Lee did not offer any of his ideas.

Stewart said one of the reasons he was running was to complete work on two litigation matters the town faces over its ordinances. The two lawsuits, one against the town by a developer and another by the town against a development group, stem from issues with a subdivision property off Bennett Road near the town marina.

The lawsuits came from issues that date to the previous board of commissioners.

“I want to see these issues through. It has been our (board) stance of trying to resolve these issues, and get on with the town’s business,” said Stewart.

Mayor Josh Potter is unopposed. He was appointed by the board in February 2008, following the death of John Forster in November 2007, shortly after he won the mayor’s job with a write-in campaign.

Charlie Hall can be reached at 252-635-5667 or chall@freedomenc.com.

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Minnesott Beach

Candidates

Mayor: Josh Potter

Commissioners: Eber Warren, Larry “Pete” Whorton, Ray Lee, Tim Fowler, Dave Stewart (announced write-in).

2007 Minnesott municipal voting

Eligible voters: 366

Total voters: 210

Percentage participating: 57 percent