Three Democratic candidates and two Republicans are running for the three at-large seats on the Mecklenburg County Board of Commissioners. Republicans Emily Zuyus and Scott Carlisle are up against incumbent Democrats Trevor Fuller and Pat Cotham, as well as former Charlotte City Council member Ella Scarborough. Read on for profiles of each of the candidates.
REPUBLICANS
EMILY ZUYUS Education: B.S. in Marketing from UNC Charlotte Career: President of Carolina Staffing Consultants, formerly branch manager at BB&T Charlotte, professional sales representative for Janssen Pharmaceutica. Political/Civic Involvement: Lobbied for review of 2011 property tax revaluation. The Issues: Zuyus says that Mecklenburg county’s property tax rate is higher than neighboring counties, and she hopes to correct this by cutting government expenses. In order to help businesses create jobs, she plans to make it easier for businesses to deal with the Code Enforcement Department. Zuyus also places a priority on raising teacher salaries. Website: http://emilyzuyus.com/index.html |
SCOTT CARLISLE Education: UNC Charlotte Career: Registered trainee at Valbridge Property Advisors Political/Civic Involvement: Vice-chairman, Mecklenburg County Young Republicans The Issues: Carlisle aims at cutting government spending through independent external review. He hopes to reallocate money to the education system to raise teacher pay, and to ensure fair property tax revaluations. Website: http://www.scott4meck.com/ |
DEMOCRATS
TREVOR FULLER Education: J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center Career: Attorney at The Fuller Law Firm Political/Civic Involvement: Chair of Mecklenburg County Board of Commissioners The Issues: Fuller plans to focus on improving the vocational and technical training options available in-state. He also hopes to link business incentives to job creation to encourage businesses to hire locally. Fixing the state’s broken mental health care system is also a prime concern of Fuller’s. Website: http://www.votetrevorfuller.com/ |
ELLA SCARBOROUGH Political/Civic Involvement: Five-term member of Charlotte City Council, former president of the Black Women’s Caucus of Charlotte-Mecklenburg The Issues: Scarborough said she is running as a voice for “ordinary people.” In keeping with her goal of representing the working class, she said that business incentives should be conditional on businesses hiring locally. Website: http://www.ellascarborough.com/ |
PATRICIA COTHAM Education: B.A. in Journalism from University of Missouri Career: Employment advocate at Center for Community Transitions. Former president of Cotham Search Partners. Political/Civic Involvement: Mecklenburg County Commissioner at Large, long-term Democratic Party precinct leader, member of Democratic National Committee, trustee at N.C. Blumenthal Performing Arts Center. The Issues: After working as a recruiter for a firm that helped the mentally ill and former convicts find jobs, Cotham saw that the County needed to allocate more money both for jobs and for mental health care. While in favor of allocating county funds to nonprofits that help people in poverty, Cotham said that she hopes to do so without raising taxes. Website: http://patcotham.org/ |
RELATED COVERAGE
Oct. 11, 2014, “Commission candidates differ on 1/4-cent sales tax.” - Coverage of the Lake Norman Chamber and DavidsonNews.net/CorneliusNews.net candidate forum at Cornelius Town Hall.
May 7, 2014, “Dems pick Scarborough, 2 incumbents for commission”
