Wow, had no idea this Beck lover was running for mayor of Asheville, NC

[G_j]

~Election was today. The present Mayor is very popular. The results aren't in yet.~
That a whack job like this guy could even get close to being elected is scary, but it happens all the time. I guess you could call it the Palin school of out-spoken ignorance and nastiness. And there are many people at least this whacked in Congress!


Weapons court fight changed Asheville mayoral candidate Robert Edwards
Joel Burgess • October 31, 2009

ASHEVILLE — Mayoral candidate Robert Edwards' life changed the day he bought a grenade launcher.

<snip>

It's that sense of courage and the feeling he can raise questions that might not otherwise be asked and maybe pave the way for others that led Edwards to run in what he acknowledges is a very tough race.

Edwards got the second-most votes in the Oct. 6 four-candidate mayoral primary with 17 percent of ballots cast. That earned him one of two places on Tuesday's general election ballot but makes him a long-shot against an incumbent who drew 76 percent of the vote.

Edwards was born in Asheville and went to Enka and Roberson high schools. His father died of colon cancer at 53, and he is largely alienated from his mother, Edwards said. He lives with his paternal grandmother in South Asheville and works two jobs — as a waiter and hotel night auditor.

He has been studying criminal justice at Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College, but has had to interrupt his education a few times, once during the mayoral race and in 2007 when he was facing federal weapons charges.

At a gun show at the Asheville Civic Center, Edwards, a self-professed “gun nut,” bought an assault rifle with various attachments, including what he said on his MySpace Web page was a grenade launcher.

Someone tipped off law enforcement officers, and they went to Edwards' house. There they seized all his guns and charged him with possession of a weapon of mass destruction. Federal prosecutors took over, and Edwards was facing 10 years in prison, he said.

]About a year later he was acquitted after convincing prosecutors the attachment was actually a flare launcher. His message about the grenade launcher, he said, was the boast of someone fresh out of high school “who liked to brag.”

The court victory made him feel like he got his life back, he said. He became politically active in the grass-roots conservative 9.12 group inspired by television and radio commentator Glenn Beck and, at the urging group members, signed up to run for mayor.

......


yikes! I had no idea.. :scared:

[G_j]

1. he lost, as expected..

thank goodness..

and good riddance Carl Mumpower!
:applause:


http://www.citizen-times.com/article/20091104/NEWS01/911040335


Esther Manheimer, Gordon Smith and Cecil Bothwell set to join Asheville City Council

Mayor Terry Bellamy wins re-election; Carl Mumpower out

By Joel Burgess • November 4, 2009

ASHEVILLE — Mayor Terry Bellamy won a second term Tuesday on an otherwise dismal day for incumbents.

..more..

[G_j]

2. -

Esther Manheimer, Gordon Smith and Cecil Bothwell set to join Asheville City Council
Mayor Terry Bellamy wins re-election; Carl Mumpower out
By Joel Burgess • November 4, 2009
Print th=

ASHEVILLE — Mayor Terry Bellamy won a second term Tuesday on an otherwise dismal day for incumbents.


Three candidates running for City Council for the first time easily outpaced the only incumbent on the ballot and appeared to have ended an ambitious write-in campaign from Councilwoman Robin Cape.

Councilman Carl Mumpower finished a distant fourth in balloting, failing to win a third term.

Three seats on the seven-member council were up for election in the nonpartisan contest.

Esther Manheimer, a 38-year-old land-use attorney, led all candidates and said her background as lawyer, mother and wife of a schoolteacher resonated with voters.

“I'm going to be there to make sure Asheville preserves its community and maintains that sense of balance as we go forward and as we come out of this recession,” Manheimer said.