Mr. Jones is spouting the same misinformation this election about the supposed financial support for my campaign from Down Home NC that was spouted during the 2019 election. Let me say this one more time loud enough for those who didn’t hear me the first time, like Mr. Jones — Down Home NC (DHNC hereafter) never financially supported my personal campaign during the 2019 election. The only advertising that I paid for was business cards because I didn’t have the financial means to pay for yard signs, etc! 

I worked as a part-time community organizer during that time and was never a part of DHNC’s local election campaigns, which was a focus during that election year. The actual focus was to get the rural residents to cast their vote. It was made very clear to me, via DHNC, that I could not and should not participate in any meetings or conversations that related to election matters so impartiality wouldn’t be questioned. I took that directive very seriously and still do to this date!  I will not sit by and allow anyone to attach negative and false assumptions or besmirch my candidacy for the 2019 or 2021 campaign(s).  

The question of outside influence and “big” money involvement in my personal campaign(s) has been bandied about like a punch line. I do not find these accusations humorous nor are they credible. There has never been nor will there ever be any impropriety in my personal campaign for Town Council. 

Down Home NC ran newspaper ads in support of me and David Nestler and Greg McPherson. Are they “in” on this “outside money and influence” as well? Of course they aren’t, just like me. None of us asked for DHNC to campaign on our behalf; that was a choice decided upon by DHNC as an organization, which is their right. The negative connotations attached to grassroots organizing are unfair, belittling, demeaning, and disrespectful to the organizers who give their energy, their heart and soul, and sometimes their very lives to social, educational, criminal justice, political, and environmental reforms (just to name a few).  

It’s a sign of bad faith and ignorance when you accuse someone of “big money/corporate” political collusion without actually doing your research or asking said person any questions. All I have ever asked of the residents of Sylva is to vote their conscious and feel free to ask me questions should they ever have any.

It was my honor to be a candidate regardless of the outcome. Let’s all do our part to move forward with conviction, authenticity, meaning, and compassion! Thank you for your time. 

Carrie McBane

Sylva