For Sheriff, I gather that Worth Hill has been on the wrong side on immigrant issues and has a huge influence over Durham County's policies, though some initiatives are now moving forward, so I don't feel inclined to support him.
I have had helpful contacts with both of the Soil and Water Conservation District Supervisors, Ray Eurquhart and Robert Rosenthal, so I will vote for them again.
On the constitutional referendum to ban ex-felons from running for sheriff, I will vote no. I might have some concerns about a candidate with a criminal record, but they have served their time and I believe people can change, so it is a case by case decision whether to elect someone, and I would leave that to the voters. As recent letters to the News & Observer and the Independent Weekly point out, there are issues around felonies being defined differently by different states and the issue of people who are later found to be wrongly convicted. Drug crimes, which could be called political crimes (consider the role of the synthetic fiber industry's opposition to hemp and Nixon's use of drug laws against protesters in making marijuana illegal, and the difference in punishments for possession of cocaine versus crack, and who gets convicted for using it), are probably felonies, but using marijuana responsibly is no more of a threat to society than alcohol or tobacco, when used responsibly.
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