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My Open Letter to Chatham Democratic Women

Reprinted with permission from the Chatham County Democratic Women Newsletter, January 2012.

As a proud long-time member of the Chatham County Democratic Women, I am especially grateful to have this opportunity to tell you why I am running for the new open seat in State House District 54.

As you know, Tea Party Republicans in the N. C. Legislature have been waging a war on women, most notably with legislation to eviscerate women’s right to reproductive choice and freedom. In my view, such attacks on women hurt women, men, children, families and communities — in other words all of us.

Not surprisingly, the  Tea Party is also leading a crusade against the environment: They don‘t believe in climate change, they want to fast-track fracking before we have enough information about its long-term consequences, and they want to loosen environmental regulations on industries that pollute our air, soil and water.

Tea Party legislators have also been working against public education, which is essential for all citizens to have a fair chance to succeed in life. These politicians would rather balance the state budget on the backs of teachers and school children than invest in quality public education from pre-school through community colleges and universities.

In fact, the Tea Party crowd  in Raleigh seems to have forgotten that many North Carolinians are still out of work.  Instead of focusing on strengthening our schools, environment and infrastructure to attract good jobs, they’ve been hyperventilating about social issues designed to divide and distract us, rather than unite us.

You deserve to have someone in Raleigh from our district who is not afraid to speak out on these and other vital issues.  As a long-time community advocate, I have been speaking truth to power on the local level for years. As a “tell it like it is” newspaper editor and publisher, I promoted more open government and worked hard to give voice to all people, not just the chosen few. As a civil rights attorney, I represented the rights of workers, women, minorities and those with disabilities.

Most recently I have been working to support local businesses and attract good jobs and affordable housing as a board member for the Chatham Economic Development Corporation and Triangle South Workforce Development and a former chair for the Chatham Affordable Housing Advisory Board.

I believe that is why local Democratic leaders drafted me for this race. And that is why I would be honored to earn your support and your vote, so that we can work together on these issues in Raleigh and here at home.

Finally, I have to confess that I have a very personal reason to take the long view in running for legislative office. I want to make a difference on the issues that will affect the next generation, including my granddaughters right here in Chatham.

Thanks for all that you do for our community. Let’s keep on.

–Jeff Starkweather

by jeffstarkweather4statehouse on 01/12/2012  •  Permalink
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Posted by jeffstarkweather4statehouse on 01/12/2012

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Buttoning up brings big bucks to schools

We buttoned the top button of every shirt and jacket, and made sure they were hung in the same direction with each hanger facing inward. Then we straightened the books and vacuumed the rugs.  I  spent two hours on Monday Jan. 2 helping a small crew of volunteers with these clean-up chores at the PTA Thrift Shop at Cole Park in Northern Chatham. The same kind of chores my wife wishes I paid more attention to at home.

Dee and I were volunteering at the behest of my daughter, Emily Tinervin, the North Chatham Elementary PTA Thrift Shop Representative.  It’s her job to recruit volunteers. What I did not know was that the profits earned at the  Chatham PTA Thrift Shops in Pittsboro, Siler City and Cole Park are divided among the county’s public school classes using a formula where 60% of the funds are allocated based on volunteer hours (the remainder is divided equally among the schools).  So, there is a strong incentive to  recruit volunteers from one’s school.

Our crew also included Emily, North Chatham Kindergarten teacher Stephanie Orchard-Hays, and parents Tabatha Turner and Karen Howard.  Tabatha’s son, Morgan, and our granddaughter, Ryan, are both in Ms. Orchard-Hays’ class. So her class got a total of 10 hours of credit from 5 volunteers. Ms. Howard, a candidate for the school board from District One and Vice-President of the Margaret Pollard Middle School PTA, was volunteering for her son’s third grade class at North Chatham, taught by Ms. Vicki Johnston.  Karen, who volunteers on a regular basis, has divided her hours among North Chatham, Pollard and Northwood, where her four boys attend school. She told me she will be volunteering her next set of hours for the Exceptional Children’s programs.

Clearly these incentives work. My two volunteer hours are a tiny drop in the bucket of the nearly 52,000 hours contributed by volunteers last year, as of October 2011. In addition to  the kinds of chores we did,  volunteers may also pick up donations, deliver large items to customers,  empty drop  boxes, wash laundry, organize fashion shows and parade floats. Some volunteers contribute specialized services such as electrical, plumbing, welding, heating and air conditioning.   Clearly, the 30 paid employees of the non-profit Chatham PTA Shops could not provide our county schools with significant extra funding without the help of so many volunteers.

This sustainable business also provides a valuable and inexpensive service for Chatham residents of all income levels.  At the end of my volunteer duty, I purchased three quality sports coats for less than ten dollars combined.

The bottom line for our public schools is even more remarkable. Last year the PTA Thrift Shops provided about $462,000 to our schools, as of October. Since it was founded in 1983, it has provided more than $6 million to public education in Chatham.

If you would like to volunteer, you check with your local PTA . And if you’d like to volunteer for North Chatham Elementary, you may contact Emily at emilytinervin@yahoo.com.  For more information: PTA Thrift Shop.

–Jeff Starkweather

by jeffstarkweather4statehouse on 01/08/2012  •  Permalink
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Posted by jeffstarkweather4statehouse on 01/08/2012

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An inspiring New Year Jubilee

I started the New Year off right on Sunday by participating in the annual Jubilee Day Celebration sponsored by the Eastern Chatham Branch of the NAACP at Mount Sinai AME Church in Pittsboro. This unique service combines celebrating the Emancipation Proclamation signed by President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863 and the Biblical concept of Jubilee — a special year of remission of sins and universal pardon as spelled out in the Old Testament Book of Leviticus.

I had the privilege of being able to sing and swing along with the mass male chorus, while learning about the history of Jubilee that was not covered in my Baptist upbringing. During Rev. Cecil Wilson’s stirring sermon, I learned that the Jubilee year, during which slaves and prisoners were freed and debts forgiven, occurred every 50 years.

I was delighted to meet Rev. Anthony Davis, a new minister of Mitchell’s Chapel AME Zion Church near Pittsboro.  He urged parishioners to join the NAACP and commit to removing the barriers to economic and racial equality.  Rev. Davis said he was proud to have been an active participant in the grassroots protest last year against the attempt of the Tea Party-led Wake County School Board to re-segregate local schools. Rev. Davis even got arrested along with NC NAACP President William Barber.

NAACP Eastern Chatham Branch President Mary Nettles, who presided Sunday, encouraged attendees to participate in the Annual HK on J People’s Assembly on Saturday Feb.11 in Raleigh, to lobby on behalf of the state NAACP’s 14- point social justice agenda. I have attended past marches along with other local leaders, such as former Commissioner Tom Vanderbeck and Pittsboro Mayor Randy Voller, and have been inspired to see so many others working together for positive changes.

I appreciated the opportunity to speak to the congregation Sunday about my candidacy for the state house.  I said that we needed not just a day of Jubilee, but a whole year, all of 2012. The economic game is rigged against working people and minorities, I said.  We have seen in the last two decades the elimination of several rungs of the ladder of upward mobility, making it harder than ever to reach the American Dream of health and prosperity.  The Great Recession has further widened the income and wealth gap between whites and persons of color. That’s why I want to go to Raleigh to fight for a “fair deal” for all, including an equal opportunity for achieving the American Dream.

–Jeff Starkweather

by jeffstarkweather4statehouse on 01/05/2012  •  Permalink
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Posted by jeffstarkweather4statehouse on 01/05/2012

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Jeff Starkweather drafted to run for new State House seat: Fighting for a Fair Deal for all

[Chatham News & Record 12-21-11]

After being recruited by local Democratic leaders, elected officials and community advocates,  Jeff Starkweather of Pittsboro has decided to seek election to the new open State House seat representing  Chatham County and the Sanford area.  He announced his plans Thursday at the Chatham County Democratic Party Executive Committee meeting.

Starkweather has lived and worked in Chatham for 40 years. He is a well known community advocate and retired civil rights attorney and newspaper publisher. He currently serves on the Chatham County Economic Development Corporation Board and the Triangle South Workforce Development Board. He previously served as Chair of the Chatham County Affordable Housing Advisory Board and as a member of the Sustainable Energy and Green Building Advisory Board.

“I am honored and humbled to be able to run for this new seat,” Starkweather said in making his announcement. “ I was drafted by the local leadership of the Democratic party.  I had planned to run for Chatham County Commissioner, but  I was willing to step aside in that race to avoid being in a contested primary against incumbent Mike Cross, and also, frankly, because I was overwhelmed by the outpouring of support for me to run for the State House.

“ I am grateful and excited about the enthusiastic  endorsements I’ve already received from current and former county commissioners and school board members, as well civic leaders from diverse communities in both Chatham and Lee counties,” he added. “Finally, I realized it’s a chance to work on behalf of a ‘Fair Deal’ for all citizens, so that we may prosper together despite the global recession.  I look forward to the opportunity to seek innovative ways to engage the public and private sectors to enhance our economy, our environment, and our public education system from pre-school all the way through community colleges and universities. If we do that we can create a fair and democratic society in which people who put their best foot forward can succeed.”

Starkweather  was editor and publisher of the award-winning Chatham County Herald from 1972 to 1984. He served as an attorney from 1989 until his retirement in 2007, specializing in civil rights law.  He successfully represented many working people, including minorities, women and persons with disabilities, in cases involving employment discrimination in government agencies and large corporations.  In addition to his private practice in Pittsboro, he served as a public defender in the U.S. Middle District Courts and as a special attorney for the Governor’s Advocacy Council for Persons with Disabilities, where he successfully won wheel chair access to the Siler City Post Office.  He also has donated legal services to many citizens groups and the Democratic Party, including a successful effort to overturn the local Board of Election’s refusal to open a North Chatham early voting site in 2006.

“I have spent my entire career speaking up for fair treatment for local people and communities,” Starkweather said.  “For example, it was our little weekly newspaper that in 1978 broke the story of a secret agreement between the county commissioners and the state to dump in the county landfill the toxic PCBs that had been illegally sprayed along roadsides throughout the central part of the state, including Chatham. Our stories and editorials stopped the deal in its tracks and the chemicals were soon removed from our roadways.”

Starkweather  co-led a grassroots political action committee that helped oust the pro-development Chatham county commissioner board chaired by Bunkey Morgan in 2006.  Following that election, The Raleigh News and Observer named Starkweather the Tar Heel of the Week for his leadership in that campaign.  In 2009, he was named a Citizen of the Year by the West Chatham branch of the NAACP.

“I understand what middle-class and working people are up against in today’s economy,” he said. “My parents are devout Baptists now retired and in their 90s. They came from modest means and worked hard their entire lives to ensure their children could graduate from college and get good jobs. My siblings and I were the first generation in our family to attend college.”

Starkweather was raised in Ojai, California. He has a B.A. in political science and economics from Redlands University and a J.D. from the School of Law at N.C. Central University. He also studied social work and planning at the graduate level at George Washington University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

He has been married to Dee Reid for 26 years. She is director of communications for UNC’s  College of Arts and Sciences. She also publishes a blog about local sustainable farming and food enterprises, and she serves on both the Pittsboro and Chatham County parks and recreation advisory committees.

Starkweather’s two children, Sampson and Emily, attended public schools in Chatham County, graduating from Northwood High School.  Sam Starkweather is a poet who works at the City University of New York.  Emily Tinervin is a teacher at Pittsboro Baptist Pre-School and lives in northeast Chatham with her husband Scott, and their two children, Ryan, 6, and Emery, 4.

# # #

Endorsements by current and former elected officials:

Sally Kost, current Chatham County Commissioner, former chair

George Lucier, former  chair, Chatham County Commissioner

Carl Thompson, former chair, Chatham County Commissioner

Tom Vanderbeck, former Chatham County Commissioner

Gary Phillips, former Chatham County Commissioner

Delcinia Turner, current member, Chatham County Board of Education

Flint O’Brien, current member, Chatham County Board of Education

Kathie Russell, former chair, Chatham County Board of Education

James  Womack, former chair, Lee County Board of Education

Pamela Baldwin, Mayor Pro Tem, Pittsboro

Beth Turner, member, Pittsboro Town Board

by jeffstarkweather4statehouse on 12/21/2011  •  Permalink
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