Let’s do it!

Posted by Mark on October 29, 2009

It’s that time folks.  There are only three days remaining to vote early and election day is right around the corner.

GOTV volunteer opportunities are still available for this weekend’s canvassing and for poll tending on Tuesday. Email Jake at jakegoad@gmail.com for information on how you can help.

Canvassing has been an amazing experience.  In spite of some of the antics surrounding this years election season, folks are responding to our campaign’s message and are telling us, on their doorsteps, that they are with us.

The challenges our Town is facing over the next several years require experienced leadership on the Council — experience that understands our community’s history and has a strong record on the environment, fiscal issues and social justice.

Together, we can remain true to what makes Chapel Hill the special place it is and meet the challenges of tomorrow.

Gather your friends and get to the polls.  We can do it.

Thank You

Posted by Mark on November 14, 2009

A very big THANK YOU to everyone who helped this campaign succeed on Nov. 3rd.  If you ever questioned whether or not you could make a difference in the outcome of a campaign, it’s time to put that idea to bed. 

THANK YOU to the people of Chapel Hill for expressing your confidence in me.   I am looking forward to the next two years as Mayor.  Remember though, just as I could not have won this election alone, neither I nor the Council can alone craft all the solutions to every challenge we will face over the next few years. If fact, alone we can do nothing.   The success of our communitywill  rely on the continued active participation of every member of our community.

See you on Dec. 7th at Town Hall for the Organizational Meeting of the new Chapel Hill Town Council.

Mayor Foy Endorses Mark for Mayor

Posted by Mark on October 30, 2009

Thank you Kevin for the strong endorsement of our campaign.

Readers can listen to Kevin’s statement to WCHL here.

We support Mark for Mayor

Posted by Mark on

I have been overwhelmed by the level of support we’ve received for the campaign.  The qualifying contributions necessary to participate in the Voter-Owned Elections program blew through the required threshold and are still coming in.

Here are the folks who have lent their name to the endorsement ad we are publishing in this week’s papers.  I wish we’d had time to reach out to everyone, so I’m sorry if we didn’t get your name in.  It’s too late to add additional names, but you can show your support by adding a comment to this post and telling others why you’re supporting Mark Kleinschmidt for Mayor.

Kevin Foy

Sally Greene

Laurin Easthom

Joyce Brown

Jim Merritt

Cam Hill

Ken Broun

Beverly Kawalec

Steve Bernholz

Joe Capowski

Jim Neal

Adam Stein

Jane Stein

Elsie Pickett

George Cianciolo  

Ruby Sinreich

Nancy Milio

Jeff Danner

D.R. Bryan

Hank Elkins

Tom Jensen

Burwell Ware

Charles Kast

Wanda Hunter

Tye Hunter

Roscoe Reeve

Diane VandenBroek

Loren Hintz

Glenn Gerding

 Steve Freedman

Pam Freedman

Jim Hilkey

Alethea Gerding

John Carlson

Molly James

Jon James

York Davis

Kim Davis

Mark McCurry

Emily Scroggs

Leslie Jaffe

Naomi Slifken

Laura Dunne

Alison Stuebe

Geoffrey Green

Anthony Leiro

John Paul

Robert Schreiner

Claudia Prose

Mary McMillan

Andrena Weston

Raymond Weston

Henry Lister

Jodi Flick

JoAnn Pitz

Gordon Pitz

Ernest Kraybill

Eunice Kraybill

Gus Montana

Mary Stuart Reeve

Charles Humble

Andrea Vizoso

Andrew Short

Donna Bickford

Margie McKinney

David Fryling

Stephen Brumback

Kristi Webb

Todd Woerner

Abigail Scheer

Matt Scheer

Connie Mullinix

Miriam Slifkin

Lawrence Slifkin

Dorothy Bernholz

Caryn Zoffer

Michelle Ware

Roger Waldon

Norm Gustaveson

Nancy Gustaveson

Leonard Rogoff

Michael Barefoot

Tim Manale

Carol Houge

Phelps Gates

Barry Freeman

Ann DeMaine

Robert DeMaine

Nancy Elkins

Amey Miller

David Kiel

Rex Mercer

Richard Glasser

Florry Glasser

Townsend Ludington

Andrew Scharfenberg

Melissa Brumback

Gail Fairbanks

Dorothy Hoover

Paul Hoover

Gwen Hoover

Laura Colletti

Elliott Lynch

William Gautier

Lauren Ruggeri

Joseph Reller

Jennifer Reller

Genieve Snyder

Mildred Robertson

Clyde Rowland

Joady Rowland

Matthew Myers

Patrick Hawker

Faye Baker

Stuart McAfee

Patty McAfee

Tim Wicks

Cara Wicks

Cecilia Mackey

Ellen Mood

Kay Wilson

Larry Beck

Sophia Lourdesamy

Francine Less

Richard Wark

Jennifer Cashen

Becky Carver

Perry Smith

Tekay Yaket

Bruce Wicks

Suzie Wicks

Sam D’Amico

Dee D’Amico

Michelle Hoover

Greg Hoover

Asia-Marie Terrell

Paul Jones

Donna Bell

Jason James

Brian Russell

Jake Geller-Goad

Ted Geller-Goad

Tom Greene

Betsy Fenhagen

Cait Fenhagen

Karen Stegman

Rob Maitland

Vivian Hwang

Erin Crouse

Jason Baker

Andy Gershutz

Tyler Beach

John Rees

Kyle Worsham

Kurt Davies

Christine Cianciolo

Kathie Young

Rickie White

Gary Wallach

Mary Dexter

Peg Rees

Phil Rees

Bobette Eckland

Andrea Rohrbacher

Douglas Thomas

Cecil Wooten

Gail McIlwain

Lee McIlwain

Beth Leiro

Douglas MacLean

Thomas Carson

Charlotte McFall

Tom Gunn

Margie Broun

Peter Calingaert

Greg Bell

Boykin Bell

George Doyle

Wayne Kuncl

Gordon Lipscomb

S. Cam Hill

Philip Pavlik

Liza Farmer

Deborah Miller

Paula Craig

Susan Jackson

David Knowles

Al McSurely

Bill Massengale

Sarah Insch

Dan Pelletier

Carmen Elliot

Elsbeth Van Tongeren

Heather Danner

Mike Lienesch

Ann Baker

Jennifer Horney

Raj Rao

Molly DeMarco

Allison DeMarco

Anne Fogleman

Dan Broun

Kellie Mannett

Marsha Jepsen

Sue Jackson

Mikko Rich-Voorhees

Brooks Rainey Pearson

Florry Glasser

Lynn Knauff

Susan Moffatt

Joseph Lee

Alex Leiro

Kyle Yamakawa

Matthew Addison

Grayson Bland

Zaina Alsous

Robert Smith

Christopher Browning

Jenny Browning

Catherine McCurry

Sarah Schaller

Bill Rogers

Jeannie Rogers

Danielle Dickman

Tracey Ocampo

Gabriel Ocampo

Josh Gurlitz

Robin Gurlitz

Jennifer Renn

Robin Crowder

Charlie Sellew

 

A brief look into my day job…

Posted by Mark on October 23, 2009

I thought I’d take a break and let you give you an opportunity to learn more about what I do during the day when I’m not serving directly as a Chapel Hill Town Council Member or running as a candidate for Mayor.

As many know, my day job is being the Executive Director of a the Fair Trial Initiative.  There I train young lawyers how to be effective representatives of indigent people facing the death penalty.  At the core of my organization’s mission is that for as long as there is a death penalty in North Carolina, we must all work toward ensuring that everyone facing a possible execution receives the highest quality defense available.  To that end, the young lawyers who work with me are charged with helping appointed counsel by providing additional resources aimed at improving the quality of defense. 

The most frightening outcome of any trial, especially death penalty trials, is that an innocent person is convicted and made subject to the death penalty.  Since the death penalty was reinstated in this country in the late 1970s, 138 people on death rows across the US have been exonerated, including eight in North Carolina.  Number 129, Levon Jones was my client.

Next week a book about our efforts to free Mr. Jones, The Last Lawyer by John Temple, will appear in bookstores (it’s already available on Amazon, you can read about it on Amazon, but please wait and buy it somewhere locally).  It’s a quick and exciting read, even for someone who lived through it.

For more information on how the capital punishment system is working (or not working), check out these links:

The North Carolina Coalition for a Moratorium

Death Penalty Information Center