The Charlotte Observer
Monday, October 30, 2006
www.charlotte.com

DECISION 2006

Candidates' forum filled with pledges to H.E.L.P.
Issues take center stage at Grier Heights event

JIM MORRILL

U.S. Rep. Robin Hayes ventured where no other Republican on Sunday did -- to one of Charlotte's oldest African American neighborhoods to appear before 500 community members and a dozen Democratic officeholders and candidates.

The event's organizers -- Helping Empower Local People, or H.E.L.P. -- invited every candidate for the Mecklenburg Board of County Commissioners and congressional Districts 8, 9 and 12. Hayes was the only GOP candidate to show.

One after another, officials and candidates pledged to work with the group on issues including housing and immigration.

The closest thing to criticism came not from Hayes' opponent, Democrat Larry Kissell, but from his House colleague Democratic Rep. Mel Watt of Charlotte.

"I'm ... privileged not to have to stand here and apologize for any of the votes I've cast in the past," Watt told the standing-room crowd packed into Antioch Baptist Church in Grier Heights.

He ticked off a litany of policies for which Hayes had voted: the Iraq war resolution, the Central America Free Trade Agreement and the Medicare prescription drug benefit backed by the Bush administration.

Asked later if he was directing his remarks at Hayes, Watt said, "If the shoe fits, wear it."

Hayes, of Concord, said he didn't take it personally. In his own remarks, in which he interjected some lines in Spanish for the ethnically and racially diverse crowd, he said he was proud of what he's done for the district and for Grier Heights.

Earlier this month, he brought the secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to the neighborhood to tout federal housing grants he'd helped win.

"I like being in Congress because I can help people at home," he said. "We have worked hard to keep our jobs. We have worked hard to keep new jobs."

Kissell talked about his own background as a longtime textile worker who five years ago began teaching high school in his native Montgomery County. He promised to "be someone who looks out for working people in Washington."

The H.E.L.P. gathering was designed to prod officials into action on areas such as abandoned homes, education and immigration reform.

In response to a question from organizers, Hayes, Kissell and Watt pledged to meet with H.E.L.P. representatives within 90 days to discuss immigration and other issues important to the group.

Four Democrats running for Mecklenburg County commissioner, two Democrats on the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school board and two Democrats on the Charlotte City Council also pledged to work with the group.

Hayes said later that he expects to do well among the community groups in attendance.

"I'll do great," he said. "(They said they'd) evaluate the candidates on what they've done and what they expect to do."