MYSTERY ALMOST SOLVED: WILL BROWNIE BE A 'D' OR 'R' IN UPCOMING ELECTION?
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ASHEVILLE, MONDAY -- Ever the selfless servant of the people, City Council member Brownie Newman has led a successful initiative to bring partisan elections to Asheville, meaning that come September, Newman will finally be forced to reveal his own party affiliation.
Newman, in a recent WLOS interview, said that without partisan elections, local voters wouldn't know what City Council candidates stand for, and then drove his point home by coyly refusing to disclose which party he will align himself with in the upcoming election.
"It's impossible to tell which party will even benefit from this, statistically," Newman said.
For years, a popular parlor game in Asheville has been to guess which party, if he was absolutely forced to choose, the mercurial Newman would align himself with.
So, in this year's City Council election, will there be an "R" or a "D" next to Newman's name on the ballot?
Keeping his cards close to his vest, Newman refuses to say.
"I support the hard-working, everyday, underrepresented large political machines that make this nation great," Newman said. "Without them, many local office holders would face an uphill battle in their quest to zealously maintain positions of power."
In a recent random sampling of 1,000 Asheville residents, not one was able to guess the general political leanings of either Council member Carl Mumpower or Council member Newman -- further proof, according to Newman, that we desperately need to enforce the two-party system in our local elections.
However, if Newman lived in a town that featured a Republican majority on its city council and a Republican majority in its registered voters, would he still spearhead a movement to introduce partisan elections?
"I support anything that supports what I am, where I am and how I do things when I do them," Newman disclosed.



