An open letter to you from Skip Alexander, candidate for at-large commissioner

Skip Alexander - candidate for at-large commissioner - and mayoral candidate Jared Esselman have no doubt been the two most talked-about candidates in the comments section of the Report this campaign season.

Most recently, the Esselman camp accused Alexander of "crossing the line" in regard to an e-mail request which consequently revealed that Esselman's mother - a teacher in the Iredell-Statesville Schools System - used her school-issued e-mail address to promote her son's mayoral campaign. Jared Esselman's father, Dennis, has stated in the comments section of the Report that "Skip requested her emails from her school account." 

On the eve of Election Day, Alexander submitted the following open letter to you to set the record straight on that issue and others that have been raised in the community and right here on your blog: 

Mooresville’s Mayor’s Office: 

Important Position of Leadership, or Graduation Gift?

My name is Robert “Skip” Alexander, a concerned resident of the Town of Mooresville, North Carolina.  This letter sets out some of the reasons that I have found Jared Esselman to be clearly unfit to become mayor of Mooresville. Information about why I have engaged in this disclosure process appears below. This is written for voters who care enough to spend ten minutes reviewing what has actually been said by me, not a set of self-serving distortions. Please do not hesitate to contact me with your questions.

Locals who support Jared Esselman may call my effort “negative campaigning.” I hope that objective voters will regard it as a principled attempt to inform voters – even after I have been warned by an Esselman supporter that it could harm my own campaign.

This letter is not a last minute campaign statement for Jared’s opponent. It will be read by most people after tomorrow’s election, but it re-states statements that I have made, in order that Mooresville’s residents will have reliable information as they consider allegations that have been made about my own motivations and honesty.

Who's been lying? 

Today, at a downtown development luncheon in front of approximately 65 local leaders, an audience member directed a question to Jared Esselman, reading from a letter to the editor that appeared in the November 5 Mooresville Tribune (author: Betty Wright Russell). I copy from the letter, which stated, “…I know firsthand the lies being spread against him are malicious and without substance.” (Please note: Ms. Russell – like Jared and every one of his supporters, has never informed me of any concerns about the accuracy of my charges against Jared Esselman.)

The luncheon questioner directly asked Jared to give any examples of such “lies.” Jared responded that one candidate had told his mother that Jared did not even grow up here. When Jared finished, I stood, expressed that I was involved, and gave a detailed account of the September 20, 2011 conversation in which Jared had given me evasive and misleading answers to questions I asked about his residence, until Jared’s version appeared to square with the truth. I absolutely refuted Jared’s claim, and pointed out that Jared’s mother did not identify herself as his mother until after I answered her questions. I concluded with, “And that is the truth.”  Jared sat in stone silence, like a child caught robbing the cookie jar. At no time did he question any portion of my answer – because the entire audience had just heard a clear statement of the truth.    

My home phone number appears in the Mooresville phone book. It, along with my home address, appears in public elections records. I am regularly, visibly present in various parts of Mooresville and can be contacted by email through my campaign Internet site (Alexander4Mooresville.com, for Mooresville At Large Commissioner). Despite this broad, 24-hour access, I have never received even one contact from Jared Esselman or his supporters to challenge the accuracy of any information I have shared, or to offer alternative versions.

Public office: A public trust or a graduation gift?

I submit that, as his graduation present from a two year Harvard masters degree program, Jared’s family and supporters are trying to make a graduation gift of the Mayor’s Office of Mooresville, to a person who is clearly unqualified for this position. When a speaker at his campaign announcement event misspoke and said that Jared was a candidate for Governor, the crowd cheered, “Not yet.” One of his vocal supporters told me she does not mind his using the Mooresville Mayor’s office as a “stepping stone” to higher office. Jared’s campaign committee members do not limit themselves to Mooresville, but call themselves “Friends of Jared Esselman for Office.” 

What got me started:

Jared's residence

By his own admission, Jared Esselman has been a resident of the town of Mooresville for only the time he was in second to fifth grade, and since July of 2011.  He rented a house here in May, 2011, but did not move in until July – within days of his filing to run for Mayor.  His campaign committee was actually formed in March, 2011 - more than a decade since he even lived in Iredell County, outside of Mooresville.

In a rare display of “Candid Jared” rather than “Candidate Jared,” he actually expressed to a local media person that he kept informed about Mooresville while at Harvard by subscribing to a local newspaper!  I subscribe to Mooresville, Statesville, and Charlotte newspapers that cover Mooresville, and am fully aware how ridiculous it would be to claim that these papers give me the knowledge necessary to be a credible candidate. 

Several weeks ago, I distributed a two-page information note, which correctly stated that the Iredell County Board of Elections (IBOE) records showed Jared, despite being registered to vote in 1999, has never cast one single vote in Iredell County – in-person or absentee. (Fewer than 15 copies of this two-page were distributed by me. Jared furnished a copy to a local blog, and his mother used the Iredell-Statesville Schools email system to distribute it. Thanks to Jared and Brenda for unintentionally giving my disclosures much broader distribution!)

How I came to see Jared’s mother’s emails 

In order to find the basis for Jared Esselman’s claim that the “school system” (name not specified) assigned two interns to his political campaign, I made public records requests to Mooresville Graded School District and Iredell-Statesville Schools, requesting nothing except records related to such a request. The county system informed me that they found certain emails when searching the name “Essleman.” Brenda Esselman’s I-SS emails contained numerous falsehoods, which I will detail to any voter upon request.

I am concerned that Brenda Esselman and son Jared used the county email system because:  (1) I am an Iredell County taxpayer and do not expect to fund the Esselmans’ intra-family Internet communications, (2) her use of I-SS emails was blatantly in furtherance of her son Jared’s current candidacy to become Mayor of Mooresville, and (3) her husband, Dennis Esselman, has fabricated and posted on The Gatton Report an untrue version alleging that I requested his wife’s emails.  If Dennis Esselman had wanted the truth, he could have simply obtained it by requesting my publicly available original records request. 

Jared's lack of voting

My two-page info sheet stated what appeared in IBOE online records and what IBOE personnel verbally confirmed to me - that Jared had been continually registered in Iredell County. Inquiries that I made to Charleston, SC elections personnel in October, 2011 disclosed that Jared was listed as registered there, but he had not voted there since 2008. IBOE personnel stated they were correcting their records based upon my information. It remains 100% true that Jared Esselman has never voted in Iredell County or paid any property taxes as a Mooresville resident.

Jared's lack of community involvement

Don’t ask me – examine Jared’s own literature. I have regularly acknowledged the 7 years that Jared spent as a loadmaster in the U.S. Air Force. However, he is 31 years old, and there is a glaring lack of community involvement in the places where he’s lived – South Carolina and Massachusetts – while building his academic resume. Many college students find ways to serve. Compare Jared’s service a president of his college Political Science club to the public service of any other candidate for office in Mooresville.    

Challenge to readers:  Search Jared’s statements and campaign literature, and ask him, for any examples of his Mooresville-area community service or involvement during his non-military years since high school.

Jared's donor base

On September 6, 2011, the “Friends of Jared Esselman for Office” campaign committee filed their mandatory 35 Day Report. (Available online at the Iredell Board of Elections website)  Not one of the 36 named donors is a resident, taxpayer, or voter in the Town of Mooresville. Data derived from Jared’s 9/6/11 report:

                                                                                        Number    Percent

Iredell County voters outside Town of Mooresville              4               11.1%

           Residents of Massachusetts                                     25             69.4%

Residents of other non-North Carolina states                        7            19.4 %

Town of Mooresville residents and/or voters                     ZERO    ZERO

Jared's vision to radically restructure Mooresville's form of government

Earlier this year, Jared Esselman, as a 31 year old college student (now a candidate to become Mooresville’s Mayor) submitted proposals to radically change Mooresville’s form of government, even spelling out the changes of our Town Charter that would be required. 

Examples of his proposed changes were:  full-time Mayor with a salary of approximately $140,000.00 (almost 4 times the Charlotte mayor’s salary), using his proposed salary formula; the Mayor’s salary would automatically increase as the Town budget grew; giving this Mayor veto power; authority to Mayor to suspend or remove all but a few Town employees; “one or more Deputy Mayors” appointed by the Mayor; mayoral authority to issue “executive orders…binding on all departments…;” transferring appointment authority from 6 Commissioners to one Mayor; etc. 

Esselman stated that his proposal was created, “after some research, meeting with professors, and talking with my friends back in Mooresville.” I have benefited from a great education in North Carolina’s schools, ending with Law School at UNC-Chapel Hill, and I am strongly pro-education. However, Mooresville is not Cambridge or Boston, Massachusetts, and we need wisdom from the real world, not textbook theory from Ivy League schools.   

The timing of Esselman’s proposal is crucial.  This was not a proposal made years ago by an immature college kid.  It was mere months ago! His campaign committee for the Mayor’s race was formed on March 14, 2011, within days or weeks of his forcefully advocating these drastic Charter revisions (all of this is public record).  Fleeing from his radical ideas, Esselman has not recently publicized his radical proposals, or made them a part of his campaign platform. Because Miles Atkins politely responded that Jared could share his ideas (all on the public record), Jared has practically tried to blame Atkins for their being presented. I cannot say whether Jared’s retreat from his forceful advocacy of this proposal is evidence that he realized how totally off-the-wall his ideas were, and how totally they were rejected, or if he is postponing his call for radical action until after voters make their decisions.  

I believe I have spoken with every recipient of Esselman’s proposals, and not one of those recipients stated that Esselman ever withdrew or disclaimed his proposal. The best sources for determining how Esselman’s proposals were perceived are the people who received them, so I contacted every current Commissioner who is not running for office. All three of them conveyed that this proposal was regarded as a call for immediate action, not a mere conceptual proposal. The last Commissioner contacted , Chris Carney, reviewed a draft of my write-up and confirmed my account of his October 17 telephone remarks about the Esselman proposal:

“Without question, his (Jared Esselman’s) last letter made it very clear it was his intention to change the form of government, and it was incumbent upon us to implement this. That that was his expectation, for us as representatives of the citizens of Mooresville. It was very clear that was what he was asking us.”

“This was before I knew him in any way. When I saw the cities he listed as examples of this form of government and saw they were among the most liberal cities in the United States, especially in California, I didn’t give it a second thought. I thought it was so off base – especially giving so much authority to the mayor - that I didn’t have time to spend educating somebody who didn’t live here.  I was terrified that somebody would even suggest such a thing. It was very clear that it was his intention to implement it here.”

Quotes of Esselman’s own words make it unambiguously clear that was pushing adoption now, not tendering some theoretical concept for possible consideration. Jared Esselman wrote to local media and elected leaders:

“”…I wrote a column in the Mooresville Tribune regarding the need for revising the Town Charter.”

“…a unique opportunity to both re-invent and re-vitalize the Town.”

“…There is a window of opportunity in Mooresville right now to act on the issues addressed here.” (underlining added)

“The Town Charter represents a very antiquated method of trying to run our town…”

For those who study not just Political Science (as both Jared and I did), but also History, cities like Boston, Chicago, and New Orleans offer examples of strong mayor governments. I do not want what these cities have experienced, or the kinds of mayors that these systems have often produced. Remember that wannbe Mayor Esselman has not one minute of real world governmental executive or elective experience since leaving college. 

I believe Jared’s proposal to replace our current system of government with a full-time mayor was absurd. Only people without a real job – like Jared – or those willing to leave their employment for a minimum of two years, would be able to serve as Mooresville’s Mayor under that system. 

Jared argued “Nearly two-thirds of the 50 most populous cities in America have a Mayor-Council…” (not cities of Mooresville’s size) What U.S. cities does Jared cite as his role models for conversion to a Mayor-Council system?  Ultra-liberal Seattle, San Jose, Fresno, and Oakland. 

"Iraq war veteran"  

We acknowledge Jared’s service as enlisted U.S. Air Force Aircraft Loadmaster. All available information indicates that Jared served our country honorably. I salute his and every veteran’s service, notwithstanding concerns about his campaign. I do join the numerous Air Force and other veterans who have asked how Jared’s particular military duties (see job description for “Aircraft Loadmaster” on the U.S. Air Force website) gives him some unique qualification to be mayor of a sizable municipality.

Harvard graduate

To date, Jared has accomplished nothing with his Spring 2011 Harvard diploma, and apparently sought no job, except to begin as the mayor of a town where he had not lived since the fifth grade. 

At today’s downtown luncheon, many attendees looked shocked, or amused, when Jared invoked his Harvard degree in trying to answer a question for which he appeared to be baffled. Ask anybody who was in attendance.

Civics note:  Jared’s #1-listed priority in his campaign ("education") is not within jurisdiction of Mooresville's Mayor or Commissioners, but is legally subject to governance by the board of Mooresville Graded School District.

Jared posted on a blog that I had said we should not be concerned about education. This absolutely false.  My son graduated from Mooresville High School; I have been a judge for Senior Projects at Mooresville High School; my wife is a CMS public school teacher. We chose Mooresville because if its school system!

Jared's sweeping, slanderous allegations about local leaders

One of Jared’s emails to local officials bemoans “…recent embarrassing events and long-term corruption…” As a retired FBI Special Agent and subscriber to every local newspaper, I somehow missed this news. If Jared is honestly aware of “long-term corruption” in Mooresville, it is absolutely irresponsible and inexcusable for Jared – candidate to be Mooresville’s Mayor - not to report this to the FBI and SBI.

A conservative?  

See the questions submitted to Jared by The Gatton Report, which asked about an anti-war rally of a Charleston, SC left-wing student group, where Jared was featured as speaker - in a very recent year. Jared has every right to express his criticism of our government, but a potential mayor needs to consider how his public choices are reviewed. Indeed, Jared has criticized our current Mayor for his choices.

Jared's contempt for public service by people other than himself

Responding to comments about the 25 American flags flying among 10 campaign signs at his rented Mooresville house, Jared made a bold and false statement about my service to our country. Repeating once more his boasting about his military service, Jared wrote, “I am an American soldier! I have earned the right to fly the flag, by placing my life on the line in defense of others. Neither Miles nor Skip  have.” 

I served as an Infantry-trained Drill Sergeant and Staff Sergeant in the United States Army Reserve, subject to being deployed as a non-commissioned officer in an Infantry unit. As a police officer, I have made car stops without backup at 2 a.m. As an FBI Special Agent, I pursued various fugitives and other felons. As a deputy sheriff, I have responded to domestic violence situations. I would invite Jared to take his self-centered arrogance to the next funeral of a law enforcement officer and share his boasting about how being an aircraft loadmaster is the only way to place one’s “life on the line in defense of others.”   This is obviously a lame attempt by Jared to trivialize the service of others and distract voters from his glaring lack of public service in the 24 non-military years of his life. There is no clearer example of his sense of entitlement.

Conclusion

 During the current election campaign in Mooresville, NC, I became concerned about the nature, completeness, and accuracy of information being furnished by and on behalf of Jared Esselman. When I attempted to get clarifying information directly from Jared, he was evasive, defensive, and confrontational. When I requested information from him via email, he gave absolutely no response – as he has done in response to questions from a blog author, when this author posed challenging questions that weren’t just an opportunity for self-serving promotion. Thus, I have turned to alternative, reliable sources and attempted to share with voters the most relevant, accurate information I could obtain – a process made more difficult by Jared’s unwillingness to even answer simple, straightforward questions.  The responses of Jared, his family, and his other supporters have magnified every concern that I had about Jared. All readers are encouraged to make a thorough evaluation of every assertion in this letter.

Jared’s mayoral opponent, Miles Atkins, has not ever requested, supported, coordinated, or otherwise participated in these efforts. If asked, I would have encouraged Miles to more forcefully disclose these facts. Even with Atkins’ broad qualifications, commitment and service to Mooresville in recent years, I have told numerous Esselman supporters they should present a qualified, credible write-in candidate if they found Atkins to be unacceptable. Please vote wisely.

Thank you.

Skip Alexander

Mooresville, NC