Battle brewing in Morganton race

Mayor, seeking 10th term, faces tough opponent

Former president of community college build support; Cohen tout his experience, connections

Sunday, Aug. 12, 2007

By Marcie Young
Charlotte Observer Staff Writer

MORGANTON - Mel Cohen has a fight on his hands.

It's the first time in his 22-year tenure as Morganton mayor that Cohen is facing a formidable opponent with a name almost as recognizable as his own.

Jim Richardson, who led Western Piedmont Community College as president for 25 years, filed last month to run against Cohen, and has been steadily building a platform for change in leadership.

Two decades, he said, is too long for any politician to be in office.

"Someone should never make a career of being mayor," Richardson said. "Leadership gets stagnant after too long."

But Cohen, who was first elected when Ronald Reagan was president, said his experience, connections and knowledge of the city could never be considered a negative.

"There's no difference between (how long you lead) a community college or a city," he said. "I've led Morganton into the new century, making it a better place to live and work, and continue to do so."

Cohen, who is seeking his 10th term, has run unopposed four times, and when he has faced challengers, they haven't posed much of a threat. The election is Oct. 9.

In the last election, Cohen secured his ninth term by defeating former Burke County commissioner Tom McCurry, 920 to 293 votes. In 1999, when he faced McCurry and Burke County attorney Dan Kuehnert, Cohen won with 72 percent of the vote.

McCurry, who has challenged Cohen in every mayoral election since 1997 and hasn't secured much more than 30 percent, has also filed for the seat this year. He couldn't be reached for comment last week.

Now, Cohen, who graduated from UNC Chapel Hill, is facing a challenger who, for 25 years, led the community college and established relationships with educators, students, local and state politicians, county planners and numerous boards.

Richardson, a Wilkes County native, moved to Morganton with a resume stocked with accolades for his leadership and education. He graduated from Appalachian State University, where he played basketball on scholarship, and he received a master's degree from East Tennessee University and a doctorate from Duke University.

That, he said, combined with his experience at Western Piedmont, elevates him as a candidate.

"Education has been my salvation, and I want everyone to have an opportunity at a better life," he said.

If elected, Richardson said, he'd like to establish programs that would give the city's youth more options to get involved with the community.

Richardson supporters say he works well with everyone he meets and respects opinions that don't mirror his own. That, said Roy McGalliard, a longtime friend and former Western Piedmont instructor, sets him apart.

"I've worked for him in a subordinate position, and I've never felt at any time that I had to sequester my opinion in order to please the boss," McGalliard said. " He's flexible and listens to people in the know."

Though Cohen and Richardson have said they want to keep the race clean, it has already started to get a little heated as the candidates began talking about economic development and bolstering downtown.

Cohen's focus on Morganton, Richardson said, seems to hinge upon concerts and festivals in the city center, an 8-by-10-block grid lined with leafy trees, stores and offices.

"Entertainment is good on Friday night," he said, "but we need to reach out more than just a few blocks around the courthouse square."

But that argument, Cohen said, is an attack on the entire city.

"We have never concentrated on only downtown, but it is the front porch of our community," Cohen said. "If your downtown is not bright and beautiful and clean, your community is not looking toward its future."

In the late 1970s, Morganton's city center was known for its boarded-up storefronts and vagrants. Looking to restart the city's heart, Cohen, a Morganton native, began working in 1982 to bring new business to the streets surrounding the Old Burke County Courthouse.

Then, in 1997, Cohen and the City Council appointed an advisory committee to come up with a detailed, long-term plan for boosting business downtown and adopted a master plan for the entire city that laid out goals - from recreation and restaurants to housing and industry - through 2015.

He orchestrated the recruitment of restaurants, shops, condos and apartments to the city center, he said, and brought the Catawba River Greenway, the sports complex and new industry to the city.

Those achievements, said Yianni Dimarhos, a restaurant owner whom Cohen recruited to Morganton a decade ago, clearly show Cohen is a capable mayor who is continually adapting and thinking of ways to make the city better.

"He takes care of his city very well and has been doing it for 22 years," Dimarhos said. "Why get rid of something that has proven to be the best?"

All content © THE CHARLOTTE OBSERVER and may not be republished without permission.