A recent poll shows nearly 80 percent of the local electorate believes the Titan America cement project will have a negative impact on New Hanover County, even if the company meets every state and federal permitting requirement.
But that information was omitted when the county posted a summary online last week of a recent county-funded survey.
A host of other issues were left out as well, including the measured public views of government corruption, illegal immigration and others.
Favorability ratings were also determined for all five commissioners and Wilmington Mayor Bill Saffo, but the exact figures were excluded from the summary. County officials said they were determining who would make the finest person to spearhead a drive in support of the quarter-cent sales tax referendum.
Deborah Butler, a candidate for county commissioner, and her campaign manager, Darla McGlamery, obtained a copy of the more than 300-page survey and made extras available to local media.
Officials today said the survey’s sole purpose was to gauge public perceptions of the quarter-cent sales tax referendum. But Butler and some other candidates for county commissioner have cried foul, saying the full survey should have been posted online and distributed to media.
Butler said the county cherry-picked what information they wanted to make public. She said it was inappropriate the county didn’t broadcast the entire survey given that an incumbent, commissioner Bill Caster, is seeking re-election. Candidates often pay big money for such telling data.
"If a sitting commissioner has it to the exclusion of everybody else, he has a valuable campaigning tool," Butler said. And, "If the media hasn’t been given this information, they’re not getting the whole picture."
Others felt the same.
"I think the entire thing should have been made public," said Sid Causey, the former sheriff-turned-commissioner candidate. "That’s taking stuff out of context. Lay it all out there and then let people decide."
"It should have been made more public but I don’t think it’s something they were trying to hide," said Charles Dorman, another candidate.
County officials said Caster wasn’t involved in planning or executing the poll.
Reached for comment on March 16, Caster said that while he was privy to the information, he didn’t know that only a portion had been posted online and distributed.
"All that wasn’t posted? I think it should have been," he said. "If the people running against me have the point of view that I got a free poll out of it, they’re right, and that shouldn’t have happened."
The county hired Capitol Communication to conduct the poll at a cost of $13,200, for a survey of 400 people.
Chris Coudriet, assistant county manager, said only senior county staff, a Capitol Communication consultant and two county commissioners, vice-chairman Jonathan Barfield and chairman Jason Thompson, were involved in developing questions.
Coudriet said it would have cost the same amount of money had they not polled perceptions about Titan, and illegal immigration, etcetera.
Asked why the other information wasn’t voluntarily made public, Coudriet said the entire document is available in the county manager’s office.
"It was summarized to speak to the intent of the survey, which is what the pulse of the community was regarding the quarter cent sales tax," he said.
Chairman Thompson said the poll was not political.
"If you read the poll, you’d clearly see that there’s no information a candidate could use in there to their benefit in a campaign," he said. "If they (the candidates) can’t find something better than that then they don’t need to be running for political office. They need to find an issue."
What wasn’t included in the online summary was that more people cited Titan, corruption and growth than they did crime, annexation or economic development as the single most important county issue.
As for approval ratings, nearly 40 percent of those polled have a favorable view of Thompson. Almost 15 percent have an unfavorable view; 32 percent have no opinion and 20 percent have never heard of him.
Commissioner Ted Davis got similar ratings: 32 percent have a favorable opinion, 15 percent have an unfavorable, 31.5 percent have no opinion and 21.5 percent have never heard of him.
The poll measured a 25.5 percent favorable rating for Barfield. Nearly 14 percent have an unfavorable opinion, 37 percent have no opinion and 23.5 percent have never heard of him.
As for Bobby Greer, 28 percent view him favorably; 22.5 percent unfavorably; 30 percent have no opinion and 19 percent have never heard of him.
Finally, 28 percent of those polled are favorable toward Caster; 26 percent unfavorable; 26 percent have no opinion and 20 percent have never heard of him.
--Brian Freskos
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