By Patricia E. Matson Monday, November 1, 2010
Third-quarter campaign finance reports filed with the New Hanover County Board of elections showed Sheriff Ed McMahon was way ahead of challenger Marc Benson in fund-raising. McMahon’s campaign said a total of $58,611.23 had been raised by Oct. 21, and Benson’s campaign reported that $2,860 had been raised by Oct. 24.
Benson said Thursday that he’d been very busy working the polls, with so many people coming out for early voting.
“It seems the public’s been invigorated,” he said. He urged everyone to voice their opinions through their votes, for a conservative candidate as far as what taxpayers get for their money, or for the status quo.
McMahon said he had been getting a lot of positive feedback from his interactions with citizens. One thing that has changed since he’s been sheriff is closer cooperation with beach-town police. For instance, Wrightsville Beach contracts with the sheriff’s office every summer to provide deputies to help with law enforcement. Now, instead of Wrightsville Beach paying for all of the deputies’ time, McMahon has his department pick up part of the cost. He also said that this summer he had a full-time boat patrol serving all the beaches, but mostly around Masonboro Island to Wrightsville Beach, for alcohol enforcement.
Benson said that back in the 1980s—when he was an auxiliary police officer with Wrightsville Beach—the department had a nice working relationship with the county. If elected sheriff, he would look at how personnel are utilized, to see if alcohol enforcement or other coordination with municipal police could be improved.
“Everybody needs some help,” he said, but for the exact allocations, he’d have to check on how resources are being used now and figure out their best use in the future.
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