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Smith sets sights on Congress
by Jule Hubbard
(Photo caption) Jule Hubbard/staff photo-Brad Smith holds his list of signatures as he seeks more from two shoppers in Wilkesboro this morning.
Brad Smith of the Mulberry community was in the crowd of shoppers in Wilkesboro by 4 a.m. today, but Smith wasn't out trying to find the best prices on Christmas gifts.
The 49-year-old was continuing his efforts for the required number of signatures to have his name placed on the ballot in the November 2010 election as an independent candidate for congress representing the 5th Congressional District.
Based on needing signatures of 4 percent of 5th District residents who are registered to vote as of Jan. 1, 2009, Smith said his goal is 17,700. That is more than 4 percent, but it allows for signatures that aren't certified.
He must have the required number of signatures certified as being those of registered voters by June 1, 2010, to be on the ballot.
Smith said he had gathered 5,700 signatures in 12½ weeks before he started approaching people early this morning in parking lots outside Wilkesboro stores.
Before today, he gathered signatures at the Brushy Mountain Apple Festival in North Wilkesboro, the Autumn Leaves Festival in Mount Airy, the apple festival in Taylorsville, about 15 high school football games and an Appalachian State University football game in Boone, where ASU officials limited his efforts to the parking lot outside the football stadium.
He said he was a lifelong Republican until about four months ago, when he became disillusioned with representation of the American people in Washington, D.C.
Smith said he also was influenced by "Common Sense," a book by Glen Beck that focused on how Americans increasingly expect someone else to address problems instead of getting involved themselves.
Smith said his primary concerns are excessive federal spending and the lack of jobs in the 5th District, which includes Wilkes, Alexander, Alleghany, Ashe, Davie, Stokes, Surry, Watauga and Yadkin counties and parts of Forsyth, Iredell, and Rockingham counties.
He said excessive federal spending has already essentially bankrupted the financial future of his children and was well on its way to doing the same with their children.
Smith's cards say he is pro-small business, pro-job creation, pro-life and pro-military and gun-rights and that he favors term limits, free and fair trade and smaller, leaner government.
Smith, married for 29 years and with two grown children, works as a construction project manager and superintendent for W.A. Lankford Co. in North Wilkesboro.
Smith said he and his family moved from Florida to Wilkes in 1995 when he started helping the Rev. Neil Hatfield build the Uplands Reach Conference Center in Wilbar. |
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