THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, December 8, 1994 TAG: 9412080432
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: By MASON PETERS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ELIZABETH CITY LENGTH: Medium: 58 lines
Pasquotank County Democrats may cop a Solomonic plea next month as they struggle to select a politically correct replacement for County Commissioner William C. ``Bill'' Owens Jr.
The possibility of recommending two nominees, a man and a woman, and passing the touchy buck of decision-making back to the county board is being floated among Pasquotank political leaders by Catherine Meggs, chair of the county Democratic Party.
Meggs has been on a hot spot for weeks over the problems of Owens' successor.
Many older Democrats would like to see former Sheriff Davis M. Sawyer Jr. serve Owens' unexpired term, while other party leaders say a younger person, preferably a female, would be more appropriate.
``Politics is not an exact science, as Otto von Bismarck pointed out in 1863, and there's no law against naming two candidates and letting the county commissioners decide,'' said William Hodges, who spent several decades as chairman of the 1st Congressional District Democratic Party and remains an acknowledged expert on party protocol.
``Some folks might think that two candidates would be copping a plea, but others will feel it's a fair solution,'' said Hodges, a retired Washington, N.C., hotel owner often consulted by Democratic leaders on policy.
Owens will be sworn in as a member of the N.C. House of Representatives Jan. 25. Pasquotank Democrats must immediately recommend one or more qualified successors to serve the remaining two years of Owens' term on the Pasquotank board.
Efforts to influence members of the executive committee of the county Democratic Party in selecting a nominee to succeed Owens have been going on for months, with older Democrats backing Sawyer, 67.
But younger Democrats, including young Turks who helped elect 33-year-old Randy Cartwright as the new Pasquotank County sheriff after Sawyer decided to retire this year, are determined to nominate a young Democrat - perhaps a woman - for the county board.
Meggs, 32, is in the middle - she is supposed to be impartial but identifies with the younger Democrats.
When Meggs this week began exploring the idea of offering two candidates and then letting the Democrat-dominated county board select one of them, there were sounds of satisfaction among the young Turks.
One female serves on the seven-member county board, and Meggs is under pressure to try to name another woman.
Traditionally, the Pasquotank commissioners elect a nominee recommended by the political party of the commissioner being replaced.
``But they don't have to do that in Pasquotank,'' Hodges said. ``That county is one of the few in this state that has authority to elect anyone they want to fill a vacancy on the Board of Commissioners.'' by CNB