Wild primary season draws to a close

A long and often contentious primary season draws to an end on Tuesday, sending one slate of candidates onward and dashing the hopes of all the others.

In the final week, complaints over trickery and alleged hijinks have ratcheted to a new level. It's the kind of stuff that happens often in local races, but many candidates and activists have told me this is as intense as they've seen it in quite some time.

Maybe the strangest twist happened in the Buddy Motz/Alex Haefele race for the County Council seat in northwest Rock Hill. Motz told me fliers went out in the mail purporting to be from the Motz campaign. The fliers talked about how Motz has tried to stop the airport zoning rules from being enacted. That's not quite accurate-- Motz has pushed for compromises but still favors the overall plan.

At first, Motz thought they were sent by one of his critics to confuse voters and make it look like he was lying. Then this afternoon, he said that he now believes one of his supporters sent out the fliers on his behalf. Either way, no one checked with him in advance, Motz says.

Haefele has signs and billboards up all over the place, including a big one in the ground on Interstate 77. It stands in the woods just above the banks of the Catawba River on the Rock Hill side.

Speaking of signs...a week or two ago, County Council candidate Bump Roddey told me someone was stealing his.

It's not just signs that can cause tempers to flare. The Gullick campaign is upset over a flier that it believes makes false claims about Gullick taking liberal positions in the Legislature.

You already know about the lawsuit filed by Roy Blake against Ashley Martin in regards to Martin's assertion that Blake has received donations from Republican Curwood Chappell.

Speeding tickets have become an issue in the Jeff Updike/Paul Lindemann race. So has a question over whether Updike took part in a fundraiser hosted by Democrats.

Interestingly, the Tom Smith/David McCorkle/Bill Stiles race has the most candidates, but it has generated relatively few complaints over trickery.

All the maneuvering, legitimate and otherwise, is about getting out the vote in Tuesday's primary. Then a whole new phase begins, once the focus shifts to the general election.