Photograph courtesy of Rosemary Hubbard Rosemary Hubbard is joined here in the 1970’s by then-president Jimmy Carter. Hubbard is running for the North Carolina State House. Hubbard soldiers on in tough campaign Election Day this Tuesday By THOMAS LARK LINCOLNTON––Rosemary Hubbard is the kind of person who cares deeply about helping others. And indeed it was this altruism and passion for social justice that inspired her to join the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Hubbard is a big supporter of the NAACP, and her record with the organization in Louisiana and in Lincoln County stretches back decades. That same level of commitment is also what led her to run for the North Carolina State House. Hubbard, a Democrat, is running against incumbent Republican Rep. Jason Saine. Hubbard is well known locally for her work with the Hesed House of Hope, the local homeless shelter; Christian Ministries, the Lincolnton-based charity; and the foster parent program. She is a recipient of the Dr. Martin Luther King Award and a passionate advocate for public education. In Louisiana, she served five years on the Lafayette Parish School Board. She has a bachelor’s degree in government. She and her husband, geologist Dr. Allen Hubbard, have been married 52 years. They have three children and three grandchildren. Mrs. Hubbard talked Saturday about the race, the finish line now mere hours away; the role of the Tea Party, a relatively new and particularly strident arm of the Republican Party; the challenges she faces; and more. “Yes,” she said, “this has race has been one of a kind for my husband, Al, and me. Please let me say up front, my true opponent is not the Republican Party but the Tea Party. They have really taken over the GOP. There are so many fine Republicans in Lincoln County who have told me of their dismay at the direction their party has gone down. They don’t feel it’s their party anymore. I used to think all this gerrymandering had hurt only Democrats, but it has taken the life out of people across the board.” Hubbard also took Saine to task for attempting to undermine her campaign, as she explained, citing her opponent’s purchase, some months ago, of just about every possible Website domain name involving her name (such as rosemaryhubbard, rosemaryhubbard.net and so on)––a move that Saine himself at the time pointed out was not illegal but one that had many observers questioning whether it was ethical. “The issues in this campaign have no doubt been similar to those of other candidates’ races,” she said, listing “education, erosion of the middle class, poor stewardship of the environment, etc. But in this particular race, I was probably the only one to have to deal with the hurtful deception of identity theft on a daily basis. When I first complained about it, I was punished severely by the editors of The Lincoln Times-News and The Denver Daily: two editors who were already supporters of my opponent. It seemed a case of ‘blaming the victim’ for having this happen in the first place. First I had the shock of identity theft to deal with, followed by those stinging editorials. I lost time from active campaigning, just working through these events. “Then,” she continued, “I decided to put one foot in front of the other and just keep on going. I had a race to run. I called the State Board of Elections, only to be told I could go ahead and file a complaint, but they would not act on it, because it wasn’t their area. They referred me to the attorney general’s office, who referred me right back to them.” But despite such an exasperating experience, Hubbard hasn’t lost her sense of humor. “He (Saine) never did want to let go of my domain name,” she said. “Maybe he likes it so much, he’ll vote for me! Do you think?” She also talked about the General Assembly. It seems North Carolina’s dirty political realities are no different from those of any other state: it’s always a case of having, as Mark Twain famously observed, “the best government that money can buy.” “To me,” said Hubbard, “the biggest mistake this legislature made was to grant those many millions of dollars to a few wealthy people and corporations. To pay for it, they made some pretty slick moves. For instance, so that yacht-owners could have a tax write-off, they took away the tax credits teachers have long had for buying school supplies for needy students. They granted schools only the bare minimum amount to run on for the year. Schools in poor areas can only expect small financial help from their parents to augment this cut. They say there’s no money for new textbooks. “And where the legislature used to grant high school bands $10,000 a year to operate, they reduced their contribution to zero!” she added. “As one 16-year-old from North Lincoln High told me, ‘There are only so many car washes we can hold, so many bars of candy we can sell. We’ve been invited to presidential inaugurations in the past, but how can we go anymore?’” The Republican war on education Hubbard also talked about how Republicans, especially the notorious Koch brothers and their many-tentacled organizations, have spent long years eroding American public education, causing this country to fall behind and below the rest of the civilized world. “Universally,” she said, “the public has come to perceive there is a war on public education. But who is getting the nod of approval from our lawmakers? Why, private schools with their vouchers, which have already been declared unconstitutional, along with charter schools! The cap was raised on the latter.” What’s behind this? Look to ALEC, said Hubbard: the American Legislative Exchange Council. Such is but one example among many by which wealthy robber barons subvert the democratic process, meaning that in reality, elected representatives represent not the American people but instead exclusively represent the sinister interests of their dark political puppeteers. “Republican members of this legislature belong to this bill-creating group, which is funded by many large corporations,” she said. “One such industry among the likes of Koch Industries and Exxon-Mobile is a group called K12, which runs charter schools. Republicans want to privatize everything. And once they privatize the education of our children, they will be in a position to say what gets taught. The Koch brothers have already sent our state a sanitized version of our state’s history, complete with lesson plans, which leaves out messy parts they don’t like, such as our struggle for civil rights. Since David Koch is already a major contributor to PBS, climate change is one topic we are unlikely to see programs on, he being the leading contributor to (PBS show) ‘Nova.’ ALEC’s policies are leading to a dumbing-down of America. “My opponent is ALEC’s leading contact person in this legislature,” she continued. “He was their man of the year last year. They say ‘Jump!’ And all he has to do is reply, ‘How high?’ Thom Tillis (incumbent U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan’s Republican opponent) made sure local communities lost a say in cable programming, telling a disgusted Republican state senator he had a ‘special relationship with Time-Warner Cable and a special relationship with AT&T.’ I’ll just bet he does! As the saying goes, ‘If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it’s a duck.’” Hubbard also cited the environment, an issue that seemingly no candidates at all have campaigned on in recent years, apart from environmental activist Robert Kennedy, Jr. and former vice president Albert Gore, Jr., thwarted from his presidential electoral victory, 14 years ago, by the politically-motivated machinations of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. “There are so many roads to go down here,” said Hubbard. “Take our environmental regulators, who have had so much pressure put on them that they are reduced to whispering at work, according to The Raleigh News & Observer. Or take the DHHS (Department of Health and Human Services) and how poorly it has been run, with its no-bid contracts. Poor people have suffered in this state because they couldn’t get food stamps they should have gotten. Kids went hungry because of this administration.” The grapes of Republican wrath Hubbard talked about how the continuing bite of the Great Recession has brought home scenes to Lincolnton straight out of Steinbeck. “I live a block from Christian Ministries (in downtown Lincolnton),” she said, “and my husband and I volunteer there. I can tell you it just hurts to see children sitting on the sidewalk, waiting to get in to the soup kitchen. They look old for their years, their eyes careworn. I went door-to-door all over the county for six months in this race, while my opponent never really had to leave his computer screen to campaign against me. I saw children in rags, while their fathers told me how concerned they were that teachers had good conditions to work under. They want so much for their children.” It’s enough to make anyone sick, and Hubbard says she’s had enough of such injustice and the Orwellian dystopia that is America today. “I’m sick of what this legislature is doing, of their arrogance,” she said, “of state senators who walk out, in a group, on school superintendents invited to testify in a hearing. Of a governor who speaks of his desire to rid our universities of their emphasis on liberal arts. Educators, including our schoolteachers, seem held in low regard by these lawmakers. Can it be that some group out there wants to rid this country of critical thinking? “I want to work, first of all, with those who will get rid of these tax breaks for the wealthy,” she added. “I want to work with those who believe in the mandate of our state constitution, which decrees that public money is to be spent on public education. That’s public, not private, education. I want to see Medicaid expanded. I want to see corporations held accountable for pollution. I want the public’s health protected, as the people have every right to expect. These are things I want to work for.” Hubbard also extended her thanks to her many supporters. “I appreciate all these voters I’ve talked with,” she said, “even those who have disagreed with me. I care about them, and I want people to know that I want to listen to them. I’ve had good help from fellow believers. But the one I owe everything to is my husband, Al. He is the greatest, and like most husbands of wives who are dedicated to causes, he is a very patient man.”
Posted on: Sun, 02 Nov 2014 17:50:06 +0000
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