Polk County Democrats

Contacts for Democrats of Polk County

Here are some links to this page: Executive Board Members   Precinct Information     Standing Organizations    County Officials    Board of Elections   NC Representatives    US Representatives  Town Officials

We are the Polk County Democratic Party, the chartered affiliate of the North Carolina Democratic Party. We represent the political interests of Polk County Democrats, not only through direct political action, but also through community service.

The party headquarters is located at 64 Ward Street in Columbus, behind the courthouse and between the Sheriff's Department and the Post Office.

The phone number for the headquarters is: (828) 894-0539. 

The e-mail address for the computer at party HQ is pcdemocrats@windstream.net. 

Our mailing address is:

Polk County Democratic Party
PO Box 602
Columbus NC 28722

(Don't send anything to the street address; there is no mail delivery there.)

The governing body of the Polk County Democratic Party is its Executive Committee, which consists of:

• The officers of the Executive Board
• The Precinct Chairs and Vice-Chairs
• The presidents of the Men's and Women's clubs
• All current Democratic elected officials

County Democratic Executive Board

The Executive Board of the Polk County Democratic Party consists of the six people holding the following offices: County Chair, the three Vice-Chairs, the Secretary, and the Treasurer.  Board members serve for two-year terms, and are elected at alternate county conventions, in April.  New officers for the 2007-2009 term were selected at the convention on April 19, 2007, and are as follows:

* All phone numbers are area code 828.

Precinct Information

The 7 Polk County Democratic Precincts each select three officers: Chair, Vice-Chair, and Secretary.  They serve for two-year terms, and are elected at alternate annual precinct meetings, usually in February. 

Precinct officer elections were held at the February 20,2007, precinct meetings and the new precinct officers are shown in the following chart.  In all cases the three officers are listed in the order of chair, vice-chair, and secretary.  Information that is pending is enclosed in (parens).

Standing organizations

• Men's Club, chaired by George Couch, 893-4854.
• Women's Club, chaired by Donna Radich (863-2746, or e-mail).
• DCAL, the Democratic Community Action league, chaired by Mark Byington (859-6860 or e-mail).

Polk County Officials

The new Board of County Commissioners contains three Republicans and two Democrats.  They are key county officials and we need to contact them frequently. Here is their contact information:

Tommy Melton and Warren Watson were elected in 2006, and will be up for election in 2010.  Cindy Walker, Renee McDermott, and Ray Gasperson were elected in 2008, for a Democratic sweep of the Board of Commissioners.

Polk County law regarding the election of commissioners is unusual in that every two years the terms of three of the five commissioners expire, so that a numerical majority is always up for election but not the whole commission.  This is achieved by awarding 4-year terms to the two top vote-getters, but only a 2-year term to the low vote-getter (among the winners).  The low vote-getter thus becomes the third commissioner up for election in the next cycle.

The Sheriff is Don Hill, a Democrat who took office this year and will be up for election in 2010.  His office is in the sheriff's department next to the party HQ on Ward Street, and his phone is 828-894-3001.

The Clerk of Court is Charlene Owens, a Democrat, last re-elected to a four-year term in 2006.  Her office is in the Courthouse, and her phone is 828-894-8231.

The Registrar of Deeds is Sheila Whitmire, a Republican, last elected in 2008 to a four-year term.  Her office is in the Womack Building across from the courthouse, her phone is 828-894-8450, and her website is here.

Board of Elections

Each two years the Board of Elections becomes the most important County agency in terms of Polk County politics. It's where you register to vote, where candidates register to run, and it runs the elections themselves. The Board is located at 40 Courthouse St, Columbus NC 28722, on the second floor of the Womack Building, directly across from the courthouse.  Their mailing address is:

Polk County Board of Elections
PO Box 253
Columbus NC 28722

The Board of Elections is bipartisan, but political at the same time. It consists of three members, one Democrat, one Republican, and a chair from the same party as the governor. Thus the party in power in Raleigh controls the Board, but the other party is represented. The current Board members are as follows:

Dale Edwards, Director of Elections, oversees the county employees and poll workers who actually run the elections. She reports to the Board of Elections.

The BoE phone number is (828) 894-8181, their fax is (828) 894-3565, and their email is here. The office hours are 8:30  am to 5:00 pm, Monday thru Friday.

Federal Officials

Our junior senator is Kay Hagen, who is serving her first term in the Senate, filling the seat once held by Jesse Helms. She ran against former Bill Clinton Chief of Staff Erskine Bowles in 2002, and defeated him 54%-45%. She will be up for re-election in 2008. Her contact information is as follows:

Local Office: 401 N. Main St., Suite 208, Hendersonville NC 28792
Phone: 828-698-3747
Fax: 828-698-1267

Our senior Senator is Richard M. Burr, a Republican from Winston Salem.  He was a successful businessman who turned to public service in 1994, when he was elected to Congress from the 5th District of North Carolina, the seat now held by Virginia Foxx. He served five terms in the House before filing to run for the Senate seat being vacated by John Edwards in 2004.

Burr won election over the Democrat Erskine Bowles by five percentage points, in one of the most expensive Senatorial elections in history. His term is up in 2010.

His contact information is as follows:

Washington Office: 217 Senate Russell Office Building,  Washington, DC 20510
202-224-3154(phone)
202-228-2981 (fax)
Email: Here.

North Carolina office: 2000 W. First Street Suite 508, Winston-Salem, North Carolina 27104
(336) 631-5125 (phone)
(800) 685-8916 (toll free)
(336) 725-4493 (Fax)

Our Congressman, since 2007, is Heath Shuler, a Democrat at long last.  He has never held public office before, but he ran a smart, energetic campaign and defeated Charles Taylor by 10 points in Polk county and nearly that district-wide.  His official website is here.

His contact information is as follows:

District Office:
356 Biltmore Avenue, Suite 400
Asheville NC 28801
Phone: 828-252-1651
Fax: 828-252-8734. 

Our Representatives in Raleigh

Our governor is Bev Purdue, a Democrat who is serving her first term.

Mail: Office of the Governor, 2301 Mail Service Center, Raleigh NC 27699-0301

Phone: 1-800-662-7952 (NC only)

Our representative in the State General Assembly is newly-elected David Guice, a Republican from Brevard who represents the 113th district.  That district includes all of Polk and Transylvania counties and part of Henderson County, and the heavy Republican demographic in Henderson County has historically made this district safe for the other side.  .

His contact information is pending.

Office Address:

Phone:

e-Mail: Here.

Local Office:

Local Phone:

Our State Senator is Tom Apodaca of Hendersonville, representing the 48th Senatorial district which includes Polk, Henderson, and Buncombe counties.  Again the fact that our district includes the reliably-Republican Henderson County means that defeating Apodaca or any Republican is unlikely, although the fact of Buncombe County's being in the mix for the Senatorial district is certainly an advantage here.

Apodaca's contact information is as follows:

Office Address: 1127 Legislative Building, Raleigh NC 27603-5925

Phone: 919-733-5745

E-mail: Here.

Local Address: 214 N. King St., Hendersonville NC 28792

Phone: 828-696-0500

Towns

Polk County has three major towns: Columbus (the county seat), Tryon, and Saluda.  Their web sites are as follows:

Columbus
Tryon
Saluda

The mayor of Columbus is Kathleen McMillian, a Republican.  City  Council members are: Margart Metcalf (D), Ricky McCallister (R), Richard Hall (R), and Michael Gage (R).  The town administrator is Tim Holloman, and the town attorney is Chris Callahan.  Phone number: 828-894-8236.