Did you realize that since the last election in 2004, over 4,000 new Republicans have registered to vote in Cabarrus County? With this large of a number, no candidate is really an incumbent, and no incumbent can rest easy, because a large segment of the electorate either has no opinion of those running, or doesn’t know who they are, no matter how many times or how long an official has held office.
As many of you may know (or not know, as shown above), I served in the Army for eleven years of my adult life, and 3 of my 4 children were born in and spent at least 2 years as Army brats. I moved. First to Alabama, then to Maryland, then to Germany, then back to the states to Alabama, then Georgia, then back to Alabama. After this, I left the Army, and moved to Florida. Think I was done then? Nope. Eight months after moving to Florida, I found out I was being transferred to Concord, NC. 13 years later, here I am.
I know what it is like to try and find a good car mechanic, a good veterinarian, and where the best Chinese takeout places are, because I have lived it.
In 2000, my good friend and political mentor, Jeff Barnhart, talked me into running for county commissioner. I thought it would be fun to be involved in a political campaign, but it happened – my message was what a lot of folks wanted to hear, and here I am 8 years later, asking the folks in Cabarrus County to return me to office for another four year term.
So why post this on Cabarrus Cheapseats? There are 3 good reasons:
1- Its Free – Us folks that do this stuff as a service to the community (some are professional politicians) need to spend money (lots of it if you are Joni, Jay, or Holly) to win. I tend to take the economical approach. This is a good way to get my message out, and since Justin is offering, I’ll take him up on it.
2 – This blog has a wide audience – Recently, I decided to jump into the blog world myself. Didn’t do too well. Justin has convinced me that his readership is much broader, and reaches a pretty large mailing list.
3 – You need to hear from me – You have a big decision to make. For those of you who have followed the local political scene the last few years, you know that I have been faced with quite a few “stressors” as a commissioner, and hopefully have made a lot of lemonade out of lemons. But for those that don’t know me, and are reading this email forwarded from another subscriber or have went to the website, you need to know a little about me.
So -
What about Bob?
- I have lived in Cabarrus County for 13 years.
- Happily married, will celebrate 25 years of marriage in June. My wife is still the love of my life, and has been the most supportive of me during these past 8 years.
- 4 Children, all of whom were or are in Cabarrus County Schools. Alex and Ashley, our oldest two, are actually students at RCCC.
- 11 Year Army Veteran – Served in First Gulf War. I also ran around with the guys in the green berets for three years, and jumped out of perfectly good airplanes.
- Professional career as a safety and business consultant. I try to make a difference in helping to keep people from being hurt.
- From 1996 -2001, was involved in helping children that had been affected by the Chernobyl disaster, and actually spent three days in 1997 in a Belarusian orphanage (That will give you a new perspective on life.).
So you can see, I am not one of those out of touch, stuffed shirt, blow-hard politicians. I serve because I love this community, which has been very good to me and my family, and also because I plan to call this place home for the rest of my life. I also want to know that this place is a place my kids will be proud to call their hometown. I guess then that I am like a lot of other folks in this community – I get up every morning, go to work, attend church, cheer at ballgames, and just enjoy living, being thankful every day for the blessings the Almighty has given me.
I hope to serve you for another four years!
Bob
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4 responses so far ↓
1 Steve Smith // Mar 24, 2008 at 8:47 pm
Bob
I can accually say that everytime I have asked you to do something or to consider something, you have come through with flying colors. You stopped the state of Noth Carolina from moving me and 400 of my neighbors to Mecklenburg County like you promised you would when you came out to our neighborhood to talk with us. You’ve answered every e-mail, question or conversation that me or my fellow neighbors have put to you. And last but not least, you instituted the Caremark Drug Discount Card for every Citizen of Cabarrus County without cost to the County or the Citizen. I am sure that there many other good things that you have accomplished during the last eight (8) long years. I do geniunely believe that you are a good and honest person that has our best interests at heart. That , Sir, in a nutshell is why my only vote for County Commissioner will be for the aforementioned Robert (Bob) Carruth. Good Luck, Sir, and GOD bless you and yours….
2 Brian Freeman // Mar 25, 2008 at 10:32 pm
Mr. Carruth,
The CVS/Caremark Drug Discount Card is devastating to local pharmacies and if you own a small business you should be questioning the government passing out discount cards to residents that price fix products and services that your business offers. the county has no skin in this game, they mandated to the pharmacy what could be charged for an Rx. When you dig a little deeper, you start to see that this is unamerican and absolutely nothing a republican would ever support. It puts pharmacies at the mercy of cvs/caremark now and in the future. How about a tax discount card that I show the county and get a 20% discount for nothing on my property taxes. the county gets the good PR and the local pharmacist pay the bill. Doctors, Dentists, Chiropractors beware, your next because they absolutely do not understand our business or service level. Of course we want to give the lowest price and we do. It’s not about being afraid of competition, its not being allowed to compete. If you own a business and can imagine you customers coming in with a gov’t issued discount card when they pay you NOTHING and make you pay a 3rd party a transaction fee, please let commissioner carruth know. I am a pharmacist, small business owner, and its now a reality that is costing me and my 20 employees. the customers haven’t saved a dime, just cvs/caremark getting big transaction fees. the commissioners, except grace mynatt, never took the time to ask any questions. I practically begged for a chance to talk, and without Mrs. Mynatt I would never have been heard. Even when they allowed a discussion, the card was already scheduled to launch the very next day. It was a worthless conversation because the decisions were already made.
this is just one issue and I am completely aware that I have much to learn. any candidates that would like to here our side please call me 704-965-0039. I would love the chance to show you why 5 of the 7 independent pharmacies in cabarrus county wrote strong letters to the commissioners in opposition to a program that we were not even consulted on and was added to an existing contract. They are very upset and want someone to help us.
Sincerely,
Brian Freeman
brianfreemanpharmd@yahoo.com
3 Steve Smith // Mar 26, 2008 at 1:54 pm
Brian Freeman
Where is all of your indignation when one comes into your store with an insurance card or a coupon for a free drug or when Wal-mart and Target started selling 300 drugs for $4.00 per month. The people who don’t have any drug coverage whatsoever need this card to help them with the cost of their drugs. If its killing your business then don’t accept the card and continue to sell your drugs at the going rate. The only people that will be using this card are the ones who don’t have any insurance coverage, medicare or medcaid. I don’t hear you screaming when you get a medcaid card.
Since when has it been unamerican for a local government to assist its citizens when they need it. The price of prescription drugs has outpaced the cost of living by 200% in the past five years. I havn’t heard of any of the independent drug stores offering to assist the uninsured or the underinsured citizens of Cabarrus County. Mr.Freeman, if you can’t stand the heat, then get out of the kitchen, but don’t badmouth the County Commission for helping the least of its constituency “The Uninsured”. As for letting Commissioner Carruth know what I think about the drug card. I was one of many who asked him to get this card for us and it had nothing to do with politics. As a matter of fact, Cabarrus County was one of only a few Counties in North Carolina who did not offer this card to its Citizens. Why should we be discriminated against because we live in Cabarrus County? It sounds to me like you want the government to protect your business from the free market competition of CVS/Caremark. Again let me thank the County Commission especially Bob Carruth for making this drug discount card available to the uninsured citizens of this County.
4 Cabarrus Cheap Seats // Mar 27, 2008 at 3:56 pm
Can Someone Please Explain This Medical Savings Card to Me?…
Two weeks ago, the IT ran this story reporting how pharmacists are upset about the County distributing a medical savings card.
The following day: the IT ran this story giving figures about how much people in other counties saved and about what a great …
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