Voters in Maggie Valley will have a hard time this election with nine candidates all running on nearly identical campaign platforms: to put personal interests aside and do what’s best for the valley.

Nearly all the candidates also are pledging to bring peace and put an end to what has become Maggie’s trademark — political infighting.

“I’m just tired of all the bickering and fighting. I kind of think we’ve become a laughing stock,” Candidate Colin Edwards said. “I think it is really time for change on all three seats and give somebody else a chance.”

Candidate Billy Case agreed.

“If they just bicker amongst themselves and don’t have a real plan to follow, they will never get anywhere,” said Case. “You are there to do the people’s work and it needs to be transparent and you can’t go in there with someone’s agenda.”

Candidate Saralyn Price knows first hand how heated meetings can be. As former police chief, she had to enforce the peace — literally on a few occasions — at town meetings.

“I certainly hope we can work out our differences and quit being on the front page of the paper,” said Price. “I hope if I am elected I can work with anyone.”

All the same promises were made two years ago, when Mayor Jo Pinter, Alderman Phil Aldridge and Jim Higel ran on a platform of unity and an end to power controlled by a few. That didn’t happen though, and now voters are skeptical.

Candidate Jay Ring admits it can be confusing.

“There have been so many various mindsets that have come into the valley and want to take it this way and that way,” said Ring. “What has been missing has been the spokesman for the silent majority.”

Ring said that silent majority spoke in the last election, unseating long-time aldermen who had been involved in running the town since it incorporated. But the mini-revolution didn’t last long, he said, describing its unraveling.

“Jim bailed out. Phil flip-flopped. Roger, who was voted out by the people, worked his way back in with an appointment. That put us back into the same shape we were in before the last election,” Ring said.

Jim is Jim Higel, who ran on the pro-unity ticket in 2003 but decided politics wasn’t for him and resigned. Phil is Alderman Phil Aldridge who was in the same unity camp as Higel but after getting elected aligned himself with the same camp he’d run against and had labeled the “good ole boys.” Roger is Alderman Roger McElroy, who has never switched sides but somehow convinced his political rivals to appoint him to a vacant seat on the board after they had defeated him in the general election.

Which candidates might ally themselves and run as a team this year remains to be seen. Currently, candidates are clamoring to claim their independence and lack of allegiances.

“I’m in nobody’s group and I’m not accepting no help from nobody. I will not fall into one of them groups,” Colin Edwards said. “I’m the type of person if I don’t believe in something, I won’t vote for it. I am gong to do what I think is right for the town and the people.”

When Alderman Mark Demeola described how a group of people convinced him to run for re-election, he had to quickly dispel the notion that it indicated an allegiance.

“A number of people from this town who I have a great deal of respect for sat me down and told me ‘I like what you are doing.’ They gave me their vote of confidence and I thought about it long and hard and said if they believe in me, I’ll continue on,” Demeola said.

Ring accused Demeola of having “handlers” he answers to. But Demeola denounced that idea.

“I’m talking about the common man, not the one who has the hands in the mix, so to speak,” Demeola said. “My allegiance is to the town of Maggie Valley and to do what is best for the town of Maggie Valley.”

Demeola said he doesn’t belong to a camp and is a free thinker.

Candidate Pat Tilley said she’s not in a political camp either.

“We are to listen to the public, not five or six people,” Tilley said. Tilley said she steers clear of the camps.

“In the election two years ago, the tents went up, the food was served, billboards were bought — I’m not going to do it,” Tilley said.

Alderwoman Linda Taylor, a leader of one of the camps, said some board members have been swayed by a rival camp who Taylor describes as “a handful of people trying to maintain power and control in the town.”

“When you hear them meeting after meeting after meeting, it’s like water and you start following the path of least resistance,” Taylor said.

Only Ring fessed up to being in a camp.

“I’m in the camp of the taxpayers of Maggie Valley,” he said.

The other issues

There are some concrete issues at stake in Maggie Valley’s town elections, however, and one is land-use planning. Several candidates say Maggie’s current leaders aren’t being good planners.

Tilley, who spearheaded a comprehensive community visioning process and adoption of a strategic plan, but Tilley said the aldermen aren’t following it.

“You’ve got to have a plan. You’ve got to have smart growth,” Tilley said.

Another planning board member, Billy Case, has also been disappointed by the board of aldermen.

“In my mind, they spent a year with all those people developing that plan and spent $25,000 developing a plan and we were all excited that we had a plan and they don’t follow it,” Case said. “The plan was developed by people from all walks of life in Maggie. There needs to be some real leadership on that board that can stick to a long-range plan.”

Only one candidate said he was not in favor of land-use planning.

“I think development is a good thing, and I feel like if somebody has got the land and wants to develop their land that they have paid taxes on for years they should be able to do what they want to with it without much restrictions on it,” said Colin Edwards.

An on-going debate in Maggie Valley pits tourist interests against residents. Some candidates claim they will be the voice of the average resident in a town that has otherwise been dominated by the tourist sector since it was created in the mid-1970s.

“They did things to ensure their livelihood was protected. They annexed a bunch of people along the way, myself included, into the town and now guess what? They need to get people in there to represent the residents,” said Case, who was born and raised in Maggie.

Printz, who retired here from Miami, agreed.

“Not only the current board of alderman but all prior boards have all been business owners. They have consistently catered to the businesses,” said Printz. “We are being ignored.”