They say politics makes strange bedfellows. Not so strange, however, when the thing they have in common is big-money backers like our good friend developer John Kane.
Hence the tie between Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, a notorious Republican right-winger who’s running for governor, and Raleigh Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin, who styles herself a progressive Democrat.
On the surface, not a lot in common. But scratch the dirt, and you find Robinson dancing to Kane’s anti-choice, anti-LGBTQ tune, while Baldwin follows Kane’s edict that developers like him should run the city. Both, of course, are lounging on comfy campaign cash from Kane and his Republican cronies.
Both, down deep, are the antithesis of progressive. This, perhaps, explains why Baldwin and Robinson ran 1-2 in the Indyweek Readers’ Choice poll of “Worst Politician,” Wake County category. Fulll winners lists here: Best of Wake County 2023.
That Baldwin was viewed as “The Worst” by Indyweek readers might seem surprising, until you stop and recognize that she has a long record of doing Kane’s bidding as a City Council member and, for the last 3-plus years, as mayor. Baldwin’s record, frankly, is galling.
Robinson, on the other hand, runs his mouth a lot, but so far – in his only public position ever … as ‘light’ governor – he has zero power and no accomplishments whatsoever.
Of late, Baldwin’s been exposed as the backstage manipulator stopping the Raleigh City Council from even talking about racial justice – and “not remembering” when confronted about it by The News & Observer. Mayor Baldwin Caught Suppressing Free Speech. and Is Raleigh ready to discuss apologizing for racist past?
Robinson only dreams of being more backward than Baldwin when he’s governor. Hopefully, he never will be.
To date, therefore, Baldwin is the pace-setter for bad – in the opinion of insightful Indyweek readers.
Kane, meanwhile, lavishes money on both – when he’s not giving it to Donald Trump.
Livable Raleigh Editorial Team
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