Improving the Second District’s education, businesses, environment and infrastructure will be the top priorities for Claude Skelton-Cline, he said at his campaign launch yesterday at Big Banana, where the refrain was “We need new leadership.”
Pastor Cline did not call himself an independent candidate, but his campaign slogan is “country above party.”
The candidate sounded every bit the preacher as he spoke to residents gathered around. “We have behaved ourselves into this and we will have to behave our way back out of it,” he said, later adding, “I feel like doing church right now.”
Pastor Cline made several “declarations” to the people: that he will not buy votes with “white envelopes” or “turkey dinners,” but will earn them by fair representation of the entire district, including far-flung Jost Van Dyke.
He also had a few words about the district’s current representative, Alvin Christopher.
Although Mr. Christopher has done some good work in the past, the people of the district haven’t seen him lately and he has “not much to show for” the last eight years, Pastor Cline said.
See the March 31, 2011 issue for full coverage.