Monkey Business Report: Those fowl McInnis mailers

I swear.  Tom McInnis’ campaign mailers are starting to look like something produced by The Onion.  Starting off at annoying, and heading rapidly downhill to utter ridiculousness. 

The latest mailer — once again produced by Phil Berger and the boys — claim Michelle Lexo brought her “D.C. Liberal Values” with her when she moved here to Moore County.

First of all, it’s clear that McInnis needs to make inroads into Moore County.  Moore County is overwhelmingly populated by people from somewhere else.  Born-and-raised-here folks are a distinct minority.  Playing the “outsider” card may work in some other counties, but not HERE. 

They are still beating the “anti-gun” dead horse.  We’ve already opined on that (as have others).  Lexo is a concealed carry permit holder, the owner of several firearms, and a member of the NRA.

“High taxes.”  Seriously?  Moore County is renowned as one of the lowest-taxed areas in the state.  According to county records, Whispering Pines (where Lexo is the mayor) currently has the lowest property tax rate of any Moore County municipality.

Refusing to cut taxes. That’s because the rate has held steady at 37 cents per hundred dollars since 2009. The rate has held firm — as the lowest in the county.  Local governments have to pay the bills somehow. 

More Red Tape. The McInnis mailer cites The Pilot from 2016 and alleges Lexo — all by herself — “increased regulations that hurt homeowners, businesses, and farmers.”  I had to look hard for this one.  Apparently, they are referring to the campaign in Whispering Pines to allow for chicken coops in  private yards.  For those who don’t know, Whispering Pines is pretty much a retirement community built up around some golf courses.  There are no farms. Here’s the relevant passage from the article:

[…] Next door in Whispering Pines, a number of younger families interested in “local first” — growing their own vegetables and having fresh eggs, have expressed interest in raising chickens.

At the moment, chickens are not allowed in any zoning district in Whispering Pines. Chickens were initially only prevented by exclusion from the Table of Permitted and Special Uses. However, the ordinances were altered on June 23, 2016 to explicitly state that chickens […] “are prohibited within the corporate limits of the Village.”

And even if the village were to allow chicken-keeping, village Mayor Michelle Lexo said, some homeowners still might not be able to take advantage of the provision.

“We have several subdivisions within Whispering Pines that have homeowners associations with their own covenants and restrictions,” she said. “All of them prohibit chickens within those subdivisions. So even if we were to change the village ordinance, those folks still could not keep chickens.” […]