Apr 04 2008
Akland Challenging Malone in Senate District 14
District 14 is a “majority-minority” district, meaning that when it was created after the 2000 census, 62 percent of its registered Democrats (and 41 percent of all voters) were African American. Malone, a former county commissioner and longtime leader in Southeast Raleigh’s black community, won easily in 2002, ‘04 and ‘06, without primaries. But in the intervening six years, the East Wake side of the district has grown dramatically, and Akland is probably as well known in her hometown of Knightdale as Malone is in Southeast Raleigh.
Ann Akland is a consultant from Knightsdale who is campaigning against incumbent State Senator Vernon Malone in North Carolina’s May primary. Among her many issues, Akland takes a strong stance against favoring the influence of special interests over that of her would be constituents. She drives the point home by providing a long list of special interest groups and other PACs from which Malone has raised more than half of his money from.
What might give her a stronger edge, however, is her work with the mentally ill.
Akland was recognized by the Indy with a Citizen Award for her advocacy as chair of the Wake chapter of NAMI—the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill—in 2002.
Akland is locally recognized for her work in this area and Malone happens to be a member of the legislature’s committee that over sees mental health issues. With the negative attention that North Carolina has recently received for its sub-par treatment of the mentally ill, this will certainly reflect poorly upon Malone and be advantageous for Akland. What remains to be seen is whether or not this will be a powerful enough issue to propel her to victory next month.
