Clay Aiken's voter registration status will get closer scrutiny Wednesday.
The Wake County Board of Elections will hold a preliminary hearing into a challenge to Aiken's voting registration in Wake. Aiken has a home in Chatham County, but voter registration records show that he used his mother's North Raleigh address when he voted in October in school board and municipal elections.
Claude Pope, the Wake Republican Party chairman, denies he filed the challenge because the pop singer blasted the new school board members as "selfishidiots" on his blog.
The county board will decide whether there's a need to have a more in-depth hearing. The county board could refer the matter for further investigation to the State Board of Elections, which in turn could refer the issue for criminal prosecution.
The hearing, which is open to the public, will be at 11 a.m. in the ground floor conference room at 337 S. Salisbury St. in Raleigh.
A musical message
The entertainment at this week's swearing-in of Raleigh's City Council on Monday night included some not-so-subtle advice for the eight-person council, which monitors Raleigh's purse strings.
Singer Virginia Ward and guitarist Harry Peuting chose to play classic rock hits "We Can Work It Out" and "Don't Stop Thinking About Tomorrow" for the new council.
Triangle Politics will keep an eye on the council to see how closely it follows the musical advice.
The Rand treatment
The N.C. League of Municipalities held a breakfast Wednesday for local politicians in Durham, Orange and Alamance counties and passed a hat collecting anonymous questions for the elected officials and senior municipal managers. One questioner asked the local politicians for their worst experiences in communicating with state legislators.
"Does anybody remember Tony Rand?" asked Chapel Hill Mayor-elect Mark Kleinschmidt, who recalled the outgoing Senate majority leader's vise-like handshake and the way "he physically moved you" in his office.
"He speaks to you as if you're a child and you're asking for candy," Kleinschmidt said. "I kind of worry about how [legislators] might be treating citizens who aren't elected officials sometimes."
Political trails
The Triangle Republican Women will meet at 6:30 p.m. Dec. 14 at the Nantucket Grill, 5925 Farrington Road in Chapel Hill. The event will include dinner, election of officers and a talk from Frank Roche of Apex, a 2010 congressionalcandidate.
The Northern Orange Republican Women will meet from 7 to 9 p.m. Tuesday at the Orange County Board of Elections building, 110 E. King St. in Hillsborough. Go to www.northernorangerepublicanwomen.com for more information.
Compiled by staff writers T. Keung Hui, Sarah Ovaska and Jesse James DeConto
