New House District 54 draws candidates

Candidates are lining up for the newly drawn House District 54 seat covering Chatham and part of Lee counties.

Democrats Jeffrey Starkweather, a retired attorney and newsman, and Deb McManus, a current Chatham County school board member, and Republican Cathy Wright, who ran against former House Speaker Joe Hackney last year, recently announced their plans to run.

Starkweather serves on the Chatham County Economic Development Corp. board and the Triangle South Workforce Development Board.

"I had planned to run for Chatham County Commissioner," he said in a statement, "but I was willing to step aside in that race to avoid being in a contested primary against incumbent Mike Cross, and also, frankly, because I was overwhelmed by the outpouring of support for me to run for the State House."

Starkweather co-led a grass-roots political action committee that helped oust the pro-development Chatham County Board of Commissioners chaired by Bunkey Morgan in 2006.

Wright, current Chatham County GOP chairwoman, said she is eager to join the Republican majority and pass a state budget without a tax increase.

"I earned 43 percent of the vote against a 30-year, well-entrenched legislator," she said in a statement. "With new voting district lines, the House district is now a more favorable place for a conservative win, and I plan to win."

Wright is a former nurse and health care advocate. She said she supports a free-market health care system, and that passage of medical liability reform this year was a good start toward lowering health care costs.

"To rebuild our economy, we must prioritize and control state spending, not raise taxes," she said. "We must continue to reduce costs and regulation on business, large and small, so that they can create jobs and prosperity for all North Carolina citizens."

McManus is currently serving her third term on the Chatham County school board.

Losurdo's all-inclusive title

Heather Losurdo seems to have kept her sense of humor after enduring a bruising Wake County school board campaign in which she lost a crucial runoff to Democrat Kevin Hill in November.

Outside groups attacked Losurdo's past career as a waitress in a gentlemen's club in New Orleans, a long-ago bankruptcy, and her association with tea party interests.

Now, on the online service LinkedIn, the resilient Losurdo recently updated her current title to "Chef, Scheduler, Chauffeur, Nurse, Educator, Counselor, Accounts Receivable, Accounts Payable at Losurdo Home."

Honeymoon can wait?

The Wake County schools' new student assignment plan isn't helping school board member John Tedesco's plans for married life.

Tedesco, who is getting married Jan. 1, said he's looking at rescheduling his honeymoon to attend a recently scheduled board work session Jan. 3 to review the assignment plan.

Tedesco admitted the potential change in plans is not pleasing his fiancée.