The Raleigh City Council heard a speech this week from a youth sports organizer who dreams of bringing pro football to the city.

Sound far-fetched? Maybe not.

The USFL will relaunch next spring in eight cities, and Raleigh is among the markets under consideration, league president and CEO Jaime Cuadra told The News & Observer this week. Defunct since the 1980s, the league plans a 14-game season in cities that do not have NFL or major league baseball teams.

Harold Turner wants to help manage a team. Turner, who lives in Holly Springs, urged the City Council to support bringing the USFL to Raleigh.

The council asked the city attorney to give Turner a call and try to offer some guidance. The idea is intriguing to Councilman Eugene Weeks, a retired teacher who once drove a bus to Broughton High School football games.

“It’s worth listening to,” Weeks said.

A key question is where the team would play. No one at N.C. State has been contacted about the use of Carter-Finley Stadium, a school official said.

Cuadra said the league is talking with “a number of different investor and investment groups” and hopes to make an announcement soon.

Republicans advance

After this week’s primary runoff, all three Wake County school board members who are seeking higher office are still in the running, which is both good and bad news for county Republicans.

All three candidates are Republicans, and their success so far is a point of pride, if nothing else.

This week, John Tedesco won a runoff to become the party’s nominee for superintendent of public instruction. He will join Debra Goldman, who won the party’s nomination for state auditor, and Chris Malone, who will be on the fall ballot for a state House seat.

Now the bad news for Republicans: If any or all of the school board Republicans win, they will likely be replaced by Democrats under a policy that calls for the party in power to pick new members. Democrats now hold a 5-4 majority.

Bell on tax returns

Durham Mayor Bill Bell was among 22 U.S. mayors who have called for Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney to release more of his income-tax returns.

The mayors signed a letter to Romney this week that says in part, “Public release of your tax returns is the only way the American people can know if they can trust your judgment, perspective and motivations.”

The letter was released by the Democratic National Committee.

Bell, a Democrat, said he would have “no problem” releasing his own tax returns, if he were running for office and his rival candidates were also asked to release theirs.

He said he did not recall ever being asked to release his returns, and that his own situation as a part-time elected official differs from that of someone running for president.

According to the mayors’ letter, President Obama has released 12 years of his returns, 2004 Democratic candidate John Kerry released 20 years, 1996 Republican candidate Bob Dole released “nearly 30 years” and “even Richard Nixon released more years of tax returns than you.”

The letter also says that Romney’s father, George Romney, running for president in the 1960s, said public release of several years of tax returns was necessary for an accurate idea of a candidate’s finances.

Romney has released only his 2011 return.

Other mayors who signed the letter include Anthony Foxx of Charlotte, Antonio Villaraigosa of Los Angeles, Michael Nutter of Philadelphia and Dave Bing of Detroit, Democrats all.

Political Trails

• N.C. Republican Committeewoman Ada Fisher will speak to the Republican Women of Cary and Southwestern Wake on Aug. 2 at Prestonwood Country Club in Cary. Social begins at 11:30 a.m. followed by the luncheon/program at noon. The cost is $15 for the buffet. RSVP to Lisa at 919-303-8870. For information, go to www.rwcsw.org.

• The North Raleigh Democrats and U.S. Rep. David Price will honor Charles Malone with the Yellow Dog Democrat Award for 2012 on Aug. 6 at Zest Restaurant at Six Forks Station, Six Forks and Strickland roads, in Raleigh. Reception begins at 6 p.m., program at 6:30 p.m. Cost is $20. RSVP by Aug. 3 to neuseriverdemocrats@gmail.com.

Compiled by Thomas Goldsmith, Matt Garfield and Jim Wise.

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