Go figure – a campaign for Raleigh council goes through Figure 8 Island

Somewhere along the way, Stacy Miller must have decided against a “common man of the people” campaign strategy in his race for an at-large seat on the Raleigh City Council. He went the other way. All the way.

This Sunday, Miller will be having a fundraiser far from Raleigh, on exclusive Figure 8 Island (Yacht Club), with swell people of all political views — from Democratic Rep. Duane Hall of Raleigh to former Republican Party chair and Raleigh Mayor Tom Fetzer, and from down-home Democrat Rufus Edmisten to North Hills megadeveloper John Kane, a conservative. Longtime developer Steve Stroud of Raleigh and conservative former council member Kieran Shanahan are on the invite. So is former state DOT Secretary Gen. Tony Tata. (Former News & Observer publisher Frank Daniels is on the invitation as well.)

And The Embers, veteran beach music band, will entertain. (Not likely to be many millennials there, apparently.)

Don’t consider crashing. “Patrons” will be giving $5,000, “hosts” $1,000 and so forth. And if the kids want to come, that’s $25 apiece. That’s high-dollar for a council race.

An at-large council member represents a broad cross-section of citizens, and the next edition of the council will have affordable housing and job creation for the un- and under-employed at the top of its priority list. There are other challenges, traffic and public safety among them. Miller might get a little more urgent feedback about those issues – closer to home.

This story was originally published July 25, 2017 at 12:00 PM with the headline "Go figure – a campaign for Raleigh council goes through Figure 8 Island."