Tammy Brunner

Based on new information, the INDY is rescinding our endorsement of WILLIAM MADDEN in the Democratic primary.

Instead, we’re endorsing TAMMY BRUNNER.

On Saturday, Madden was campaigning at an early-voting site in Cary. When a poll worker told him that he could not campaign inside the voting area, according to Wake County Board of Elections director Gary Sims, Madden became “aggressively confrontational” and cursed out the poll worker. He called other officials names and took issue with a parking attendant, with whom he had a beef. The Cary Police Department was called.

Madden says he was just cursing out the parking attendant, not the poll worker.

This isn’t the only offputting thing about Madden, who moved to Wake last year. When he registered to vote, he tried to list his race as “Irish,” which we found odd: “I feel that this whole white or other [thing] is continuing to hold up the binary—white or nonwhite race—within our society, and if I wanted to describe myself as Irish for race, there’s no good reason why I can’t.”

Another thing: His website makes reference to him “losing his wife” in 2007, which is sad. Except she’s alive. They got an annulment. His explanation: “I did lose her. I never said that she died.”

Lastly, we asked Madden if he had an anger problem: “Do I have an anger problem? I don’t think anybody readily wants to admit to having an anger problem,” he said. Then, “I don’t like people who have a position of authority who abuse other people.”

So, yeah, we bombed this one. Fortunately, TAMMY BRUNNER is great. Among other things, she’s the former director of the state Democratic Party and ran a PAC that recruited legislative candidates to break the Republican supermajority. She has experience in innovating and managing organizations. And she has our enthusiastic support.

Comment on this story at backtalk@indyweek.com.

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