Dana L. Tucker
♦ Age: 55
♦ Family: Wife, 4 children
♦ Education: Bachelor’s, Master’s and Doctorate in Psychology, Masters in Business Administration, Masters in Strategic Studies
♦ Professional Experience: 33+ Years military service in Army National Guard, Army Reserve, including long tours to Iraq, Kosovo and Bosnia-Hercegovina, short training tour to South Africa; Roughly 10 years corporate human resource management with Fortune 50 company; Visiting Assistant Professor of Psychology or adjunct positions with Montgomery College, the University of Baltimore, University of Maryland University College, Brigham Young University and Brigham Young University-Hawaii, small business owner (principal/founder of a strategic human resource management consulting company).
♦ Volunteer/community service: 2 years as 2nd Vice President (Federal Advocacy), North Carolina Council of Chapters, Military Officers Association; Roughly 10 years as Legislative Liaison, Catawba Valley Chapter, Military Officers Association; Life Member of Veterans of Foreign Wars of the U.S., North Carolina Guard Association, National Guard Association, Reserve Organization of America, 5 years member of the Association of the U.S. Army, 2 year full-time mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in France.
Q&A
IFN: Why are you running for office? What will your top three priorities be if you are elected in November? Is reducing the tax rate an option?
TUCKER: I am running for office to advocate for the interests of the voters and residents of Ward 4 and the Town of Mooresville. I share their interests in continuing to make progress on transportation infrastructure and slowing the seeming non-stop development happening in the Ward and Town. Further, I am concerned about the greater than 30% turnover in town staff in less than 2 years. Lastly, I am concerned about the lack of transparency and self-dealing between developers and local elected officials, some of which has recently been detailed by the Charlotte Observer’s Power & Secrecy series in the recent Dan Kane report. To summarize, my top 3 priorities are: improve transportation and infrastructure, manage/slow development growth, improve employee engagement and ethical/moral conduct of town officials. Tax rate reduction may be an option, but I would need to sit down and do a detailed walk through of budget and forecasts before I could present an educated/informed position. With property values going up, there is an increased tax burden on many.
IFN: If you are an incumbent, what do you consider to be the major accomplishments of the town board and mayor during your current term in office? If you are a challenger, what is your assessment of the work the mayor and town board have done during the past two years?
TUCKER: The past 2 years have brought about an exodus of town employees, including complete turnover in the planning department that is vital to provide a counterbalance against developers and others with apparent conflicts of interest. The recent Observer articel by Dan Kane is just one piece of a puzzle of troubling actions by town officials. Lee Sullivan has aptly covered some of the others, and online critics like Blake Palmer also call out some of the reasons why it feels like developers are calling the shots. When we give $15 million to a developer who has committed to provide the Timber Road connector at no cost to taxpayers, and then we have the state legislature earmarking $15 million for that same developer passed through Centralina, $15 million that is money from all NC taxpayers, we signal that developers are more important than the residents and voters in our Town. When those same developers are contributors to a developer-mayor and a preferred lender to developers-commissioner, you have an apparent conflict of interest. When none of those relationships and funding decisions are truly transparent, you have an erosion of trust in your local governance.
IFN: One of the town board candidates has raised concerns about transparency in the operations of the town government. What is your assessment of the current mayor and board’s commitment to conducting the public’s business in public? What are your ideas for improving the town’s performance in this area?
TUCKER: I have raised those concerns frequently and will continue to do so. We are facing lawsuits (and spending taxpayer money) because of a lack of transparency. We don’t have answers to the 5 Ws (who, what, when, where, why) associated with how $15 million showed up in our state’s budget in 2023 — specifically earmarked for the Timber Road connector developer. We don’t have answers to the 5 Ws of Mayor Carney not disclosing his financial and business relationships when advocating for that money to be sent to the Timber Road connector developer — as he worked for the vote in the Centralina meeting, where they narrowly approved routing the money to the developer. We don’t have answers for why Mayor Carney is funding the campaigns of 2 incumbents and not the other, other than that one of them refuses to do his bidding. Lastly, we don’t have answers to why Jason Saine decided to give $15 million to the developer and a campaign donation to the Ward 4 incumbent. As far as conducting the public’s business in public, there was an odd type of transparency in announcing a vote before it happened related to the Data Center. That allowed the rezoning request to be pulled before voting it down. That premature announcement of a vote has real implications for what can be done relative to that rezoning request in the future. My ideas for improving the town’s performance in transparency include not electing officials who would obscure apparent or real conflicts of interest. It would include not spending too much taxpayer money fighting or slow-walking appropriate requests for information. It would include prioritizing improving the quality of life of current residents over the interests of developers and strengthening disclosure practices.
IFN: The town has lost several dedicated, long-time employees during the past two years. What is your assessment of the work culture in town hall, the police department and other departments? What role do the mayor and town board play in making sure town employees, including department heads, feel valued and empowered to do their best work?
TUCKER: Richard Beck rightly called out these problems in the July public comments at the Town of Mooresville Board meeting. The Mayor flippantly dismissed his comments in the August board meeting, suggesting the issue was being “sensationalized,” referring to “bad actors,” and inaccurately (and weirdly) describing one former employee as an imprisoned “fantastic pedophile.” Since Richard’s comments the exodus has continued, including a key member in the planning department and a highly regarded assistant town manager. There has been no real acknowledgement of the scope/scale of the problem, no discussion of root cause, no evidence provided which indicates that there is any plan in place to address the staggering turnover in a period of less than 2 years. This has done real and significant damage to the human capital and institutional knowledge of the Town of Mooresville staff. The staff deserves better. The town deserves better. Leaders have to keep the pulse of their organizations. I suggest that denial is not a great leadership approach.
IFN: It appears the traffic situation in Mooresville will get worse before it gets better due to current road projects and additional development. What responsibility do the town board and mayor bear for the current traffic congestion? What can the next mayor and town board do to make things better?
TUCKER: A town board and mayor play a role in development, and the development plays a role in the traffic problems which are a daily struggle for Ward 4 residents. When the mayor is a developer and works to make sure that $15 million of taxpayer money is routed to a developer who 1) agreed to foot the bill for the Timber Road connector, and 2) provides financial campaign contributions to that Mayor. One can only anticipate more such problems and projects, and can expect yet more development. When town board members also support that development, when they take campaign donations from the developer and the legislator who earmarked the $15 million, when they are complicit and enabling of that mayor, one can only expect more development and more traffic pressure and congestion.
Further, with some of that covert financial activity now being exposed by Dan Kane’s article, not only will traffic get worse, but it will likely make it harder for us to get funding prioritized by DOT and state legislature in the future. It is hard to quantify the extent of the damage caused by this “hidden in plain sight” $15 million windfall for the developer. The next mayor and town board can acknowledge the problems and issues and begin to rebuild trust in local governance. We can make renewed efforts at true transparency, at serving citizens and residents over the interest of developers. We can disclose conflicts of interest and recuse on votes tied to development if we are developers or preferred lenders to developers.
IFN: If you are running for a Ward seat, what is the most pressing issue in your ward? What will you do to ensure other board members and the mayor understand the importance of addressing this issue?
TUCKER: The most pressing issue in our ward is traffic. If other board members and the mayor haven’t understood the importance of addressing this issue, I will continue to explain and describe it with words, photos, videos, ride-alongs and any other way to make it understood. I think they can easily understand the importance. The current mayor made his non-transparent pitch to Centralina using the traffic argument, so it is not a surprise to anyone. After dealing with conflicts of interest and corruption, it boils down to how to address a challenging problem, given state control of major arteries, the scope and scale of the needs, associated costs and timelines required to address them.
IFN: Why are you the best candidate in your race?
TUCKER: I have a decades-long track record of honorable service and achievement. I have demonstrated a high capacity for mastering complex problems and adapting to hostile and challenging environments. I don’t have conflicts of interest or apparent conflicts of interest, financially or otherwise. I have modeled a willingness to call out what is wrong. I have exhibited a willingness to work hard for Ward 4 residents — not just in going door to door to talk with them, but also calling out the actions/activities of current elected officials when they are not in alignment with principles of good governance, transparency and service before self. I am willing to “lean in” for the people of Ward 4 and the Town of Mooresville. I am willing to “push back” against those who wish to exploit them for personal power or financial gain.