gchildress@heraldsun.com; 419-6645
Chapel Hill -- Three of 10 candidates -- Jon DeHart, Joshua Ravitch and Lee Pavao -- who had been vying to replace former Town Councilman Bill Strom have withdrawn from consideration.
DeHart, who was a candidate for Town Council this fall, has thrown his support behind Matt Pohlman, who finished fifth in the race for four council seats in the Nov. 3 election.
Some people have petitioned the council to appoint the fifth-place finisher to replace Strom. They contend it's the fairest way to fill the vacancy because Strom's controversial resignation came too late to allow voters to elect his replacement in the fall election.
"If I'm not in the running, I think it will give him [Pohlman] more support," DeHart said.
DeHart said he thinks all applicants who were candidates in the fall election deserve special consideration because they have gone through the election process, been vetted by voters and voters know where they stand on the issues.
Some council members have said that diversity will be a consideration when they make their decision because the lone African-American councilman, Jim Merritt, lost his election bid. Two of the seven remaining applicants are African-American.
Ravitch said he had only tossed his hat into the ring because he believed there was initially a dearth of candidates were viable.
"I withdrew my name after I saw there were seven or eight viable candidates in the queue," Ravitch.
In addition, Ravitch said he is starting a business and that helped him make up his mind.
"I'm considering future runs for town council once I get my business up and running," Ravitch said.
Unlike DeHart, Ravitch said he does not support the notion of appointing the fifth-place finisher.
"I don't think people understand the thing about appointing the fifth-place finisher," Ravitch said. "It's the antithesis of democracy."
Ravitch explained that voters actually didn't choose a fifth candidate and had they known they were supposed to, they might have voted differently.
Pavao withdrew late Wednesday.
The council could name Strom's replacement on Monday.
