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Lowe elected president of NABJBy NABJ Convention Online Staff The second time proved to be the charm for Herb Lowe who was elected NABJ president on Friday two years after losing to Condace Pressley. A staff writer at Newsday, Lowe received 220 of 527 total votes cast. Region VII director Cheryl Smith received 166 votes. Vice president/broadcast Mike Woolfolk received 141 votes. The results were unofficial pending certification. An emotional Lowe told members at the Special Honors Banquet that he was humbled by their vote of confidence. “Two years ago I fell down, but I got back up,” he said. “I’m a child of welfare. Now I’m president of the National Association of Black Journalists.” Barbara Ciara won the race for vice president/broadcast, beating Kathy Times 276 to 237 votes. Bryan Monroe received 480 votes in an uncontested race for vice president/print. Four votes gave John Yearwood the nod for treasurer over outgoing NABJ secretary Greg Lee. Yearwood won 262 to 258. Lee has requested a recount. Former Region II director Sarah Glover received 493 votes in an uncontested race for secretary. Proposals to reduce the size of the board of directors failed to garner the two-thirds of full-member votes necessary to approve the measure. An amendment that would require chapters to show that two-thirds of their members are full, student, or associate members also failed. Melanie Burney defeated Chanta Jackson and Melissa Monroe in the race for parliamentarian, 232 votes to 159 and 120, respectively. Caleb Wilkerson, who will be a graduate student at Louisiana State University in the fall, won a four-way race for student representative, beating Mashaun Simon 47 to 21 votes. Lauren Anderson and Ashley Clark received seven and four votes, respectively. Angela McClendon, communications specialist for the San Antonio Convention and Visitor’s Bureau, won the race for associate member representative with 27 votes. Public relations director Dina Martin-Anderson received 17 votes. Freelance journalist Christy Poindexter received six. A former three-term NABJ executive board member, Lowe was elected vice president/print in 1999 after having served four years as secretary. He is a past president of the Garden State Association of Black Journalists and serves as co-chair of the New York Association of Black Journalists’ web site committee. As president, Lowe said he wants to enhance the organization’s relevance to black journalists – from those starting out in the field to veterans – improve communication between members and the administration, and continue sound fiscal policies. “It will be interesting to see how Herb does as president,” said Gayle Hurd, a news director/anchor at Radio One in Raleigh, NC. “He enlisted the other candidates to help him, and it would be nice to see that happen because there were so many good [candidates] and everyone can’t win, unfortunately.” “Herb has always been an individual who took great heed to the traditions of the organization,” said Discovery Health Channel Executive Vice President and General Manager Bob Reid. Voting delays and accusations of dirty campaigning marked the election. Long lines formed outside of the poll, snaking through a hallway at the Hyatt Regency Dallas. “I waited in line on three separate occasions – 30 minutes each time. I just gave up,” said Traci Grant, a reporter for KNTV-NBC in San Francisco. “It’s like Florida in the year 2000. It wasn’t organized, the lines weren’t moving, and I would have stayed if the lines had been moving.” Some members said they would either vote early online or use absentee ballots to make their choices in the future. Others felt the wait was frustrating but worth it. “I think I waited in line 30 minutes. I was tempted to leave, but I know how important it is,” said Dahleen Glanton, a Chicago Tribune national correspondent. Grumblings about comments that Pressley made regarding Lowe and Smith’s ability to serve continued yesterday. In an interview published Wednesday on nabjconvention.org, Pressley endorsed Woolfolk, saying that Lowe did not have the necessary “skill-set” to be president and that she had “integrity issues” with Smith. “If some of our deceased founders knew what was going on, they’d be rolling in their graves,” said C. Ron Allen, staff writer at the Sun-Sentinel in Ft. Lauderdale. “She [Pressley] made me think twice about my affiliation with this organization.” Marcus Braziel, Jeff Roulston, Josef Sawyer, and Anthony Stokes of the NABJ Convention Online staff contributed to this report. |
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