By Karissa Minn
kminn@salisburypost.com
SALISBURY — Carrol Crawford, a Democrat and former Ku Klux Klan leader, has filed to run for Rowan County commissioner.
Crawford, 77, of 11835 N.C. 801 S. in Mount Ulla, is the owner of C&T Recycling. He filed Feb. 14 for one of two open seats on the board.
He said he’s running because “we need new blood” on the Board of Commissioners.
“I run a business, so I think I ought to have enough sense to run the county,” Crawford said Wednesday. “I’m a working man for the working people.”
Crawford said his top priority is bringing more business to Rowan County, possibly by offering tax breaks or other incentives.
“I want to see some jobs come back to the county,” he said. “We’ve got people who are starving and don’t have any money.”
Other priorities for Crawford include helping the schools and tightening the county budget, because “the county is wasting money.”
“We’re going to have to work together,” he said.
Crawford previously ran for county commissioner in 1992 and governor in 1988.
In 1987, he resigned after two years as North Carolina grand dragon of the Christian Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. He estimated at the time that he had led more than 200 street walks in communities all over the Carolinas.
Compared to some Klan members, Crawford often downplayed overt racism in his speeches, stressing the perceived favoritism toward minorities that he saw as social and economic injustice.
Crawford would not acknowledge his past Klan leadership to the Post last week. As for the present, he said, “I don’t have no affiliation with them whatsoever.”
Carrol Crawford
Office sought: Rowan County Commissioner
Age: 67
Address: 11835 N.C. 801 S., Mount Ulla
Phone number: 704-278-4463
Party: Democrat
Occupation: Owner, C&T Recycling
Education: GED, one year of college
Previous elected office: None
Community involvement: Commander, American Legion Post 106 in Mount Ulla
Family: Three sons, one daughter
Contact reporter Karissa Minn at 704-797-4222.
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