Republican Jon G. (Greg) Bass, 60, who resides on Knolls of Mayo Road, told The Courier-Times Tuesday he had filed for the seat currently occupied by Sen. Ellie Kinniard, D-Orange. The 23rd Senate District is made up of Person and Orange counties.

Bass, who is making his first attempt at an elective office, said he decided to run for the Senate seat “to add some common sense and reason to the political process.”

Bass added, “I see too much in-fighting going on. Everybody wants to blame someone else. Somebody has got to have some common sense…everything gets lost in the political process.”

Bass, whose wife, Ruth, is Person County’s current Teacher of the Year, said education would be the “focal point” of his campaign.

“That’s exactly what I will be hammering on,” said Bass, who retired seven years ago from the automobile industry. “There is nothing wrong with education. There is something wrong with the process. Every year they change the rules in Raleigh so teachers can’t meet their goals.”

Kinniard recently filed in Orange County, seeking a seventh consecutive two-year term. She faces opposition in the Democratic primary in May from Chapel Hill resident Moses Carey, who is chairman of the Orange Board of County Commissioners.

The candidate filing period for local and state elections ends on Friday at noon.

District Court Judge Mike Gentry has filed for re-election to his position, which serves District 9A and encompasses Person and Caswell counties. According to information on the North Carolina Board of Elections site, Gentry, a Democrat, was the lone candidate for the position as of midday Tuesday. Persons seeking the District Court judgeship must file in Raleigh.

As of Tuesday no new candidates had joined the seven who already have filed for the three available seats up for grabs this year on the Person Board of County Commissioners.

Incumbents Jimmy Clayton, a Democrat, and Larry Yarborough, a Republican, are seeking new terms, while incumbent Democrat Larry Bowes has said he may not run for reelection to a second four-year term on the board.

Those challenging the incumbents include Democrats Sam Winstead, a former commissioner; Mike Barrett, the former head of the county’s Democratic Party; David Brooks and Ray Jeffers and Republican Gerry O’Neil.

In other filings, State Rep. W.A. (Winkie) Wilkins, D-Person, is running for a third straight two-year term in the North Carolina House of Representatives. Wilkins serves District 55, which includes all of Person County and northern portion Durham County.

Incumbent Register of Deeds Mandy Garrett, a Democrat, has also filed to seek a fifth straight four-year term in her position, for which she remained unopposed as of Tuesday.

Elsewhere, former state Sen. Hugh Webster, a Republican, filed in Raleigh for the 13th Congressional District seat in the U.S. House now held by incumbent Democrat Rep. Brad Miller of Wake County. Webster, 64, an accountant and Caswell County native, served in the state Senate from 1994 to 2006, representing Caswell and Alamance counties and, at one time, part of Person County.

In a prepared statement Tuesday, Webster said, "The excessive spending and the excessive taxation and borrowing it produces, are not only a threat to our economy, they threaten to erode the resource base of our freedom and responsibility."

Promising to work to abolish the current tax code, Webster said, "The Internal Revenue Code, regulations, tax forms, and instructions constitute a tyranny — an abomination against American citizens. The tax code as we know it must be eliminated."