Braveheart

Politics | Sometimes principles and politics do work together | Warren Smith

CHARLOTTE, N.C.— Mecklenburg County Commissioner Jim Puckett has a bumper sticker on his big, dark blue Chevy SUV that says "got kilt?" It's a reference to his Scottish heritage, a heritage that makes him a regular at the Loch Norman Highland Games, where the events include "turning the caber," or flipping an 18-foot-long tree trunk.

And like another famous Scot, William Wallace—made famous by the Mel Gibson movie Braveheart—Puckett seems to have something of an appetite for uphill battles. Before getting elected to Mecklenburg's Board of County Commissioners, he served on the school board at a time when he was often the only conservative vote on an issue. He now finds himself the unofficial leader of the Republicans on the county commission—but, like William Wallace, he is the leader of a group badly outnumbered, six to three, making it impossible for his side to get anything done.

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October 14, 2006, Vol. 21, No. 39

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