Already a mayor, David Rice wants to improve CMPD and create jobs

David Rice is already mayor of Ricetown, his own creation that has yet to break ground. He’s run several unsuccessful campaigns for Mecklenburg County commissioner, Charlotte mayor, city council, even for Soil and Water Conservation supervisor.

But he feels so strongly about “the wrong path Charlotte is on,” that he’s running again, this time for an at-large seat on Charlotte City Council.

“I’m retired now and I don’t have nothing else to do,” said the 66-year-old Rice, a Republican who presides over a cable TV ministry on Access 21 called “Lord God Ricetown XV.” “I like serving the public. And I think Charlotte has a lot of problems that need to be fixed.”

The council, he said, needs to apply added scrutiny on how some Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police officers “are targeting a certain group in the community.”

He wants to give them a voice. “They call it public safety, but in reality it’s public execution,” Rice said. “People are getting gunned down in the streets and in their cars. They don’t have fair trials anymore.”

Rice also said he’d work to bring more jobs to Charlotte and for enhanced training for those needing to work.

Government, he said, needs to run on a set of “higher moral laws.” So he’s organizing the Ricetown Theocratic Republic Party. “We need to prepare for the future and govern by a higher more moral set of laws,” he said.

This story was originally published October 24, 2015 at 9:00 AM with the headline "Already a mayor, David Rice wants to improve CMPD and create jobs."