Mr. Chairman: 'No. 1 priority has got to be economic development,' he says

Dave Plyler is back behind the microphone.

This time, it's the microphone of the Forsyth County Board of Commissioners, not one of the radio or television microphones that for many years broadcast his booming voice throughout the region.

And Plyler, a Republican, is finally the chairman of the board -- four years after a last-minute deal kept him from the chairmanship and two years after he lost his board seat on top of that.

Life, Plyler said, is good.

"All I wanted to do was get four years on the commission," he said. "Someone called and said you are the top vote-getter, you ought to be chairman. Once you get to thinking about it.…"

Plyler turned 70 yesterday. When many people reach 70 they're ready to slow down. Not Plyler. He's preparing for what may be a tough term.

The economy is tanking. County revenues are down, just when Plyler is saying that the county needs to do more for education, social services, health, and above all, economic development.

These are problems Plyler says he can't solve by himself.

"I'm talking with a lot of people regarding what needs to be done for where we are today and what we should be doing," he said. "We are not going to solve it in an hour, a day, a week or a month, but I am convinced we have the bipartisan leadership in this community to do what has to be done."

Walter Marshall, the board's longest-serving Democrat, said that Plyler would help the board be less partisan and more responsive to the black community as well.

"He will be more open and we will get a discussion," Marshall said. "Dave doesn't have a personal agenda, and everything is not so black and white with David on issues."

No lack of confidence

One thing Plyler has never lacked is a sense of confidence. Those who know him say he has a knack for working with people. He likes to do business on a handshake.

"He is very likable," said Gayle Anderson, the president of the Winston-Salem Chamber of Commerce. "One of the reasons that people like him is that when you are talking to Dave he focuses on you. He responds to what you are saying and he remembers what you say."

Plyler was born in Orange, Calif., and his family moved to Greensboro when he was 12.

He was 14 when he walked into WCOG, a Greensboro radio station, and got a job sorting 78 rpm records for a penny apiece. By the time he was 15, Plyler was on the air from 4 to 10 p.m. at WGBG in Greensboro. He spent hours perfecting his on-air voice.

By 1960 he was working at WSJS radio station in Winston-Salem. He graduated from Guilford College in 1961 and the same year married Nancy Blackard of Julian and spent four years in the U.S. Air Force.

He settled in Kernersville in 1965 and made his career -- and his name -- in radio and television. He worked in the news department of WSJS, which operated radio and television stations. Plyler made the jump to television in 1968 at WSJS, which became WXII in 1972.

Plyler was public-affairs director from 1973 to 1983 at WXII, and was responsible for a variety of shows that provided 14 hours a week of local programming.

"I was on television so much that people got to thinking that they knew me," Plyler said. "I haven't been on Channel 12 since 1983, but I still have people come up and say ‘I watch you every day.'"

Plyler began managing WTOB radio in 1983 and later co-owned the station from 1987 to 1997. In 1997 he sold the station to Stu Epperson Sr., a major figure in conservative Christian broadcasting.

As a television personality, it was natural for Plyler to be the host for telethons and the like. That led to a busy schedule of civic involvement.

"I needed to get to know the people who did business and made contributions to the community," Plyler said. "I'm a professional board member. I have been on everybody's board. If you want to get to know people in the community, the only way is to get deeply involved."

Plyler has been a fixture on the boards of directors of numerous community agencies, from Crime Stoppers to the YMCA.

He has collected scores of plaques, but the personal connections are what he says he most values.

"I can introduce you to a lot of important people in Winston-Salem," he said. "I'm not saying that to toot my own horn, but I have been connected through government and my broadcast business so that I know these people."

Using his connections

Plyler says he thinks he can use those kinds of connections to help the county's economy as a commissioner.

"The No. 1 priority has got to be economic development," he said. "One thing I have toyed with is to get some of the major players together and assess where we are. Let's get together and see what we can come up with for a vision of the future."

Plyler considers Jerry Long, the former chairman and chief executive officer of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., as one of his mentors. Long ran for the county board as a Democrat in 1988, and Plyler managed Long's winning campaign. Long said that Plyler's people skills made a big difference in the campaign, and believes that Plyler will use them to bring the current board together.

Long switched to the Republican Party to run for re-election in 1992. Plyler made his first run for office that year as a Democrat on a platform that stressed support for education -- still one of Plyler's top priorities.

Plyler lost. He switched to the Republican Party to run in 1994 and won.

Plyler said that the switch to the Republican Party wasn't a result of his loss in 1992. Plyler said that the Republicans invited him to join the party and that he got on well with the top leaders.

Long, whose term ended in 1996, said that he, Plyler and fellow commissioner Pete Brunstetter formed a sort of team that stood for bringing more business to Winston-Salem. Brunstetter, who is now in the N.C. Senate, said Plyler "is probably one of the kindest and nicest people you will ever meet in politics."

Plyler uses humor to defuse tense situations, Brunstetter said.

"A lot of times we have had a difficult zoning matter where the public shows up and they are loaded for bear and very tense and angry," Brunstetter said. "Dave smiles at them and uses his real-life radio voice and manages to calm a crowd."

Anderson said that Plyler's lighthearted touch sometimes causes people to misread him and think that he isn't taking matters seriously.

Long, who managed advertising for Plyler's recent comeback campaign, said he gave Plyler some advice that Plyler sums up like this: "Keep your mouth shut."

"I told him, ‘Only talk when you have something sensible to say,'" Long said. "He has a great sense of humor and many things he says he means as humor. But I learned in big business that I had to be very careful of what was said. I told David that if you really don't mean it, don't say it."

A philosophy on spending

Plyler said he learned from Long that anyone can spend money, but it is important not to spend recklessly. It's a philosophy he's followed in his life, he said.

Plyler was vice chairman of the commission under Brunstetter from1996 to 2004.

Plyler became president of the N.C. Association of County Commissioners for a one-year term in 2001, and lobbied state legislators to give counties relief from an ever-growing burden of Medicaid payments. Although that relief didn't come until Plyler left the commission in 2006, his efforts won him recognition from the state commissioners' organization as the outstanding commissioner in the state in 2003.

Plyler's political course took a downward turn in the fall of 2004. He thought he was a shoo-in for the post of chairman, only to find out that a last-minute deal among the other board Republicans had awarded the post to Gloria Whisenhunt. That hurt, he said, because he and Whisenhunt had been friends as well as political allies.

Whisenhunt wouldn't comment for the story.

Plyler said he felt isolated on the board.

"What I thought meant nothing," he said. "There were some cases where we all voted together, but in terms of being in the loop, I was on the outside. It began to split into the Democrats and Republicans. You did what the party wanted you to do. You shouldn't make a decision on life or death issues based on what the Republican Party thinks or what the Democratic Party thinks."

Health scare in 2005

In April of 2005 Plyler was riding his bike and suffered an attack of cardiac arrhythmia. He got a defibrillator and had to slow down -- although he still ran for re-election in 2006. He lost to Democrat Ted Kaplan by the narrowest of margins.

Nowadays, Plyler works his own schedule representing Truth Broadcasting Corp., a small network of conservative Christian stations operated by Stu Epperson Jr. Plyler calls himself a sort of "goodwill ambassador" for the company. Epperson said that Plyler's work includes keeping good relations with advertising clients and doing public relations.

Epperson announced in 2007 that he would help raise money to pay any legal bills arising from a suit filed against the county over public prayer at commissioners' meetings. Plyler is a mainstream Methodist who describes himself as middle-of-the-road in all his views. He has openly cast doubt on the wisdom of fighting a suit he thinks may be unwinnable.

But Plyler would not say how he would vote on continuing the prayer suit if that decision comes to the board.

"Dave and I haven't always agreed on everything, but at the end of the day I felt like he listened and understood," Epperson said, calling Plyler a "bridge builder" in his various public roles.

"Dave is one of the most affable guys I know," Epperson said. "In a day and age where there are all kinds of challenges in the economy and challenges locally, this is a guy who has demonstrated a real penchant for bringing together people of different backgrounds and affiliations, be it religious or political."

Plyler said he made his comeback this year because the county board is so important for education and other local concerns.

"I like doing what I am doing," Plyler said. "I love being a county commissioner. It gets me involved in areas where I can be of assistance."

■ Wesley Young can be reached at 727-7369 or at wyoung@wsjournal.com.