It's not a real fight until someone starts name-calling; the battle for who will chair the Mecklenburg Board of County Commissioners just got real.

On Monday, commissioner George Dunlap posted a statement on his Facebook page accusing fellow Democrat Pat Cotham of having a big mouth in an effort to discredit her as a potential chairperson. "She is a snitch on the board and can't be trusted. When she was chair, the media had more information about what was going on than the Commissioners, because she was there [sic] pipe line, and still is today."

Dunlap even went so far as to drop Bill James' name in his statement. Shock value? You know us liberals run screaming into the night at the mention of the conservative commissioner.

As Jerry Klein wrote for us earlier this month: "Mecklenburg County voters overwhelmingly chose Pat Cotham as their top choice as an At-Large member of the Board of County Commissioners. Ella Scarborough returned to public office and came in second, 18,000 votes behind, and Trevor Fuller came in third, trailing Cotham by 22,000 votes. Those are not small gaps — those are landslide results."

Traditionally, getting the most votes in the at-large election would have handed Cotham the gavel. Traditionally, anyway. Last year, Dunlap and others approved a policy for electing commission chair — majority rules, no matter what the voters want.

Our elected officials, ladies and gentlemen. I can see a lot getting accomplished next year.

Read Cotham's response and Dunlap's full statement at QcityMetro.com.