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Contact: Aaron Groen

April 11, 2008
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Foxx wins Chamber of Commerce legislative award

‘Spirit of Enterprise’ award is given for support of pro-growth legislation

WASHINGTON, D.C.-The United States Chamber of Commerce has awarded

Representative Virginia Foxx (R-NC-05) its prestigious Spirit of Enterprise Award for her support of pro-growth legislation during the 110th Congress.

“Businesses small and large are the engine of North Carolina’s economy,” Rep. Foxx said. “It is an honor to be recognized by the Chamber of Commerce and I pledge to continue to support policies that encourage job creation and sustained economic growth.”

The Chamber’s prestigious Sprit of Enterprise Award is given annually to members of
Congress based on rankings it gives for key business votes outlined in its yearly publication How They Voted. Representative Foxx compiled a 70% score with the Chamber last year and holds a cumulative 80% ranking during her tenure in Congress.

“Representative Foxx has proven to be an effective ally to the business community, supporting legislation that helps grow the economy and creates new jobs for hardworking Americans,” said Tom Donohue, Chamber president and CEO. “The Chamber is grateful for Virginia’s commitment to these important issues and is proud to present her with this award.”

These designated key votes are recorded floor votes on issues established as priorities on which the Chamber communicates its position prior to the vote. Those members of Congress who support the Chamber’s position on at least 70% of those votes receive the award. The Chamber
key-voted 11 Senate and 20 House votes in 2007, including an extension of the Andean Trade Preference Act, an extension of the federal backstop for terrorism risk insurance and revisions to the rules of governing direct foreign investment.

To view a complete list of the 2007 Spirit of Enterprise recipients visit www.uschamber.com/soe. The U.S. Chamber is the world’s largest business federation representing more than 3 million businesses of every size, sector, and region.

One set of calls came from South Carolinians for Responsible Government (SCRG), a Columbia-based group targeting moderate Republicans across the state through direct mail, advertising and phone calls.

SCRG sent automated messages, or “robo calls,” to several thousand voters to bring attention to Gullick’s past support for tax increases, SCRG President Randy Page told The Herald on Friday.

“Rep. Gullick has a pretty pathetic record when it comes to taxes,” Page said. “I’m not sure he’s met a tax increase that he didn’t like.”

The Herald

I do not have a land line phone so I have not received any of these of robo calls, hence I cannot comment on their accuracy. Stating an opponent’s voting record is not negative campaigning, providing that the record is not being distorted in a dishonest way. The Boyd campaign has denied any involvement on them, but York County Republican Chairman Glenn McCall does have a valid point. The PAC is making the calls to dampen Gullick’s chances of being reelected, thus to advantage Mr. Boyd. Some voters will make a mental connection to Boyd whether rightful or not.

Ninth Circuit Solicitor Scarlett Wilson picked up the endorsement of Charleston County Sheriff Al Cannon on Friday in a move that puts two local sheriffs on opposite sides of the highly competitive race for local prosecutor.

Earlier this week, Berkeley County Sheriff Wayne DeWitt said he is backing Blair Jennings, Wilson’s rival in the June 10 Republican primary.

Cannon said his endorsement of Wilson was prompted in part by DeWitt’s actions.

In previous elections Cannon said he rarely took an endorsement stand for or against candidates.

The Post and Courier

The widow of Brad Baity, one of the nine Charleston firefighters killed in last year’s Sofa Super Store blaze, filed a lawsuit Friday alleging that the store, several furniture manufacturers and other businesses are negligent in her husband’s death.

The families of two other firefighters who perished June 18 — Capt. Billy Hutchinson and firefighter Melvin Champaign — filed similar wrongful-death lawsuits last year.

The suits target the site’s owners, the manufacturers of the furniture in the store, a building contractor and the companies that built the fire doors that investigators later determined had malfunctioned.

“Brad Baity’s family is looking for more answers as to the factors that contributed to his death in June 2007,” said Motley Rice attorney Kevin Dean. “As they continue to grieve over the loss of their loved one, they seek accountability as well as a hope for change in industry standards to prevent others from having to face a similar tragedy.”

The Post and Courier

Mr. Baity died doing his duty as a firefighter. Clearly, it is a dangerous job full of excessive risk and deaths on the job are to be expected. Nobody is to blame for Mr. Baity’s death. I find this lawsuit on behalf of his family to be despicable. His family is trying to cash in on his death, plain and simple.

Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Kay Hagan declined an invitation yesterday to participate in the only televised debate that her campaign was considering, frustrating her chief rival for the party’s nomination.

The campaign of Jim Neal responded sharply, saying that Hagan, a state senator from Greensboro, is trying to buy an election victory with television ads and is avoiding a discussion of the issues.

Winston-Salem Journal

Why is Hagan afraid to meet Jim Neal in a televised forum? What is she running from? If she is not up to a televised debate in front of her would be constituents how does she expect to represent an entire state before the U.S. Senate?

Hagan’s campaign is claiming she will not participate because of the rules that leave out the other three candidates due to low polling. It is certainly a justified position that all candidates should be allowed to take part and have their issues heard, however is Hagan taking this stand on principle or out of reluctance to go head to head with Mr. Neal?

Some Wake County black leaders are outraged by Garner Mayor Ronnie Williams’ statement this week that the town doesn’t want any more students from Southeast Raleigh. They call his remarks coded language directed at poor, minority students.

Williams, who is white, defended his town’s stance and respectfully shook off charges of bias. The issue is not race, he said, but Garner schools being asked to shoulder more than their share of students on free and reduced lunch — 60 percent and 70 percent, in some cases.

Still, several black leaders are calling for a meeting to iron out bruised feelings and to meet shared goals for Southeast Raleigh — a move Williams said he welcomes.

The News & Observer

Oh, too bad. They’re offended. You know who else is offended? All of the people in Garner who have to shoulder the load for all of these deadbeat parents in Southeast Raleigh. If these so called “leaders” of the “black community” actually cared about the people they are supposedly representing they would be getting on their cases to be responsible parents instead of defending their apathy towards providing for their own family.

A 60 to 70 percentage of students receiving free or reduced lunch is outrageous. The schools should not even be providing this in the first place. The schools are there to provide children with an education. They are not there to feed the children of unfit parents, nor should the responsible parents of Garner be paying for it.

Williams spoke the truth, the ugly truth that the people of Southeast Raleigh don’t want to hear, but need to have shoved right in their faces.

ROANOKE RAPIDS, N.C. — Former President Bill Clinton, campaigning in a former mill town struggling with job losses, said Friday the United States can bring back the manufacturing industry — as long as the nation can enforce trade laws.

“We can bring manufacturing back to America now,” Clinton said on an outdoor stage, with the now-closed mill that was featured in the 1979 Sally Field movie “Norma Rae” looming behind him. “But we have to have a commitment.”

Clinton did not mention the North American Free Trade Agreement during the campaign event for his wife, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton. The NAFTA trade pact was adopted while Bill Clinton was in office, but Hillary Clinton has repeatedly said she wants to change it.

Many have blamed NAFTA for accelerating the decline of North Carolina’s once-vibrant manufacturing sector.

The Herald Sun

NAFTA was implemented on January 1, 1994 under the Clinton Administration and a Democratic Congress. In November of 2003 the Economic Policy Institute wrote a publication that claimed since that date almost 900,000 jobs had been lost in the U.S. to other nations. The Bureau of Labor Statistics show that right here in North Carolina 270,000 manufacturing jobs have been lost between February 1998 and February 2008.

Not since the 1976 election has North Carolina held a presidential primary where candidates weren’t already decided. Now the numbers of switching voters, Bartlett said, are big enough that they could make a difference in a tight presidential race.”That’s what is driving all this jumping around,” said Michael Dickerson, Mecklenburg elections director. “It shows you’ve got a lot of people who want to have their say in the Democratic primary.”

Bartlett predicts an unprecedented turnout for the Democratic primary, at least 40 percent to 45 percent.

Dickerson warned that Republicans who changed parties to vote in the presidential primary won’t be able to cast votes for GOP gubernatorial candidates, or in any of the other Republican primaries.

“It’s not like they can pick and choose,” Dickerson said. “I don’t know if I’d have jeopardized my choice for governor in the Republican primary just to make a statement in another party.”

Many Republicans are willing to do that — at least for the primary.

Charlotte Observer

I wonder how this will effect the Republican Primary for Governor. With McCrory leading by double digits, does this damper his changes or improve them? Which type of Republicans are switching over to vote in the Dem’s Presidential race?

Regarding Dickerson’s comments, I think the reason many Republicans are willing to forego voting for their gubernatorial candidate and instead putting their hands into the Democratic Presidential primary is because many people emphasize more importance on who the President is rather than their state or local officials. I find this to be flawed thinking. We are effected more every day by what our local leaders do than by most of what goes on in Washington. Furthermore, if we elected stronger local leaders who would stand up to an overbearing government in Washington I think we would come closer to solving many of our problems at the Federal level.