Carolina Politics Online

Today McCrory for Governor Campaign Manager Richard Hudson welcomed the support of Perdue for Governor Strategy Statistics Analyst Will Matthews who demonstrated his support for McCrory at a fundraiser last night in Sanford, N.C.

“Mr. Matthews has clearly seen the light as indicated in the $50.00 contribution he made at the Sanford fundraiser, noting on his check that the contribution was ‘for the future of North Carolina,’” said Hudson.  “I am giving this young man the benefit of the doubt.  Surely he wasn’t engaging in campaign dirty tricks when he attended our fundraiser with a tape recorder.”

Sanford Herald

The Republican hopeful for governor from Charlotte was on a fundraising mission when he stopped on his way in Sanford, North Carolina.  He spoke about the gang problems in the state and about the absence of talk for public safety. He also publically asked that Perdue participate in more debates and forums so the voters can understand where the two candidates are coming from.

The Charlotte mayor also called on his Demo­cratic opponent, Lt. Gov.
Beverly Perdue, to agree to more debates.
“I believe I’m a candi­date who is accessible to the public. I’m willing to showcase my opinions,” he said. “Beverly Perdue is not willing to do that, and it’s an extension of the last eight years of state government, where we’ve had a governor who we never see.”

Big business and special interest PAC’s like labor unions and George Soros funded PACS have Perdue’s attention and demand it on a daily basis. McCrory has solutions and leadership, Perdue has $60 cheeseburgers to live up to.

NEWS&OBSERVER

      Click on the link and see a story about Wake County’s drop out rate falling slightly.  Wake County historically has a higher graduation rate that the North Carolina statewide average. The statewide average has not been released but last year it was 69.5%.

      It is apparent to me that the current administration and state government run by the Democrats has thrown money at a problem and failed. The one area where they have not thrown money at is actually bring teacher’s pay to a competitive level. The people need to look for other options in educating their childdren. When the voters decide to remove the Democrats from office is when we will start on the path to success.

Highlights key differences with Perdue’s defense of status quo

Asheville, N.C. – Mayor Pat McCrory, the Republican nominee for governor, today presented a ten point comprehensive conservation and energy plan at the North Carolina Press Association candidate forum in Asheville.  Below is a statement from McCrory:  “High energy prices are bruising our state’s manufacturing, farming and tourism industries and are directly impacting North Carolinians’ ability to provide for their families and to get to work and school.  Meanwhile, politicians like Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue defend a failed status quo and close the door ‘100 percent’ on common sense solutions to the problem.

“The average family in our state has already spent more on higher gas prices this year than they received in their tax refund check.  We may as well have taken money out of the U.S. Treasury and sent it to OPEC and Hugo Chavez! We should be investing in jobs and infrastructure here at home rather than relying on foreign energy sources that fund rogue nations. It’s time for us to take a stand, reinvest those billions of dollars into our own back yard and allow North Carolina families and workers to reap the benefits of economic development and energy independence.”

“We need a comprehensive policy that explores environmentally friendly energy sources such as wind, solar power, hydrogen fuel cells, clean coal and nuclear power; invests in research for alternative fuel sources; and explores for more American energy sources. We need policies that include tax credits for families and businesses, conservation land banking, research and development at our state’s universities and beach renourishment.

 “As Chairman of the U.S. Conference of Mayors Committee for the Environment, I consider myself a conservationist. I have enjoyed and valued the beautiful natural resources across North Carolina all my life and want to protect them for future generations.  However, we have a clear choice.   We can continue to spend billions of dollars a day on an unstable energy policy or we can end our dependence on foreign sources by encouraging conservation, investing in alternative energy technologies and tapping into American sources of energy.  Our ability to create jobs, encourage technological advancement and provide for America’s national security depends on our willingness to use American resources to provide energy in a responsible and reasonable way.”

The following is McCrory’s ten point plan:

Conservation and Efficiency Plank
1. Promote mass transit (light rail and clean energy buses that use biodiesel, hybrid or fuel cell technology and natural gas)
2. Encourage land use planning that ensures adequate space for future park and ride facilities, HOV lanes, and future mass and traditional transit corridors.  Also encourage revitalization of brown fields to provide more in-fill development and shorter commutes.
3.  Require state-owned fleets to convert to vehicles that use alternative energy sources such as biodiesel, hybrid, electric, fuel cell and natural gas.
4. Require higher energy efficiency in state-owned and leased facilities through retrofitting and green development.
5. Provide tax incentives for private homeowners and businesses to follow similar conservation and efficiency efforts in transportation, industry and buildings.

Supply Plank
6. Permit deep sea exploration and development off the coast of North Carolina.
7. Promote the use of natural gas.  Only 28 percent of primary energy consumption in the U.S. is utilized by the transportation sector.  Natural gas is used for power generation and utilities such as heating and cooking.   The Manteo Prospect that lies 37 miles off of North Carolina’s coast is estimated to contain 5 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
8. Utilize clean coal technology by upgrading North Carolina’s coal-fired plants through incentives to install smokestack scrubbing technology to remove Carbon Dioxide. Also expand the use of coal-to-liquids technology.
9. Expand alternative energy sources such as wind, solar power, hydrogen fuel cells, clean coal and nuclear power.
10. Increase energy research and development at North Carolina’s colleges, universities and research centers.  That can be funded in part with royalties from deep sea exploration.

I fully support Mayor Mccrory’s plan, vision, and leadership in bringing common sense back to the state of North Carolina. The Democratic party has turned North Carolina into their private kingdom with only 8 or 9 people actually running this state. They do not allow any debate or admendments to go forward on any law and only have passed Jessica’s law after three years of effort by the people of our great state. Yes, North Carolina is one of the last states to pass Jessica’s law. When we elect Pat McCrory as governor, we will take a step forward in removing the vestiages of entrenched corruption.

Paul Terrell III

Perdue Continues to Reject Statewide Debates
McCrory renews call for joint appearances across the state

Charlotte, N.C. – The North Carolina Association of Broadcasters has cancelled a gubernatorial debate in Asheville on July 20th following Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue’s refusal to participate.  She has already declined forums at WNCN-TV, the Triad Today show and two statewide debates at UNC-TV.“Apparently, Lt. Gov. Perdue thinks she is above being responsive and accountable to the very people she hopes to represent as governor,” said McCrory Campaign Manager Richard Hudson.  “The culture of arrogance and inaccessibility that permeates from Raleigh politicians like Perdue is unacceptable.  North Carolina deserves a governor who will be accessible to the people and openly discuss his or her positions on the issues that affect our state. 

“Pat McCrory has been calling for debates across North Carolina for months and is disappointed that Sunday’s event has been cancelled.  He once again renews his call for the lieutenant governor to move beyond formal, structured speeches and allow the voters to hear a real discussion on the issues.”

Note:  McCrory and Perdue will be making separate appearances at a N.C. Press Association candidate forum tomorrow morning in Asheville.

- # # # -

Paid for by Elect Pat McCrory Governor

President:

NORTH CAROLINA (SurveyUSA): McCain - 50%, Obama - 45%, Others - 2%.

SOUTH CAROLINA (PPP-D): McCain - 45%, Obama - 39%, Barr - 5%.

U.S. Senate:

SOUTH CAROLINA (PPP-D):

Lindsey Graham (R) - 52%, Bob Conley (D) - 21%, Mayor Mark McBride (Ind.) - 10%.

Governor:

NORTH CAROLINA (SurveyUSA):

Bev Perdue (D) - 47%, Pat McCrory (R) - 46%, Mike Munger (Libertarian) - 3%.

Politics1.com

When Jack Hawke took over as chief consultant to Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory’s gubernatorial campaign, the candidate laid down one condition.

“His first comment to me was, ‘You’re not going to remake me the way they did Richard Vinroot,’” Hawke recalls. “And we tried not to.”

Vinroot, the last Charlotte mayor to run for N.C. governor, is one of four to run – and lose – statewide campaigns. McCrory is trying to break the 24-year streak, in part by learning the lessons of his predecessors.

Charlotte Observer

Pat has the best chance to become governor out of all the former Charlotte mayors who’ve run in the past.  The state has changed since Vinroot’s run.  The spiking population has brought a mixture of folks from all over the nation, but many from the northeast who escaped the stagnant economies and job markets due to high labor costs and rising taxes.  I think McCrory is going to appeal to many of these newer residents as long as he sticks to being himself.  He is right to not remake himself.  He doesn’t need to.

Heading into the fall campaign, Lt. Gov. Bev Perdue, the Democratic nominee for governor, has twice as much money in her campaign bank account as her Republican opponent, Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory.

A glance at where they stand:

GOVERNOR
PAT MCCRORY, REPUBLICAN
Raised April 20-June 30: $1.1 million
In the bank: $710,000
Notable donor: NASCAR team owner Rick Hendrick and wife Linda, $12,000

BEV PERDUE, DEMOCRAT
Raised April 20-June 30: $2.3 million
In the bank: $1.4 million
Notable donor: Singer Neil Diamond, $500

Money is a large factor in any political race, but not the only factor.  McCrory is doing very well in this race despite the power of the Democratic machine in this state and the national trend of this year’s election.  His chances of becoming the next governor still sit at 50/50, for now.

NEWS&OBSERVER

“In another secret back room meeting, the political establishment in Raleigh has arrogantly dismissed the welfare of mental health patients and decreed through the budget that the state does not have to comply with the same regulations it places on everyone else,” he said in a statement.

He noted that hospitals normally have to pass “rigorous reviews,” but not mental hospitals run by the state.

“The Department of Health and Human Services, which is racked with scandal and over $400 million misspent in mental health, will now move forward with closing Dix Hospital and opening Central Regional without independent review,” he said.

McCrory’s campaign responded that he has been consistent on the lottery – preferring repeal but recognizing the budget complications that such an effort would cause. He has called for limiting advertising, such as the times when television ads can be shown.

“Pat McCrory thinks there needs to be changes to the lottery program as it exists, while it’s obvious that ‘Negative Bev’ once again supports a failed status quo,” McCrory campaign manager Richard Hudson said in a news release.

Charlotte Observer

No, the lottery should not be repealed and I frankly don’t know why McCrory is advocating such a position.  I do agree with him that the money could be better spent.

Money from the lottery helps pay for a pre-kindergarten program, smaller class sizes, new schools and college scholarships, though it remains a small percentage of state education spending.

My preference would be to stop funding head start programs and eliminate the small class size initiative because there is no imperical evidence that has shown smaller class sizes improve education.  I like the idea of college scholarships and frankly I wouldn’t mind seeing that expanded into a system similar to Georgia’s in which students with over a 3.0 GPA can attend any state university for free, paid for by lottery funds.

Hat Tip to NC GOP

By Linda Daves

Chairman, North Carolina Republican Party

For Mike Easley to be given the “America’s Greatest Education Governor’s Award” just proves what the NEA really stands for.  Let’s just call this award what it is: Politician Most Beholden to Teachers’ Unions and Special Interests.  When one-third of North Carolina students are failing to graduate high school, it is reprehensible that the Governor is gloating about his “successes.”  Gov. Easley’s term has no doubt been a boon to teachers’ unions, but it has been a disaster for North Carolina’s children.  What are the criteria for giving out this award anyway?  With the abysmal graduation rate here in North Carolina, I would hate to see what the situation is in the home state of the runner-up.

It is time to look at new ideas like lifting the cap on charter schools so that parents have more choices in their children’s education. It is time to think about raising teacher pay for those teachers who volunteer to teach the most at-risk students. It is time to consider expanding vocational education so that students can learn skills that will help them get a job instead of merely getting frustrated with the curriculum and dropping out. It is time for fresh vision and a renewed commitment
to excellence in education in North Carolina. Over the past eight years, that is a test that Democrats have consistently failed.

With Bev Perdue only offering more of the same for fixing the problems facing our state’s public school system, there is a clear choice in the race to become the next Governor.  Those who refuse to protect the status quo, those who reject placing the interests of powerful unions over the interests of our children, and those who believe that we can do better will choose Pat McCrory as our next Governor.  He will be an Education Governor to truly make us proud.

Republican governors candidate Pat McCrory says North Carolina should consider allowing offshore drilling as a way to meet its energy needs.

The Charlotte mayor said Monday that drilling would also create jobs and bring new revenue to the state.

Charlotte Observer

Do more than consider it.  McCrory should make a promise to roll with it.  Offshore drilling is a winning issue with gas at $4 a gallon and climbing.  The notion that it will hurt tourism is ridiculous.  Those rigs are so far out you can’t see them from the shore.

The party, which asked for correspondence since 1995 between the mayor, the city manager and three companies that have a large presence in the city, defended the request. Democrats said residents have a right to know how he has performed on the job.

“The North Carolina Democratic Party is not ashamed to hold Pat McCrory accountable,” party spokeswoman Kerra Bolton said late Friday. “He ought to answer for how he is a steward of taxpayer dollars.”

McCrory, who is still mayor, said City Attorney Mac McCarley told him it would cost more than $100,000 to comply with the two requests and take 1,000 hours for workers to complete. The requests were dated Wednesday.

Asheville Citizen-Times

Yes, it is a fishing expedition, but I also agree that voters should know how he had handled the Charlotte coffers during his tenure.  What is funny though, is listening to the Democratic Party actually claim to be concerned about how tax dollars are spent.

In Case You Missed It...

 RALEIGH – Political experience differs as much in kind as in amount – a point clearly illustrated by the first candidate forum of the 2008 governor’s race. Beverly Perdue and Pat McCrory are both experienced politicians, but McCrory came to Saturday’s North Carolina Bar Association event in Atlantic Beach ready to speak, via television, to North Carolina voters. Perdue came ready to speak to the relatively small audience of lawyers, reporters, and dignitaries in attendance.The difference was striking, and not to Perdue’s benefit.

It went beyond simply the audiovisual experience, though it was noticeable there. McCrory is as a longtime mayor who lacks much formal lawmaking power. His influence has come from engaging the public directly, through media interviews and public speeches. At one time, he even hosted his own show on Charlotte’s primary talk-radio station, WBT-AM. Having both agreed and disagreed with McCrory on local issues over the years, I haven’t always cheered his effectiveness as a communicator, but I’ve always recognized it.

At Saturday’s forum, McCrory was comfortable, relaxed, smooth, and folksy. He led off his performance by contrasting the fantasy of speedy investigations and satisfying resolutions on CSI and Law & Order to the reality of overworked beat cops and underfunded crime labs trying to clear cases in North Carolina. He ended with an extended and funny Andy Griffth Show riff that also contrasted fiction and reality. (I felt like having a “big Orange drink” afterward.)

Perdue is a longtime state legislator who wielded substantial lawmaking power as a Senate appropriator and leadership insider. For the past eight years, she’s held the office of lieutenant governor – bearing an illustrious title but no more power, and indeed probably less, than before. Perdue has made many, many speeches in her career, but a large number of them have been floor speeches on legislation or appearances in front of friendly political gatherings and genial civic groups.

At Saturday’s forum, Perdue at times seemed uncomfortable, anxious, and off-balance. She made joking reference to reporters and other individuals in the room that most of the audience watching at home wouldn’t have understood. She referred repeatedly to what “y’all know” about her record, a questionable choice given that most North Carolina voters probably don’t know much about her record. The assumed personal familiarity sounded odd and egotistical. In both the opening and closing statements, she also clumsily stated strident opposition to school vouchers, an issue that hasn’t come up yet in the campaign and didn’t during the forum itself.

I know why Perdue did it. Some of her advisors previously helped get Mike Easley elected, and they pulled the same stunt on the 2000 Republican nominee, Richard Vinroot – claiming that his voucher proposal would rob North Carolina public schools of funds (and even citing the John Locke Foundation as their source). The attack made no sense, because Vinroot had argued for a means-tested scholarship program that would have yielded a smaller annual revenue to public schools only by reducing their enrollment and thus their annual expenditure, leaving public schools with more resources per student than they had before. Easley lied, to put it bluntly. But because the news media repeated his falsehood without question, it probably had some impact on swing voters concerned about education.

The real problem here is that in 2000, Easley was criticizing an idea that Vinroot had truly made a key element of his campaign. Pat McCrory hasn’t proposed any particular school-choice policy, other than lifting the statewide cap on charter schools. It would have looked less clumsy for Perdue to save her voucher attack for later in the campaign, so it would have seemed relevant. In fact, it would have been smarter to save it for later, anyway, to maximize its impact on voters in the homestretch.

The fact that Perdue made her silly voucher attack Saturday told me two things: 1) she and her campaign team are far more worried about the McCrory candidacy than they let on publicly, and 2) she is a candidate largely unschooled in the art of televised debate against a capable opponent.

Perdue still has important advantages. Having spent the better part of three decades in Raleigh, she has a grasp of policy detail and will rarely be stumped for an answer to any question about state government. And the ability to perform in public forums and debates isn’t as critical in modern campaigning as performing well in broadcast ads and raising money to finance them, like it or not.

Still, it shows how experience in one political arena doesn’t necessarily translate well to another political arena. Pat McCrory actually reminded me, stylistically, of Mike Easley, minus the Eastern NC drawl and programmatic rhyming. Beverly Perdue came across as a state legislator trying to establish her credibility as a candidate for higher office. Shouldn’t she have already done that eight years ago?

It was a stumble, albeit in a race with a long, long stretch of track still to traverse.

“As governor, I will not be distracted by experiments like vouchers and private school tuition,” Perdue told several hundred attorneys at the N.C. Bar Association convention in the first debate of the governor’s race. “Vouchers take money away from the public schools. I am not going to take my eye off the prize and allow vouchers to break the back of public schools.”

Charlotte Observer

I do not support vouchers either, but not for the same reasons as Perdue.  I am opposed to vouchers because once you start giving private schools public money it’s just a matter of time until the state will start to enforce its will over the schools.  Hence, they will no longer be private, so what’s the point.

McCrory did not respond to her voucher comment during the debate, but afterward told reporters that he would talk more about his views on vouchers later in his campaign.

He did say he favors giving parents more choice in where to send their children to schools. He also favors the state allowing more charter schools – schools run with public money but who are given more independence to develop their own programs – to be opened in North Carolina.

This is a more positive direction to move in.  Parents need to have a choice as to where their kids go.  It shouldn’t be delegated by where they live.  I think public school funding should come from the state level.  The state should determine a set amount as to what it costs to educate each child and then the money should follow the child to whatever school the parents decide to send them to.  This will encourage competition between schools for better education because each school will want that money.

RALEIGH - Other than the traffic snarls caused as local roads were blocked to make way for the presidential motorcade, President Bush’s brief visit to the Triangle late Friday to raise funds for Republican gubernatorial nominee Pat McCrory was a low-profile affair.

Little more than two hours after it arrived, Air Force One left RDU at 6:56 p.m.

The N&O

Y’know… it’s not enough that Pres. Bush has been a total wuss on illegal immigration. Nor is it enough that he stuck with a doomed Iraqi War policy long after he should have shown Donald Rumsfeld the door. Nor is it enough that he’s presided over the biggest expansion of government since Lyndon Johnson. Nor is it enough that he, more than anyone else, has soiled the conservative brand in this country… despite not actually being a conservative.

No. He had to go and top it off yesterday… by making me sit in traffic on I-440, miss the closing time at my bank, and prevent me from depositing my paycheck. Oh, and that “traffic snarl” the article mentioned? If by “snarl” you mean “back-up over a mile long”, then yes, it was definitely a snarl.

Look, I get that the president has to travel with tight security, but gee whiz. How many taxpayer dollars went into a two hour visit that literally stopped traffic on I-440? I know he’s the leader of the free world, but does he have to inconvenience thousands of people who were just trying to get home from work and enjoy the weekend?

Pat McCrory may have picked up a big chunk ‘o change, but I don’t think he won many votes in Raleigh yesterday.

Perdue has pledged to offer two years of free tuition to build a more-educated work force as many old-economy, factory-style jobs are being lost to foreign operations, she said.

The mayor said he would support offering targeted scholarships to help fill labor gaps in areas where the state is lacking, such as in mental health. But he doesn’t support a broader plan because it would end up costing taxpayers too much, he said.

“It’s not free; someone’s going to get the bill,” he told the group of employees.

Charlotte Observer

There is no such thing as a free ride.  Someone is paying for it.  Perdue is your typical sleaze politicians telling people that if they to go the polls and vote for her she’ll give them someone else’s money.  There was a day when politicians like this used to be tarred, feathered and run out of town by an angry mob with torches and pitch forks.  Then we became “civilized.”

This plan would be extremely expensive for North Carolina and every resident and worker in the state will get stuck with the bill.

McCrory Addresses North Carolina VFW Annual Meeting

Charlotte, N.C. – Today Pat McCrory addressed the North Carolina Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) annual meeting in Greensboro.  His opponent, Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue, sent a representative but chose not to attend.

“I am committed to taking care of the brave men and women who served our nation honorably and protected the freedoms we hold so dear,” said McCrory.  “That is why I cleared my schedule to speak to our state’s veterans and listen to what is on their minds.  As Governor, I will always be accessible to our veterans and I will always advocate for their best interests.”

McCrory discussed a number of issues including his support for modernizing the Montgomery GI Bill, increasing space in the state veterans’ cemetery and improving mental health services for returning veterans. 

Bush is coming to Raleigh on Friday to do a private fund raiser for Pat McCrory’s gubernatorial campaign.  I honestly don’t know why anyone would want George Bush to headline an event for them.  The man is political poison and in my opinion would only hurt a decent candidate, not help.

The two major candidates for governor of North Carolina say they’ve agreed to hold five debates leading up to Election Day.

The campaigns of Democratic Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue and Republican Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory said Wednesday the first debate is set for next weekend at the North Carolina Bar Association’s annual meeting in Atlantic Beach.

Asheville Citizen-Times

McCrory will have to be sure to define himself as the candidate of change in this election.  Bev Perdue is going to continue a high tax and spend policy in the state if she wins.  In fact, she intends to tax and spend even more.