At a May 1 candidates forum at the Greensboro Historical Museum, Sen. Katie Dorsett, who is defending her NC Senate seat in District 28, and challenger Bruce Davis, a Guilford County Commissioner, took questions from audience members. In an earlier post, I published the candidates’ responses to questions I posed.
Because no Republicans filed to run for the seat, the winner of tomorrow’s primary will almost certainly take the seat, barring a successful write-in campaign.
Davis discussed why he believes it’s time for a change and representation, and Dorsett explained why she believes she should keep her seat.
Davis: After awhile of moving in the same direction, I think it’s always good to have a change. And some people say, ‘Well, no, change is not necessarily a good thing.’ But if we look around, had we not had many changes over the years we would be in a sad condition. That’s not to say anything about the Honorable Katie Dorsett, and what she has accomplished. Certainly, she has accomplished much. When we talk about a change — and certainly we’re all hoping for a change in the White House — but if we’re not looking for a change in every aspect of government and politics, then it’s not going to matter whether we change at the top because anything in between or at the bottom can overthrow or trump all the changes that are made at the top. So, I think that once you stay in a position so long you do tend to have blinders on. And you do tend to become a part of the status quo. And there’s always room for new vision…. One failure of our community is we don’t do enough of grooming our new leaders…. We tend to get in a place, and we stay a long, long time, which may be good; it may be honorable. However, I know of students right now at North Carolina A&T who are ready to start being in leadership positions. However, if we tend to pass the baton laterally and not groom and bring people up then we don’t serve our community well. Because I would rather have three or four senators who have gone through – that we would increase our political capital in our community – than to have one to stay in twenty years.”
Dorsett: “I certainly think we need to be grooming people, but I’ve been in the Senate six years — the same amount of years that my opponent has been in the Board of Commissioners. I’ve served three terms, and that’s probably one of the shortest tenures in the Senate. Most people who get there and assume any kind of leadership position must have been there for some period of time. But I run on my experience. I have been in service at the city level, at the county level, at the executive branch level, and now at the Senate level. I do serve as the majority whip, which means I am part of the leadership for the Senate. We in Guilford County have had two people who have some experience. One we have lost. That is Senator Kay Hagan, [who is vacating her seat to run for US Senate]. Two new people in the Senate from Guilford County, I think would not be of good service to us, so that really is something that I think we need to consider. I know that the voters will decide, but I think we’ve done very well by Guilford County. We’ve brought in money for the Millennium Campus. We’ve brought in money for the Furniture Market, the civil rights museum, the Charlotte Hawkins Brown [Museum]. And if we expect to have a voice in what comes to our community, you have to have had some exposure and some experience, and some tenure before you’re able to be in a leadership role. So I bring my experience to this position, and I think it has served us very well.”
The candidates responded to a question about what they might do to address the dearth of healthcare facilities in southeast Greensboro.
Dorsett: “One of the things I’ve done is find monies for children so that children are covered…. We also have different grant programs where our communities can apply for grants for assistance. And I think there was someone at the convention talking about a resolution to ask the state for a certificate of need and some funding, so we could do it in that way. But the ideas come through your [county] health department, and the health department connects with the state health department.”
Davis: “I recognize that there is a need for healthcare in southeast Greensboro. As a commissioner, I am proposing in this year’s budget that we take some steps to put something in place. Looking for funding will be one of my issue’s in this year’s budget. Where we get the money, we won’t discuss that right now, but I’ve got that figured out…. I think the same leadership has to be shown at the state level. You go get it. There’s money in different places for different needs, and the other senators and legislators have needs in their communities, and we have needs in our communities. And that’s what I’m talking about when I talk about building bridges and going and meeting with other senators and saying, ‘What is your agenda? What are you trying to do in your community?’ And then by building bridges, opening myself up to them. And then: ‘This is what I need in my community. In southeast Greensboro they need healthcare.’ There’s funding there. Let’s make it happen.”
Dorsett: “When we deal with this, we can’t just deal with southeast Greensboro. We have one-hundred counties, so we have to look at the total picture. But within that $12 million there is money for various grants for various grants, so perhaps one of those grants – if it is funded – could possibly come to our community…. That has to be put in bill form in an appropriation, and the $12.5 million is funded. Then it goes through our public health division to be spread out to the one-hundred counties. That’s our process. And so we have to deal with five hundred and some municipalities.”
Davis: “I, if elected to represent District 28 then I am going to fight for those needs in our communities. I understand that we represent the entire state, and I understand the grant process, and I understand it very clearly. The business I operate in uses some grants. Many of the boards I’ve served on use grants, so I do understand that, but I also understand where certain individuals who serve in certain capacities in different parts of the state have more highways and byways and money being spent than the law should allow. If you wonder how these things happen, if you wonder how certain things get to be, the grant process sounds like an equitable kind of thing. It sounds like it’s fair across the entire state. On paper it is like that, but in reality you do have to fight for your… that’s why you’re in that position. That’s why you represent the people. I heard about all these [initiatives Dorsett funded], but I don’t think they got funded without Ms. Dorsett fighting for them. If they did, that’s great, but in that case we don’t need the legislators and the state senators to represent that portion – we represent the entire state – but you have to be a voice for that portion that the people sent you to that seat.”
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