State legislative candidates square off at Greensboro forum

Republican Jeff Hyde (left) and Democrat Don Vaughan address voters.

The Clean Smokestacks bill, a piece of legislation passed by the NC General Assembly in 2002, became a reference point for an open debate about the role of government in regulating business during a candidate forum tonight at Congregational United Church of Christ in Greensboro.

“The environment for small business in North Carolina is a poor one,” said Jeff Hyde, the Republican candidate for NC Senate District 27. “We are overtaxed, over-regulated and the mandates that come down from government for business activity are stifling.”

Irwin Smallwood, a retired News & Record managing editor, probed Hyde on the point, asking him to name three regulations he would repeal.

“One instance would be we required Duke Power a couple years ago to spend $3 million to clean smokestacks on the idea that there would be a significance difference in the emissions of those smokestacks,” Hyde responded. “Since it’s been done, there’s no discernible effect. They’ve done exactly what the state asked them to do. And yet what’s happened [is] our energy costs have gone up.”

Hyde’s Democratic opponent, freshman Sen. Don Vaughan, was given an opportunity to speak, but steered away from conflict. Vaughan said that he believes in a free enterprise system and generally favors less regulation on business, and pivoted to a different issue: “I think our teachers are over-regulated in the classroom. I think we should give them more ability to handle their problems without having to go up the food chain.”

Pricey Harrison, the Democratic incumbent in the NC House District 57 race, used part of her allotted time to chastise Hyde.

“The Clean Smokestacks bill is one of the best things we’ve ever done to clean up the air here in North Carolina,” she said. “It reduced emissions by more than 70 percent and it’s been a tremendous tool. And we have lower asthma rates; we can actually document that.”

Harrison and her Republican opponent, Jon Hardister, sketched out different political philosophies, but remained cordial and avoided direct challenges against each other on the issues.

The two candidates demonstrated different approaches in response to a question about what services they would cut to make up an expected budget shortfall next year.

“Clearly, if we cut $3 billion out of a $19 billion budget, that 15 percent of what’s out there is going to be pretty serious, and I think we’ll set ourselves back decades in terms of the investments in education and quality of life – I think will severely undermine us," Harrison said. "I think there’s a place where we can cut, but we’re going to have to have some alternatives. Close the tax loopholes. There are a ton of those out there. That’s been sort of forbidden ground. A $100 million bank tax loophole. There are things like that out there we can look at. Review the whole tax code. I’m not an expert. There are ways to create more equity in the tax code because we don’t really have that in the tax code right now. But there’s some pork in the budget, and I’m frustrated by that. I tried to lead the charge to eliminate that $10 million subsidy that was going to the UNC Booster Club and opposed that mega port that was never going to get permitted. There are things like that in the budget, but I don’t think it’s going to add up to $3 billion. It might be a half billion.”

Hardister responded, “The first thing we’ve got to do is what you hear politicians say all the time: You’ve got to go through the budget line by line. We need to start doing that, but in particular, we need to go to zero-based budgeting. After that, to look for wasteful spending I would start with corporate subsidies and corporate incentives, excessive possible entitlement programs, and the discretionary spending. We need to really put a hold on discretionary spending until we get the budget under control. And then I think we need spending caps. We need a constitutional amendment that pegs allowable spending with changes in inflation and population. Because North Carolina for years our population has increased, but spending increased at a faster rate, so we need to tie the two together and also put a formula in there for inflation.”

Sparks flew between Republican Theresa Yon (right) and Democrat Maggie Jeffus, who are competing for the NC House District 59 seat.

Remarks by Democratic incumbent Maggie Jeffus and Republican challenger Theresa Yon, who are vying for the neighboring House District 59 seat, provided more discernible contrasts for voters.

Asked to provide an example of wasteful spending, Yon mentioned the state film tax credit, which was increased from 11 percent to 25 percent in the most recent session.

“The state of North Carolina taxpayers will now pay 25 percent of the cost of making movies,” Yon said. “It’s projected to cost us $160 million over the course of the next few years. Do we really want the taxpayers to pay $160 million?”

Jeffus defended the use of incentives to maintain the film industry in North Carolina.

“You all remember ‘Dawson’s Creek’?” she asked. “That has left. We have lost to Louisiana. We’ve lost to Canada. We’ve lost to Mississippi. We’ve lost to Georgia. The governor was right on the verge of – back in the long session, I guess – of announcing a film that was being filmed in North Carolina. She was sure we would get it. Only to find out the next day that Georgia got it. These film people, the people that produce them, they bring jobs into North Carolina. Guilford County does have a film office here, and films have been shot here in Greensboro and High Point – all around. So we’re talking about jobs. Construction. Production. Directors. Costumes. They stay in hotels and motels. They buy food. It’s just a no-brainer. We need jobs. And that’s what we’re trying to do.”

Yon retorted, “‘Dawson’s Creek’ went off the air; it’s not filmed anymore.”

Yon and Jeffus also parted ways on the issue of education, specifically on a proposal by Yon to require that a minimum of 65 cents of every dollar allocated for education be spent in the classroom.

“I know my opponent has come out against that publicly,” Yon said. “She says it will tie the hands of local education agencies, and I disagree. Guilford County may use that extra money in the classroom to pay teachers bonuses. Forsyth County might use it to buy textbooks. Another county might use it to replace their arts and music programs they’ve had to cut. Another county might decide, ‘We need an after-school reading program.’ But it’s spent in the classroom. If we took just three cents more of every single dollar and spent it in the classroom, that’s $210 million more in our schools without raising your taxes. The lady in maroon asked earlier if we can cut some administration. Yeah, I think we can cut some administration and put it in the classroom.”

Jeffus acknowledged her difference of opinion.

“I do oppose the 65 cents in the classroom,” she said. “I want everything that we can get for the schools and for the classes and for the children. She does not understand how the budget is done. And we do need to give them flexibility. It will tie their hands. That’s one of the things we do – we give a great deal of flexibility to the [local education agencies], and each LEA is different. What we need in Guilford County, they might not need in Carteret County or someplace else – Hoke County – so that they have the flexibility to do what they need to do. And I think most of them do a diligent job of putting it into the classroom. And a great deal of our education money goes to teacher salaries.”

Yon found an unlikely ally for her initiative in Marcus Brandon, the Democratic candidate for House District 60, who noted in his remarks that he was not opposed to mandating that 65 cents out of every dollar be spent in the classroom.

Brandon's Republican opponent, Lonnie R. Wilson, outlined a conservative Christian political ideology.

“Believe me, when you get up here, the elevator doesn’t go all the way to the top as much as it usually does, and you can’t remember everything you want to say," he said. "So I’m going to have to read some of my stuff. And I do believe this stuff that I’m reading. I do believe ‘In God we trust.’ And I do believe that our representatives should defend our ancient landmarks of Judeo-Christian values. And those we send to Raleigh should do that. And I am a conservative; I am a Republican. This is my first run for office, and maybe the only one.”

Broader themes related to longstanding Democratic control of the General Assembly and a the possibility of a Republican majority after the coming election emerged in an exchange between Republican John Blust and Democrat Alma Adams, who respectively face nominal opposition in their quest for reelection in safe districts 62 and 58. Libertarian Jeffery Simon and Republican Darin H. Thomas – neither of whom was present – are respectively seeking the District 62 and District 58 seats.

“The process is broken,” Blust said. “You see it in Washington. You see it in Raleigh. Rep. Jeffus just told you the decisions are all made in Room 612. And I’ve been out on the block before. I’ve knocked on over 13,000 doors in this community, and I’ve won elections, and I’m entitled to a seat in the room where the decisions are made. I can’t use force and I can’t be violent, but I resent that I’m shuffled off because, ‘You’re in the minority and you don’t get to. We’ll tell you and we’ll come out and we’ll give you a 300-page bill and you’re supposed to vote for it or you’re against education. You’re against the children.’

“And I’ve heard that over and over, and I’ve still studied,” he continued. “I’ve come up with proposals. When we redid the budget a couple years ago, I had five or six amendments. I run an amendment every budget. They set the process up so you can’t touch the decisions they’ve made in the back room. And it’s wrong. It has got to be opened up. The answer to the budget would be, let all 120 House members have some say. I resent it. It really angers me. I hear the same thing on television. I hear it out of the president. I hear it out of the Houser speaker. ‘The Republicans are the party of no, and they don’t have any ideas.’ If I don’t have any ideas, then you can let me in Room 612 and I won’t do a thing because I don’t have any ideas. But I have ideas.”

Blust added, “If Marcus Brandon wins and the Republicans have the majority – I’m more hopeful than ever – If Alma wins, I am not going to let the Republicans arrange that House the same way and say, ‘You don’t get to represent your people.’ It’s a blight on our constitution, our way of government. And we’re going to have to be willing as Republicans to lose some votes because we might run something and instead of getting people by cajoling them and threatening and having a $128,000 base-pay speakers aide go whisper in your ear, ‘We don’t have the votes, can you leave?’ let the body work. You might find the budget gets better. The process will work. The genius of our republic will let us pass good, solid budgets.”

Adams – like Jeffus, a senior budget writer – disputed Blust’s assertion that the room where the Appropriations Committee meets is closed, adding that it’s natural that the party in control will limit participation from minority members.

“I don’t want anybody to think that 612 is closed,” she said. “Rep. Blust, I don’t know how many times you’ve been in there. The door’s always open. The process – Rep. Blust was there when the Republicans were in control. The process – now, I’ve been there 16 and a half years – the process has never changed, no matter who’s in control. But we do work together. But there are some philosophical differences that are probably always going to exist. Now, how you change that I don’t know. I haven’t been able to change it in 16 years. When Speaker Brubaker was speaker when I came there or after I came there, I was silenced and could not present my amendments or speak. Some of those things are probably never going to go away. But I don’t want people here to think that we don’t collaborate and put legislation together. I mean, I filed a number of bills with three Republican women. I chaired the women’s caucus that actually the Republicans put me in. There is some civility. Whether that process is going to change from historically the way it is, I’m not sure how much we can do about that.”

Gladys Robinson was the lone candidate present for the NC Senate District 28 race. Republican Trudy Wade and independent Bruce Davis will also be on the ballot. Wade was unable to attend because she was participating in a previously scheduled neighborhood walk in the Greensboro City Council district that she represents.

Prompted by supporter Lewis Brandon, Robinson knocked Wade for a unanimous decision by the city council last month to delay approval of a $5 million federal grant through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to provide weatherization for buildings in east Greensboro last month. Minutes from the council's Sept. 21 meeting state, "Council discussion focused on the potential consequences of loan defaults and the City’s assumption of financial responsibility."

“I think it’s a travesty," Robinson said. "What we’re talking about now is how to grow jobs so we can improve the economy. So any source – federal or state or businesses or whatever – we can get to come into Guilford County that promotes jobs, we know that weatherization means better use of our energy, for one thing. But it also means that it’s low-income people whose houses can be weatherized, can have more efficient living. It also means jobs. And that’s critical. So I think that any of us who say we want to go to Raleigh and we want to create jobs to improve the economy, if we’re not supporting that and if the city council’s not supporting that and my opponent, then I’m not sure that those are the kind of people that we want in Raleigh.”

Guilford conservatives get campaign season underway with political picnic

Bill Randall (right) poses with fellow candidate Howard Coble and Conservatives for Guilford County activist Isabella Adkins.

Notwithstanding the efforts of Conservatives for Guilford County to establish a nonpartisan movement, the candidates that showed up for the group’s Take Back America Picnic at Bur-Mil Park yesterday evening were all Republicans, with the exception of one unaffiliated school board candidate.

A representative of the John Locke Foundation handed out “Tea Bags” – plastic bags containing the foundation’s publications and membership information – and told spectators that they have been working with dozens of candidates across the state, including the Republican nominee for the NC Senate District 28 seat in Guilford County. Hyde and NC House District 57 candidate Jon Hardister are both avowed fans of the Locke Foundation’s body of research and policy recommendations.

Estimated at upwards of 200 people by organizers, the crowd was fired up and energized. Guilford County Republican Party Chairman Bill Wright said he feels the party is fielding good candidates this year.

The star appearance may have been Bill Randall, who only three days earlier had trounced primary opponent Bernie Reeves in a runoff for US House District 13. Randall strolled around the grounds at the event early in the evening with 13-term Republican incumbent congressman Howard Coble, who introduced the new nominee from Raleigh to voters in his native Guilford County. Coble represents US House District 6. The two were a picture of old hand and young upstart, the seasoned incumbent who fended off a handful of primary contenders and the GOP challenger seeking to take on liberal Democrat Brad Miller.

Eating a hamburger under the shelter before the program of candidate remarks began, Randall reflected on Reeves’ sore-loser remark to the News & Observer that “it's sort of like anarchy out there.” The new nominee said his former opponent made some “strategic errors,” including disrespecting the Tea Party movement.

“One of the problems he had with that is his disparaging remarks were a matter of record,” Randall said. “And when confronted with it, he didn’t come clean. All he had to say is that ‘I did make remarks to that effect, although they may have been misconstrued or come across as more harsh than I intended,’” adding that Reeves should have then stated that he recognized the validity of sentiments held by Tea Party adherents.

“He has a lot to offer the Republican Party,” Randall continued. “He would do well to try to unify the base rather than divide the base. He missed a great opportunity because he didn’t concede with grace. The problem is that Bernie Reeves could not discern that there are some traditional Republicans who embrace the ideology of the Tea Party. And when you disparage the Tea Party you disparage those people who are rock-solid Republicans.”

Bill Randall, candidate for US House District 13

“Raise your hand if you’ve ever heard the argument that we need to get rid of illegal immigrants because they’re taking up welfare benefits and lining up in the emergency rooms – how many of you have ever heard that argument? Stop it. Stay with me. That’s not the argument. I say again, that’s not the argument.

“There are illegals in this country who’ve not once gone to emergency rooms, that are hardworking and industrious. But that’s not the argument. Because, see, if you argue from the standpoint of what they’re taking away in benefits, you’re disarmed when someone can prove that they’re not using them. Follow me. We need to learn how to craft our argument based on the US Constitution: And what’s at stake is the rule of law. Amen?

“Let’s say that you all went on a trip. Bill Randall comes to your neighborhood. I know you’re out of town. I break into your home. Inside your home I find everything in disarray. Some of you say, ‘Well, you see my teenagers at home’ – no, that’s… I’ve got kids, too. I find everything in disarray. Dishes stacked to the ceiling in the kitchen. Clothes in the laundry room, dirty, piled up. Windows dirty. Yard not cut. Everything is a mess. I go in there, wash all your dishes, sparkling clean, put ’em up in your cabinet, wash all the clothes, fold ’em, put ’em away, even iron your shirts, even clean the toilet bowl. Go into your refrigerator and I take things out and I cook a sumptuous meal. And that sumptuous meal is waiting on you when you get back home. Folks, you come in. You like what you see. But you get on the phone and you call the police. And I get carted away to jail. Is that the right thing to do or the wrong thing to do? It’s the right thing because I broke the rule of law. I don’t care what my intentions are; the rule of law is what prevails in this country.”


Jeff Hyde, a member of Conservatives for Guilford County who is challenging one-term Democrat Don Vaughan for the NC Senate District 27 seat, was introduced by his friend Brett Riddleberger as a “hardcore conservative.”

Jeff Hyde, candidate for NC Senate District 27

“North Carolina is struggling with prosperity. A once great state – still is a great state – we have beautiful aesthetics all across our state. We’ve got a great talent base. We have natural resources, but we are on our way with our state government to becoming New Jersey, Massachusetts, California, New York or Michigan, and I don’t think North Carolinians want that. I know that I don’t want that. Unemployment in North Carolina has been for 15 straight months above 10 percent. Democrats have no idea how to change that. Our solution is to take North Carolina from being the worst business-climate state in the Southeast and make it competitive with our Southeastern neighbors by reducing the tax burden on individuals, the tax burden on corporations, reducing our state gasoline tax – all these things add up to make North Carolina the 10th least likely state for businesses to succeed. The states around us – there’s no surprise – the nine states with the most economic activity are the nine states that don’t have a personal income tax. There’s no surprise in that. If we want North Carolina to be prosperous again, if we want to reduce our unemployment, we’ll put our money back into the private sector where we can incubate jobs around the kitchen table and entice new businesses to form in North Carolina and put private citizens back to work.”


Trudy Wade, a two-term member of the Greensboro City Council, is running for the open seat vacated by Democrat Katie Dorsett against two opponents: Democrat Gladys Robinson and independent Bruce Davis.

Trudy Wade, candidate for NC Senate District 28

“I now have two opponents. If you haven’t heard the news, I now have an unaffiliated running against me. One thing I want to make very clear about the two candidates running against me in Senate District 28: Both will vote for a tax increase, I can assure you of that. One has a proven record of voting for tax increases, and the other has openly stated that she’d be in favor in tax increases. You don’t have to worry about that with me. You can look at my record on the Greensboro City Council, and I haven’t voted for any tax increases.

“The other thing I want to bring to your attention is I’m worried about jobs because there’s not a lot of jobs out there for us and we definitely need to do something about that. What do we need to do? I’m a small business owner. We need to give small businesses a break and let us put people back to work because it is the only way we’re going to get this economy going again. Give me a break, let me pay somebody a salary, let them go out and buy from you and everyone else that runs a small business. Let us all get back to work.

“The other thing is I want to take care of some of that corruption in Raleigh. We need to get out; we need to vote. I can’t change it without you. If you don’t go out and vote this time we won’t get a change in Raleigh. But I can assure you, if you go out and vote and I’m elected, you will have a change in Raleigh.”


John Blust, who faces a nominal challenge from Libertarian Jeffery Simon, has become something of a role model for GOP candidates seeking legislative office in Raleigh, especially with the retirement of fellow Republican Laura Wiley in NC House District 61. Although he faces no Democratic opponent in his race, he’s weathered adversity by virtue of the fact that his entire career in the General Assembly has been spent as part of the minority party. He recruited Theresa Yon to run in Democratic-leaning District 59, and his limited government philosophy is emulated by another Republican challenger, District 57 candidate Jon Hardister.

John Blust, candidate for NC House District 62

“If you want to know why this is so important, turn around and look at those children back there. The latest figures I have seen say that the federal government has an unfunded liability, if you know what that means in accounting. It’s bad enough that we have a national debt right now that just went over $13 trillion; it’s approaching the level of the gross national product. The unfunded liability, what are the promises made by the politicians all these years is numbered now at $130 trillion, and somehow those children back there are going to have to come up with this money. Now, the opposition likes to think that they are pro-child; they claim to be pro-education, pro-child. And one of the tasks we have to do is we have to take them off their moral high ground and capture it ourself, because you are not for the children in any way if you are willing to saddle them with $130 trillion in debt. Don’t tell me you’re for the children.

“Don’t tell me you’re for education when the only education model we’ve seen is the one we’ve seen. They won’t allow us to go to charter schools. They won’t allow us to go to money-follows-the-student. We have some of the worst public schools K-12, but we have some of the best universities. Now, what’s the difference there? The universities you choose where to go. The students, the parents choose where to go. The K-12 is a monopoly. We debated a bill not long ago on how to handle low-performing, non-performing schools. This is 2010. I couldn’t help but be struck that this is 2010, and two education governors ago we had an education governor named Jim Hunt that said that if you spent the money they wanted to spend and you enacted the very agenda they wanted and they got their way on everything, every initiative, every cent they wanted for education is what happened, Jim Hunt said you’d be number-one by 2010. And here 2010 came and we were having to debate ways to handle non-performing, low-performing schools. And that was with Jim Hunt, “the education governor” from 1992 to 2010, then Mike Easley, soon to be indicted, an “education governor” from 2000 to 2008. Now, what happened? Maybe their fundamental model was wrong. Maybe it’s not just the money. Maybe, instead of approaching every program as if it’s a matter of government programs, government money, we have now come to the cliff.”


Republican Theresa Yon is challenging veteran Democratic lawmaker Maggie Jeffus in NC House District 59.

Theresa Yon, candidate for NC House District 59

“Just last week, House Bill 1973, film tax credit… this is a bill that had a lot of different tax credits and spending that individually probably would not have been passed. They put it all under one bill, and you get the film tax credit. This gives up to $20 million in tax credits for people that come to North Carolina to film movies on our coast. That’s all well and good, but it doesn’t help Guilford County. Here’s the idea: There’s no way that our tax dollars should be paid to Hollywood actors and producers to come here and film movies. And our representative, John Blust, put out an amendment in which he said, ‘We need to cap that; we shouldn’t be paying actors or people that are paid, you know, millions of dollars to make movies.’ That amendment was voted down by the Democrats and my opponent. So if someone comes and films a movie for $80 million, you the taxpayers write them a check for $20 million regardless of how much they pay in taxes. If an actor gets paid $12 million, the taxpayers write a $3 million check to him – 25 percent of their production cost is going to be funded now by the taxpayers with House Bill 1973. I think that’s a bad decision.

“Yesterday – here’s a good example for government interfering in your lives a little bit too much. Just yesterday the House voted on a bill and it has to do with childcare. A lot of you work, and maybe in the summertime your children are in daycare. Well, they’ve decided on a couple things that they know better what your children need than you do. No child over 1 year old is allowed to have four to six ounces of juice per day in daycare. No children over 2 years old are allowed to drink any whole milk, reduced fat only. And you are not allowed to bring sugar-sweetened sodas to daycare anymore, or they’ll be confiscated. So if you give your child a Coke once in awhile to take to daycare, it will be taken away…. So, that’s a bit of a disappointment, government interfering in our lives.”


Jon Hardister’s reluctance to take a firm position on a piece of legislation proposed by his Democratic opponent, Pricey Harrison, that would eliminate the cap on liabilities for offshore oil spills off the coast of North Carolina has been the object of a fair amount of discussion. He said after this speech that he has now come to the conclusion that eliminating the cap is the right thing to do.

His stump speech was more of less boilerplate Republican agenda, with little attention to specifics.

Jon Hardister, candidate for NC House District 57

“A lot of people don’t realize how high our taxes are in North Carolina. We have the ninth highest income tax, and that’s both corporate and individual. I believe you create jobs through the private sector. The government can’t create jobs. If you look at Virginia, for example, their taxes are lower, [and] their unemployment rate is a lot lower than ours. We have an unemployment rate that’s just over 11 percent. In Virginia, it’s just over 6 percent. It’s much lower. I believe it all comes down to a simple question: Do you think that government is the solution to our problems or the cause of our problems? (Cause.) Exactly. And, uh, I gotta tell you: We have an opportunity, this year, to take back our government. Okay, I’m a Republican. I’m proud to be a Republican. But that’s not what it’s all about. It’s about principle. It’s about what you stand for. And we have a lot of work to do. Republicans have a great opportunity now to take the state House and take the state Senate, and get some work done. We need to eliminate wasteful spending and we need to go to zero-based budgeting. We need some spending-cap legislation and we need to eliminate the cap on charter schools. I’ll tell you what. Here’s how I look at it: When the economy started to get bad I had to tighten my belt, and I had to be careful about my expenditures. Government should do the same thing. It’s our money they’re spending. Politicians have a responsibility to be careful with spending policies.”


Lisa Ingle Clapp, an unaffiliated challenger, faces two-term Democrat Nancy Routh in the nonpartisan contest for one of the at-large seats on the Guilford County School Board.

Lisa Ingle Clapp, candidate for Guilford County School Board at large

“I think it’s very important to vote for a candidate who has children coming in and out of their doors every day, not just my own boys but their friends and their friends’ parents. And you know how we parents network and talk about what’s going on at the school level. A couple of things I wanted to make a point about. One thing is in Guilford County I think we lack in the school system, accountability, on a couple of different levels. The first level is I think we need to hold the Guilford County School Board accountable for how their spending our hard-earned tax dollars. I don’t know about you guys, but I’m a hard-working – my husband is a hard-working person and we pay lots of taxes, as all of you do as well. When you study up on what’s going on with the school board, you never know where your money’s going. And I think the truth and transparency approach to that would be very applicable at this point, especially since our superintendant, Mo Green, speaks of that in his strategic plan of transparency. So I’m running on transparency. If you want truth and transparency, I’m your girl.

“The other thing I wanted to bring forward was parent accountability. We need to hold our parents accountable to stay involved enough with their children that they know what’s going on inside of their school doors everyday. A lot of things take place in our schools that we don’t ever know about as the general public. That’s one of my biggest, biggest pet peeves with the school board, and one of the main reasons I decided to run. And I’ll tell you briefly about that and then I’ll close. When we have convicted felons who are bringing loaded handguns into high schools and middle schools, folks we got a problem. We got a problem with a school board who wants to do away with our SRO officers in the middle of our middle and high schools, because we need ’em. We need ’em desperately. And we need a voice on that school board who is going to keep those SRO officers in their positions. I’m sick and tired of taking my own two children to school and having to worry about their safety when they’re not on my watch. In order for us to make a difference in that, you’ve got to have truth and transparency. I have numerous e-mails and phone calls every single week since I’ve decided to run for school board at large from parents, and from staff and from teachers who tell me over and over the things that go on behind closed doors that nobody knows about because their acts of violence and they’re pushed under the rug, so to speak. Because we don’t need to know about it, as parents and taxpayers. I’m here to tell you: It’s time for us to face the music. We got to know what’s going on so that we can restore safety, discipline and respect back into our schools. If that’s what you want in a candidate – a voice for the people, for the students, for the staff and for the teachers and the parents, then on Nov. 2, vote Lisa Clapp for school board.”


Becki Gray, John Locke Foundation

“The forefathers also gave us a gift. That gift was freedom. But that gift has been abused, it’s been misused, it is in danger and it is in peril. Our country is in trouble. We have a healthcare bill that no one wanted, that was shoved through Congress and shoved down our throats. Spending is out of control. National security is at risk. We finally have a state that has stepped up and done something about illegal immigration, and what’s our president doing? He’s going to sue that state. We have a government that wants to do everything for everybody with no concern for what it costs. And all of these things are taking away our freedom, chipping away at that.

“So are we safe here in North Carolina? Are our state leaders protecting our freedoms? They’re not. We have corrupt politicians that we can’t trust who are lining their pockets with our tax money. Just read the latest edition of Carolina Journal to find out who’s been indicted today. And the list keeps getting longer and longer. Unemployment is in double digits and has been for the last 15 months. North Carolina has one of the highest tax rates in the Southeast. Government is everywhere in our lives, telling us how, when and where we can live to the point of being ridiculous. Do you know that there are counties in North Carolina, there are places in North Carolina where plastic bags have been outlawed? There’s a smoking ban in effect in North Carolina where the government is telling us where we can smoke in businesses we own. Now I’m not a big smoker – I’m not a smoker at all, I don’t like to be around cigarette smoke – what I really don’t like is the government telling me what I can do and can’t do in establishments that I own. They want to tell us where we can water our lawns, even in the mountains what color to paint our house, what kind of light bulbs to use, and all the while they’re continuing to increase the entitlement programs that people get more dependent, more government and more government control. And the cost of all this government in North Carolina: Do you know that since 1980, North Carolina’s budget has increased 190 percent? And during that period population has only grown 62 percent. So keep that in mind.”

Political roughhousing at the Conservatives for Guilford County picnic

John Blust shows fellow Republican state House candidate Jon Hardister what a political butt-whuppin' is all about at the Conservatives for Guilford County Take America Back Picnic yesterday.

Burying the hatchet...

Actually, Blust and Hardister were reenacting the Govenor Spencer-Nathan Tabor affray a couple weeks ago to allow Blust to make the point that if a white man attacked someone at a Democratic Party gathering the liberal media would have been all over it.

I'll have more serious coverage in the form of photos, quoted speeches, reporting and analysis on the blog this weekend and in print on Wednesday.

ADDENDUM: During his stump speech, Blust joked, "I don't know if I'm at the right rally, having read the media accounts over the last year [of] Tea Partiers. So far I have not witnessed a single act of violence yet. I haven't heard a single racial epithet. I haven't seen any threats made at all, so I wonder if I'm at the right place."

Highlights from last night's High Point GOP event

The High Point Republican Women and the Guilford County Republican Teens hosted a meet-and-greet event for Republican candidates last night at the Deep River Plantation Club House in the north High Point.

There is a lot of passion in the Guilford County Republican Party this year behind the idea of repealing the national healthcare reform legislation signed by President Obama, behind a sense that government has outgrown and needs to return to its constitutional bounds, and behind the perennial GOP drive to cut taxes and spending. Although most of the candidates were running for state office, grievances against the Democratic administration of Gov. Beverly Perdue were much less pronounced than expressions of anger towards the President and the Democratic Congress.

Loyalties to particular candidates, as always, depends in large part on geography and personal history. It’s difficult for me to get a read on which candidates are gaining traction.

First, a roll call of candidates and proxies in attendance, noting the absence of their opponents:

US House District 6: Challenger Cathy Brewer Hinson was present with a giant trailer parked outside bearing her likeness. Incumbent Howard Coble and challengers Jeff Phillips and Dr. James Taylor were represented by campaign staffers and supporters. Challengers Jon Mangin and Billy Yow were absent.

NC Senate District 28: Trudy Wade was present but left before the formal part of the program. Jeffrey Brommer was present. Robert Brafford Jr. was not.

NC House District 57: Jon Hardister, present (opponent Wendell Sawyer not).

NC House District 61: John Faircloth, Georgia Nixon-Roney and Paul Norcross present (Gerald T. Grubb not).

NC House District 62: Incumbent John Blust was present (challenger Michael Garrett not).

Sheriff: Incumbent BJ Barnes present (challenger Scott A. Jones not).

Guilford County Commission District 2: Myrene Stanley present (opponent Bill Bencini not).



John Blust, a conservative who has served in the NC House since 2001, has assumed the role of dean or ideological exemplar of the Guilford County Republican candidates in Guilford County. Sheriff BJ Barnes is also a revered figure in the party, but the uniqueness of his job description makes him less of a role model for candidates who are largely vying for legislative seats.

As he did at the Guilford County Republican Party Convention a week ago, Blust referenced movies in his stump speech. And as he did at the convention, the candidate characterized himself as a lonely fighter, equally committed to the struggle in difficult and favorable times. Two House candidates, Jon Hardister and Paul Norcross, mentioned Blust by name during their speeches and pledged to join forces with him.

First, some movie references:

I guess I take a certain approach to being in office. If you’ve ever seen the movie The American President — anyone seen that? — with Martin Sheen is chief of staff. Michael Douglas is the president. The poll-driven president, whose foundering and towards the end of the movie as he’s foundering watching the polls, his chief of staff, Martin Sheen, tells him: ‘Here’s an issue we ought to take on. We ought to ride on it. And it needs to be taken on.’ And the President says, ‘You don’t win elections by telling 69 percent of the people they’re wrong. You fight the fights that you can win.’

And I take the approach that Martin Sheen, the chief of staff, immediately says after that. He says, ‘You fight the fights that need fighting.’ And that’s what we have to do. That’s what we have to elect to office is people willing to take on a fight for what’s right, not just when the wind’s blowing our way, but when it isn’t popular.

And to use the movie analysis, I’ve been sent to the cooler a lot like Steve McQueen was in The Great Escape. And I’m willing to go to the cooler. I had my secretary fired, I was given an office a little bigger than a broom closet, I was removed from every committee because I got up and said something and wrote articles about what was going on in the House when I got there. It’s a simple as this approach to governing as Republicans ought to be: Do what needs doing.

Blust made the case that the first step towards achieving goals conservatives hold dear is reforming the legislative process itself.

And the first thing that needs doing — if you watched the healthcare debate — we have to fix our very institutions that are being taken from us by powerful politicians, and it’s the same way in Raleigh like Speaker Pelosi. The House didn’t want to pass that bill. The will of the elected representatives was reflected in their people and would have voted down that bill, except Nancy Pelosi has too much power and can get them in the backroom, make promises, cajole, threat and get your representative government to do what you don’t want it to do.

And we have to fix that first of all. We have to disperse that power in Raleigh. That’s where the corruption has come in — right there. And we’re not going to get the Taxpayer Protection Act, which I authored; we’re not going to get zero-based budgeting; we’re not going to get annexation reform; we’re not going to get a whole lot of these things until we break the power that’s in charge. And it’s amazing to me: They tell us we’re obstructionists. I file bills, other members of the House Republicans file bills — good ideas that would pass even a Democratic House if they could come up for a vote. The speaker blocks it. One man sticks it in a committee, tells the committee chairman not to hear it, and then turns around and calls us obstructionists.

And I’ll tell you: We have got to break that power. I have literature here. Read bills before you pass them? 1997. An editorial. What? Read the budget before you pass it? ‘Blust’s ideas for reform in vogue.’ Some of my legislation has been adopted with other legislators’ names on it. Just this morning, an article in the News & Record — Medicaid fraud detection software. The governor’s finally implementing it. I filed a bill in 2003 over a billion wasted dollars, and over seven years ago, and they finally got around to it. And if you keep me in office, we’re going to get around to a whole lot of things that need to be done to clean up this state and save you money.

Tonight was my first opportunity to hear House District 61 candidate Georgia Nixon-Roney. Her speech focused heavily on biography, qualifications and geographical ties.

My parents moved here in 1959 from Greece, and I was born in High Point, North Carolina. I’ve lived in Jamestown ever since they moved there when I was two. Being Greek, my parents owned a restaurant. I’m sure that’s no surprise to anybody. And another no surprise is that they had four kids just so we could run the restaurant for them. I began at age eight, and that’s the truth. I started washing vegetables and prepping work, and I haven’t stopped working since.

Currently, I’m mayor pro tem in Jamestown. It’s my second term on the Jamestown Town Council. I’ve always been interested in politics; as an attorney, I think that comes with the ground. But my children were at Millis Road [Elementary], which is where I went to school, and when it came time for them to approach middle school, I found that I could not put them in that particular school or any school that we were in the district for. So my kids now attend Wesleyan Christian Academy, which is a great school. But I don’t think it’s fair that my kids get to attend a great school, and many others may not be able to afford to do that.

I did run for the Jamestown Town Council, and won my first time. And as I said, I’m mayor pro tem. I graduated from law school in 1990, and I went to the district attorney’s office, where I worked there for three years, and then I started my law practice in High Point. A property owner. I’m a business owner, a mother, and I generally want to improve the quality of life for people in District 61, the area that’s so dear to me. My business is in High Point. I live in Jamestown. I have property in Sedgefield. My sister lives in Adams Farm. This is the area that I’m concentrating on.

And I’m keenly aware of all the issues that we face. And we all have the same values here. We all want the same improvements. But as an attorney, I understand the legal jargon. I understand how to close loopholes, how to introduce laws and bills that affect us. And we can do it more succinctly. I think that that gives me a little advantage. I think I can get up there and jump in with both feet, whereas it might takes someone else a little bit of time to get used to. I think I can do it efficiently.

It was also my first opportunity to hear Cathy Brewer Hinson, who is challenging Howard Coble for the US House District 6 seat:

There are three main points of my platform.

One is to stop the money flow to the executive branch.

The second point is the FairTax. I am strongly in favor of getting rid of every tax that the federal government gives us, which will bring businesses back to the United States. And the foreign companies will come once the businesses start coming back in because they’ll have no income taxes, no consumption, no compliance costs.

The other thing is that I would like to limit terms. I don’t think anyone should have a longer term than the president serves.

I would like to see bills written that so that you can understand them. They should post it online so that [inaudible] no junkets, no earmarks. I do not believe that the president should be able to have the right to have his executive orders stated without the approval of Congress. He’s written more of his executive orders than any other president, to date.

I would like to see that the people who are elected are not under orders of either the Republican Party or the Democratic Party, but they are answerable to we the people.

I would like to see everyone who is elected subject to recall votes every two years, so if you’re not doing a good job, the people can recall you and have you replaced. North Carolina right now does not have a recall vote. Some of our Democratic elected officials do not do the job they have promised. And we’re kind of stuck with them until they are reelected or their time is up.

I think that the people are stepping forward now, and wanting more of a voice. We’ve had our constitutional rights — First Amendment, Second Amendment, Fourth Amendment, Fifth Amendment and the Tenth Amendment — are being compromised. We need to have less big government and more state government.

Sheriff BJ Barnes is probably looking past the primary to the general election. His Republican opponent, Scott Jones, faces pending misdemeanor charges related to an altercation with a deputy, but has mounted enough of a campaign to have signs dotted around Greensboro. Among the four Democrats on the ballot, retired US Marshal Harlon Costner might be the most viable thanks to his federal law enforcement experience and the fact that he has been campaigning since last fall. But in a year in which Republican turnout is expected to be high, it will be tough to beat Barnes, who already enjoys the advantage of name recognition and general popularity among the electorate.

As your sheriff — I’ve been your sheriff for about 16 years — I have responsibility for about 652 square miles, about 465,000 citizens. And we operate two jails and one prison farm. We have about 900 prisoners in jail we’re responsible for on a daily basis.

And we are the premier sheriff’s office in this state. Not only do I say that, but the North Carolina Governor’s Crime Commission said that twice. The National Association for County Organizations has said it numerous times. We have a sheriff’s office that you can be proud of. The men and women do a fantastic job. We have about 135,000 papers each year…. We’re responsible for making sure that you and your families are safe, and the people who need to go to jail have a place to go.

With that in mind, we try to make sure that we keep them there once they get there. We’ve had no escapes, which was unlike it was when I first came into office….

We’ve got a new jail that we’re building. What started out a $115 million jail, we’ve got it down to a $100 million jail at this particular time. And it is going to be a state-of-the-art situation. It’s the biggest project that Guilford County’s ever done. I want to make sure that it’s done right. Already, as I say, we’ve saved about $15 million off the cost of that jail. We’re going to hopefully save even more. But we’re going to have a great jail there that’s going to keep these folks off the streets who would normally be in your house because they are criminals and that’s what they do. I want to make sure that that doesn’t happen.

Now, what can I do as your sheriff? Basically, I can set the standards. And we have very, very high standards as a sheriff’s office. Those standards that we’ve set there, those men and women that are working for you have had not even a hint of impropriety. While other departments around may have issues or problems that come up we don’t do that; we haven’t done that. And it’s only because we know who we work for. And who we work for is you.

I’m going to quote the other candidates more sparingly or not at all in the interest of time and space, and avoiding redundancy from previous reporting.

Jeffrey Brommer, NC Senate District 28 candidate:

I needed some help a few years back from the state government and the federal government, and there was no one there to step up and help me. I want to be your guy in government if you need anything…. So that’s something you can count on.

“Secondly, I’m a big proponent of the Tea Party movement that’s happening. It hearkens back to the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, the times back when personal liberties were top priority, lower taxes were the issue of the day, low spending and a balanced budget. Unfortunately, we’ve gotten away from those ideals. I’m in favor of getting back to those ideals. I think that’s something we should do.

Lastly, our state’s in bad condition. That’s probably the top reason why I’m running. Taxes, as you know, are way up. Our unemployment is up. We pay some of the worst taxes in the Southeast, which effects small business. Eighty percent of all jobs are created by small business. That needs to change. The Democrats have had their way in government in Raleigh, and by God it’s time to change something about that.

Jon Hardister, NC House District 57 candidate:

I decided to run for public office because we’re clearly on the wrong track. We have too much government. Taxes are too high. We’re spending too much money. Property rights are not being protected. And I’m against forced annexation as well. We’ve got a lot of work to do.

But I’ll tell you specifically about what I would like to see done in Raleigh. We need to lower taxes and lower spending. And we particularly need a Taxpayer Protection Act that will peg spending with changes in population and inflation. We need to put something like that into effect. And John Blust over here has actually introduced that before. That’s something we need to make happen.

Paul Norcross, NC House District 61 candidate:

Somebody has to bring jobs back into this area. Government does not create jobs; private sector people create jobs. And how you support the businesses that are already here and bring new businesses in is by decreasing the burden on taxpayers…. We’ve got businesses that are going into the tank because of a number of situations, but a lot of it has to do with our tax base. We have tax refunds that our citizens can’t receive because we’re broke. That’s the government using our money, and they can’t give it back to us because they spent it. We’ve got a billion-dollar deficit right now, and John [Blust]’s up there fighting the fight right now. We need more people to help him.

John Faircloth, NC House District 61 candidate:

In 1972, I left the Greensboro Police Department and went to the state of North Carolina and worked for the Department of Justice, and put together the first employment and training standards North Carolina had ever had for criminal justice personnel — that’s law enforcement officers or correctional officers. As the sheriff said, he’s got one of the finest if not the finest sheriff’s departments in many states. I saw them back in 1972. Sheriff, you wouldn’t believe some of the things I saw back then. We’ve come a long way.

I had a chance, in doing that, to take a statute that was adopted in 1971 and put together all of the amendments to that statute and all of the regulations flowing from that statute and worked it through the General Assembly and worked it through the administrative process in Raleigh. I have experience in that building down there, and I have experience in the process.

Triad Elections ’10

NC Republicans want to know about 'Kirk Perkins'

Linda Daves, chairwoman of the NC Republican Party, jumps into the "Kirk Perkins" controversy with this statement:

"We must put in place proper safeguards to ensure that this situation never again repeats itself. Common sense regulations requiring proper identification for candidates who wish to be on the ballot and for voters wishing to to cast a ballot should be the law of the land. Identificatiion requirements have not been shown to disenfranchise voters, but they do restore confidence that our electoral processes are functioning correctly. The General Assembly should take this issue up immediately."

Requiring voters to produce photo ID at the polling places has long been a goal of North Carolina Republicans, among them NC Rep. John Blust of Guilford County. The possibility that Perkins might not even be a real person — after the candidate sought and won a seat on the soil and water board — has only added ammunition to their cause.

What Daves leaves out is that there are already safeguards in place to prevent unqualified voters from casting ballots, and safeguards to prevent voters from casting more than one ballot — just not safeguards to prevent fraudulent people from running for office. In Perkins' case, Guilford County Deputy Election Director Charlie Collicutt said, a mismatch between Perkins' name and Social Security card would have prompted a poll worker to ask for photo ID.

"He would not have been able to vote without showing us his ID," Collicutt told me. "There's a lot of safeguards in the whole voting process, but I'm nost sure the statute anticipated this kind of fraud in the filing process. But maybe it will prompt us to change some procedures."

Type rest of the post here

Bratton's German teenage sex gaffe

Okay, so it was maybe not the best anecdote to set up her argument. And apparently it wasn’t entirely accurate.

“Right now, in Germany, they’re paying teenagers to have sex when they go to rock concerts to have sex so they can have more babies, okay, because they need more young people to be workers,” Dr. Teresa Sue Bratton, Democratic candidate for US House District 6, told an audience at Holy Trinity Episcopal Church during her Oct. 21 debate with Republican Rep. Howard Coble.

“We have a tremendous number of immigrants who are coming in and ready to work," she added. "I think we should make them documented and have them work." The statement was a response to a question from moderator David Olson about how to keep Social Security solvent.

The audience roared with laughter, but when Olson turned to Coble to ask if he wanted a rebuttal, the 77-year-old congressman demurred with a “no comment.”

At the end of the debate, NC Rep. John Blust, who is running unopposed, exercised his privilege to introduce himself as a candidate, and then added, “I just want to know where to find these concerts.”

Bratton told me today that after the debate she and her husband tried to track down the source for her anecdote, to no avail. A Google search turned up no references. She said the information was published in a newsmagazine some time ago, but “certainly not in the last several years.”

The article “mentioned that they were in Germany," she said. "I don’t know if ‘they’ was the German government or some other group. They were setting up tents for the teenagers to have a private area in which to hook up, but I don’t think they used that term. I don’t know what the reward was, whether it was money or they were giving away prizes.”

Bratton said she suspects the practice is not currently taking place; otherwise it would be widely reported.

In hindsight, she would have said something else.

“It was not relevant to the point I was making,” Bratton told me. “I should have said that Canada has forty or so embassies around the world trying to recruit people to come to Canada. It would have been a better choice. The point is that in Canada and Western Europe they have a much lower ratio of contributors to beneficiaries. In this country we are not having as much of a problem because of immigration.”