The last column from NC SPIN host/creator Tom Campbell really stuck in my head while I was reading. Not in a good way (the column appeared in Sunday's Greensboro News & Record). Campbell seems oblivious to what the new majorities in the NC House and NC Senate have done since January 26th of this year. In fact, Campbell’s column could’ve been written at any time before then as it certainly applied to what the failed policies of Democrats have done to our state.
To start – Campbell says our state is in a “malaise” to quote Jimmy Carter and recommends four areas to “make investments” (read: spending) to improve the health of the state.
Item 1 – Education
Campbell correctly outlines that reform of the public education system is needed at every level. I couldn’t agree more. Which is why this year, the state charter school cap has been lifted, allowing more choices in what parents, not administrators, determine is best for students. Democrats have decried cuts in education but let’s look at facts for a minute: there is no correlation in spending and student achievement. In fact, in some cases it is the opposite. Throwing more taxpayer money at a problem doesn’t fix the problem; we need solutions. I believe those solutions should include complete school choice and increased competition.
Item 2 – Jobs
The next item stated is that Governor Perdue should call a special jobs session of the legislature to enact specific policies to increase economic development. Again, this article could’ve been written years ago. Perdue nor her predecessor Mike Easley has had any meaningful policies in regard to job creation. State budgets have been chronically late and chronically bloated in spending. We have had a jobs session – this year’s session held the line on so-called temporary taxes that Governor Perdue promised to eliminate, and not surprisingly flipped her support to keeping them. Businesses want stability, not temporary taxes that never seem to go away. This has happened before. Speaker Tillis courageously corralled support of 5 reasonable Democrats to override her veto of the state budget that was passed on time. Tillis calls it “the proudest moment of his political career” and it’s something we be proud of because our elected officials did what they said they would do during the campaign season.
Item 3 – Infrastructure
Campbell seems to neglect the fact that for a decade, hundreds of millions of dollars have been stolen from the Highway Trust Fund to balance previous bloated budgets by state Democrats. This money would’ve gone directly to fixing infrastructure. In 2009, federal stimulus money that was intended for shovel-ready projects and infrastructure needs went to again balancing a budget that was too large to protect spending and vote-buying programs. Our state will still feel the effects of mistakes and failed policies of the last several years but instead of complaining, our leaders are acting.
Item 4 – Leadership
This is where Campbell really goes off the rails. He says that our legislature isn’t grooming leaders of the future and that the legislature needs to enact term limits on legislative leadership. It’s really inexcusable that he doesn’t seem to know Speaker Tillis led the effort to get term limits for legislative leadership considered in the special constitutional amendments session this September. Campbell also calls for reshaping gubernatorial terms to a limit of one six-year term. It works for Virginia (one term, for four years) but I really don’t see the necessity of implementing it here in North Carolina, especially when terms are set at no more than two consecutive terms. Maybe creating a Jim Hunt rule would work to keep career politicians out of office could work.
Our state has suffered from ineffective leadership for some time. Campbell is right in that respect but this column just missed the point entirely. We finally have leaders committed to putting our state back on track with low taxes, meaningful reforms, and principled decision-making. We should stand behind them now and work to send more new blood to Raleigh in 2012 to reinforce their majority. Complete school choice, spending and tax cuts, meaningful infrastructure decisions, and a new Governor would go a long way towards getting North Carolina moving again.
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