Freshman Rep. Bumgardner Face Pharmacist Price In House District 109 | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Publisher's note: The author of this post is Evelyn Howell, who is a contributor to the Carolina Journal, John Hood Publisher.

Redistricting reform one of few issues separating Gaston County Republicans

    RALEIGH — Freshman state Rep. Dana Bumgardner of Gastonia and longtime Gaston County Commissioner Michael Allen "Mickey" Price of Belmont have similar platforms on education, tax reform, Medicaid, teacher tenure, and merit pay for teachers.

    One of the few differences between them heading into the May 6 Republican primary for House District 109, covering most of southern Gaston County, is legislative redistricting reform.

    Bumgardner, who runs a label-making business, said there is no need to alter the current system in which lawmakers map the political boundaries by creating a new commission to redraw the lines.

    "The system we have works, and I see no reason to get rid of it," he said. "People who drew the lines did a good job and the court validated it."

    Price, a pharmacist, said reform would have the benefit of eliminating gerrymandered districts.

    "I don't believe in carving out a Republican district or a Democratic district so that person can get elected," said Price.

    Barring a write-in or unaffiliated candidate in the Nov. 4 general election, the primary winner will capture the seat outright because no Democrats filed to run.

    The North Carolina FreeEnterprise Foundation lists District 109 as strong Republican, even though Democrats have a slight advantage among registered voters, 37.7 percent to 37.4 percent. Republican Mitt Romney won 58.3 percent of the 2012 presidential vote, and GOP Gov. Pat McCrory won 65 percent.

    On education, Bumgardner said public schools should be better, and he would like to do more.

    "Right now it seems backwards and upside down to me," Bumgardner said.

    "Some play the blame game instead of saying, 'Here's where we are. What can we do to get better?' " Bumgardner said.

    Tax-funded charter schools are an excellent alternative to traditional public schools, he said.

    "I absolutely favor more charter schools. People should have more choices where they send their children. They provide a good education. My son goes to a charter school, never been to anything else," he said.

    Bumgardner supports a law passed last year ending career status for teachers while replacing it with contracts tied to teacher performance evaluations.

    "I'm not anti-teacher. My daddy was a school teacher," he said. "Teachers are going to get a pay raise. You can count on that."

    Price said he would support more charter schools. He is not in favor of teacher tenure, but promises to look into more ways to increase teacher pay.

    "We should do whatever we can to attract good teachers," he said.

    "Our teachers are not paid enough, don't get to teach like they should. We need to have less restrictions on teachers with more freedom in the classroom instead of guidelines on end-of-grade testing," Price said.

    Both candidates agree the state's Medicaid system should be revamped or reinvented rather than expanded.

    North Carolina's Medicaid costs are the highest in the Southeast and among the highest in the United States, they said.

    In 2013 Medicaid had a $400 million cost overrun lawmakers had to plug by taking money from elsewhere in the budget, Bumgardner said. "Somebody has to pay it. The taxpayer has to pay it. We can't afford that."

    Bumgardner said "the current system is wasteful" and that's why he voted against Medicaid expansion. "There's a lot of [waste]. Everybody knows it. It's already bankrupting our state and our country."

    Bumgardner said he would support a system that would require drug testing for all Medicaid recipients.

    Price believes his health care background gives him an edge on "how to get North Carolina healthcare costs back in line."

    He said working as a pharmacist for 40 years he has seen his share of abuse and fraud, especially in medical prescriptions.

    "Taxpayers have already been abused," Price said of Medicaid. "We need to rewrite the ground rules — strengthen eligibility requirements, make sure people who apply for it actually need it — start over on how people get on it and stay on it for life."

    During his first year in office, Bumgardner helped to implement a plan to pay back $2.5 billion debt the state owes to the federal government for unemployment insurance by cutting eligibility from 26 weeks to 20 weeks, and reducing the maximum weekly benefits check from $535 to $350.

    "There was no end in sight [to pay off the debt], and now you're looking at November 2015," said Bumgardner.

    Bumgardner has served on Appropriations, Commerce and Job Development, Education, Insurance and Transportation committees. He said if re-elected he wants to do more tax and regulatory reform.

    "Right now, we are going through some tough economic times. If you vote to raise taxes now, you are making a mistake," he said.

    "When I ran the last time, I said I will not vote to raise taxes. I have kept my word," said Bumgardner.

    On the state's renewable energy subsidies, Bumgardner said solar panel businesses should operate on their own, and taxpayers should not be forced to shoulder the expense through tax subsidies required under Senate Bill 3.

    "That's a no-no in my book," Bumgardner said. "People are struggling to pay their power bill and grocery bills right now."

    Price said now is the right time for him to run for office to tackle issues such as Medicaid, making North Carolina more attractive for job recruitment, bringing more jobs to Gaston County, industry and tax reform.

    Bumgardner is the president/CEO of LPM, Inc. of Dallas, N.C., a small label manufacturing business. He and his wife Cynthia have been married 25 years, have a daughter, son, and granddaughter.

    Price has served on the Gaston County Board of Commissioners since 2001. He has been married to his wife Terry for 39 years, and has a son, daughter, and grandson.