Lower Taxes, Job Growth Top Priorities in N.C. House District 1 Race | Eastern North Carolina Now

   Publisher's note: The author of this fine report is Kristy Bailey, who is a contributor to the Carolina Journal, John Hood Publisher.

Republicans Etheridge and Steinburg Hope to Succeed Retiring Rep. Owens

    RALEIGH     Republicans Bob Steinburg and Owen Etheridge will compete in the May 8 primary for the North Carolina House District 1 seat currently held by nine-term Democrat Bill Owens, who isn't seeking re-election this year.

    The winner of the primary will face Democrat Bill Luton, a member of the Elizabeth City-Pasquotank County Board of Education since 2008, in the general election.

    House District 1 favors Democrats in voter registration: more than 45 percent, or 25,851, of the district's 57,202 voters are registered Democrats. But many of those voters opt to support Republicans. GOP presidential candidate John McCain carried the district in 2008 easily, and so did incumbent Republican U.S. Sen. Richard Burr in 2010.

    District 1 includes the coastal counties of Camden, Chowan, Currituck, Pasquotank, Perquimans, and Tyrell.

    Etheridge, a Shawboro farmer and former Democrat currently serving his fourth 4-year term on the Currituck County Board of Commissioners, told Carolina Journal that he has "always believed in a conservative, limited government role in citizens' lives."

    "The more government is involved in our lives, the more our way of life, freedoms, and liberties are restricted and stifled, thus the cause for many of the issues we are facing today," Etheridge said. "Government has got to come to its senses and realize it can't be all things to all people, get back to the basics, and live within its means. I cannot believe that the founders ever intended or envisioned the government we have today."

    He said that, if elected, he would introduce a program he calls "Accessinate," intended to take a top-to-bottom look at all state government programs, regulations, and taxes to determine their effectiveness and efficiency.

    Etheridge also says that he supports finding new ways to finance transportation and reforming the state public education system. "I don't mean just throw money at it," said Etheridge. "It needs a top-to-bottom review to ensure the educational product we deliver can truly be classified as world class."

    Etheridge believes economic growth, diversity of economic growth, and job creation are the most important issues facing House District 1. "We must get ... unnecessary state government regulations and taxes off the throat of small business so they can succeed and grow," he said. (A majority of the region's jobs are in retail, construction, and education, according to the 2010 U.S. Census.)

    During his time on the board, Currituck County commissioners balanced 16 budgets, all without a tax increase (and three years with a decrease), while building three new schools, renovating five, and building a new judicial center, public health department, and other county facilities, according to Etheridge.

    Steinburg, a retired businessman who lives in Edenton, served three terms as the chairman of the Chowan County Republican Party and three terms as president of the 14-county Albemarle Pamlico Republican County. In 2010, he won his party's nomination for N.C. House District 2, and garnered 45 percent of the general election vote.

    Until 2010, Steinburg wrote "A Conservative's Viewpoint," a newspaper column that ran in The Daily Advance in Elizabeth City, the Currituck Independent, the Chowan Herald, and the Roanoke Beacon.

    Steinburg cites unemployment and underemployment as the two most important issues facing District 1. "The lack of decent-paying jobs in our region is creating ever expanding pockets of poverty," Steinburg said. "Exorbitant utility rates and incredulous coastal insurance premiums are placing an unfair burden on the populace while hampering efforts to attract new business."

    Steinburg believes his lack of political experience gives him an advantage in the race. "Too much government 'experience' by too many career politicians has led to too much government," he said. "Doing what is right for the people you represent does not require many years of government experience, but rather the willingness to do one's best with the skills and experience God has bestowed upon you."

    While the legislature has made "great strides over the last 16 months to get our fiscal house in order," Steinburg said that state legislators need to rein in spending -- not with draconian cuts, but by more efficiently managing tax revenue.

    Steinburg added that, if elected, he would fight to reduce the size and scope of government spending and taxes.

    "We cannot continue, as government has done for too long, encumbering current and future generations of our citizens with mountains of debt due to fiscal irresponsibility," Steinburg said. "To do so is not only inexcusably reckless, but immoral."

    Both candidates told CJ that they support the proposed constitutional amendment barring the state from recognizing any union other than marriage between a man and a woman.