Republicans Graded On Promises Made Before NCGA Session | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Publisher's note: Signé Thomas, who brought this informative piece to us, is an editorial intern with the Carolina Journal.

GOP says they kept promises; Dems say 'successes' were muted

    RALEIGH -- The General Assembly recently wrapped up its first session under full Republican control since Reconstruction. GOP candidates in 2010 promised voters they would enact a detailed policy agenda if they won a legislative majority, even though they would have to work with a Democratic governor, Bev Perdue. The 10-item agenda dealt with fiscal policies, economic growth, and education reform, among other issues. How well did the GOP majority do?

    Andrew Taylor, a political science professor at N.C. State University, cited two reasons Republicans could call the 2011-12 session a success: Republicans had plenty of policies that had been stalled under a century of Democratic rule; and he said top Republicans, House Speaker Thom Tillis, R-Mecklenburg, and Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, "ran their bodies pretty tightly and exerted a lot of control."

    The session also saw a record 11 vetoes overridden by the GOP majority. Taylor noted that in North Carolina, "a veto is able to be overridden with just three-fifths of both bodies -- instead of two-thirds, which is how it is in Congress and most other states." Taylor offered another reason the GOP was able to prevail over Perdue's objections: "The governor is unpopular."

    Legislative Democrats did not give the GOP high marks, citing a host of differences in philosophy and approach and that the new laws would result in ineffective or even harmful policies.

    The Republicans' checklist follows.

    • Balance the state budget without raising tax rates

    Tillis spokesman Jordan Shaw said Republicans "knocked that out of the ballpark. ... Not only did we not raise taxes, but we cut taxes by over a billion dollars." In a press release, Berger said Republicans were able to "clos[e] a $2.5 billion deficit inherited from the Democrats."
North Carolina General Assembly in May, 2012: Above.     photo by Stan Deatherage
    Sen. Floyd McKissick, D-Durham, did not consider this a major achievement. He told Carolina Journal, "North Carolina is required to have a balanced budget, so to be able to balance a state budget is not a formidable task."

   • Make North Carolina tax rates competitive with other states

    Shaw and Berger said Republicans prevented Perdue and legislative Democrats from extending a temporary sales tax increase of nearly $1 billion that was set to expire in June 2011. The legislature also enacted a $50,000 income tax exemption for privately held businesses. McKissick downplayed the tax cut. [Republicans] "said it was going to help small businesses," he said, "but instead [it] ended up providing a $3,200 tax cut to millionaires."

    • Pass the Healthcare Protection Act, exempting North Carolinians from the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

    House Bill 2, which would have exempted state residents from the federal health care reform law, passed the House and the Senate. "Unfortunately, the governor vetoed it, and we have not gotten enough Democratic support to override the veto," Shaw said.

    McKissick said lawmakers should have waited until the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on the federal law's constitutionality rather than debating a state bill. He considered H.B. 2 "a complete waste of taxpayer money and resources."

    Sen. Ellie Kinnaird, D-Orange, called the inability to override the veto of H.B. 2 a failure by Republicans.

    • Keep Right to Work laws intact

    Senate Bill 727 "protects our status as a Right to Work state by allowing workers to continue to choose whether or not to join a union," Shaw said.

    Kinnaird and McKissick said passage of S.B. 727 made no change in the state's right-to-work status.

    • Reduce regulatory burdens on small business

    "We passed a comprehensive regulatory reform bill last year," Shaw said, referring to Senate Bill 781. "That legislation rolled back hundreds of pages of anti-business government regulations that were making it difficult on job creators."

    Kinnaird agreed that Republicans were successful in removing environmental regulations, but considers such deregulation harmful.

    • Fund education in the classroom, not the bureaucracy

    "Last year's budget made tough funding decisions when it comes to education," Shaw said. "This year's budget gave us the opportunity to make funding improvements for education and as a result we were able to restore over $250 million to public education, [including] a pay raise for teachers, which is the first time that has happened in four or five years."

    McKissick disagreed with the Republicans' priorities. "We've seen billion-dollar cuts in public education, and about 6,000 teachers laid off," he said. "I think [Republicans] failed."

    • Eliminate the cap on charter schools

    Kinnaird said the new law eliminating the cap on charter schools at 100 statewide was the only item on the Republican agenda that won her support.

    • Pass the Honest Election Act, requiring a valid photo ID to vote

    The General Assembly passed House Bill 351, requiring voters to show photo identification at the polls. Perdue vetoed it, and an override attempt was unsuccessful. "I don't see that as a failure on our part," Shaw said. "I see that as a failure on the governor because she vetoed a bill that more than 70 percent of North Carolinians support."

    McKissick gave Republicans "another F" because he said a voter ID law would "disenfranchise approximately 800,000 people [who] don't necessarily have a state issued government photo ID."

    • Pass the Eminent Domain constitutional amendment to protect private property rights

    Shaw said the House passed with bipartisan support House Bill 8, an amendment requiring just compensation to be paid for government "takings" of property, and letting a jury determine the compensation. The Senate did not take up the amendment. McKissick gave Republicans an "F" on this issue.

    • End pay-to-play politics and restore honesty and integrity to state government

    Both Houses passed a measure ending a form of public financing in races for appellate judges and most Council of State offices.

    "If that's really your goal, to get rid of pay-to-play politics, [then] why oppose publicly financed campaigns?" McKissick asked. "If you really are against individuals being the primary source [of] contributions to candidates, then allow for more publicly financed campaigns."