ASHEVILLE — Democrats are tired of a Republican-controlled state legislature they say has decimated education on all levels and not stood up for the everyday resident, and they’re optimistic the slate of 2016 candidates can bring change to Raleigh.
“People are seeing a path forward,” Holly Jones, Buncombe County commissioner who is running for lieutenant governor, said Saturday night at the party’s annual Western Gala. “There’s a lot of energy, a lot of enthusiasm.”
Jones and numerous other statewide Democratic candidates and supporters in a capacity crowd at the gala at the Renaissance Hotel downtown described the party’s stance heading into 2016 as “getting North Carolina back on track,” on key issues like funding for public education, expanding Medicaid and restoring local municipality control. Jennifer Granholm, former two-term governor of Michigan who teaches at the University of California-Berkeley, delivered a rousing call to action.
“The overreach into local government is just incomprehensible,” Jones said when asked about a series of recent General Assembly bills that have limited local authority on issues ranging from the appearance of homes to this month’s court decision upholding the transfer of Asheville’s water system to the Metropolitan Sewerage District.
Jones said she would work hard to repeal some of those laws and described a “disconnect” between state and local government that is losing touch with residents.
Attorney General Roy Cooper, who this week formally announced a long-expected challenge to Republican Gov. Pat McCrory, said the legislature needs to pass laws that allow local governments to do what they see fit.
“The legislature is taking authority away from local governments and doing many of the same things that they complain about Washington doing to the states,” Cooper said in an interview before the gala.
“I believe the government closest to the people governs the best,” Cooper said.
Cooper, 58, is from Nash County and is expected to be challenged in the Democratic primary by Ken Spaulding, a Durham lawyer.
Cooper’s campaign centers on serving the everyday resident, which he maintains McCrory’s agenda has moved away from. “We have a governor and a legislature that won’t find a way to keep good teachers, but they find a way to pass corporate tax giveaways,” Cooper said.
The administration isn’t “putting money in the pocket of the middle class,” but taking it out by expanding the sales tax and making everyday needs like car repairs more expensive, he said.
“North Carolina should work for everyone and not just the few,” he said.
He said the future of the state’s economy is in a strong small business sector. He recognized WNC’s importance to the state, particularly in tourism, and said infrastructure repairs are key to good-paying jobs.
Granholm, after opening with a rhyming performance poem describing the similarities of Michigan and North Carolina that included the line, “to get out of political Purgatory, you’ve got to replace Governor McCrory,” called on Democrats to fight against the loss of middle class jobs and to stand up for other shared values. “We value workers and work. That’s who we are,” Granholm said.
She described herself as “obsessed” with the question of how to create good jobs in America in a global economy. “We want Roy, when he’s elected, to be kept up at night over how to create good-paying jobs in North Carolina for your citizens, right?” Democrats have created 2.1 million jobs a year since 1961; Republicans 1.1 million, she said. Of the 10 poorest states, nine are Republican states. “The facts are on our side,” she said, to applause.
Sen. Brian Turner, D-Buncombe, said he’s been encouraged by Cooper’s campaign speeches so far, particularly Cooper’s stance on public education. Turner highlighted a sense of frustration over “the confusion and the inability of the (UNC) Board of Governors to actually function” and said the board’s credibility has been damaged.
“They rode Tom Ross out on a rail and now they’re wondering why they’re having a problem finding someone to replace him,” Turner said.
On Friday, the board in a widely derided move recessed after hours behind closed doors discussing the search for Ross’ successor as president of the UNC system, but made no announcement.
Cooper’s pledge to expand Medicaid is key, Turner said. “McCrory has continued to say, ‘I’m going to think about it’ and, unfortunately, people who need that health care, they don’t have the luxury of Gov. McCrory’s time,” Turner said.
Senate candidate Deborah Ross said economic security, access to quality education and protecting equal opportunity are top issues for her campaign.
“I think that people want change and that there’s a big mess in Washington, and our elected leaders in Washington are not putting people first,” said Ross, who served in the state House from 2003-13.
Asked for her take on local control, Ross said, “I think that there’s been governmental overreach with respect to municipalities coming from Raleigh.”
Democrat leaders said the party has the support of the working class, as well as young people.
“The Republican Party ideas and principles — that’s not our generation,” said Justin Conley, president of the Young Democrats of North Carolina. Young people think the administration’s leaders have demonstrated through policy that they don’t value the service of educators and in fact have increased tuition. “It’s time to move on,” he said.
“We just have to think about everyone — not just the people who are wealthy and well-connected,” said Rhonda Cole Schandevel, a Haywood County School Board member who’s running for the House seat held by Rep. Michele Presnell, R-Yancey.
“We have got to stop the madness that’s going on with the General Assembly cutting the funds that support our public education system,” she said.
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Attorney General Roy Cooper and former Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm speak Saturday night in Asheville.
Leah Buletti
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