Author photoJohn Hood's Syndicated Weekly Column
Previewing the Lt. Governor Primaries

By John Hood

May 21, 2004

RALEIGH — Longtime State Sen. Beverly Perdue of New Bern was elected in 2000 as North Carolina’s first female lieutenant governor. The job isn’t what it used to be, as her fellow Democrats stripped it of real authority over the state senate after Republican Jim Gardner was elected to the post in 1988. But Perdue, a likely Democratic candidate for governor in 2008, has sought to use the residual roles of lieutenant governor — largely service on several of the state’s key state boards– to shape public policy.

And, of course, to lay the political groundwork for the aforementioned 2008 bid, which is probably one reason why three Republicans have filed to compete in a July 20 primary to unseat her in the general election.

One is Jim Snyder, a Lexington attorney who challenged Elizabeth Dole in the 2002 primary for U.S. Senate and briefly served in the North Carolina House in the 1970s. Snyder is the author of 16 books on legal, political, and other topics and built a successful law practice, but his political career has been curvier. After his (expected) loss to Dole in 2002, Snyder campaigned for the GOP nomination in the 5th District House seat being vacated by Rep. Richard Burr. The field was crowded, to say the least, and Snyder didn’t actually live in the 5th District, though that is (perhaps surprisingly) not a requirement for congressional office.

Eventually, he decided to file for lieutenant governor. Snyder is running as a traditional conservative on both fiscal and social issues. He says that jobs, education, and health care are his top three issues, and argues that tax increases supported by Gov. Mike Easley, state legislators, and his potential opponent, Perdue, have harmed North Carolina’s competitive position and fueled excessive spending growth. “We’re going to make it something it’s never been before,” he says of the lieutenant governor post. His web site is here.

For a time, it appeared that the only GOP rival Snyder would face in a primary would be former state Sen. Bill Boyd of Asheboro. But Boyd eventually passed on the race and two other Republicans filed: Thomas Stith of Durham and Timothy Cook of Guilford County.

Stith is a serious challenger to Snyder. A three-term member of the Durham City Council, Stith served in the administration of former Gov. Jim Martin and has attracted a statewide following as one of the party’s few successful African-American politicians. Elected at large in a city rife with interest groups and complex political tensions, Stith is viewed by many Republican leaders and activists as an up-and-coming talent.

Decrying “three years in a row of [state] tax increases,” Stith argues that recent budgets have relied on tricks and gimmicks, not real fiscal balance. He points to his city efforts to fight tax and spending increases and promote “managed competition” in public services. The lieutenant governor serves on two education boards, and Stith says that he would take the opportunity to push for less spending on non-teaching expenses and more emphasis on making effective use of the state’s community colleges. His web site is here

Cook campaigned for the GOP nomination for governor until just before the candidate-filing period, when he opted for the lieutenant governor race instead. While a gubernatorial hopeful, Cook emphasized his experience in the textile and agriculture sectors as well as environment and tax issues. His web site is here.

One could certainly argue that the office of lieutenant governor needs to be rethought. One idea would be to have the governor and lieutenant governor truly run as a ticket, thus helping to clarify accountability lines for voters already subjected to a crowded ballot. But right now, the job is one of ceremony and of influence behind the scenes. Perdue, one of her Republican challengers, and Libertarian candidate Christopher Cole of Mecklenburg County promise to make the race more interesting than it has been in the recent past.

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Hood is president of the John Locke Foundation, publisher of Carolina Journal.com, and host of the statewide program “Carolina Journal Radio.”

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