The race for the Republican nomination for governor in North Carolina has been a festival of harmony so far, but a discordant note on business incentives appeared among the candidates Thursday in Greensboro.
State Senate Minority Leader Patrick Ballantine broke from the anti-incentives stances of his opponents at the North Carolina Manufacturing Executives Summit. “I’m not going to say I’m opposed to all incentives,” Ballantine said.
The position taken by the Wilmington lawyer was a marked difference from the three other candidates who participated in the forum: former state GOP Chairman Bill Cobey, Davie County Commissioner Dan Barrett, and former Charlotte Mayor Richard Vinroot.
Cobey called the idea of government gifts of financial or property incentives to lure specific businesses to the state “immoral.”
The disagreement took on greater significance because Gov. Mike Easley this week called upon the General Assembly to reconvene for a special session Tuesday in which legislators will consider special financial lures for companies to come to North Carolina. Lawmakers are expected to consider millions of dollars in tax breaks and other incentives to attract large corporations, including R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Holdings Inc., Merck & Co., and Boeing Co. Those three industrial giants could bring several hundred jobs if they expand in the state.
Ballantine last month proposed that the state sell the Global TransPark, a largely vacant air cargo facility in Kinston funded by millions of public dollars, to Boeing for $1. He also said that he didn’t know how he would vote on an incentives bill next week.
“I’m not a big pro-incentives person,” Ballantine said. “I’m going to do what I think is best to bring jobs to North Carolina.”
David Rice, the Raleigh bureau chief for the Winston-Salem Journal who moderated the discussion, asked the candidates what they specifically would do in the case of Boeing.
“I think you’re getting into constitutional matters,” Cobey said. “I think that’s going over the top, frankly.”
Vinroot chose to address the incentives proposed for R.J. Reynolds, which is asking for millions in tax breaks from the state. The company shed 1,700 jobs in September but would add 800, mostly from out of state, if it brought some operations from Kentucky and Georgia as the result of its merger with Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp. He found the proposition of incentives for a net loss of 900 jobs distasteful.
“Tell me that’s equitable,” Vinroot said. “There is a fairer, better way.”
Barrett responded from his perspective as a local government official. Counties and cities have limited resources to lure business, and two years ago Easley withheld millions from local governments that were due from the state in tax revenues. “We haven’t had the support from the state,” Barrett said. “We need help in Raleigh.”
The four candidates were united in criticizing Easley for the hemorrhaging of 140,000 jobs from the state since 2001.
Ballantine accused the governor of “passing the buck,” because Easley often blames President Bush’s trade policies for the loss of jobs in the state. He accused Democratic leadership of squandering state surpluses from the late 1990s, which he said were spent on pet projects. He also said they were driving business from the state after passing tax increases for three years in a row.
“Our state government handcuffed our own industry,” Ballantine said.
The Greensboro summit marked the first indication that manufacturers plan to elevate their involvement in politics next year. Randy Snyder, president of Hanes Dye & Finishing Co. in Winston-Salem, vowed to do “whatever it takes” to elect pro-manufacturing candidates, including paid time off for his employees.
“We will let you know who is pro-manufacturing,” he said. “We will bear the expense of the total effort.”
The two leading North Carolina candidates for U.S. Senate next year, Democrat Erskine Bowles and Republican Rep. Richard Burr, also addressed the executives. Both said that global trade is here to stay; that most manufacturing jobs that have left the country are gone forever; and that the federal government needs to enforce all aspects of agreements with foreign countries to ensure fair trade.
Bowles said the Bush administration needs to force countries to open their markets to U.S. goods and hold trade partners to higher environmental and labor standards.
“China is our number one problem,” he said.
He also said that recent economic indicators that show a sharp increase in productivity and growth were the result of a “shot of heroin” from the Bush administration, adding that discretionary spending was up 23 percent over the last two years and deficits ballooned.
“No wonder the GDP numbers look good,” Bowles said. “The fact is, fiscally we are headed in the wrong direction.”
Burr, in a speech later in the afternoon, said “the time for finding people to blame is over.” He said the country does not have the option of closing its doors and must develop the ability to compete globally. Part of the problem, he said, was that the United States has “signed agreements with people that we have a brand new trust in.”
Paul Chesser is associate editor of Carolina Journal. Contact him at [email protected].