Lawson and Tine Vie for Open Seat in N.C. House 6

Legislative redistricting in 2011 created a new state House District 6 that left an incumbent from each major party running to serve the same district. Rep. Tim Spear, D-Washington, opted to retire, and Rep. Bill Cook, R-Beaufort, chose to run for state Senate District 1.

District 6 had comprised Chowan, Dare, Hyde, and Washington Counties, but redistricting swapped Chowan for parts of Beaufort County.

In this open-seat race, two Dare Countians face each other: Republican Mattie Lawson, a self-employed systems engineer and project management consultant, and insurance agent Paul Tine, a Democrat.

A June 2012 report from Raleigh-based N.C. FreeEnterprise Foundation expects House 6 to be one of the 20 most competitive state House races in the upcoming general election.

Democrats in eastern North Carolina have been conservative to moderate, wrote NCFEF, choosing to vote for Republicans at the federal level but Democrats for state and local offices. Recent changes in voter demographics, however, signal a trend toward Republicans.

NCFEF considers House 6 one of three swing districts in eastern North Carolina that Democrats “would be hard pressed to regain a majority in the N.C. House without winning [all] three seats.”

Carolina Journal contacted both candidates for a phone interview but spoke at length only with Lawson. Tine emailed responses to several questions.

Lawson said government regulations and jobs are the top concerns of voters in District 6, while Tine pegged jobs and the economy and ferry system tolls as the top issues.

Excessive regulations are threatening people’s livelihoods, particularly in fishing, farming, and tourism, Lawson said, because agencies create regulations often without regard to the economic impact on individuals and businesses or on individual property rights.

“We need to get regulations out of people’s way so they can grow their businesses and create jobs,” she said.

As an example, Lawson cited Rose Acre Farms, an Indiana-based company that operates a Hyde County egg farm housing more than 3 million hens. The company has been in a legal battle with North Carolina environmental regulators since 2010 over whether the state can regulate the farms’ air emissions through the federal Clean Water Act.

Legal analysts say the case has national implications for livestock producers.

Lawson was a founder of the Tea Party movement in the Outer Banks and has been the long-time secretary of the Dare County Republican Party. Lawson hopes to build on the work Republicans have done in the General Assembly over the past two years.

“I support limited government, lower taxes, individual liberties, and the founding principles. Free markets and the people are the best deciders, not the government,” Lawson said.

Lawson believes her business expertise in Six Sigma, helping companies become leaner by reducing waste, improving quality, and becoming more productive, is greatly needed in Raleigh.

Tine said state government needs to “work smarter and more efficiently,” regulations need to be streamlined, more predictable, and less onerous, and education needs to be retooled across the state so students have the skills needed to be successful in today’s business environment.

“I know what it takes to create jobs in this economy,” Tine said. He had four employees when he bought his insurance agency in 2005 and now has 16.

Tine says the state’s ferry system should be free or the state should build a bridge to provide the same access.

Tine also started a nonprofit to bring rural broadband to the region, working with MCNC’s middle mile project, funded primarily through the Golden LEAF Foundation and federal stimulus money.

Another priority for Tine is energy independence. He was appointed to the N.C. Legislative Study Committee for Offshore Energy Exploration and is a proponent of electricity generation by natural gas, nuclear, solar, and wind, “as long as we set up a climate that they can be done safely and effectively.”

Tine recently was appointed to the board of directors of the Northeast North Carolina Commission for Economic Development, which supports the controversial Pantego Wind Energy project just east of Washington, N.C. The project would place 49 wind turbines on approximately 11,000 of acres of privately owned land to generate 80 megawatts of electricity.

CJ Executive Editor Don Carrington recently reported that the project has come under fire on three fronts, including potential hazards to migratory birds in the Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge and to military aviation training. Carrington said such large-scale commercial wind farms rely on federal subsidies and state renewable energy mandates to create demand for the electricity produced.

Vann Rogerson, president and CEO of the Northeast Commission, told CJ he spoke in support of the project at a Dec. 6 public hearing before the N.C. Utilities Commission.

Karen McMahan is a contributor to Carolina Journal.