Gov. Bev Perdue and the N.C. Senate’s top leader engaged in a round of political tit-for-tat Thursday over who is more focused on job creation and jump-starting the economy.
It was the latest salvo in a steadily increasing war of words between the General Assembly’s Republican majority and Perdue, a first-term Democrat. A stagnating jobs market (unemployment stood at 10.1 percent in February), plus a multibillion-dollar budget hole, have fueled the tense atmosphere.
Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, raised the ante again Thursday morning by accusing Perdue of using her statewide jobs tour as a “political fundraising campaign.”
“The one job that Gov. Perdue is worried about is her own,” Berger said, highlighting estimates that North Carolina has lost more than 100,000 jobs since Perdue took office in 2009.
“What we’re looking at is her effort to raise money for her re-election,” he said, “and her effort to divert attention from her policies.”
Perdue shot back at her own press conference an hour later, suggesting that Republicans were sidetracked with non-budget issues when they should have made fiscal matters and public education their top priorities.
Although pledging to avoid a “hostile or combative” attitude, Perdue doled out stinging criticism for her GOP opponents.
“I don’t mean to come across as the adult in the room, but somebody has to be the adult and stand up,” Perdue said.
When the recession is over, “I’ll be happy to sit down with folks from both sides of the aisle and we’ll argue until we’re blue in the face,” Perdue said. “We can argue over checking stations and whether we need our own money system or where I should put my campaign signs.”
But until then, the priority should be the economy and public education, she said.
Also during his press conference, Berger disputed the Perdue administration’s claim that the Tar Heel State’s budget gap stands at $1.9 billion, down from the original estimate of $3.7 billion. Berger said that legislative staff predict the gap is $2.5 billion.
In addition, Berger distributed a chart prepared by the legislature’s Fiscal Research Division showing that year-over-year spending in North Carolina has increased steadily for the past decade with only one exception — the 2008-2009 fiscal year. He used it to dispute the notion that past Democratic majorities cut spending.
“North Carolina has a lot of great things going for it. The policies of state government are not one of them,” he said.
David N. Bass is an associate editor of Carolina Journal.