It’s hard to say how many voters get fired up over a primary for a state Senate seat. But the sparks have been flying in the District 27 race.
The Greensboro News & Record reported that one of the candidates, Greensboro City Council member Trudy Wade, was distributing an attack ad, claiming one of her opponents, Greensboro businessman Justin Conrad, had missed several meetings of Guilford County’s Human Services Improvement Task Force.
Conrad countered that he was never a member of the task force to begin with, telling the N&R that he simply sat in on meetings because the regular member could not attend.
Wade countered, pointing to a negative email Conrad circulated when Wade could not attend a recent GOP debate.
But that was only the latest round of sparks. Earlier in April, Wade hosted an event at a Whitsett service station where she paid the tax for the first 100 customers who bought gas.
The event raised issues of propriety in local media, but Wade told Carolina Journal she received a favorable advisory opinion from the state Board of Elections.
“The idea is to demonstrate how much people are paying for gas,” Wade said. “The gas tax in North Carolina is outrageous. People tell me anytime they get gas, they go to Virginia or South Carolina instead of buying here.”
The event drew reaction from both Conrad and High Point City Council member Latimer Alexander, who also is running for the Senate District 27 seat.
Both Conrad and Alexander criticized the event.
“I just hope it’s not another election-year stunt, because our gas tax is killing individuals and small businesses,” Conrad said.
“I hope 100 citizens will ask Dr. Wade how she will fund N.C. transportation needs,” Alexander said. “Our jobs depends on her answer, because without a modern, well maintained road system, jobs will flee North Carolina.”
A fourth candidate, Thomasville Police officer Sal Leone, suspended his campaign April 19, citing health reasons. He endorsed Conrad.
Chief issue: gas tax
In phone interviews, the three candidates agreed the main issue was the state’s gas tax, which is higher than in neighboring states.
During the 2011 legislative session, the N.C. House voted to keep gas taxes capped at 35 cents per gallon, but the Senate did not take up the legislation, meaning the tax increased by almost four cents per gallon on Jan. 1.
Wade and Conrad are adamant that the legislature should revisit the gas tax cap.
That said, Conrad told CJ that the gas tax is “is the most glaring issue where I disagree with the direction the state Senate headed last year,” adding “it will be priority No. 1 when I get to Raleigh.”
Conrad is president of Libby Hill Seafood Restaurants and manager of its sister company, Bay Hill Seafood. So he sees firsthand the ripple effect of high gas prices.
“It doesn’t just hit you there,” Conrad said. “It hits you every time you go to the store and buy something, every time you package something, every time you ship something.”
Conrad also emphasized the effect of high gas prices on small businesses.
“If these small businesses are hit disproportionately by this tax, they can’t create jobs and do the things they need to do to come out of this stagnant economy.”
Earlier, Wade had noted that Alexander voted in favor of a resolution passed by the High Point council opposing the gas cap.
Indeed, Alexander is concerned about the effect a gas-tax cap would have on transportation funding.
“Whether you cap it or don’t cap it, that doesn’t address the issue,” Alexander said. “We’ve got to realize that over the next 10 years the fuel that powers the vehicles that travel on the roads is going to change in a profound way. I think we need to look at a how we fund transportation.”
Economic revival
All three candidates have ideas about how to revive the state’s economy. All three are committed to reducing the tax and regulatory burden on businesses.
One major regulatory burden Wade believes needs scrutiny is the Jordan Lake Rules, which are estimated to cost cities hundreds of millions of dollars in improvements to water and sewer systems. They also place new regulations on developers.
The rules are expected to cost the City of Greensboro at least $90 million, possibly more.
“I think we need to take another look at it. There’s been some discussion that the research surrounding it is faulty,” Wade said.
Conrad pointed to his company’s bottling operation as an example of burdensome regulations. The state Department of Agriculture — under contract from the federal Food and Drug Administration — regulates the size of the font on the bottle labels.
“I’ve got an inch-and-half thick file on that,” Conrad said.
Alexander, who made his career in the fabrics industry, cited a story of a textile company that wanted to establish a cut-and-sew operation in the eastern part of the state.
The company told state officials they had a limited amount of time to get the operation up and running, but the state “couldn’t get its act together,” Alexander said.
“We’ve got to put business urgency into state government. That is what’s going to attract jobs and economic opportunity,” he added.
Education
All three candidates believe spending more money on education is not the answer.
Wade proposed a thorough review of all education programs for cost-benefit analysis, a goal she accomplished when she chaired the Guilford County Social Services board.
“The premise is ‘more money fixes it,’ which is not true,” Wade said. “I’ve been there and done that with social services. Reform and looking at it a different way is what fixes it.”
Conrad advocates school choice and says he opposes the state’s cap on charter schools, which was abolished in 2011.
“We’re still failing these kids,” he said. “At some point you have wonder and what we’re getting for our investment.”
Alexander echoed the theme that more resources need to be directed toward the classroom.
“We’ve got to make sure the resources are deployed at the classroom level first,” he said. “We’ve got to hold our local school boards accountable.”
Sam A. Hieb is a contributor to Carolina Journal.