RALEIGH – Gov. Mike Easley, stick to your guns.

You’ve urged fellow Southern Democrats to run as fiscal conservatives. You ran as one, yourself (though obviously some would question the applicability of the term to someone who signed tax increases worth an average of $1 billion a year). The positioning worked. You were reelected easily, with a sizable cross-over vote from independents and some Republicans who thought you were the taxpayers’ pick.

Now the political class in Raleigh, dominated by fellow Democrats,, is testing your mettle on several key issues. First, your proposal of some modest copayments to discourage wasteful consumption within North Carolina’s expensive Medicaid program — $50 per hospital admission and $3 per unnecessary visit to the emergency room – is taking fire from lobbyists.

They say that Medicaid recipients can’t afford $50, which is a preposterous assertion if you look at the income thresholds for eligibility, and that the cost of collecting copays will be high, which is true but not exactly the point. The goal is not necessarily to collect a lot of new state revenue. It is to deter wasteful hospital visits in the first place, in which case the cost of collection becomes moot.

On another matter, the General Assembly has approved a bill to convey millions of dollars worth of state-own property in Mecklenburg and Currituck counties to private-sector beneficiaries without significant compensation to the taxpayers. The conveyance would be direct in the case of a 1.5-acre parcel to the Johnson & Wales cooking school in Charlotte. It would be indirect with the transfer of 535 acres near the Currituck Airport to the county, which is expected to use much of it for industrial development.

Gov. Easley, you have argued in the past that the Currituck County deal is not in the interest of state taxpayers, and you were right. So far, the state courts have agreed with your interpretation of a provision in last year’s state budget, inserted at the request of Senate leader Marc Basnight. You say that it did not specify the entire parcel of land to be transferred to the county. But now there is legislation making it quite clear that such a transfer is intended.

Similarly, you’ve expressed caution about the promises that Basnight and House Speaker Jim Black made to subsidize Johnson & Wales, promises that they had no right to make.

Here are several chances to err on the side of a fiscally conservative outcome. On Medicaid, don’t flinch at the pressure. Push forward on copayments, cost-sharing, and other policies to rein in escalating costs. Regarding the land-transaction bill, it’s time to whip out the veto quill. With a state budget deficit exceeding $1 billion and major state priorities such as building repair and highway construction not getting sufficient attention, it is indefensible to give away state-owned assets. If private firms want to put state property to productive use, you should welcome the opportunity – at a market price.

Legislative leaders may squawk. Insiders may squeal. Far-sighted Democrats and Republicans alike will offer support. Sounds like a plan.

Hood is president of the John Locke Foundation and publisher of Carolina Journal Online.