RALEIGH – For Richard Moore, it’s about the numbers.
Ask the two-term state treasurer a question about virtually any issue, and the response will likely include a statistic or two, or twelve. A quick study and voracious reader, Moore is basing his case to Democratic primary voters in large part on an appeal to experience and expertise. “I am uniquely qualified for one of the most difficult jobs in the country,” he recently told a meeting of North Carolina columnists and editorial writers.
I first met Richard Moore 14 years ago at a seminar on health-care issues for state legislators, back during his one term in the state House of Representatives. Naturally, he was reading a thick briefing book. Over the years, whether it was to ask him about disaster preparedness during his stint as Jim Hunt’s Secretary of Crime Control and Public Safety or to argue about minimum-wage laws over breakfast, I found Moore to be never without a fact to assert or a trend to analyze.
So, what’s a numbers guy to do when he runs for governor and finds himself consistently trailing his Democratic opponent, Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue, by double-digits in the polls?
Well, one line of attack is that Perdue’s promises to expand health insurance and send more North Carolinians to college are vague, superficial, and lacking any specifics about how they would be financed. “I’m putting out real proposals, with numbers attached,” Moore said, while Perdue refuses to debate and limits her contacts with the state press corps.
Moore told the editorial writers that he would be the “most accessible governor we have had in modern times.” It’s a well-timed promise, coming just days after the story broke that Gov. Mike Easley’s office had fired a longtime spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services. Easley’s relations with the press went from bad to abysmal after he emerged from seclusion to defend his administration’s handing of mental-health reform and proceeded to make claims that strained credulity.
Not surprisingly, when asked about the mental-health debacle, Moore zeroed in quickly on the lack of effectiveness internal controls to track and flag spending trends. As soon as the monthly bills started exceeding projections by many millions of dollars, the administration should have intervened to see if the state’s Community Services program was properly designed, its eligibility guidelines clearly defined, and its contracts wisely managed. Why didn’t this happen? Moore pointed out that there were only two possible explanations: either a mid-level manager at HHS flagged the problem and was ignored, or the department wasn’t paying attention. “Neither answer is acceptable,” he said.
Throughout much of state government, Moore argues, there is a lack of oversight and little follow-up after the General Assembly enacts a law or the administration begins a new program. He likes to contrast these accountability problems with the fact that as state treasurer, the main service he provides is to manage the retirement fund for teachers and state employees – and the fund’s health is a question of statistics, not spin. North Carolina’s pension system is fully funded, while many other states face long-term shortfalls (though it should be noted that state policymakers have failed to set aside sufficient funds to cover the state’s multi-billion-dollar obligation to pay for retiree health-care costs, a problem not of the treasurer’s making).
Earlier in the year, the Moore campaign was running TV ads complaining about the dawdling, dilatory bureaucracy in Raleigh. Seemed more appropriate for October. Now, its message is more clearly aimed at the Democratic primary electorate, with promises to force up the minimum wage, force down the price of attending college, increase child-care subsidies, and raise average teacher pay.
During his recent interview, Moore talked more fundamentally about the strained relationship between localities and the state government in Raleigh. North Carolina’s current system of financing and administering major government programs, one of the most centralized in the country, may have fit the bill in the 1930s, he said, “but now it is time to change.” What makes sense in Charlotte or the Triad may not apply in Forest City or Rocky Mount.
Like it or not, there’s no question that Richard Moore has an aggressive and sweeping agenda for state government. First, though, he has to get past Beverly Perdue. The pundits and the polls say the odds are against him. The numbers guy understands.
Next Week: A profile of gubernatorial candidate Bill Graham.
Hood is president of the John Locke Foundation.