Longtime State Treasurer Harlan Boyles passed away today. North Carolina has lost a true public servant, one of a pivotal generation of state leaders, and a self-titled “Keeper of the Public Purse.”
That was the name of the book Harlan wrote in the mid-1990s, when he was virtually alone among politicians of both parties in sounding the alarm about the state’s rising and unsustainable rate of spending growth. We excerpted the book in Carolina Journal, and helped promote it in writing and public appearances across the state. Harlan, in turn, was gracious to me when my first book came out a year later.
“So you’ve gone and written a book, too,” he said to me teasingly at a subsequent meeting. “Now, how do you get people to read it?”
Harlan never had any trouble finding an audience. His 24 years as state treasurer and the relationships of trust and credibility he had built with folks across the political spectrum guaranteed that when he spoke out on an issue, many would listen. In 1998, he was virtually the only person on the public stage to raise questions about a massive new water and sewer bond issue – not because he didn’t recognize the difficulties many local governments were having with infrastructure but because he didn’t want to penalize well-run localities by forcing their taxpayers to help finance work for poorly run localities, and because he was worried about rising state debt. That year, he did get an audience for his position from the media and in the halls of the General Assembly. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to change the outcome. Looking back from the standpoint of 2003, with several years of budget deficits caused in part by a tripling of debt service expenditures, it is evident how right Harlan was, as he was on so many other matters of public import.
The high esteem that the political class had for Harlan didn’t protect him from criticism. He got it, and gave it back at least as good. But for the most part his style was gentility, patience, and steady industriousness – qualities that many politicians of more recent generations would be wise to emulate.
His generation of North Carolina leaders, those who grew up at a certain time with certain experiences and common bonds, is beginning to pass from the scene. There is more diversity now, along partisan and racial and other lines. It’s welcome. But the debate is sometimes a little less collegial, a little harsher. Political antagonists need not be personal ones, and disagreement can go hand in hand with mutual respect and even friendship.
That’s one of the many lessons I learned from the life and service of Harlan Boyles. He will be missed.
Hood is president of the John Locke Foundation and publisher of Carolina Journal.