RALEIGH — State Sen. Thom Goolsby, R-New Hanover, chose not to seek a third term and resigned his seat early, he said at the time, to give his appointed successor Michael Lee “a running start” in August. Lee is ready to carry the baton for the Republican agenda.
Lee hopes to extend state government reforms to further enhance what the GOP is calling the Carolina Comeback.
He is one of two Wilmington attorneys seeking the open seat, which has become a $1 million race. According to the State Board of Elections, Lee spent $510,459, and had $27,001 cash on hand through Oct. 18. Democrat Elizabeth Redenbaugh, a former New Hanover County Board of Education member, spent $461,209, and had $35,287 cash on hand.
Senate District 9 has not been held by a Democrat since Julia Boseman decided not to seek a fourth term in 2010.
The district represents all of New Hanover County, and it leans Republican, according to the North Carolina Free Enterprise Foundation, which monitors historical voting trends.
District voters are 33.6 percent Republican, 33.4 percent Democrat, and 32.4 percent unaffiliated. Voters favored Republicans Mitt Romney for president, Pat McCrory for governor, and GOP candidates in six of eight statewide Council of State races in 2012.
“I support the tax reform that has gone through especially when we’re talking about personal income tax and corporate income tax,” Lee said. “I would have supported that at the time, and would continue to support it.”
Lee, a member of the state Board of Transportation and the state Ports Authority, said it is time to examine the state gas tax.
“I think the gas tax is not going to be just a tax reform issue … but also get rolled into an overall reform of how we’re funding transportation” for existing and future construction, Lee said.
“There’s no silver bullet to transportation funding, although right now I don’t see that VMT is a viable alternative,” he said. VMT is vehicle-miles traveled, or basing the tax on distance driven.
“I do think we need to look at tolling, in particular with respect to [Interstate] 95,” which has received approval for tolling from the federal government, Lee said. He would like to see a study on that possibility accelerated.
Tolling also could be the solution for construction of a Cape Fear River bridge. A study was conducted in the late 2000s on potential toll crossing or public-private partnership. “I think we need to take a look at that study again and reopen discussions,” Lee said.
The legislature targeted regulatory reform in areas that had not been monitored for a long time, and Lee would like to see that happen more frequently.
“We need to constantly look at the regulations that are in place, whether we’ve got overly burdensome regulations in place or redundant regulations,” Lee said. “But we also need to be looking at our regulations to be sure that the standards are still appropriate, whether it’s too low of a standard, or too high of a standard.”
He has not formed an opinion on whether regulatory legislation should contain automatic sunset and periodic reauthorization provisions, but said lawmakers must be vigilant about their impacts.
He is passionate about education, and takes issue with Redenbaugh’s claims that the General Assembly has cut funding when hard numbers show it has gone up about $1 billion over four years.
“We need to pay our teachers well, we need to adequately fund education, but one of the things we’re not talking about is real education reform in a comprehensive and organized manner like other states have done,” Lee said. “We’ve focused more on funding than we have on working on reform efforts.”
He supports charter schools, and home schooling, as well as choice in curriculum.
“One of the things that I think we need to focus on is education-to-career pathways” that tie education to a actual career, Lee said. “And I think that starts before high school and in the middle schools.”
He would like to see curriculum partnerships with community colleges “so that kids have a tangible application of math and science to actual careers.” He believes it is worth exploring charter schools operated by community colleges and universities.
“We just need to have an open dialogue, and really focus on education reform in depth,” Lee said.
The current push to send all kids to college is “a great aspiration. That’s not reality,” he said. Vocational and technical training could put students on a track to high-paying jobs with two-year degrees or certificates.
“If we could match up our middle school and high school education with what business needs in the way of skilled workers, we are doing great things not just for our education system but also for economic development,” Lee said.
He said he supports the state film incentive program and will continue to do so after the election. The 25 percent tax credit was scaled back in the short session to a $10 million grant program.
“If used properly, incentives can be a powerful tool to attract high-paying jobs. The goal of incentives should be job creation, as measured by objective criteria,” Lee said. A better business environment for small and large businesses must be established, “but that does not mean we eliminate incentives. We just need to be smart about how we use them.”
He also supports offshore drilling of natural gas provided equipment and drill rigs cannot be seen from beaches.
“From the research, the potential natural gas deposits can be effectively accessed from locations that would be beyond the horizon, and, therefore, not be seen from our beaches,” Lee said.
He does not support Medicaid expansion.
“This may change in the future. But at this point, I do not think we can expand it as proposed by the federal government,” Lee said.
Redenbaugh did not return voice mail or email messages for comment. But her campaign website offers a glimpse of her priorities.
“In addition to ensuring our children receive a quality public education, Elizabeth will focus on economic development and job creation. Elizabeth will stand up to energy companies and will protect the natural beauty and resources of North Carolina by serving as a steward of our environment,” her website says.
“The voters in New Hanover County need a leader who is a voice for the people, not only for big business and special interests. I want to stand with our middle class families to improve the quality of life in our state. I want to fight to make Duke Energy pay for the coal ash spill and not the tax payers, to ensure that our public schools get the funding they need to give all of our children a top-notch public education and to bring back the film incentive so that hard working families do not have to move,” the website says.
She says the legislature is threatening air, water, and land through fracking and offshore drilling, and says lawmakers see “no need to regulate on the energy industry.”
Her website alleged Lee “and his allies continue to dehumanize me with their slanderous ads,” which she calls “a direct attack on women” intended “to confuse voters and distract them from the fact that Senator Lee’s allies cut over $500 million from public schools.”
Dan E. Way (@danway_carolina) is an associate editor of Carolina Journal.