Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory was the guest speaker at a Meet the Candidate & BBQ Dinner held in Franklin, NC and hosted by the Republican parties of Cherokee, Clay, Jackson, Macon and Swain Counties in western North Carolina.
Among the reasons he stated for why he was running was to tame the egos and fight corruption in Raleigh. He said he wanted to bring back good government to North Carolina, that we were once known as the good government state...and we now have ten people in prison so far for corruption in government.
He said that recently, a $9 million jet was ordered for the state government, but the order was cancelled once word got out about it. McCrory wants to bring transparency to state government.
He spoke to the economic concerns of North Carolinians and touted his 28 years in the private sector and 13 in the public sector as part of his experience.
He said that he wanted to do 3 things to put North Carolina back on the right path:
#1) Build relationships with large and medium size industries in the state based on respect-not to treat them as the enemy. He said that we could not compete with surrounding states, including South Carolina and Virginia as states with lower income tax, and that we were not even in the same league as Tennessee...a state with no income tax. The crowd responded to his desire to lower the tat income tax with cheers and applause.
#2) He wants North Carolina to get into the energy business. He said that right now, the United States had to depend on nations like Nigeria, Venezuela, Saudi Arabia and Russia for our energy needs. He said that puts our National Security and our Economy at risk.
He said North Carolina should be part of the solution. He said we can drill for natural gas and oil offshore and generate new jobs doing so. He said that he is also in favor of nuclear, clean coal, wind and solar energy, and that he also was in favor of conservation.
He related that his opponent had stated hat she was 100% opposed to offshore drilling for natural gas and oil ten weeks ago at a Farm Bureau Speech, and that it wouldn't happen on her watch. McCrory said that that was correct, "It's going to happen under my watch," to the cheers of the crowd.
#3) Get back to the basics of education, and offer students the option of choosing vocational training instead of a college-bound curriculum. He said that our employers needed skilled workers, and vocational training could provide that for them. It would, he said, help recruit new industries and businesses if we were producing skilled workers.
He related the latest Rasmussen Poll that showed Pat McCrory with 51% to is opponents' 47%.
He said that the Power Elite in Raleigh were stunned, and that in short order, a series of negative ads were produced about him that, he joked, caused him to decide not to vote for himself to the amusement of the crowd.
He said the ads were false and misleading and that Bev Perdue would say or do anything to stay elected, including not telling the truth.
There were three lies he wanted to address, the first being that Pat McCrory wanted to dump garbage from New York City in North Carolina. He said that when he heard it, he had no idea where it was coming from...and that she was making this up. He said that in his years as Mayor of Charlotte, he had never supported a bill that would allow the dumping of garbage from New York City in North Carolina. He said that the newspapers even said it was a lie.
He said, "We fought a tax, and they converted it into a negative ad. This is the type of deception that we must end in Raleigh politics."
The second lie was that he hired illegal immigrants to build the NASCAR Hall of Fame.
"Just the Opposite," McCrory said. e was the first mayor in the nation to lead a discussion on illegal immigration which stated that the net cost of illegal immigration was greater than the net gain. He specifically listed the costs to hospitals, jails and schools.
He stated that he had warned that illegal immigrants could find their way into construction jobs in Charlotte and, "...we need to make sure that doesn't happen..." and that he did make sure it was put in writing that those who contracted with Charlotte "followed the law" in city construction projects.
The third lie McCrory wished to address was that he was against rural roads.
He said that what he was against was putting the roads where the powerful politicians live. He said the roads should go where the need is.
He said that he has been fighting the DOT (Dept of Transportation) for 13 years, that it has become so politicized that the party registrations of DOT workers were checked. Pat McCrory said that that was not right, that he didn't care what party a NC-DOT worker belonged, only that they were a good worker. He said he wanted to take politics out of the DOT.
He began to wrap up with informing the crowd that millions of dollars were being poured into negative ads about him, and that he was not going to do negative ads, and that he didn't in the primary, nor as mayor. He stated that he believed, "...a good candidate with a little money is better than a bad candidate with a lot of money." This was met with approval and cheers from the crowd.
We are going to change North Carolina politics forever, he told those gathered. We are going o prove that you don't have to run an 8 year campaign for governor, and that you don't have to be a millionaire to hold public office, and most importantly, that you can do it running a positive campaign.
He addressed the need for everyone present to get out the vote on election day, and that the next week and a half were going to be the most crucial in our state's history...that "...we have an opportunity to change the status quo in state government," and, "have a governor that will participate in problem solving."
He said, that as governor, he was going to concentrate on economic development, jobs, and protecting the quality of life in North Carolina. He said it was time that all areas of our state were represented in our state capital.
He ended by repeating his exhortation to get out the vote.
**11.39am** Richard Bernier also attended an event with Pat McCrory, and his video is posted on the Buncombe County GOP website.
Posts
