It has been difficult getting responses from the North Carolina legislative candidates in Senate District 18 and House District 35 and 40, but the Gazette will publish those who responded by noon today and in later weeks publish the other responses.
Those responding were Mack Paul, the Democratic candidate in Senate District 18; Rep. Joe John, the Democratic candidate and incumbent in House District 40; David Ulmer, Libertarian candidate in House District 40; and Michael Nelson, Libertarian candidate in House District 35.
Missing are Rep. Christ Malone, Republican candidate and incumbent in House District 35; Terence Everitt, Democratic candidate in House District 35; Brad Hassell, Libertarian candidate in Senate District 18; Sen. John Alexander, Republican candidate and incumbent in Senate District 18; and Marilyn Avila, Republican candidate in House District 40.
The Gazette asked each candidate the following four questions:
- How should the NC GA respond to the destruction caused by Florence? Should there be stricter restrictions about rebuilding the same structure in a flood plain or where there has been flooding from Floyd, Matthew, Hugo or Florence?
- What steps are you considering assure sure teachers are paid enough to live on without second jobs and per student funding for materials, books and computers is adequate?
- What concerns you most about the state’s economy?
- Do you support extending Medicaid to cover all eligible North Carolinians?
Answers by Mack Paul, Democratic candidate, Senate District 18
1) The General Assembly has an important responsibility to set standards for best practices in order to mitigate future damage from storms. All tax payers bear the burden of higher insurance premiums resulting from these tragedies. Communities have a variety of standards for flood plain regulations. These should be standardized. The state could give incentives to assist with flood plain mapping and better planning for resilient development. As a former member of the NC Building Code Council, we must always look at new techniques to build structures that can withstand wind and flood damage.
2) I am proud to have the endorsement of the NCAE (North Carolina Association of Educators). Clearly, we must increase teacher pay so that we do not continue to lose our greatest resource to other states. We should restore additional pay for advanced training and longevity. Furthermore, we need greater support for school supplies, teaching assistants and counselors. I would roll back tax breaks to the wealthy to help fund these resources. Of course, we need to take every measure to ensure we minimize overhead so every dollar can go into the classroom.
3) I am concerned about the State’s long term fiscal health. We dug a serious hole after the 2008 downturn by defunding education and other important state responsibilities vital to our long-term growth. Also, we gave large tax cuts to corporations and the wealthy, making it difficult to dig out of the hole we created. We damaged the State’s brand through misguided actions like HB2, which cost us thousands of jobs and billions in investments. Consequently our economy is not enjoying the expansion of tax base needed to position North Carolina for the future. In sum, our economy is hobbled by short-term measures taken over the last 8 years.
4) Yes. Medicaid expansion would help provide insurance coverage for over 500,000 low income adults, including at least 23,000 veterans. We have already lost over $6 billion dollars in federal funding, driving up the cost of health care for everyone. Finally, Medicaid expansion would create an estimated 43,000 new jobs in the well paying health care sector. Other states that refused the expansion have seen the error in their ways. North Carolina needs to do the same.
Answers for Rep. Joe John, Democratic candidate, House District 40
1) I was privileged to be among the primary sponsors of House Bill 4, The Hurricane Florence Emergency Response Act. The Act provides immediate relief in the amount of $56.5 million and deals with certain school calendaring issues. Obviously, this is just a first step and the NCGA should and will do all it can to provide relief to NC citizens and communities from the terrible effects of this extraordinary storm. There should also be a proactive study of available methods to prevent damage from future storms and floods so that legislators can make the most responsible rebuilding decisions.
2) Fully funding our schools and adequately paying our teachers at the national average have been two of my top priorities while in office, and will continue to be as long as I am a North Carolina legislator. The teaching profession involves substantial responsibilities for our children, and our teachers deserve respect and compensation commensurate with their duties and responsibilities. Our experienced teachers, who have worked the longest and the hardest, should not be ignored in an effort to tout “average” pay increases. The decision by the legislative super majority to reject a proposal to provide all teachers with a modest $150 stipend to compensate for out-of-pocket expenditures on school supplies simply turned a blind eye to the real-life sacrifices teachers make on a day-to-day basis. The Governor’s proposed budget in 2017 demonstrated that fair compensation for teachers can be accomplished without raising taxes.
3) Although our State’s economy overall is currently doing well, I have two major concerns. The first involves what has been called the urban-rural divide in North Carolina. We need a statewide plan that addresses the different realities facing urban and rural areas. All require quality schools and good roads and bridges, but urban areas may focus on growing populations and traffic congestion, while rural areas struggle to keep young adults in their home counties and search for means to provide access to broadband internet service. Second, as the father of three North Carolina educated children and the grandfather of children currently participating in the process, I believe we must provide a high quality and connected system, from the beginning years to the community college and university levels, which will prepare all NC children for the jobs of the future. We cannot continue ill-conceived cuts or failures to fund which leave our state at the bottom of national educational system rankings.
4) Yes. North Carolinians already pay federal taxes to cover Medicaid expansion, yet the super majority leaves this money on the table and lets other states take advantage of it while North Carolinians see no return on their investment. Expansion would extend health care to hundreds of thousands of previously uncovered NC citizens, including many veterans and many who currently often overtax hospital emergency room services. Next, a NC Institute of Medicine study projected that expansion would create 25,000 jobs in our state during the first few years and 18,000 permanent jobs thereafter. Finally, expansion would provide millions of dollars to NC hospitals, many of which – especially in the rural areas – are struggling to survive.
Answers by David Ulmer, Libertarian candidate, House District 40
1) Ideally the National Flood Insurance Program would be ended and our insurance markets less regulated. If private insurance companies were providing flood insurance and the market was allowed to work, many people would find it too expensive to build in flood plains and in some coastal locations. This would also impact the type of structure and cost of what would be built.
2) Local school boards need far greater control; not just of school calendars and class sizes, but funding. Too many local school boards lack the authority to adjust spending due to restrictions on which funding sources can be used for which programs. A per student funding model would allow much more of the money spent to reach the classroom and teachers.
3) Occupational licensing restrictions like Certificate of Need Laws and limits on Advanced Nurse Practitioners continue to drive up healthcare costs for businesses and employees. The big hospital networks have successfully blocked innovations and changes the would improve both access and affordability.
4) No. We need to improve access by allowing greater competition and look at innovations like subsidized health savings account. Groups like Remote Area Medical (RAM) provide free, privately funded healthcare in twelve states but can’t operate in North Carolina. RAM is blocked by big medical special interest groups that have used licensing requirements to prevent out-of-state doctors and medical professionals from providing the same type of great care they provide in so many other areas.
Answers by Michael Nelson, Libertarian candidate, House District 35
1) The issue with flooding resides primarily at the Federal level with the National Flood Insurance Program. This program through adverse selection has basically become a subsidy to encourage people to continue to rebuild in high-flood risk zones without paying the actual premium of what it would cost to insure such a location. Therefore, I would respond at the Federal level by encouraging the Federal Government to privatize the existing system. At the state level I would enact zoning to encourage those that want to choose to remain in a flood-prone area to bear the full cost of what it would take to rebuild. As their property they have the right to live there – but as North Carolina we have the right to say that’s fine but if it floods don’t come to us.
2) While you provide no data to back up the assertion, I agree that funding has been mismanaged for years. While the NCGA and local authorities have done an admirable job in increasing funds, that does not seem to be getting to the teachers and resources that need them the most. I would recommend that teacher salaries be more directly tied to performance and not based on a fixed scale and that families through school choice have their child’s funding follow the student to whatever school the parents choose to send them to. By opening up school choice and allowing funding to reflect better the population more students could be served in an adequate way.
3) What concerns me most about the state’s economy is that we continue to court large high-tech firms to come to North Carolina yet we continue to enact licensing and other restrictions on the lower and middle class which inhibits them entering a new field or starting new businesses. The small business in the true lifeblood of the economy, yet regulations continue to hamper their growth while at the same time we spend billions courting the next big firm. This damages the key economic infrastructure our state needs and by relaxing restrictions we can grow the next Amazon here in North Carolina and not have to bankrupt the next generation.
4) I do not support extending Medicaid. I believe that healthcare prices would decrease and quality and availability of healthcare would increase if providers were freed from government meddling and control. Government rates for paying providers for Medicaid patients doesn’t cover the true cost as it is, and only continues to encourage providers to do a quick fix rather than what is in the best interest of the patient.
