Make North Carolina work

The November 3^rd election outcomes were largely a repudiation of President Trump, but in North Carolina another message was being sent. Voters were weary of the heavy-handed, hyperpartisan leadership that favored some, but not the many.

In 2010, voters gave control of state government to Republicans. The GOP message at that time was that Democrats had lost their way, they had become too liberal, they were spending and taxing too much. Voters heard their message, obviously agreed and gave Republicans the reins of government.

15 years later we must give Republicans credit for improving the state’s balance sheet. State debt is negligible, and we have about $6 billion in savings. Much of our financial success is due to the large influx of new citizens and businesses to our state, but also to the legislature’s penchant for cutting taxes and services. Republican leadership exerted a lot of effort in taking power from our statewide elected governor (already the weakest in the nation) while grabbing power for themselves and dishing it out to their minions. They ignored or reduced vital services and failed to pay employees competitive wages.

Republicans masterfully drew election districts practically guaranteed to increase their party’s margins in congress; they ransacked boards and commissions, denying independents and Democrats a seat at the table; politicized our statewide public university and community college governance; effectively dismantled our public schools while giving millions to private schools; and neglected our infrastructure.

If the Republicans’ 2010 message was that North Carolina could not tax and spend its way to prosperity, today’s message is that neither can we cut our way to greatness.

On November 3^rd voters repudiated the gerrymandered congressional districts, the fourth most gerrymandered in the country. It now appears we have gone from having 10 Republicans and 4 Democrats in Congress to 11 Democrats and 3 Republicans come January. They flipped the North Carolina House from 71 Republicans to 71 Democrats and came within one Senate seat of parity in the upper chamber. Their attempts to rig the elections completely blatantly backfired.

What do rank and file North Carolinians want from their government? We believe most people don’t care about party affiliations or even racial, geographical, sexual or other ideologies. They just want a government that works… for them and others.

People want to know that when an emergency occurs they can call 911, get someone to answer their call promptly and quickly dispatch help. Recently, we learned of a woman who smelled smoke and discovered her house was on fire. She called 911, was put on hold and waited three minutes to talk with someone. Meanwhile, the fire station near her home saw the smoke and dispatched a truck.

We heard about 911 telling another person to call Lyft to get a ride to the hospital because all their emergency vehicles were employed. Or a wife waiting 9 minutes on hold when her husband had a heart attack.

The response to their complaints was that there weren’t enough operators to handle the load of emergency calls. That’s not acceptable.

It isn’t uncommon for someone going to the emergency department of a public or private hospital to wait 3-6 hours to be seen by a physician or competent healthcare professional.

The State Auditor recently revealed that the Blue Ridge Underpass project in Raleigh, near the State Fairgrounds, is more than 3 years behind scheduled completion and is more than $20 million over budget.

Parents complain their 5-and 6-year-old children are not properly prepared to begin first grade, not knowing their colors, numbers or alphabet. In the covid years of 2020-21 only 39% of 1^st graders and 43% of 2^nd graders read at or above grade level at year’s end. In 25-26, after intensive science of reading instruction, 71% of 1^st graders and 67% of 2^nd graders met the benchmark. That’s a great improvement. But 71% is still not good enough.

We just want our government to work. Without making excuses, we suspect a major reason why state and local government isn’t working well is because agencies and employees haven’t been given the proper financial support or the adequate number of employees.

Come January we will have new players holding the reins of state government. We challenge them to adopt a “Make Government Work” mantra and will be watching to see how well they work together. They can set the example for all state agencies and employees.

But we don’t have to wait until January. The General Assembly will call itself into special session before the end of the year. Will we see a new spirit of cooperation from these “lame duck” leaders or the same old partisanship and retribution we’ve been seeing? Their response might well set the tone for bipartisan cooperation in 2027.

Voters want our elected officials to work together, be accountable and make government work, living out our state motto: Esse Quam Videri.

Tom Campbell is a Hall of Fame North Carolina broadcaster and columnist who has covered North Carolina public policy issues since 1965.  Contact him at tomcamp@ncspin.com