A little extra effort?

Submitted by ryanteaguebeckwith on September 21, 2007 - 7:59am.
Tags: | | |

Sen. Fred Smith says Mike Easley's an absentee governor.

In his biography, "A Little Extra Effort," Smith says he's only seen the Democratic governor in the legislature when he comes to give a speech and twice when he's gone to the Governor's Mansion.

That's my entire contact as a three-term senator with the leader of the state. Governor Easley is not engaged in making the public policy of this state. That's not acceptable. North Carolina needs a chief executive who understands the first, simple rule of leadership: show up.

After The Insider cited this passage yesterday, state Democrats said Smith is an absentee senator.

In a press release, state party chairman Jerry Meek noted that Smith missed more than a fourth of the votes this session because he was campaigning for the Republican gubernatorial nomination.

"Fred Smith talks a big game even when his record doesn't support the talk," he said. "Voters deserve an elected official who will actually show up for work. Of course, given the way Fred Smith votes, perhaps voters would be better off if he had missed more votes."

Previously: Smith says he didn't miss votes that would have made a difference.

You must be logged in to post a comment on this blog. If you already have an N&O online user account, click here to log in. Otherwise, click here to register (it's free!).

Comment viewing options

Select your preferred way to display the comments and click "Save settings" to activate your changes.

Re: A little extra effort?

Submitted by JayBlair on September 21, 2007 - 4:45pm.

I'd rather have my Governor do anything other than spend time hanging out with Legislators, who, if they are like Fred Smith and measure leadership success of the Governor based on how much face time he personally gets with the Governor, must all be self-centered, self-important, nabobs.

Elect Fred Smith Governor: He'll spend more time with legislators! A winning platform for sure.

» login to post comments

Smith

Submitted by Anglico on September 21, 2007 - 9:00am.

Fred Smith say the votes he missed wouldn't have made a difference. Which does raise the question of why he was in the legislature in the first place.

From all I can see, Smith has done precious little in the Senate except use his seat as a platform for giving campaign speeches.

But what I really don't get is why he's running for Governor at all. When I read his website, I get the distinct impression that he hates government and that his only plan is to build more roads to save the environment. Seems like he'd be better off just staying in the highway construction business. After all, he did take in more than $40 million last year in taxpayer-funded contracts.

» login to post comments

Re: A little extra effort?

Submitted by chuckt on September 21, 2007 - 8:42am.

Fred Smith is right on target about Gov Easley. Even Jerry Meek would admit it if he would tell the truth. Fred can't be in two places at once but Easley's never in any place. Let's elect a full time governor.

» login to post comments