Cherie Berry

Biography

Cherie Berry is the state labor commissioner and one of two Republicans on the Council of State.

Early Life and Education

Berry was born on Dec. 21, 1946, in the Catawba County town of Newton.

She graduated from high school in nearby Maiden.

She has attended classes at Appalachian State University, Lenoir-Rhyne University and Gaston Community College.

Professional Career

Prior to her election to the state legislature, Berry started and co-owned LGM Ltd. in Catawba County. The company makes spark plug wires. 

Political Career

Berry won election to the state legislature in 1992 from a Catawba County district. She was re-elected three times. She also represented parts of Gaston and Lincoln counties.

She was known as a vocal and quotable conservative. When Republicans became the majority in the House after the 1994 elections, she rose quickly within the GOP ranks. After the 1995 legislative session, one survey ranked her the 15th most effective member of the 120-member House.

Berry worked on massive changes to social service programs as co-chair of the House Welfare Reform Committee. She and co-chair Rep. Julia Howard, a Mocksville Republican, pushed to let counties create their own welfare programs with fewer state restrictions.

In 1997, N&O columnist Rob Christensen named here one of the 12 lawmakers making a mark during that year's legislative session.

In 1998, when President Bill Clinton was caught up in a sex scandal, someone removed a plaque from the N.C. House chamber commemorating a speech Clinton gave there.

When the House clerk said she planned to review security tapes to find the culprit, the plaque reappeared. Berry admitted that she took it, calling an N&O reporter a "wittle rat" and saying, "I marched right in there by myself and unscrewed that puppy all by myself. It just made me feel better to do it." 

Labor Commissioner

In 2000, Berry won a four-way race to become the Republican nominee for labor commissioner. She won a nail-biter in November, beating Democrat Doug Berger by 7,252 votes or about two-tenths of 1 percent.

She was the first woman elected to the office. During her first term, she was the only Republican on the Council of State. 

Berger had criticized Berry for taking more than $60,000 in campaign contributions from Mount Airy-based Pike Electric, which was facing stiff fines at the time for safety and health violations. (Berger is now a state senator from Franklin County.)

After her 2000 election, Berry scrapped a set of proposed rules for preventing and addressing ergonomic injuries in workplaces. She said the rules would have been too much of a burden on businesses.

Berry summed up her trust in the private sector in 2004: "The government doesn't create jobs," she said. "Jobs are created by entrepreneurs, dreamers, risk takers."

In 2004, Berry won re-election with 52 percent of the vote against Democrat Wayne Goodwin.

A series of articles in The Charlotte Observer in February 2008 called into question the safety at North Carolina's poultry plants. The newspaper found evidence that many worker injuries go unreported. Some plants had not been inspected in more than five years.

Berry said that reported workplace injuries and deaths have declined to record lows during her tenure.

Statistics show injury rates have declined in North Carolina and nationally since 2000, but some experts say the decline in manufacturing, underreporting of workplace injuries and changes in recordkeeping rules likely contributed.

In 2008, Berry defeated Democrat Mary Fant Donnan, winning 51 percent of the vote.

Along with Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler, she is currently one of two Republicans in statewide partisan elected office. 

Research and reporting by David Ingram. 

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Contact Info

Email: cherie@cherieberry.com

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