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Raleigh businessman Robert Luddy was in Florida Thursday talking about efforts to improve education.

Luddy is founder of Franklin Academy Charter Schools.

Raleigh businessman Bob Luddy will appear Tuesday on Fox Business News to give what is being billed as the "small business reaction" to the State of the Union.

Luddy is a leader of the Job Creators Alliance, a nonprofit group of business leaders who advocate for free enterprise. He will appear at 11 p.m. following the Republican response to the SOTU on Fox Business News' "Stossel," according to the group.

A business group with strong North Carolina ties Monday released a poll that found that small business owners feel that Washington is creating a more hostile environment to growth.

The group, Job Creators Alliance, released a survey that found that 70 percent small business owners believed Washington was becoming more hostile to free enterprise, while only 19 percent thought it was becoming less hostile. The group includes a number of prominent North Carolina businessmen including Robert Luddy of Raleigh, retired banker John Allison, and Fred Eshelman of Wilmington.

Raleigh businessman and school-choice advocate Bob Luddy’s profile has been on the rise in business and political circles this year.

He helped finance a super PAC that helped re-elect state Supreme Court Justice Paul Newby. This  summer he testified before the U.S. House Judiciary Committee that excessive regulations were stunting job creation.

The other day he appeared on John Stossel’s Fox Business News national TV show to deliver the same message.

Raleigh businessman Robert Luddy, and conservative donor and education leader, will be interviewed on by John Stossel on Fox Business News Thursday night at 9 p.m. The show will repeat at 9 pm on Saturday and Sunday on FBN.<

Raleigh businessman Bob Luddy told the House Judiciary Committee Thursday that excessive regulation was hurting job creation.

“Over the last several decades, the number, scope and burden of federal regulation have expanded exponentially,” Luddy told the committee. “Multiple studies have shown that America's regulatory infrastructure costs the U.S. Economy anywhere from hundreds of billions of dollars to over $1 trillion.''

Lisa Heinzerling, a law professor at Georgetown University, disputed Luddy's testimony.

“You have the power to undo any rule you want,” Heinzerling said to Luddy and the committee Republicans.

Luddy replied: “A small-business person doesn't have the resources to talk to the federal government. It's too vast.''

Luddy started CaptiveAire Systems which employs 700 people.

Raleigh businessman Bob Luddy will chair North Carolina Catholics for Romney, the campaign has announced. Luddy, a businessman and civic leader, has founded several private schools including St. Thomas More Academy in Raleigh.

“Religious freedom is a principle this great country was founded on and it is at the heart and soul of America,” Luddy said in a statement. “I am confident Governor Romney will fully protect our traditional and natural right of religious liberty.”

The honorary state chairs are Congress members Renee Ellmers, Virginia Foxx and Patrick McHenry. Other members of the Catholics leadership team include House Speaker Thom Tillis, state Sen. Kathy Harrington, Rep. Ric Killian, and Rep. Pat McElraft.

Normally members of state boards can be relied upon to lobby the legislature for more money for their state agencies or bodies.

But Raleigh businessman Bob Luddy, a Raleigh businessman and a fiscal conservative, is an exception. As a member of the Rural Economic Development Board, Luddy sent a letter to fellow board members saying he could not support asking for an expanded budget.

“The General Assembly is dealing with the financial realities of 2012,” Luddy wrote. “Our business community is stifled by high taxes, heavy regulation and a struggling economy, which requires incentives to invest, produce and create jobs.''

“The Rural Economic Development Board must understand and adjust to these realities,” Luddy wrote. “Requesting new funds and a continuation of existing funds is not acceptable, which is why I voted no to these proposals.''

The N.C. Association of Educators is refusing a demand from businessman Bob Luddy to remove a video it posted to the Internet. 

The NCAE video, "Money and Privatization: A Love Story," alleges Luddy, a charter and private school founder, businessman Art Pope, House Majority Leader Paul Stam, and Wake County School Board Chairman Ron Margiotta are linked in an effort to destroy public education. 

The cease and desist letter from a firm representing Luddy and the private school he founded says that the video falsely states that Luddy profits from it.

"The NCAE's implication that the statements upon which it is based (including, again, that Thales Academy, a non-profit entity) are not only blatantly false but also impugn Mr. Luddy's business reputation as well as the reputation of Thales Academy."

A lawyer for the NCAE wrote back, saying the video never says Luddy is profiting from the schools.

The N.C. Association of Educators has a video linking House Majority Leader Paul Stam, Wake Board of Education Chairman Ron Margiotta and businessmen Art Pope and Bob Luddy in an alleged plan to destroy public schools.

It picks up on a theme that got its footing last year as a new majority took over the Wake County School Board.

The video creates a narrative with graphics, still photos, and audio clips of Stam, who is pushing for tax credits for parents who send their children to private school.

Luddy, founder of the private Thales academies and a public charter school, was the largest donor to the Wake County School Board majority, and its chairman, Ron Margiotta, was on the board of trustees for Thales Academy in Apex.

Luddy gave a $4,000 contribution to Stam's campaign, the maximum allowed.

Pope, a big contributor to the Wake GOP last year, objects to characterizations that he is against public schools.