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Republican Gov. Jim Martin once called the replacement of the Department of Commerce with a public-private partnership "an incredibly dumb and dangerous idea.'' That was back in 1988 when Democratic Lt. Gov. Bob Jordan, his opponent in the governor's race proposed something very similar to what GOP Gov. Pat McCrory is now recommending.

At a rally on top of a downtown Charlotte parking deck, Jordan proposed creating a NC. Economic Development Corp which would be run by a panel of private citizens appointed by the governor.

"In the early 1980's, North Carolina was recruiting one out of every three new industries that located in the South,'' Jordan said. "But ladies and gentlemen, it is now 1988. Times are changing and now it is time for North Carolina to change as well.''

But Martin cited the state's No 1 ranking in industrial recruitment.

"I think he just wants to risk all of that simply to show that he has a new idea, that he has a different style, a different, what he calls hands-on, approach to mine," Martin said. "While we are seeing the kind of success, the kind of economic growth that North Carolina is experiencing right now, I would hope he would keep his hands off.''

FIVE DAYS LATER, McCRORY STILL SILENT ON ROLE IN METLIFE DEAL: Five days after the MetLife jobs announcement, Gov. Pat McCrory and the governor's office remains quiet on what role he played in luring the company even as questions mount. Consider this lead sentence from AP story Friday: "Gov. Pat McCrory avoided questions Friday about the state offering MetLife Inc. $94 million in tax breaks and other incentives to move thousands of jobs to North Carolina and using his former employer to help broker the deal." The Friday announcement was the second time in two days that McCrory dodged reporters' questions. The governor appears at the Department of Environment and Natural Resources today for a 12:30 p.m. announcement. Will he break his silence?

QUESTIONS MOUNT ABOUT THE INCENTIVES: At the same time, Charlotte area officials are raising questions about whether the incentives were even necessary to lure the company to the city, where half the 2,600 jobs will be located. On Saturday, less than 24 hours after a press conference announcing the deal, county commissioners questioned whether MetLife knew it was coming to Charlotte before commissioners on Tuesday gave preliminary approval for the incentives.

Commissioners Chairwoman Pat Cotham said questions about the timing of the incentives vote started to enter her mind when news broke that the company had picked North Carolina and media events were arranged – only two days after the commissioners voted. Later, she learned that some MetLife executives had already been picking out schools and colleges for their children. “In my opinion, the deal was done when we first learned of it and voted for incentives,” Cotham, a Democrat, wrote in her first email to commissioners on Saturday.

A little-known law, the Set Off Debt Collection Act, allows state and local agencies to collect debts by seizing state tax returns and lottery winnings. The law has been good to UNC Health Care. Last year, UNC Hospitals collected $5.7 million, while UNC Physicians and Associates collected $2 million. Read more here.

More political headlines:

--Departing from this uber-optimism from the campaign trail, Pat McCrory gave a sobering assessment of the economy and the challenges ahead.

Pat McCrory will be blessed by the Tar Heel Republican establishment next week at a Greensboro fund raiser attended by the “Four Jims” of GOP politics.

Laying on of the hands will be Jim Broyhill, a former congressman and former senator; Jim Gardner, a former lieutenant governor, congressman and three-time gubernatorial candidate; Jim Holshouser, a former governor, and Jim Martin, a former governor and former congressman.

They, of course, hope that McCrory will be next Republican governor.

The fund raiser is being hosted by Don, Jim and Joe Brady of Brady Energy Services. But helping put it together is Phil Kirk, who served as chief of staff for Broyhill, Holshouser and Martin.

“I think they accepted our invitation to participate because they were afraid of what I might say about them in their absence,” Kirk quipped.

The cost of admission to the the event ranges from $250 to $2,000.

Former Gov. Jim Martin has endorsed Richard Hudson in the GOP primary for the 8th district House seat.

If North Carolina voters could bring back a former governor, it would be Democrat Jim Hunt, according to a new poll.

A survey asked this question: “Which former governor would you most want running North Carolina right no: Jim Holshouser, Jim Hunt, Jim Martin, or Mike Easley.

The survey found 38 percent preferred Hunt, 15 percent chose Martin, 15 percent said Easley,   7 percent said Holshouser, and 27  percent were not sure.

“Given that Governor Hunt served four terms and in many ways created the modern North Carolina governorship, it's unsurprising that he leads this list,” said Damon Circosta, executive director of the N.C. Center for Voter Education which commissioned the poll. "What is striking is that one-in-four voters are unsure of which former governor they would most like to see in office today -- perhaps indicative of how many voters have moved to the state in recent years, and as such are not well versed in North Carolina politics form the past few decades."

Martin, a Republican, served two terms(1985-1993) as did Easley, a Democrat (2001-2009. Holshouser, a Republican, served one term(1973-77.)

The poll was conducted April 18-20 by Public Policy Polling of Raleigh of 796 voters and had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percent.

Democratic Gov. Bev Perdue's excursion to Kentucky blue grass country is not the first time a North Carolina governor has kicked up dust over a horse racing.

Republican Gov. Jim Martin's 1987 trip to the Kentucky Derby also became political fodder because it came during key legislative negotiations designed to avert a hostile takeover of Burlington Industries.

During his 1988 re-election campaign, his opponent, Democratic Lt. Gov. Robert Jordan, ran a TV commercial featuring footage of the Kentucky Derby, and criticizing Martin.

“His idea about what's good for North Carolina and what's good for North Carolina jobs is a little different from mine,” Jordan said on the campaign trail. “I would not have have gone to the Kentucky Derby while were fighting to save Burlington's jobs. I would not have gone sailing in the Caribbean while we were making budget decisions.”

Three of North Carolina's ex governors have signed a letter urging a legislative pardon of Reconstruction Gov. William W. Holden, who was impeached because he tried to suppress the Ku Klux Klan.

A letter signed by Democrat Jim Hunt and Republicans Jim Martin and Jim Holshouser urged legislative leaders to correct “a 140-year old wrong.”

“Bi-partisan support passage of it will serve the best interests of our citizens by correcting a grievous wrong that occurred during the partisan divides that plagues our state during the tragic Civil War and tumultuous Reconstruction eras,” the governors wrote.

Holden, a Raleigh Republican and a newspaper editor, was impeached in 1871 in a straight-line party vote by Democratic lawmakers after he sent the state militia into Alamance and Caswell County after several Klan political assassinations.

The resolution was introduced by state Sen. Neal Hunt, a Wake County Republican, but has the backing of Democratic Senators Dan Blue of Raleigh and Doug Berger of Youngsville.

North Carolina Court of Appeals Judge Barbara Jackson said today that she will run for the state Supreme Court seat held by Justice Edward Thomas Brady.

Jackson and Brady are both Republicans. Brady has not yet announced whether he will run for re-election, but Jackson's announcement suggests he won't. It would be highly unusual for a sitting Court of Appeals judge to challenge a justice from her own party.

Court of Appeals Judge Bob Hunter, a Democrat, has said he plans to run for the seat, as well.

Judicial races are technically nonpartisan in North Carolina. The candidate's political party does not appear on the ballot.

Jackson was first elected to the appeals court in 2004. She previously served as general counsel for the Department of Labor and as associate general counsel for former Gov. Jim Martin, a Republican. She also clerked for then-Associate Justice Burley Mitchell, a Democrat, on the N.C. Supreme Court.