Fred Smith is calling for a $4 billion bond to build roads and bridges in North Carolina.

But the Republican gubernatorial candidate's paving company, C.C. Mangum Co., would not bid for any public projects if he were elected, he said.

Thirty percent of C.C. Mangum’s business comes from public contracts and losing the government’s business would be tough for the company, Smith said.

"It’s a sacrifice," he said. "If I wasn’t able to say that, I’d have no credibility running for governor. We had to make a decision. If I thought it was important enough to run for governor, then we had to give that up."

Fred Smith took over C.C. Mangum Co. in 2004.

According to the Republican gubernatorial candidate's autobiography, President Michael Mangum called Smith in December of 2003. The Mangum family and Smith had been business partners since the 1980s and had worked together on the Hedingham subdivision in east Raleigh.

Mangum told him the company was facing tough financial times. In the previous year, C.C. Mangum lost $2 million, and without Smith's help, it might have gone bankrupt.

In "A Little Extra Effort," Smith wrote that he should help the Mangum family because it had helped him earlier when the Hedingham ran into trouble, giving him more time to repay debt.

"I felt a moral obligation to the Mangum family," he wrote. "Yes, I had paid them back the money they had put into Hedingham. Still, how do you repay one who came to your aid in your time of need?"

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Fred Smith knows about roads first-hand.

The Republican gubernatorial candidate took over as chief executive officer of Raleigh-based paving company C.C. Mangum Co. in 2004.

He recently told Dome the company gets about 30 percent of its business from public contracts.

Since 2004, the state Department of Transportation has paid C.C. Mangum about $42.4 million for 16 completed and ongoing projects in Wake, Granville, Durham, Orange, Chatham and Johnston counties.

The most expensive project is still being finished. C.C. Mangum bid $35 million for work on N.C. 54 in Durham and Wake counties and has received about $15 million for work so far.

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Fred Smith checks the immigration status of his employees online.

Two businesses run by the Republican gubernatorial candidate, the Fred Smith Co. and the C.C. Mangum Co., participate in E-Verify.

The voluntary program allows companies to check federal databases to see whether employees can legally work in the United States. Smith's businesses signed up in 2005 in part because of his impending gubernatorial bid.

"When you put yourself in the public square, when you put yourself under the microscope, we have to go to extra steps to ensure we're complying with the law," Smith told Dome. "It's our effort to comply with the law. It's just that simple."

A Republican-sponsored bill in 2007 would have required employers who receive incentives and public contracts in North Carolina to use E-Verify. It never made it out of committee.

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Fred Smith says he's glad Beverly Perdue has a roads plan similar to his.

The Republican gubernatorial candidate has long called for a $4 billion bond to build roads and repair bridges across the state to be paid in part by ending the Highway Trust Fund transfer.

On Thursday, Perdue called for a $1 billion road bond to be paid for in part by ending the transfer.

"I'm glad that she's finally seen what I've been calling for for months," he said.

Smith said he would pay for his more expensive plan by moving the state Highway Patrol and driver's education programs from the trust fund to the general fund. He said those programs could be paid for by cutting "pork-barrel spending" in the budget.

During his motorhome tour of all 100 counties, Smith said he'd seen a lof of the state's most congested roads firsthand, including Interstate 40 near Raleigh, I-77 and I-485 in Charlotte and I-26 from Hendersonville to Asheville.

"If we don't build roads, we're all going to be in a parking lot," he said.

As the chief executive officer of road-paving company C.C. Mangum, Smith also said he would forbid his company from seeking any contracts if he was elected, relying entirely on private work instead.

"It's going to cost me a lot of money, but that's OK," he said.

Correction: An earlier version of this post misstated Smith's position.