With Congress likely to soon consider a huge stimulus package, the Institute for Emerging Issues has scheduled a two-conference on the subject.

Jim Hunt, the former four-term governor, met at lunch with journalists at his law office at Womble Carlyle this afternoon to discuss the forum which will be held Feb. 9 and 10th, Rob Christensen reports.

This year's topic is what North Carolina needs to do improve its infrastructure including building, roads, bridges, water and sewer lines, schools and rail.

The Institute chooses a subject every year to discuss such as taxes or energy.

Hunt, the founder of the forum, said it was luck that infrastructure is so timely because the subject was chosen more than a year ago. The forum, which will be held for the first time at the new Raleigh Convention Center, will include speakers such as Sen. Chris Dodd of Connecticut, New York Times columnist David Brooks, Gov. Beverly Perdue, and and former London Mayor Ken Livingstone.

Hunt said state spending for road and schools and other projects had not kept pace with growth.

"We have to to do more building," Hunt said "and we got to rethink how we build."

Because of the federal stimulus package, North Carolina should get a lot of new money for public works projects.

The Institute already has working groups preparing recommendations to be discussed at the forum. Hunt hopes the conference will produce some specific recommendations for the legislature.

Another New York Times columnist is headlining the Emerging Issues Forum.

After last year's turn by Thomas Friedman, the annual Raleigh event this spring will feature conservative commentator David Brooks.

The theme this year is "Changing Landscapes: Building the Good Growth State?" 

"We are thrilled to have David Brooks speak to us about our infrastructure imperative," said former Gov. Jim Hunt. "We anticipate his creative, national perspective will inspire our state's leaders." 

Brooks will talk about how plans for infrastructure investment can be updated to keep pace with changes in the economy and technology.

He has recently gained attention for cautioning against seeing infrastrucutre spending as a solution for economic problems, saying too much spending on repairing existing infrastructure could hurt urban and suburban innovation and slow momentum for a transportation revolution. 

The forum will be held Feb. 9-10.

David Brooks says class warfare has hurt Republicans in North Carolina.

In a piece today, the New York Times columnist singles out the Triangle as one of the country's highly educated places that have been turned off by what he sees as Republican anti-intellectualism:

What had been a disdain for liberal intellectuals slipped into a disdain for the educated class as a whole. The liberals had coastal condescension, so the conservatives developed their own anti-elitism, with mirror-image categories and mirror-image resentments, but with the same corrosive effect. ... 

The political effects of this trend have been obvious. Republicans have alienated the highly educated regions — Silicon Valley, northern Virginia, the suburbs outside of New York, Philadelphia, Chicago and Raleigh-Durham. The West Coast and the Northeast are mostly gone. 

Business leaders from across the state are traveling to Washington today for a Chamber of Commerce fly-in sponsored by several members of the North Carolina congressional delegation.

This afternoon, some county chamber groups are taking Capitol tours. There’s a question-and-answer session with eight members of Congress, then an evening reception with all the delegation, reports Barb Barrett.

Tomorrow, chamber leaders will attend a breakfast with congressional members, then a morning of listening to speakers that range from New York Times columnist David Brooks to Alphonso Jackson, U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.