ROCKY MOUNT - Dan Gerlach, a top economic adviser to Gov. Mike Easley, today was named president of the Golden LEAF Foundation.

At a meeting in Rocky Mount, the foundation’s board approved hiring Gerlach, with a goal of having him take over Oct. 1, Jonathan Cox reports.

"He's the kind of person that's very energetic and very well-attuned to getting things done," said Tommy Bunn, Golden LEAF's chairman.

Foundation officials said they were attracted to Gerlach because he has experience in rural areas, understands the legislature and economic development.

Gerlach interviewed for the job today in a closed session. He was one of five final candidates, after Golden LEAF received about 300 applicants.

The Rocky Mount-based foundation, created in 1999, administers installments from the national legal settlement that states reached with the major tobacco companies. The money, ultimately totaling more than $2 billion, is designated to help tobacco-dependent and economically distressed communities.

The board began looking for a new president earlier this year when Valeria Lee announced she was stepping down.

Senate leader Marc Basnight said in June that Easley asked him to encourage Golden LEAF board members to consider Gerlach for the post.

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Richard Moore is airing an ad attacking rival Beverly Perdue's votes on college tuition, Ben Niolet reports. Click here to watch the ad.

What the ad says: "On college tuition, Bev Perdue's been flat-out wrong. She voted to raise tuition seven times. Perdue even sponsored a 24 percent tuition increase and said it was just 'beer and party money.' But Richard Moore doesn't think the rising cost of college is a joke. Moore's plan allows high school graduates to attend community college tuition free. It's time for a leader who will do right by families like yours. I'm Richard Moore, candidate for governor, and I sponsored this ad."

The background: As a candidate for governor, Perdue has touted her plans to make college affordable. As a legislator, she voted seven times to raise tuition. Her votes were for larger budget bills that spent billions and made policy decisions on many items, including college tuition.

Some of those budgets also allocated money to help poor students get financial aid for college.

The 24 percent increase refers to a seperate proposal in 1993 in which Perdue spoke in favor of a $200 surcharge at UNC-Chapel Hill and N.C. State University. The surcharge was designed to improve libraries, increase student aid and increase salaries for faculty who were being lured out of state by higher pay.

Perdue, then a senator, told the Associated Press that only a few people had contacted her to complain about the $200 hike. "The students have openly admitted that it's beer and party money," Perdue said, according to the AP report.

The $200 surcharge was not adopted.

Moore has proposed using funds from the Golden LEAF Foundation, a nonprofit set up to allocate tobacco settlement funds, and state money to offer free community college tuition for two years to all students who graduate high school and immediately enroll in a community college degree program.

Is the ad accurate? Yes. Whether Perdue is "flat-out wrong" is a subjective judgement. But she did vote to increase tuition, although all but one of the votes were for broad budget bills and not just college tuition.

Previously: Moore attacks Perdue on tuition increase at debate.

Richard Moore proposed an economic stimulus package.

At a press conference this morning, the Democratic gubernatorial candidate called for property tax relief for senior citizens, reducing the waiting list for day care subsidies, cutting small business taxes and tying the minimum wage to inflation.

He noted that pension plans and Social Security already provide cost of living adjustments based on inflation. He estimated that the minimum wage would go up a dollar during the next governor's four years in office.

"All you've got to do is go to projected four-dollar a gallon gas to understand why," he said.

He also pledged that the state would pay for two years of community college for all high school graduates, though not for students who drop out and get a general equivalency diploma, or G.E.D.

"I shudder to think that any high school student in North Carolina does not take the next step to continue their education," he said.

He said that the proposal would cost around $50 million and would be paid for using interest earnings from Golden LEAF Foundation.

Gov. Mike Easley dedicated a new biotech facility at Centennial Campus.

The 82,500-square-foot facility will provide hands-on training for college students with commercial-grade biopharmaceutical equipment.

Easley said the goal was to provide "every child in every community" with the opportunity to earn more money in the growing biotech industry.

"We are opening the door of opportunity to thousands and hundreds of thousands of North Carolinians across this state to be able to participate in a growing industry," he said.

Students will be able to earn degrees in biomanufacturing sciences.

The training center is a partnership between N.C. State, the state community college system, the Department of Commerce and the Golden LEAF Foundation, which provides grants from the state's tobacco settlement.

Easley noted North Carolina is behind only California and Massachusetts in biotech funding.

"I just want the governator out there to know that we are hot on his trail," he joked.

The Golden LEAF Foundation has plans for a $3.6 million building.

In November, the economic-development nonprofit bought four acres off Highway 64 in Rocky Mount for $1.1 million. Since then, it's held meetings in a small cabin on the site and allowed community groups to use it several times a week.

In June, the nonprofit's board of directors signed off on plans for a 10,000-square-foot building by Rocky Mount architectural firm Oakley Collier & Associates. The preliminary estimate is $2.5 million.

"We have not signed off on the final budget," said president Valeria Lee.

The nonprofit, which awards grants from the state's tobacco settlement, currently rents a 4,465-square-foot building in downtown Rocky Mount for $5,911 a month. At the end of June, its endowment was around $700 million.

Lee said it was planning to "really sink its roots" into Rocky Mount.