John Rustin will head a business advocacy group.

The Gastonia native, 42, will leave a position with the N.C. Family Policy Council to head the N.C. Free Enterprise Foundation, the successor to the now-defunct N.C. FREE.

"It will be providing similar information and services to N.C. Free, but the board of directors will have some other thoughts about new programs and services," he said. "That's kind of a work in progress." 

After graduating from UNC-Chapel Hill in 1989, Rustin worked in state lobbying. From 1994 to 1997, he lobbied for companies such as General Electric and Abbott Laboratories at Hunton and Williams in Raleigh.

Since 1997, he has worked at the Family Policy Council, serving as director of government relations and vice president.  

Update and Correction: A previous version of this post incorrectly referred to the N.C. Free Enterprise Foundation as a lobbying group. It does not lobby.

In a press release today, the group also announced that James A. Rouse III will become chairman of the board of directors.

Rouse is director of government affairs for the N.C. Association of Electric Cooperatives.

A proposal to define marriage in the state constitution as the union between a man and woman may come to a vote in the state House this week.

A House committee voted Tuesday to send the bill to a vote, which is the most progress the proposal has made in the four years, Lynn Bonner reports.

A move by Democrats to have the bill referred to another committee, where it would likely have died, failed in a 14-10 vote. Three Democrats voted with 11 Republicans to keep the bill from being diverted to a judiciary committee.

John Rustin, lobbyist for the N.C. Family Policy Council, said he was encouraged by the vote.

"This is the most action we've seen on the bill," he said.

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