Rep. Grier Martin is focused on raising state workers' salaries.

The Raleigh Democrat said that his biggest budget-related goal this session will be to bring teachers' salaries closer to the national average and give state workers a pay raise.

He does not think Gov. Mike Easley's proposed 7 percent pay raise for teachers and 1.5 percent raise for state employees is enough, though he declined to give a specific percentage that he would like to see.

"We need more," he said, "but we've got to figure out how we're going to pay for that too."

Apart from the budget, Martin said he hopes the legislature does not rush a comprehensive transportation fix. He said that it's too big of an issue to solve in a short session, though he hopes the legislature will make progress on finishing Interstate 540 and providing light rail in the Triangle.

"We do not need to be solving the transportation issue (in the short session) because that is a problem that requires careful, well-informed thought and doesn't lend itself to a quick and dirty solution," he said. "We'll just screw it up."

Clarification: Martin said he supports a transportation bond this fall, but not an overhaul of the entire system in the short session. 

A new radio ad attacks Pat McCrory over Charlotte's light rail.

The minute-long spot by rival Fred Smith begins by attacking the budget for the recently opened Lynx Blue Line in Charlotte.

"North Carolina taxpayers can't afford Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory," says a female narrator. "On McCrory's watch as mayor, they overspent the budget on light rail by more than $200 million, and it was reported in the Charlotte Observer that McCrory said one attraction of being governor was that he might better aid Charlotte from that office."

Midway through the ad, Smith begins speaking. He says that voters are not getting their "money's worth" from state government.

"It's time for a change in leadership," he says.