Beverly Perdue

Republican group opens wallet in NC

bniolet — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 12:53:48 -0400

The Republican Governors Association plans to pump more than $3.5 million into television ads in North Carolina starting next week to aid the party's nominee for governor, Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory.

The GOP group is buying airtime for its ads from next week through the election in every market except Charlotte, McCrory's home base, Mark Johnson reports. The RGA earlier this year formed a North Carolina political action committee that, thanks to a recent federal court decision, can raise and spend money as long as it does not coordinate its efforts with a candidate's campaign.

The RGA advertising is another part of the growing spending by outside groups in North Carolina campaigns. The Alliance for North Carolina, largely bankrolled by the Democratic Governors Association and labor unions, has spent at least $700,000 on ads attacking McCrory this summer.

Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue's campaign promptly dispatched an email Thursday to supporters asking for contributions to counter the RGA spending.

Poll: Perdue 43, McCrory 38

bkrueger — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 12:02:33 -0400

Public Policy Polling has some new numbers out in the governor's race, but they look pretty much like the old numbers.

Democrat Beverly Perdue continues to lead Republican Pat McCrory in the latest survey. The new numbers are 43 percent for Perdue, 38 percent for McCrory and 4 percent for Libertarian candidate Michael Munger.

PPP surveyed 904 likely voters Aug. 20-23. The margin of error was plus or minus 3.3 percentage points.

Tom Jensen of PPP says that McCrory, the longtime mayor of Charlotte, is having trouble getting traction elsewhere in the state. He says that McCrory leads 54-33 percent in the greater Charlotte area, but "trails in every other region of the state."

Ethics suit could cost $40,000

bkrueger — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 09:02:27 -0400

A legal battle involving the State Ethics Commission and the Office of State Auditor could end up costing taxpayers $40,000.

The N.C. Attorney General's Office has determined that it has a conflict in representing either party in a lawsuit the commission filed earlier this month, reports Dan Kane.

So both sides are hiring private lawyers to handle the matter. Gov. Mike Easley authorized an initial cap of $20,000 for each party.

Noelle Talley, a spokeswoman for the attorney general, said chief deputy Grayson Kelley had unsuccessfully sought to mediate the dispute.

The battle is over whether the commission has to comply with the auditor's investigation into an allegation of preferential treatment for Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue, the Democratic nominee for governor. A Perdue aide visited the commission's office to review Perdue's financial disclosure statements and was allowed to look at them alone in a vacant office.

Since then, a log noting the arrangement was altered and the employee who made the notation has been fired. Ethics commission officials say nothing was improper in the visit and the employee was not fired as a result of the notation.

Women's Day

lynnbonner — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 20:29:59 -0400

Kay Hagan and Beverly Perdue didn’t make it out to Denver, but their campaigns were chatted up at a fundraiser for EMILY’s List, a group that supports Democratic women candidates.

R. Bruce Thompson II a delegate from Raleigh, paid so much to attend the Tuesday fundraiser that he didn’t want give the figure because his wife didn't know how much it cost him.

(Hint to Mrs. Thompson: It was at a 'sponsorship' level, and more than $50.)

Hagan, who is running for U.S. Senate, and Perdue, who is running for governor, is on the group’s list of “rising stars.”

“It’s kind of nice to be from North Carolina when they’re talking about all these North Carolinians,” said Thompson, who is attending his first convention as a delegate.

More after the jump.

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McCrory, Perdue to talk ethics

bkrueger — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 16:20:17 -0400

Beverly Perdue and Pat McCrory have agreed to take questions about ethics, lobbying and campaign fundraising at a forum next month sponsored by the N.C. Coalition for Lobbying Government Reform.

The forum begins 11 a.m. Sept. 16 at the Marbles Museum in downtown Raleigh. Each of the gubernatorial candidate will appear individually, give a statement and then take questions, reports Dan Kane.

Jane Pinsky, the coalition's director, said some of the issues the two candidates are likely to tackle include curbing lobbyists' roles in raising campaign money, full disclosure of major campaign fundraising, increasing the openness of government meetings and the availability of legislative documents, and preventing lawmakers from soliciting lobbyists to contribute to not-for-profits.

Ethics commission takes Merritt to court

bkrueger — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 12:23:17 -0400

The State Ethics Commission is asking a Superior Court judge to prevent State Auditor Les Merritt from investigating a claim of preferential treatment for Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue, the Democratic nominee for governor.

The suit claims that Merritt's office has a conflict of interest because its investigations chief, Frank Perry, left the ethics commission a year ago. The suit also claims that Merritt, a Republican seeking re-election, "denigrated" the commission in an hour-long interview with a radio station.

It is a rare case in which one state agency is suing another, reports Dan Kane.

"The commission welcomes an independent and impartial investigation by an appropriate entity that is free from actual and/or perceived conflicts of interest," the suit said.

More after the jump.

Perdue doesn't need to praise Easley

bniolet — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 14:38:14 -0400

Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue has permission to disown the governor.

Gov. Mike Easley told Dome Monday he wasn't bothered by Perdue's recent refusal to say whether she thought Easley had done a good job, Mark Johnson reports.

"That's probably smart on her part. She needs to row her own boat," Easley said.

Perdue, the Democratic nominee for governor, debated Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory, the Republican candidate, last week in Durham. McCrory repeatedly characterized her as part of the Easley administration.

Perdue took news media questions after the debate and responded to questions about McCrory's jabs by emphasizing her independence from Easley. (The lieutenant governor is elected separately, not as part of a team ticket.) She was asked whether she thought Easley has done a good job as governor.

At first, Perdue praised Easley's handling of the economic crisis he walked into in 2001 — plummeting tax revenues and rising state expenses.

"He helped put this state back on the pathway to prosperity," Perdue said, "And I think he's done a tremendous job on that issue."

On that issue? Well, has he just plain done a good job?

"I'm not one to evaluate people. I never evaluated Jim Hunt. I didn't evaluate Jim Martin. That's not my job," Perdue said. "You historians and writers can evaluate people."

Easley's response after the jump.

Claims Dept: Perdue and the food tax

ryanteaguebeckwith — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 17:30:22 -0400

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Beverly Perdue is airing a new ad touting her record in office.

What it says: The ad shows images of Perdue from her early life and her political career. A narrator says, "Bev Perdue. Neither of her parents finished high school, yet she became a teacher and earned a Ph.D. She's spent a lifetime fighting for the middle class — Smart Start for our kids, cutting the sales tax on food, saving our military bases from closure. In these tough times, she'll lead the way — a higher minimum wage, property tax relief for seniors, creating the jobs of the future. Bev Perdue, a governor for us."

The background: Perdue taught in public schools in Georgia and Florida from 1970 to 1974. She received a doctorate in education administration in March 1976 from the University of Florida.

Gov. Jim Hunt and the legislature created Smart Start, a statewide pre-school program, in 1993 when Perdue was in her second term in the state Senate. That year, Hunt appointed her as one of 16 initial members of a board to oversee Smart Start.

Then-Gov. Terry Sanford helped establish a statewide sales tax on food in 1961 to pay higher teacher salaries. It was supposed to be temporary, but it lasted almost four decades. Lawmakers cut it from 4 percent to 3 percent in 1996 and eliminated it two years later.

Perdue was co-chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee when lawmakers eliminated the tax. She voted in favor of doing so, but was not a champion of the cause. An unusual coalition of liberal lawmakers and anti-tax Republicans pushed for eliminating the tax, while the Senate’s leadership was less enthusiastic.

"I have long believed it is the wrong item to tax and there should be a total elimination," Perdue told The Charlotte Observer in August 1997. But, she added, "You have to look at fiscal responsibility. The priority, I believe, in addition to cutting the food tax, is to provide adequate funding for teachers and to clean up the environment."

Gov. Mike Easley appointed Perdue, as lieutenant governor, to lead the state's efforts to protect North Carolina’s military bases from closure by the U.S. Department of Defense. The multi-year process is designed to be insulated from political pressure, and it involved work from a large number of people, including the state's congressional delegation.

Perdue has called for increasing the minimum wage in North Carolina by one dollar to $8.25, from the minimum of $7.25 an hour set to take effect in July 2009.

She also says she favors expanding the state’s homestead exemption and freezing the property tax revaluations for seniors who make less than $50,000 and have lived in their homes for at least 20 years.

Is the ad accurate? Yes, though there is no way to quantify how much Perdue helped the state's military bases.

— David Ingram

Perdue 43, McCrory 41, Munger 3

ryanteaguebeckwith — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 16:47:59 -0400

The gubernatorial race remains neck and neck.

According to a recent poll by the conservative Civitas Institute, Democratic candidate Beverly Perdue had 43 percent support, Republican Pat McCrory 41 percent and Libertarian Mike Munger three percent.

Thirteeen percent were undecided.

"Despite the initial round of ads critical of McCrory, he has held his support steady and, in fact, closed the gap on Perdue by one point," said executive director Francis DeLuca.

The live survey of 600 registered voters was conducted Aug. 14-17 by TelOpinion Research of Alexandria, Va. The margin of error was plus or minus 4.2 percentage points.

It's 'Bev' for Winston-Salem Journal

ryanteaguebeckwith — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 14:40:24 -0400

The Winston-Salem Journal is now calling her "Bev."

In a post on his blog, newspaper editor Ken Otterbourg writes that there's been "a bit of controversy" over Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue's name.

Perdue goes by Bev, or at least she wants to, but most of the media won’t let her. The AP refers to her as Beverly Perdue. So do most of the state's major newspapers. After some discussions last week, the Journal is calling her Bev, a change from how we used to do it.

Otterbourg says that though they have been sticklers for past governors, calling them James B. Hunt and James G. Martin, they relaxed the rule for Mike Easley.

"I suspect the reluctance for most of the media to use Bev Perdue is a matter of consistency," he writes. "Mike Easley has always been Mike Easley. It's not clear when Beverly became Bev on political documents, but you can see the change on ballots."

Still, he says they decided on the change because it's a "fair and reasonable use."

Previously: What's Perdue's first name?