Dennis Nielsen

Even more numbers in gov poll

bkrueger — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 15:35:26 -0400

Voters who are concerned about education, health care and "moral or family values" prefer Beverly Perdue.

Voters who are concerned about the economy and immigration favor Richard Moore.

And voters who are concerned about taxes prefer Dennis Nielsen.

Those are some of the findings in the latest survey by Public Policy Polling in the Democratic race for governor.

PPP surveyed 1,100 likely Democratic primary voters on March 29-30. The margin of error was plus or minus 3.0 percentage points.

The breakdown on the issues after the jump.

Moore asks AG to take second look at law

bkrueger — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 15:58:05 -0500

State Treasurer Richard Moore said today that he has asked the Attorney General's office to take a second look at a new law that has led to the "unintended consequence" of just one insurance company having access to the addresses of roughly 200,000 state and local retirees to sell supplemental insurance policies.

That firm, State Insurance Services of Raleigh, is a politically-connected company that includes two men who have raised money for Moore in previous election campaigns, and a third who is a fundraiser for him in his bid for governor, reports Dan Kane. Moore made his plans official today by filling out the necessary paperwork with the State Board of Elections.

"We've already asked them specifically to look at the address pieces to say are you sure we can't give out addresses to anybody that wants them or to a broader list of folks, and we await their answer," Moore said.

Poll: Perdue leads Moore

bkrueger — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 14:55:02 -0500

Beverly Perdue continues to lead Richard Moore in the latest poll by Public Policy Polling in the Democratic race for governor.

The latest numbers, released today, show Perdue to be the choice of 45 percent of 553 likely Democratic primary voters surveyed on Feb. 6. Moore was the choice of 31 percent. Dennis Nielsen was the choice of 4 percent.

The margin of error was plus or minus 4.2 percentage points.

Governors: Fundraising

ryanteaguebeckwith — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 17:36:40 -0500

How are the gubernatorial candidates doing?

Here's a quick guide to the amount raised by each of the major candidates for governor, according to campaign finance reports filed with the State Board of Elections last week.

Figures are for total amount raised so far this election cycle.

Democrats

Beverly Perdue: $6.1 million

Richard Moore: $5.7 million

Republicans

Fred Smith: $690,922

Pat McCrory: $417,062

Bill Graham: $252,940

Bob Orr: $227,873

Dodging a poorly aimed bullet

ryanteaguebeckwith — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 09:07:00 -0500

Did the candidates dodge a question on collective bargaining?

Certainly, three of the four gubernatorial candidates at the NAACP debate Saturday managed to avoid saying whether they would repeal the ban on collective bargaining by state government workers, a key plank of the group's HK on J agenda.

But the question confused the issue from the start by mentioning both collective bargaining and the ongoing troubles at the Smithfield hog-processing plant in Tar Heel. That opened the door for the candidates.

Bob Orr said that he would improve working conditions so that people do not need to unionize. Beverly Perdue said she would establish a grievance commission for workers. And Richard Moore said he would only give incentives to companies with ironclad promises of jobs.

Only longshot candidate Dennis Nielsen answered the question, but his answer was even more confusing. He started and ended by saying workers should have collective bargaining rights, but in between he made a curious statement.

"I do not believe public employees should be able to strike or negotiate wages," he said.

So, state workers can form a union, but it can't do anything unionlike.

After the jump, the wording of the question.

Orr notes connections to HBCU's

kdryhurst — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 17:29:05 -0500

Bob Orr stressed his connection to historically black colleges at the debate today.

In response to a question about state support for historically black colleges, he cited his 11 years teaching law courses at N.C. Central and his time sitting on the school's Board of Visitors.

"I know exactly the kind of disparity in resources and the disparity in support that historically black universities and colleges in this state have received," he said.

Later, he mentioned to Dome that several of his law clerks had attended N.C. Central.

During the debate, Orr also said he was the only candidate for governor from either party that had attended a "state-supported university." He earned a bachelor of arts and a law degree from UNC-Chapel Hill in 1971 and 1975.

Dome assumes he means a North Carolina-supported university since Beverly Perdue attended both the University of Kentucky and the University of Florida and Dennis Nielsen earned his bachelor's degree from the University of Nebraska.

The other candidates went to private schools.

Richard Moore and Fred Smith both earned their bachelor's and law degrees from Wake Forest University. Bill Graham and Pat McCrory both earned their bachelor's degrees from Catawba College.

Nielsen: Health care for 'our own people'

ryanteaguebeckwith — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 16:02:37 -0500

Dennis Nielsen stirred a few murmurs with his response to a health care question.

The retired colonel began by warning the audience at today's debate about giving more money to politicians for health care, saying it would end up being spent "on something else."

He said health care should remain in private, not public, hands.

Then he said that there are people who are "illegally in the health-care system" overcrowding it.

"We've got to be sure that people who are not supposed to be here and not supposed to be in the health care system," he said. "Let's make sure the people who are using the health-care system have a right to be there and then let's take care of our own people."

That drew a few scattered murmurs—and some applause—from the audience.

The second gaffe of the debate

ryanteaguebeckwith — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 15:36:28 -0500

The second gaffe of the debate came a couple minutes later.

Retired colonel Dennis Nielsen answered a question about the Leandro decision, which guaranteed schoolchildren the right to a sound education.

But he accidentally called it the "Leonardo" decision.

Perdue: Always on

ryanteaguebeckwith — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 14:59:01 -0500

The candidates had to test their microphones just now before the debate began.

State Treasurer Richard Moore and former Supreme Court Justice Bob Orr stuck with the standard count-to-10 routine, but Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue couldn't pass up the chance to score some points with the audience.

"1, 2, 3, and mine's going to work the best," she said, garnering a laugh.

Retired colonel Dennis Nielsen went next.

"1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and they've saved the best for last," he said.

HK on J at the debate

ryanteaguebeckwith — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 10:49:34 -0500

The questions at tomorrow's debate will come from the NAACP's goals.

The 14-point HK on J agenda—which stands for Historic Thousands on Jones Street—calls for good schools, better health care, collective bargaining for public employees, reform of mandatory sentencing laws and an end to the Iraq war, among other things.

The forum will be moderated by Gerald Owens from WRAL. It will be televised on stations in the Triangle and in Charlotte and Wilmington. Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue, state Treasurer Richard Moore, former Supreme Court Justice Bob Orr and retired Air Force colonel Dennis Nielsen will participate.

The candidates will answer as many as seven questions each.

The forum will be held at 3 p.m. at the Historic Union Baptist Church in Durham at the winter session of the NAACP. It is the first time the group has sponsored a debate.