David Joyner

The latest word on Perdue's Cabinet

ryanteaguebeckwith — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 10:06:38 -0500

Names have risen and fallen like the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

But with no Cabinet-level appointments made yet by Gov.-elect Beverly Perdue, the guessing game on her administration continues.

(Perdue has named a transition team, a chief of staff and the head of a public campaign finance project, however.)

Here's the latest rundown:

Transportation: State Sen. Clark Jenkins chairs the Appropriations committee on transportation. Gene Conti is a former assistant secretary of the U.S. Department of Transportation. Lanny Wilson is vice chairman of the N.C. Turnpike Authority and has Senate leader Marc Basnight's backing. David Joyner is a transportation expert and head of the turnpike authority. Nina Szlosberg, a Board of Transportation member appointed to oversee environmental issues, has the support of transit advocates, women political leaders and environmentalists.

Correction: Crime Control Secretary Bryan Beatty is reportedly under consideration.

Crime Control: Scott Thomas is the district attorney for Carteret, Craven and Pamlico counties and served in the state Senate from 2000 to 2005.

Juvenile Justice: Linda Hayes has chaired the Governor's Crime Commission since 1995 and is a past chair of the national Coalition for Juvenile Justice.

Commerce: Senate Finance Committee chairman David Hoyle is well known as an advocate for business in the legislature. Rep. Jim Harrell helped pass incentives bills. Former deputy Tony Copeland now works in the private sector.

Revenue: Former state Sen. Oscar Harris served as Perdue's campaign treasurer.

Legislative Liaison: Former Senate budget analyst Andy Willis is vice president of government relations for the University of North Carolina system.

Health and Human Services: Perdue may conduct a national search for this post.

Environment and Natural Resources: Current secretary Bill Ross has served since 2001 and is reportedly interested in sticking around.

Administration: State Rep. Alma Adams filmed a TV ad for Perdue in the primary, but later criticized her transition team for its lack of diversity.

Cultural Resources: Adams, an art professor, may also be considered for this department.

Charlotte Office: Crandall Bowles is the former chair of Springs Industries and wife of UNC system president Erskine Bowles.

Names in the mix for Perdue's Cabinet?

ryanteaguebeckwith — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 13:58:23 -0500

Who might Gov.-elect Beverly Perdue appoint to her Cabinet?

The New Bern Democrat has already appointed a transition team and chief of staff and said that she will put Tom Lambeth in charge of an endowment for gubernatorial campaigns, but she has not yet named anyone to the 10 positions that run state departments.

Based on conversations with Raleigh insiders, a few names have come up:

Crime Control: Scott Thomas is the district attorney for Carteret, Craven and Pamlico counties and served in the state Senate from 2000 to 2005. Current Secretary Bryan Beatty has served in that position since 2001 and is reportedly interested in staying.

Juvenile Justice: Linda Hayes has chaired the Governor's Crime Commission since 1995 and is a past chair of the national Coalition for Juvenile Justice.

Commerce: Crandall Bowles is the former chair of Springs Industries and wife of UNC system president Erskine Bowles. Senate Finance Committee chairman David Hoyle is well known as an advocate for business in the legislature. Rep. Jim Harrell helped pass incentives bills.

Revenue: Former state Sen. Oscar Harris served as Perdue's campaign treasurer.

Health and Human Services: Former Raleigh city manager Dempsey Benton was brought in to clean up problems in the mental health system and is reportedly interested in staying.

Environment and Natural Resources: Current secretary Bill Ross has served since 2001 and is reportedly interested in sticking around.

Administration: State Rep. Alma Adams filmed a TV ad for Perdue in the primary, but later criticized her transition team for its lack of diversity.

Cultural Resources: Adams, an art professor, may also be considered for this department.

In addition, National Education Association executive director John Wilson may be under consideration for an advisory role in education, although the state Superintendent of Public Instruction is elected separately from the Cabinet.

Previously: Five Perdue appointments to watch

Some push Szlosberg for Transportation

ryanteaguebeckwith — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 11:12:30 -0500

The search for a transportation secretary continues.

N.C. Board of Transportation member Lanny Wilson, a fundraiser for Gov.-elect Beverly Perdue, has been promoted by Senate leader Marc Basnight and derided by commentators such as Chris Fitzsimon.

David Joyner, head of the N.C. Turnpike Authority, has emerged as an alternative to Wilson in recent days, although he was also a Perdue fundraiser.

Some public transit advocates, environmentalists and female political leaders are promoting another alternative: Nina Szlosberg.

Szlosberg, of Raleigh, is also a member of the transportation board and the Triangle Transit Authority. She's long been a backer of mass transit projects, once distributing copies of "The Little Engine That Could" to cheer up her fellow TTA trustees.

She's a popular choice among environmentalists, having chaired the Conservation Council of North Carolina's political action committee in the past.

She also has a clean reputation — a potentially crucial factor for a troubled agency. According to a Feb. 17 story in the N&O, she has not pushed for local projects in Raleigh in the last four years — a stark contrast to outgoing Secretary Lyndo Tippett.

Former assistant U.S. transportation secretary Gene Conti is also reportedly under consideration.

Joyner floated for DOT secretary

ryanteaguebeckwith — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 10:59:11 -0500

The state's turnpike czar has been floated as a transportation secretary.

David W. Joyner is a longtime transportation expert who has led the ongoing push for toll roads here as the first director of the N.C. Turnpike Authority.

His name has recently been suggested as a possible contender for head of the N.C. Department of Transportation under Gov.-elect Beverly Perdue.

The son of a state highway commissioner of the same name from the 1960s, Joyner was an assistant to the U.S. transportation secretary and later vice president of state government affairs for Burson-Marsteller, a public relations firm.

In 1994, he moved to Raleigh and founded State Capitol Strategies, a 50-state legislative bill tracking company later sold to the Washington Post. He later worked for Womble Carlyle.

A native of Rocky Mount, he has known Gov. Mike Easley since kindergarten and roomed with him for three years at UNC-Chapel Hill. He later worked as a major fundraiser for the governor.

Since 2005, Joyner has headed the turnpike effort, a job that has given him a lot of contact with the state DOT yet still positions him as a plausible outsider to the troubled agency.