Mike Beitler is making two intriguing political leaps this year. For one, the former U.S. Senate candidate is now running for Secretary of State. And two, he switched his voter registration from the Libertarian Party to the Republican Party.
In an interview Tuesday, Beitler talked about his partisan reversal, the chances of a third party candidate in North Carolina, Ron Paul and his new campaign. (See video below.)
His main objective in the Secretary of State's race -- which is crowded with three Republican challengers -- is to cut regulations. He suggested the N.C. executive branch should step in and refuse to enforce Sarbanes-Oxley, a federal law passed in the wake of the Enron scandal. But he didn't identify any specific state regulations he wants to see eliminated. "I'm not anti-regulation -- obviously we need some regulation -- but if it doesn't help customers ... let's get rid of it," said Beitler, a UNC-Greensboro business school professor who took a year off to launch his campaign.
In 2010, Beitler ran as the Libertarian candidate against Republican U.S. Sen. Richard Burr and Democratic challenger Elaine Marshall. For his new campaign Beitler hired state Rep. Jason Saine, a Republican Party consultant, to guide him.
Click below to check out a part of the interview and please excuse the background noise from Cafe Carolina in Raleigh.
