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By John Carson
Managing Editor
- Less than a fortnight after leaving the station, the Patrick
Ballantine 2004 gubernatorial campaign train made a brief stop Wednesday in
Thomasville.
Ballantine, a state senator for the past 10 years, has tossed his hat into
the ring for the Republican nomination in next year’s race for governor.
“I’m running for one reason,” Ballantine said to an impromptu gathering at
Thomasville Emporium.
“I can make a difference. With the right leadership, we can make this state
as great as it can be.
“When one party has been in charge for 135 years, it gets fat, happy and
stale. It’s time for a change and new blood.”
If nothing else, Ballantine embodies his last statement.
At 38, the Wilmington native combines exuberance and enthusiasm with a
decade worth of service in the N.C. Senate — where he has served as Senate
GOP leader since 1998, including unanimous re-election to the post in 2000
and 2002.
Top topics of his campaign include economic development, education,
transportation and health care — all current state-wide problems, which he
believes can be solved and then improved.
“North Carolina is the only state to raise taxes three years in a row,”
Ballantine said. “We have a spending problem in this state, not a revenue
problem.
“The revenues are there, it’s just that spending has gotten out of control.
In fact, government spending has doubled in recent years.”
In terms of economic development, he said something has to be done about
trade with China — which has crippled the domestic textile and furniture
industries — however, that can only be done at the federal level.
Still, there are things on the state level that can be done to increase
economic development because the jobless “don’t want (government) handouts,
they want a job.”
“The staples of the 20th century — tobacco, textiles and furniture — won’t
be the staples of the 21st century,” Ballantine said. “We have to stay ahead
of the curve. It’s a very competitive world.
“We need forward thinking to see where we want and need to be in 10 years.
We can’t sit on our hands.”
Sitting on hands is what Ballantine believes the current administration is
doing with economic development.
He firmly believes the governor should be involved in a process of getting
individual businesses together to save businesses and industries in the
state by looking at the overall picture rather than just their individual
business’s interest.
Ballantine is also a firm believer in the state actively seeking economic
opportunities and pursuing them when they arise.
“We need a more aggressive approach to economic development,” he said. “The
current administration is not being aggressive, and jobs are the key.
“You have to go out and sell the state. If you don’t sell the state, then no
one knows about it.”
Ballantine cited the need for specific efforts to lure military industries
from the North that would put them closer to state’s bases, as well as N.C.
taking advantage of potential development situations that may arise around
the nation.
A battle he has fought in Senate that is part of his campaign is health
care.
“We will be hurt in North Carolina by a lack of health-care options unless
something is done to stop runaway insurance premiums,” Ballantine said.
“We’re driving specialists away because insurance is too high. We’re losing
OB/GYNs, neurosurgeons and cardiosurgeons.
“We also need to cap attorney fees on court cases. Attorneys are often
getting more than their clients in damage awards.”
Calling himself an “historical preservation nut,” pro-education and a
conservationist, but also a conservative Republican is not an oxymoron.
“You can do both,” he said. “They are exclusive. I’m a results guy. Just get
it done. I’m for what works.
“I don’t want to help only Republicans. I want to help everybody in the
state, and that can be done with forward-thinking and aggressive leadership.
I don’t care what party you’re in, I just want to do the right thing.”
Managing editor John Carson can be reached at 472-9500, ext. 229 or via
email at editor@tvilletimes.com.
This is an on-line publication of
The Thomasville Times
512 Turner Street
P.O. Box 549
Thomasville, NC 27360
336-472-9500
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