justing's blog

When Bev Perdue announced that she was stopping the negative ads and was going to run a positive campaign, she reserved the right to defend herself against misleading attacks. That's what this ad is about. Setting the record straight in a manner that deals with the issues not tearing down the other candidate.

Of course y’all remember when Bev announced last week that she was going to stop the negative ads and run a positive campaign. Since then the campaign has been overwhelmed with positive emails from voters impressed that a candidate is eschewing the traditional negative campaign in favor of a campaign that focuses on the issues that matter most. Click here to read a sampling.

That reaction is quite different than what the pundits, media and the Moore campaign have had to say – one said it was “political suicide” and another said “political graveyards are filled with the bones of candidates who refused to fight back.” If you want to help prove the pundits wrong, and send the message that voters are more interested in a candidate who will build North Carolina up rather than tear the other candidate down, then we need your help, because Primary Day is only 18 days away.

What can you do to help Bev Perdue?

Today Bev Perdue announced a campaign finance reform plan to eliminate special interest financing of gubernatorial campaigns. The centerpiece of the idea is the Endowment for Positive Gubernatorial Campaigns.

The plan is based on former Senator Wib Gulley’s 1995 legislation. Nationally, Russ Feingold and Al Gore made similar proposals in 2000 for congressional campaigns.

Here is how it works:

After a brief hiatus, the Bev Perdue campaign is back on the airwaves today with a brand new TV ad.

The new ad, called “Real People,” is intended to highlight some of the new ideas Bev has proposed during this campaign, including her Health Care Roadmap, Main Street Solutions, and the Green Business Fund. You can read about all these proposals and much more at our website on our Building a New North Carolina page.

"Worrisome"

"BRAC"

There have been a lot of goings-on this week at the Bev Perdue Campaign. Most of you have seen the TV ad by now, but we also released a couple of new ideas as part of Bev’s Building a New North Carolina series. Let me tell you about them…

Creating a DOT that works for North Carolina
Click here to read the four-step plan. The gist is that we must get the DOT’s house in order by decentralizing bureaucracy so that decisions are made in the field. Then we must hold contractors accountable so that we get projects on time and on budget. Combine that with ending the $170 million transfer away from the Highway Trust Fund and we can start to reign in the outrageous inflation of construction costs that is skyrocketing the projected costs of our transportation needs.

Cool Cities Assistance Initiative
Many of you may be aware of the Sierra Club’s Cool Cities program. The Sierra Club’s volunteers have done a fantastic job across the state getting their municipal governments to sign the US Mayors’ Climate Protection Agreement. 37 cities and towns in North Carolina have signed the Agreement, the 4th most in the nation. The Agreement calls on municipal governments to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by 7% from the 1990 level by 2012.

Bev’s Cool Cities Assistance Initiative would give grants and funds to help the cities and towns who have signed the Agreement create their initial emissions reduction plans and then carry them out. The initiative is especially helpful to small towns that don’t have the resources or staff to carry on these projects.

Bev came out yesterday with the third installment of Building a New North Carolina: Main Street Solutions. This initiative will give a boost to the economic development of small towns and cities across North Carolina.

The state Department of Commerce has an existing Main Street program, but it only gets $450,000 annually from the state legislature. That’s a pittance considering the importance of our small towns and cities.

Bev’s immediate goal will be to increase funding to $2.25 million, so that we can help more towns around the state. That sum still represents only a fraction of what the state pays in annual incentives to relocating businesses. The projects funded through Main Street will themselves serve as tools to attract relocating and start-up businesses.

Taking from best practices in other states and success stories here in North Carolina and in consultation with local leaders; Main Street Solutions will develop a flexible menu of options from which our smaller town and cities can choose in activating their own economic development strategies.

Please read more about the program here.

If you haven’t already read the first two parts of Building a New North Carolina, Rural HOPE and BRAC Budget Reform.