Letter writer: Want more jobs? Vote out Republican majority

Graphic by Lori Deaton

Everyone will agree North Carolina has issues to overcome. We have to protect our natural environment. We must do better at educating our young. We must keep our infrastructure in working order. The list goes on and on.

The economy is one of the biggest issues. People want jobs — good jobs — to come here. People want to work, want to be paid fairly and want to be able to afford a decent life. Not extravagant, just decent. It used to be possible.

The legislators in Raleigh swept into power promising jobs, jobs, jobs during the Recession. And what have they done since then? Remember the cuts to education? Do you know about the fight to keep Asheville’s water system under the city’s control? Have you heard about the toxic leaks from Duke’s coal-ash ponds? And now there’s House Bill 2 (HB 2).

What does any of this have to do with bringing jobs into the state? If anything, we’ve been losing jobs. Who wants to move to a state to live downstream from a coal-ash pond in an area where schools are underfunded and employees have no rights? How does taking Asheville’s water system away, legal or not, create more jobs?

It’s one thing to break a campaign promise. It’s another thing to reverse direction and work against it. If you want more jobs to come to North Carolina, vote out the Republican majority and restore some sanity to Raleigh. Don’t do it for me; do it for your kids.

— Mark Bloom
Registered Independent
Asheville

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27 thoughts on “Letter writer: Want more jobs? Vote out Republican majority

  1. The Real World

    Good luck with that plan. Fill up Raleigh or Wash DC, for that matter, with Dems or Independents or Libertarians and let us know in a few years whether you discern any significant difference.

  2. luther blissett

    Um, the sentiments are admirable, but it’s preaching to the converted: there are zilch zero no Republican state legislators to be voted out in Asheville or Buncombe County: that was sorted out in 2014 when Nathan Ramsay and Little Timmy Moffitt got the boot.

    Sure, Michele Presnell is a loon who deserves to be defeated, and the residents of Henderson County could vote out Chuck McGrady and the guy who’s running for Tom Apodoca’s state Senate seat, but I don’t think that’s likely, or that most of them are in the Mountain Xpress core demographic.

  3. I am very concerned about jobs in North Carolina. As the state is lately experiencing a profound economic recovery, I will continue to vote Republican.

    NC Spin: “The state Controller reported that in the first 6 months of our fiscal year, revenues increased by almost $600 million and exceed revenue projections by more than $100 million. You were a big supporter of these tax reforms. Does this indicate that they are working?”

    Becki Gray: “Absolutely. And let me just mention too that it’s not just only the tax reforms, but it’s also rolling back regulations, it’s putting an emphasis on accountability in education, ensuring that we have a well-skilled workforce, investing in infrastructure, scaling back the size and scope of government. So, all of these reforms together–and tax reform was certainly a huge part of that–have in fact worked. Let me just throw out one number for you: 234,000 net new jobs in North Carolina. You mentioned the additional revenue that’s coming in, but I think that says a lot. Other indicators that we see are growth in GDP, per capita income, unemployment rates, all of those things. North Carolina is a leader not only in our region but also in the nation. We have become a model, across North Carolina, about how to do these reforms and how to do them right.”

    Audio:
    https://www.carolinajournal.com/video/jlfs-becki-gray-assesses-impact-of-n-c-tax-reforms-2/
    Video:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pt4MlvN_RRk&t=1m39s

    • Tom Williams

      Tim will continue to vote for the people who pay him to write “opinions ‘. He is the cut and paste king for hire. His convictions are as deep as his paycheck.

  4. Henry

    The logical problem presented by this author is that everything he is unhappy with started under democratic control. If that’s the case, why would a return to a democratically dominated state legislature yield any different results?

    The coal ash ponds were not regulated until the McCroy era, and were being built under the democrat’s watch.

    The most damaging of the Sullivan Acts limiting Asheville’s control of the water system was put in place by Democratic Senator Martin Nesbit, and voted for by current seat holder Susan Fisher.

    I’m sure replacing McCroy with Cooper, a benefactor of Duke’s money in the past, will really get a crackdown on those coal ash ponds.

    • The Real World

      Ok look, Tim and Henry – now don’t be putting facts out there.

      No, no….that just makes them mad because they don’t line up with their ‘dream view’.

      Facts are bad, only feelings count. Got it?

    • bsummers

      The attempted seizure of Asheville’s water system started under the Democrats? That’s a stretch. The Sullivan Acts enforced an uneasy truce between the City and the County.

      It’s a wild distortion to say that somehow that led to the State trying to take the system away from local control. That was 100% pure GOP overreach.

      • Yes. It will be shown that the Water Act had its origins in the Sullivan Acts enacted by Democrats in response to Asheville’s corruption, greed, theft, and overreach.

        • bsummers

          Congratulations. You finally came up with a reply that was false, but not vulgar or insulting enough to get blocked by the moderator. I know you’ve been trying for two days.

          http://bit.ly/1Smlm8Q

          • Nice redirect. I suppose this will be your strategy in court. I do hope the City follows your line or reasoning.

          • bsummers

            My strategy? My strategy in court will be to listen politely from the peanut gallery. I am not a party in the lawsuit. Perhaps you have confused me with someone else.

            Background on the case, including links to all the documents and updates when they happen:

            http://saveourwaterwnc.com/

          • Yes. YOUR strategy and those like you. As the spokeshole for the mayor, I expect the City will take your lead and adopt your rhetorical strategy. Or is it the other way round? God help us.

          • bsummers

            Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha! I’m a “spokeshole for the mayor”? You have a delusional view of the players here. I’m just some guy, and I’m happy if anyone at the City even takes my calls. The notion that they “take my lead” is absurd.

            But if it flatters you to think you are tangling with someone of importance on the XPress blogs, at 9:30 on a Saturday night, do what ya gotta. When I did mushrooms in art school decades ago, I imagined that the memory of Jim Morrison was defended by a cadre of biker-like Demi-Gods. It kept me entertained.

            Do what you have to to have a good night, bro.

          • And, yes, I’ll be voting Republican.

            Liberals Imposed Massive Tax Hikes for Decades, Conservatives Are Cutting Taxes at Historical Rates

            Radical leftists are manufacturing fake concern over the tax burden facing some North Carolinians. This is laughable given the fact that taxes have been significantly cut over the last five years. These same liberals expressed no concern while Democrats dramatically hiked taxes for three decades tax-day.

            Desperation can cause people to do odd things. Take, for example, left-wing groups such as Progress North Carolina now pretending to be concerned about the tax burden on North Carolinians.

            For decades, while North Carolina imposed among the highest income tax rates in the nation, liberal progressives never made a peep of concern about state taxes taking a bite out of household budgets. Indeed, dozens of tax hikes were passed by Democrat majorities to fund the massive expansion of state government that liberals demanded…
            http://nchouse117.com/the-real-truth-on-tax-hikes/

          • “Do what you have to to have a good night, bro.”

            I always do, bro.

            Right now I’m studying the Flint argument. That alone may keep me up all hours.

  5. Yep

    neither candidate for governor is worthy of your vote….won’t vote for either one, nor US Senate race…never trumpet either.

    the most critical race here is Buncombe Co Commission Chairperson and why it’s critical to keep Brownie Newman OUTTA there!!!

    Please vote for Miranda DeBruhl for County Chairman, she is the absolute best choice for the taxpayers! We NEED HER!

      • bsummers

        See, the good thing for DeBruhl is that any more companies she runs off in order to prevent Brownie from having successes to point to, she can just claim it was HB2’s fault.

          • Tracy Rose

            This conversation has also gotten way off track from the points raised by the letter writer. Please keep your comments on topic. Thanks

          • You’ll find that Barry Summers has made it an art form to wander from the topic at the earliest availability. It’s his signature approach to online discussions.

            However, back to the topic: the letter writer asks us to vote out Republican if we care about jobs. I think that would be counterproductive since it is Republicans that are responsible for stimulating prosperity in this state after years of failure. See my links above. I’ll not repost them.

          • I will, however, in the spirit of topic-keeping, send readers to another piece highlighting the good news brought to you by the Republicans I will be voting for:

            North Carolina’s Tax Climate
            Raleigh, N.C. – In 2013, Governor Pat McCrory and the General Assembly instituted historic tax reform by reducing the personal income tax for all North Carolinians, reducing the corporate tax rate, and eliminating the death tax. NCGOP leadership then lowered rates again in 2015. These reforms took North Carolina from being home to the worst business tax climate in the Southeast to the most improved tax climate in the country.
            http://www.ncgop.org/ncgops-historic-tax-reform-drastically-improves-north-carolinas-tax-climate/

  6. Yep

    she did NOT run off Deshutes…they simply did NOT want to be the ’80th’ brewery here and did NOT need that much land! They
    CHOSE to locate where they would be the #1 brewery and bought only 49 acres. County Commission knew back last November that this was not going to happen but kept it a secret and they resist taping their meetings – then Gantt has the NERVE to ask if
    there was a recording from DeBruhl…he is an evil democrackkk. If you want a taxpayer teatsucker like Brownie Newman, as chairman, then YOU are the FOOL.

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