Hise Faces Challenge On Transportation, Education In Senate District 47 | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Publisher's note: The author of this post is Joe Johnson, who is a contributor to the Carolina Journal, John Hood Publisher.

Lavender says new road funding formula will harm rural, Western counties

    RALEIGH     McDowell County Commissioner Michael Lavender is used to running campaigns after 12 years on the board, but his current run for state Senate against incumbent Ralph Hise is a little more complicated.

    Hise said Tuesday's Republican primary has more of a feel of a general election. The primary is winner-take-all, barring a write-in or unaffiliated candidate in the Nov. 4 general election, because no Democrats filed to run.

    District 47 covers six counties in western North Carolina — Madison, McDowell, Mitchell, Polk, Rutherford, and Yancey.

    From a campaign finance perspective, Hise, of Spruce Pine, appears to have the advantage. According to the North Carolina FreeEnterprise Foundation, he had $37,218 cash on hand at the close of 2013. No information was available for Lavender's campaign cash.

    "It's a different kind of campaign than I'm used to with six counties," said Lavender, of Marion. "As a commissioner, I've only been concerned with my county — McDowell — but there have been a lot of things in the last couple of years that I think have hurt our district."

    Lavender said he is leaning heavily on a message that the rural nature of the district is getting shortchanged by current state policies Hise supports. He said transportation funding changes, tax reforms, and education policies are not addressing the needs of a rural district.

    "Transportation money is going to fast-growing areas and we're not fast-growing," Lavender said. "I support tax cuts, but I think there was a better way, especially when there are caps on certain types of sales tax."

    "When somebody pays more sales tax on a single-wide mobile home than you pay on a $1 million yacht, that's a problem," Lavender said. "The poor and the middle class, which is mostly what we have in this district, are at a disadvantage."

    Lavender also is a strong supporter of public schools, and has been disappointed with the solutions the General Assembly has offered, especially with teacher pay and student performance.

    Hise, who is in second term, is one of the youngest members of the General Assembly at 37. He is a former two-term mayor of Spruce Pine, and his agenda is focusing on lowering the tax burden for mountain families, improving public schools, helping small businesses create new jobs, and strengthening western North Carolina's economy.

    "I am proud of the progress we've made, especially with tax reform," Hise said. " I believe we've only just begun."

    Hise said he'd like to see personal and corporate income taxes eliminated.

    He also pointed to his support of public education and charter schools as positive factors in his re-election campaign. He cited increased public education spending and lifting the cap on the number of charter schools in the state as a step forward.

    Hise said he has seen progress with transportation.

    "For a long time, the transportation was skewed, and now we've rebalanced it," Hise said. "We got the state to realize that there is something [west of] I-77."

    Both candidates said the outcome of the race could hinge on turnout, especially in Hise's home county Mitchell. That county traditionally has had exceptional turnout for primary elections. The remaining five counties aren't nearly as strong with turnout, in comparison.

    "Mitchell County is a strong Republican county and most of the elections are decided in the primary," Hise said.

    The North Carolina Free Enterprise Foundation categorizes District 27 as strong Republican, although the GOP has just a slight advantage over Democrats among registered voters, 36.4 percent to 35.9 percent.

    Still, the district gave 63.6 percent of its votes to Republican Mitt Romney in the 2012 presidential election, and 60.5 percent to Republican Pat McCrory in the governor's race.