Remember us? County needs to insist new governor knows the way here

One of the biggest jokes about Gov. Mike Easley is that he never leaves the office — and that he never seems to be anywhere in the state other than Raleigh.

That means that unless you have that address, you might wonder, as one of the North Carolinians who put him in office, just why you bothered.

Eastern North Carolina is one of those addresses that seems not to be on the governor’s GPS navigation system.

So now that there are two new people running for the highest office in the state — both of whom claim to be governors who will represent the entire state — it is time for eastern North Carolina to speak up and to make some demands.

As wonderful as Pat McCrory and Beverly Perdue might be and as connected as they are in Charlotte and Raleigh respectively, neither can bring home a victory in November without some help from this part of the state.

So, for the next few months, we just might see a lot of them.

And when we do, we need to ask them what specifically they are going to do for this part of the state and how we can be sure that they will remember our names once they are in the governor’s mansion.

And that starts with making sure they know the issues that this part of the state faces.

Eastern North Carolina is poised for big news, both on the development side and on attracting more residents to its communities. This area is “up and coming” and will need support from Raleigh to make sure its potential is realized.

That means the pick for governor, for us, will be someone who is familiar with the challenges we face and who has actually been here more than just when he or she was on the campaign trail.

Eastern North Carolina needs to ask some tough questions of both McCrory and Perdue — and to demand some promises for the future.

And then, we need to hold them to them.

Published in Editorials on May 8, 2008 10:33 AM