Republicans talk politics, policies
By Phyllis Moore
Published in News on March 25, 2012 1:50 AM
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News-Argus/ALLISON CARTER
Dennis Tiller, left, speaks to GOP gubernatorial candidate Pat McCrory at the Wayne County Republican Convention Saturday at the Herman Park Center.
Gubernatorial candidate Pat McCrory has a long-held passion for education and hopes to improve the state's "broken" system while leading North Carolina out of the "mess" it has fallen into over the past four years, he told those at the Wayne County Republican Convention Saturday.
As he took to the podium in Herman Park Center, McCrory recalled an earlier time spent in the city, when he made $2.85 an hour at a summer job. He said he and his brother were laying pavement on the tennis courts across from Goldsboro High School.
"It was right behind you," pointed out Jerry Grantham, second vice chair of the convention.
"Well, the lines are about two inches off, I want you to know," McCrory quipped.
The former mayor of Charlotte, who first ran for the governor's seat in 2008, said at the outset that one of the party's first major goals in the campaign has already been accomplished -- Gov. Beverly Perdue will not be governor next year.
"This is going to be a very, very important and tough election for all of us," he said, adding that the Democrats have two or three "understudies" waiting in the wings to step in.
"They have been part of the system that's frankly got North Carolina in this mess that it doesn't deserve," he said.
His home state boasts people and resources and a work ethic that is second to none, he said, and therefore has no excuse for the education system and unemployment rate it currently has.
"We are running because we want to reform government. We want to fix a broken economy," he told the audience.
McCrory said in his travels around the state, one of the most discouraging sights has been seeing shutdown plants and closed businesses, He would like to see the rebuilding of industries and creation of jobs in every city and town.
It is entirely possible, he pointed out.
"We have the resources, we have the talent," he said.
One way to accomplish that is through education. Instead of offering remedial classes to incoming college freshmen, he suggested the need for alleviating failure by providing better options in high school.
"I want a program where we have every child in every one of our high schools have the opportunity for two different types of curriculum to get their degree," he said.
He explained his idea, which would involve a curriculum preparing students for the rigors of college academics, while the other would focus on vocational and trade classes better preparing them for the workforce.
Once McCrory's keynote address ended, the convention's agenda also encouraged candidates for office to make brief remarks and three resolutions were adopted by the gathering.
* The first supported the marriage amendment and encouraging voters to vote "yes" to the resolution, which declares marriage between one man and one woman as the only domestic legal union recognized by the state.
* The second pledged full support to the Nation of Israel and its Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and request that President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton "stop their arrogant meddling in Israel's internal affairs."
* The third was aimed at United Nations Agenda 21, called a comprehensive plan of extreme environmentalists, social engineering and global political control that was initiated at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development held in Brazil in 1992. The resolution continued on to say that it has since been pushed into local communities and was recognized as having "harmful implications" and the policy is being deemed a "social injustice." The convention voted that the resolution be distributed to U.S. governors, the N.C. General Assembly and the N.C. Association of County Commissioners.