Will the Real Pat McCrory Please Step Forward
I recently attended two Pat McCrory campaign presentations. Although Pat hasn’t officially announced his candidacy for governor, he is heralded as the Republican frontrunner in a field of no discernable opponents. The NC Republican Party for all practical purposes has anointed Pat McCrory as their candidate. I personally think it unwise for Republicans to be discouraging other candidates from stepping forward this far from the 2012 election.
Pat adheres to a carefully crafted message combined with his talent to adlib. He comes off as very personable and proclaims to have all the values conservatives want in a candidate. My concern is that Pat McCrory’s record as mayor of Charlotte is far from conservative.
Pat claims to have cut taxes while mayor, yet the John Locke Foundation recently ranked Charlotte the highest taxed city in NC for the tenth year in a row (link). In 2009 the average resident of Charlotte paid $2,360 in local taxes and fees compared to a resident living in an average NC county who paid $1,304. Pat is very critical of Bev Perdue’s tax policies for chasing businesses away, but Charlotte’s unemployment rate remains stubbornly higher than that of NC (link). Despite these high taxes and fees, Pat left Charlotte $3 billion in debt. Following are some of the most notorious examples of boondoggle spending Mayor Pat McCrory pushed.
Light Rail (link)
Downtown Arena (link)
NASCAR Hall of Fame (link)
Replacing flexible bus service with exorbitantly more expensive light rail (link) is not prudent management of taxpayer money. Putting taxpayers involuntarily at risk for projects that should be left to private investors is not conservative. Arguably Pat McCrory’s record indicates he is every bit as big a spender, taxer and job killer as Bev Perdue; so why are Republicans so quick to endorse him?
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