It’s been a whirlwind of a summer for North Carolina gubernatorial candidate Patrick Ballantine.
After winning the Republican primary in July by less than 1 percent, Ballantine resumed the stumping campaign he had begun during the primary season, criss-crossing the state in search of voters and financial support. He then paused his campaigning to travel to New York City for the Republican National Convention, where he was wined and dined by Gov. George Pataki and slated to cast the North Carolina delegation’s votes for President George W. Bush—an honor he had to forfeit after getting stuck in one of the city’s notorious traffic jams.
“There was a huge boost of enthusiasm that came with the euphoria that came with the primary,” Bob Rosser, Ballantine’s campaign director, said of the recent rush of activity.
Ballantine is no stranger to the excitement that accompanies a life in politics. Before choosing to run for governor, the Wilmington, N.C., attorney served in the state Senate for 10 years, five of which he spent as the minority leader. A self-described “Ronald Reagan conservative,” Ballantine is now running on a platform of eliminating what he considers wasteful government spending and reducing the state’s bureaucracy.
“We need new leadership to bring real change to state government,” Ballantine said in a statement on his campaign website. “We need to address the fundamental problem we face in North Carolina—a bloated state government that takes more and more of our tax dollars.”
Rosser said Ballantine’s first action as governor will be “prioritizing state government,” or defining the activities of each state department based on its stated mission and goals and setting spending priorities in accordance with those definitions in order to do away with current redundancies.
In conjunction with this prioritization and a “spending freeze” that would limit state spending to correspond with the inflation rate and population growth, Ballantine has introduced a $1.2 billion package of tax cuts that he would work to put in place if elected. The cuts include reductions in personal and corporate income taxes and a repeal of the capital gains tax.
Ballantine has repeatedly criticized incumbent Gov. Mike Easley, his opponent, for raising taxes and has used his own tax proposals to cast himself as a foil to the current executive. Easley supporters, however, argue that Ballantine’s voting record in the Senate contributed to the budget crisis that necessitated the tax increase implemented under Easley’s watch.
“Ballantine voted for all of the budgets that got us into the financial hole that Gov. Easley had to dig us out of,” explained Mac McCorkle, an adviser to the Easley campaign. “Then in 2001... Ballantine had no solution [to balance the budget] but to cut education.”
Viewing education as too valuable a priority to compromise, Easley instead supported a temporary tax increase to settle the crisis, McCorkle said.
Ballantine still plans to make cuts in the area of education, but only to the administrative budget of the Department of Public Instruction. Many educators and DPI officials, however, view this plan as a potentially detrimental blow to an already overworked department.
“To cut the administrative budget of the department would be myopic,” said June Atkinson, Democratic candidate for state superintendent of public instruction. “[Ballantine] shows a lack of understanding of the functions and the services that the department provides to local school districts.”
Despite these questions looming over his budgetary plans, Ballantine has attracted several key supporters since his primary victory. Last week, he won the endorsement of the State Employees Association of North Carolina, marking the first time in the organization’s history that it has thrown its support to a Republican gubernatorial candidate.
“Patrick brings a fresh, energetic approach to state government and its policies,” SEANC Executive Director Dana Cope said. “He is driven, very committed and very passionate about helping working families.”
Ballantine also supports a 15 percent increase in state employees’ paychecks over the next three years. Democratic critics, however, have scrutinized his plan to boost employees’ incomes, arguing that he has not explicitly outlined how he plans to balance his cuts and spending. “Talk is cheap. You can always talk about things, but how is he going to do the things he’s going to do?” said Barbara Allen, chair of the North Carolina Democratic Party. “There are a lot of things that are going to have to be cut, it’s going to be services and that isn’t going to sit well with people.”
Ballantine currently lags behind Easley in the polls by a margin of 10 percent. After a hard-fought primary race, he is also strapped for funds, though he continues to accumulate new contributions. Nonetheless, Rosser describes his candidate’s current position as “a great place to be.”
“We’re confident that we’re going to raise the money to get Patrick’s positive conservative message to voters,” he said.
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