Candidate Questionnaire: Dan Besse, candidate for Lieutenant Governor

Environmental champion Dan Besse is seeking our endorsement in the Democratic primary for lieutenant governor. Below are his responses to our questionnaire, with our questions in bold.

For more about Dan's campaign, visit his website.

1. Why are you running?

I'm involved in politics, and have served in appointed or elected office since 1985, because I am passionate about using public service and the democratic process to work for environmental stewardship, and for equal opportunity for all.

I'm running now for Lieutenant Governor because we have the opportunity this year to bring a major shift toward progressive policies and vision for our state. For the first time, a majority of North Carolina voters clearly understand the urgent necessity of implementing wise long-term management of our limited natural resources (water, air, forests, land) and managing our growth in a sustainable manner.

North Carolina voters are also anxious for us to address the persistent gaps in equal opportunity in our society. These include equity in educational opportunity, economic development which meets the needs of lower-income families and communities, and action to deal with the crisis in health care costs and coverage.

I have the experience and commitment to use the office of Lieutenant Governor effectively to pursue these goals.

2. What are the three biggest challenges facing North Carolina, and, briefly, how would you use your position as lieutenant governor to address them?

a) Twin challenges of booming growth in our urban regions, and continuing economic decline in many rural areas. I will use the "bully pulpit" independent voice of Lieutenant Governor to inject into state policy debate that critical understanding of how these challenges intertwine, yet require different tools and approaches. Areas stressed by rapid growth must have stronger growth management tools, from better stormwater management to transit/land use planning, and the means to require new development to pay for itself. Areas in continuing economic decline must receive focused efforts to help them share in the economic benefits of our booming regions. Statewide, we require better planning for our stressed water resources, improved conservation of our forests and farmland, protection of clean air, an energy policy which relies on efficiency and renewables, and reform of our transportation system.

b) Health care. Skyrocketing costs of coverage for everyone, and the complete lack of coverage for over 1.4 million of our people, have created a crisis in both economic and human terms. I will use the Lieutenant Governor's roles as presiding officer of the State Senate, and as a working member of the N.C. Health and Wellness Trust Fund Commission, to press for affordable health care coverage for all. There are immediate steps which our state can take to guarantee affordable coverage for all children, bring the costs of coverage down for high-risk adults, and assist small employers in obtaining affordable group coverage. In the medium run, we should commit to a system of universal coverage. This can be achieved best through participation in a national program. However, if that is not under implementation within two years, we should develop and implement our own state-level program.

c) Educational equity. I will use the Lieutenant Governor's position as a working member of both the State Board of Education and the State Board of Community Colleges to press for equal educational opportunity for all. In particular, we must address the resource gaps that keep too many of our poorer school systems and communities from meeting their students' needs. We must also move away from the disastrous over-emphasis on standardized testing, which drains resources, strangles creativity, and further disadvantages children from minority communities.

3. Why should voters in western North Carolina support your candidacy?

You'll get a working Lieutenant Governor who grew up in western North Carolina, still has family there, and has a strong feel for the needs of the people of our foothills and mountains. I know the region and understand both its environmental and economic challenges.

When I was a young child, my family lived on the edge of a mill village in Hickory. I went to sleep listening to the hum of the hosiery mill on the next block. Most of my family worked at the furniture plant down the street. One of my earliest memories of my father was of watching him head off to his second-shift job at the transformer plant, where he worked while he and my mother were putting themselves through school. The problem is that none of those plants is still operating today. I understand that we have to do a better job of meeting the challenges of our changing economy, because I grew up in a working family. I won't forget that.

Today, I serve in elected office in a growing urban region that (like much of western North Carolina) is still facing the loss of traditional industrial jobs, but is simultaneously wrestling with the stresses of booming population growth. I understand how we must deal with both sets of stresses and demands simultaneously.

4. Would you support public campaign financing in the lieutenant governor race?

Absolutely. I wish it were available this year. The endless money hunt by candidates permits big-money special interests to distort the democratic process far away from service to the public's interests.

5. What about your background and experience makes you qualified to be a candidate and to serve as lieutenant governor?

I have the combination of public service and practical experience required to understand the role of Lieutenant Governor and fully use its potential as an agent for positive change. I also know our state from the mountains to the sea.

I have hands-on experience in meeting the challenges of growth in one of our largest urban regions—Winston-Salem and the Piedmont Triad. At the same time, I have the practical experience of living and working in our small towns and rural areas. I grew up in Hickory and our foothills, and later spent a decade working as a Legal Aid attorney for poor families in rural counties of eastern North Carolina.

I have both local elected experience, and extensive public service in policy-making roles at the state level. These have been publicly accountable roles, not mere advisory positions.

I have been elected and re-elected to local office as a progressive Democrat in a Republican-leaning district of our state's fourth-largest city, Winston-Salem. I have also acted as my city's representative in effective regional efforts for both economic and environmental quality. I represent my city on the board of directors of one of our nation's ten most effective regional economic development organizations. I also led our effective regional effort to meet federal clean air standards for ground-level ozone.

At the state level, I have over 20 years of experience working on state policy-making boards (including the Environmental Management Commission). I have helped craft and implement state programs on air and water resources, land conservation, and emergency response. I understand in depth the workings of both the executive and legislative branches of our state government.

6. Would you call yourself a progressive?

Yes—in fact, I present myself in this race as "the progressive Democrat with the record to prove it".

Buncombe by the numbers: some good news, some bad news.

These figures are from the NC Budget and Tax Center, part of the NC Justice Center. They recently put out a series of fact sheets on employment, income, and poverty, and here are some interesting figures about our beloved Buncombe:

1. I don't know what to make of this, but median household income in Buncombe equaled $41,735 in 2006, slightly less than the statewide mhi (approx. $42,630). At the same time, though, per-capita income in Buncombe came in at $24,155, which is $1210 more than the statewide per-capita figure (or, for those of you who prefer percentages, about 5% over the figure statewide). I'm not sure what to make of those two bits of data, especially since we're talking household vs. individual income. It could mean that we have a higher than average number of single-earner households in Buncombe (which would depress our median household income), or it could mean that there's some sort of income inequality, i.e., that there are some very wealthy people at the top of the range who are pushing the average up some. And there could be any number of other things going on. I'd love to know more. On the whole, though, things could be worse. And I'm surprised to see that the "Asheville Tax" isn't bigger.

2. The report says that the average working family with children needs to earn $15.99/hour to cover basic living expenses in Buncombe. $16/hour sounds like a great job for Asheville. I'm guessing that if there were two wage-earners in the family, they could earn less per hour, but that doesn't mean that life would be easy: fully a third of Buncombe residents had incomes less than twice the federal poverty level.

3. Moreover, it's not a safe assumption that there would be two wage-earners in the family, and certainly not two full-time workers. In 2006, our unemployment rate was 3.8% (below the state average of 4.8%), but that was up from 2000. That's not a surprise, given that the county labor force had grown by 10% in that time.

4. From 2004 to 2014, we're supposed to see about a 50% increase in the number of jobs available (which is good news, given that our population is unlikely to grow proportionately). However, most of the jobs created, as you might expect, will be in service fields, and will offer low wages and few benefits.

So overall kind of a mixed bag. And of course, if you're coming here from somewhere out of state, you might get a shock when things here are just about as good as they are elsewhere in North Carolina.

Candidate Questionnaire: Avram Friedman, State House District 119

Avram Friedman, executive director of the Canary Coalition, is seeking our endorsement in the Democratic primary for state house district 119, which includes Haywood, Macon, Jackson, and Swain counties. Below are his responses to our candidate questionnaire, with our questions in bold.

For more about Avram's campaign, visit his website.

1. Why are you running for the General Assembly?

I'm running for General Assembly because the incumbent Representative in District 119, Phil Haire, is supporting Duke Energy's plan to build a new 800 megawatt coal-burning power plant at its Cliffside facility in Rutherford County. Haire also voted for Senate Bill 3 in the last legislative session. This bill contains several provisions with profoundly bad implications for public health and the environment, principle among which is the provision that ends a 25-year ban on the practice of the utility industry charging ratepayers for construction-work-in-progress on new polluting coal and nuclear power plants. This has the effect of removing risk from corporate shareholders and placing it on the back of ratepayers. This practice was banned in 1982 by the General Assembly when Carolina Power and Light (now Progress Energy) planned to build 6 nuclear plants at its Shearon Harris site in Wake County, but only completed one because of massive cost over-runs and the realization that they had vastly over-estimated energy demand in their projections. Ratepayers were charged tens of millions of dollars in planning and preliminary construction costs for the other five power plants, even though they were never completed.

Senate Bill 3 is a prescription for business-as-usual energy consumption and production at a time when we need to drastically cut back on energy consumption and greenhouse gas production. If elected I'll be a strong voice in the General Assembly calling for rate-restructuring and other measures to provide steep economic incentive for ratepayer investment in efficiency, conservation and independent renewable energy systems by residents, businesses and industry. My candidacy, win or lose, will send a message to Phil Haire that from now on there will be political consequences for voting against the environment in North Carolina. If I win the Primary on May 6, it will send that message to every legislator in the state.

2. What are the three biggest challenges facing North Carolina, and, briefly, how would you work to address them?

1. Meeting future energy demand in an environmentally responsible manner while maintaining a sustainable economy.
I would address this problem by nurturing industries that promote energy efficiency and renewable energy technology. I would work to remove the considerable legal obstacles to large-scale wind development. I would promote a new generation of recycling programs throughout the state that create small-scale industries that use recycled materials locally, increasing the value of recycled materials and saving energy in the process. I would de-emphasize dependence on large corporate industry and promote small, homegrown "green" industry.

2. Improving the quality of basic education in North Carolina.
We need to pay teachers competitive salaries so the best educators don't continue to move to other states.
We need more teachers and more classrooms to reduce the student/teacher ratio in NC classes.
All students should be thoroughly educated in the system of government we live under, and should learn their rights and responsibilities under this system.

3. Election reform
I would work to ban electronic voting machines.
I would work to limit or eliminate corporate PAC money from the electoral process.
I would work to provide a public financing option for all legislative races.

3. Do you have any differences with the House Democratic caucus and leadership? In what areas or issues would you seek to move your fellow Democrats in a different direction?

Energy issues are the biggest difference. The 2007 Senate Bill 3 needs to be reversed. The utility industry has a disproportionate and inappropriate influence in both political parties. I will fight to change this.

4. What's your campaign plan? Do you have a campaign manager? What are your fundraising goals?

I am holding a series of public forums on my candidacy and the issues that are important to me. I am doing a series of interviews with local newspapers and radio stations. If I have enough money, I'll do cable TV spots. I am using the internet for email communication and blogging with voters in my district. My webpage is www.friedmanfornchouse.com I am seeking public endorsement from NC Conservation Council, NC State Employees Association, Sierra Club's PAC and others.

Susan Anspacher is my campaign manager, Friedman4NCHouse@aol.com .

$20,000 is my goal for the Primary election.

5. What about your background and experience makes you qualified to be a candidate and a legislator?

I'm a 58 year-old resident and voter in North Carolina. I'm the Executive Director of a large regional organization. I have much experience in public speaking, the public hearing process, facilitation, studying legislative materials, working with government agencies. I studied political science at Hunter College in the Bronx, NYC, for two years. I am not intimidated by the political process. I've run for office twice before. In 1994, I ran for county commission in Jackson County. In 1988, I ran for Governor of North Carolina in the Democratic Primary. Lost, but learned.

6. Would you call yourself a progressive?

Yes, I believe most people who consider themselves progressives would consider me a progressive, as well.

Duke Power has discovered a "fifth fuel." And they want to pass one tenth of the savings on to you!

This happened about a year ago. But with Cliffside in the news, I think this deserves some attention. Last May, around the time that the Progress Energy plant was a hot topic in Asheville, Duke Energy floated a fascinating proposal to the NC Utilities Commission. In it, they suggested that they would promote energy efficiency as a "fifth fuel" by sponsoring education programs and providing subsidies for the purchase of more energy-efficient appliances and devices.

So far, so good. Where it gets weird is in the reward Duke sought for being virtuous: a new fee (starting at $15 per customer per year) that would compensate the utility for the electricity it didn't sell because of decreased demand. That fee was based not only on program costs or unsold wattage, but also on the cost of the power plants the utility would have had to build if customers didn't conserve.

That's not how they phrased it, of course: Duke Energy's spin was that they would be generously allowing consumers to save 10% of the cost of producing and supplying the energy they didn't use. But turn that around, and you see what's really going on: Duke essentially wanted to sell this "fifth fuel" - ghost power produced by ghost plants - for almost as much as they sold real power produced by real plants that they themselves built. That's a neat trick!

I'd imagine that Duke Energy was trying to head off any attempt by the Utility Commission or the General Assembly to "decouple" electricity rates - that is, to set in place a system whereby utilities receive a set revenue even if demand decreases. This is usually done by promising to increase the profit the utility receives for each unit sold - provided that the utility actively promotes conservation and efficiency. Such increases almost never include the costs of building new plants, however, so you've got to hand it to Duke Energy for trying to widen the range of the debate.

Asheville Democracy for America endorses Jones and Bothwell for county commission

The members of Asheville Democracy for America have voted to endorse Holly Jones and Cecil Bothwell in the race for Buncombe County Commission.

In the end, the two candidates were endorsed in a near-unanimous vote by DFA-Asheville members, far surpassing the 60% threshold the group had set to ensure that they would focus their efforts only on the candidates who had the members' most enthusiastic support.

The vote came after an open process that began in December, when members were polled about how they wanted to go about endorsing candidates. In February, members were solicited for questions to ask candidates. Then in March the candidates' responses to the group's questionnaire were posted on the DFA-Asheville blog, and members got to talk directly to the candidates in a public meeting.

"We strive to be a member-driven organization," said Doug Gibson, one of DFA-Asheville's volunteer organizers. "And throughout this process we took pains to make sure our members had a say in how we did things as well as an opportunity to weigh in on the endorsements themselves."

The group plans to support Bothwell and Jones through independent advertising and grassroots efforts. They see their independent role as especially crucial this year, when many acknowledge that Buncombe County is at a crossroads with regards to development, and after recent controversies like the Progress Energy power plant have brought attention to open government and energy issues.

Says Gibson, "pro-development groups poured more than $40,000 into last year's Asheville elections, and more than half of it came from organizations based outside Buncombe County. The same forces will be in play in this year's county commission race, and we want to be a voice for people living here who are concerned about out future."

DFA Asheville is a local group associated with Democracy for America, a national organization dedicated to electing socially progressive, fiscally responsible candidates at all levels of government. To find out more about DFA Asheville, visit www.ashevilledemocracyforamerica.org

Endorsement process for statewide and state legislative candidates

In January, our members voted to support candidates running for state offices outside of Buncombe who sought our help. So starting today, Asheville Democracy for America invites candidates running in Democratic primaries for statewide and state legislative offices to apply for our endorsement. The process will follow these steps:

1. DFA Asheville will not formally invite anyone to start the endorsement process. Instead, candidates must seek our endorsement, though individual members may encourage their preferred candidates to apply. Candidates seeking our endorsement should contact Doug Gibson as soon as possible.

2. All Democratic candidates for Buncombe county commission seeking our endorsement must a) contact Doug Gibson by midnight on April 2, b) complete and return a brief questionnaire by midnight on Sunday, April 6, and b) attend, or send a representative to, our April meeting - 7pm, April 9, at the North Asheville Public Library. (Due to the variety of offices under consideration, questionnaires will be tailored to each applicant, and will be sent via e-mail to candidates expressing interest.)

3. We also encourage candidates to prepare a brief (2-3 minute) video appeal for those members who can't make the April meeting and wish to participate online. We ask candidates to make them available as YouTube videos (and send us a link) several days before April 9 so we can post them on our group blog.

4. A separate vote will be taken for each candidate seeking our endorsement. Only DFA-Link members who joined before March 5, 2008 will be able to vote. Members will be able to vote at the April meeting and then via e-mail for a week afterward.

5. To receive our endorsement, a candidate must receive at least 3/5 of the total votes cast at the meeting and via e-mail.

Please note that until May 6, we will only endorse candidates running in contested primaries. At that point we will provide information on our process for endorsing candidates in the general election.

Why state government matters. Part one . . .

. . . of what is likely to be an extremely long series.

After the disaster that was the 2000 election and its sequels in Florida and at the Supreme Court, some of us still held out hope that things were not going to be quite as bad as we feared. But one of the first signs that things were actually going to be worse came just after Congress convened.

One of the first acts of the all-new, all-Republican Congress (this was in the pre-Jim Jeffords days) was to repeal regulations put in place the previous year by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration that would have required employers to take account of ergonomics when setting up their workplaces. We're not talking about wrist pads and seat height here (though those sorts of items would have been covered): we're talking about, for example, not requiring poultry workers to repeatedly reach into awkward positions in near-freezing temperatures to clean up meat for packaging. In other words, the regulations sought to mitigate problems that can permanently disable people and set the stage for even more horrific accidents and injuries.

So the Republican Congress, as expected, took those new protections away from American workers before they even had a chance to enjoy them. Before there could be any accurate accounting of how much the new rules might cost employers, and before there could be any accurate accounting of how much the new rules might save the public - how many fewer lives might be ruined, how many more able-bodied people could stay in their jobs, how much less money communities paid in medical costs and disability programs.

Here in North Carolina, fortunately, we had our own ergonomics rules. But of course in the 2000 elections Democrats lost one seat on the council of state - Cherie Berry, a Republican, had eked out a victory over Democrat Doug Berger after taking 62% of her campaign donations from the very industries she would be regulating - including $10,000 from the House of Raeford, a poultry processor and one of the worst violators of workplace standards in the state. So it should also come as no surprise that within months of taking office, Berry threw out North Carolina's ergonomics standards. And so one election wiped out protections for millions of workers and gave special interests a victory at both the state and national level.

Absent some historic shift in voting patterns, Berry is likely to win reelection this year. But in 2012 reformers hope to include the Commissioner of Labor race in the state's public financing program, which might make Berry more vulnerable. Which is a good thing. Because whatever happens in DC, state labor departments are largely responsible for the enforcement of federal labor standards. And that means 2008 could be a banner year for Democrats nationally without improving the fortunes of North Carolina workers.