After filing I will give a short address and discuss local issues with you and community leaders. The event lends an important opportunity to speak directly with you about my views and first term votes.

I’m excited to meet voters as a concerned neighbor and candidate earning your support again. My campaign will confront North Carolina’s issues with policy analysis and constructive proposals. My plans reduce the size of government with responsible realignment of funding, and with your support we can continue unprecedented reform in Raleigh.

Views from our coast

New Hanover County landed the cover of the 2012 Visit NC travel guide. I’d like to hear from you today about local government, commerce and tourism developments and your priorities for the future of our region.

Port of Wilmington improvements, the gamefish debate and other environmental concerns are also issues we should address to consider appropriate action.

Updates on education funding statewide
In a recent opinion on education funding I used financial records to pose a simple question: Where does the money go?

Two North Carolina school officials complained this month they don’t know either. Both called for payroll reports to replace statewide surveys as public record on administrators’ supplemental benefits.

The Department of Public Instruction’s response:

“There is a working group of those finance officers that will be working to help develop a Q&A document for them and to also consider if using payroll records would be a better way to collect that information.” DPI spokeswoman Vanessa Jeter

A working group of finance officers should agree payroll records are a better way to track compensation than statewide Q&As. I’ll keep you updated on their progress.

Thanks for all you do towards a better North Carolina. See you at 1 p.m. today.

When governments consider a new transportation project the financial burden for taxpayers is often unclear. Construction costs rise with petroleum prices, making the reliability of estimates volatile. It does not follow, however, that state government should automatically raise taxes or fund expensive prospecting studies to deal with these realities.

The economic benefit and impact of transportation developments are even more difficult to foresee. The focus of lawmakers should not rest on potential gains or opportunity costs of the current system without an honest evaluation of the state’s ability to pay for new construction.

Bureaucracies and private interests expect economic development and increased ridership to follow expansions, but government can’t guide the private sector’s behavior without consequences. When proposals like expanding Wilmington’s bus system to beach towns via new vehicle registration fees are packaged, an ideological interest that also keeps the gas tax high is exposed.

While our college campuses and urban centers benefit from public transportation, North Carolina is a commuter state and residents don’t find time or cost incentives when using trains and buses. If governments need one-off revenue gains to pay for public routes few residents use, we should expect them to eventually need new funds for required maintenance.

It’s a common scenario in many arenas of public policy: once government gets a foot in the proverbial door it can justify continued spending and taxation on that initiative indefinitely.

Pumping gas revenues into SC and VA

One danger of automatically approving gas tax recalculations is the Department of Transportation forms future budget obligations accordingly. Agencies shouldn’t spend revenue before it’s even taken from taxpayers when the state owes the federal government $2.5 billion plus annual interest.

There are no new sources of revenue implemented for the Department of Public Instruction, businesses or individuals who feel the pain of rising gas prices. They use available funds or credit lines to absorb the added burden, and while DOT relies heavily on fuel it is the only agency to have revenue tied to the cost of its primary resource.

Retail is a financial sector burdened by this spend more, tax more cycle because its profit margins shrink considerably when transportation costs rise. Large businesses that buy gas futures already pay more for this critical resource before government increases the tax. Their customers, who share the pinch of rising gas prices, currently face a sales tax hike on purchases. Dozens of local governments in North Carolina will also seek tax increases this year, casting a dim economic outlook for prospective investors.

Government must make choices

The emerging consensus from transportation leaders, conveyed in a cluster of Star News stories this month, is that our existing ports need structural improvements to attract more containers and fill capacity. Instead of funding a $25 million study of prospects for a megaport at Southport, lawmakers should reserve funds for maintenance on existing infrastructure. Engineers know it will cost billions just to dredge for the megaport, and without any feasible way to fund that cost the clear choice is to preserve the environmental qualities of our southern coast.

Another cost saving measure is a moratorium on significant new projects to focus spending on maintenance and meeting standards. We already have 80,000 miles of roadway, the most in the country and more than double South Carolina. Yet a proposed expansion of I-95 will hit travelers driving border-to-border with $20 in tolls. These machines are a daily inconvenience and remind drivers that another bureaucracy failed to meet financial obligations without grabbing new revenue.

Proponents of the tolls complain that out-of-state drivers fill up in South Carolina or Virginia to avoid paying our soaring gas tax (ninth highest in the nation). Their plan further damages the attractiveness of our transportation system to a private sector seeking benefits and favorable conditions. Tolls are not a solution to the problem, they are a symptom.

My recent article on new ferry tolls details how bureaucratic overspending results in added burdens for commuters.

The General Assembly should cut the gas tax and limit new projects to those necessary to meet state and federal standards. A number of bridges on I-95 need to be raised from 15 ft. to 17.5 ft, but a border-to-border, $4.5 billion expansion of a rural thoroughfare in good condition is irresponsible. Those are the kinds of difficult financial choices families and businesses make everyday.

Does transportation spending mean jobs?

The DOT employs more than 14,000 residents of North Carolina and dozens of companies rely on its construction contracts for revenue. Policy makers should focus on the long-term costs of maintaining expansions, remembering that initial job growth is temporary and taxpayer funded.

North Carolina’s businesses need low taxes and private investment for sustainable success. The recent rate spike in unemployment insurance for businesses, resulting from our federal debt, further discourages owners from hiring full time employees. The retail sector, suffering from high gas prices and facing a tax increase on sales, is then threatened by a consistently under-employed customer base.

A great place to travel

The quality roadways, ferries and ports in North Carolina demonstrate our state’s commitment to maintaining this crucial infrastructure. To preserve these services, state and local governments should reject unnecessary projects like the megaport, the expansion of I-95 and the red-line train north of Charlotte at this juncture.

The alternatives of higher local taxes, gas prices and tolls will have commuters and companies asking directions out of North Carolina. If they’re smart, they’ll avoid I-95.

Join me in the New Hanover County Government Center this Wednesday at 1 p.m. as I file for reelection to the N.C. Senate. For questions about the event, call 910-547-4269. Thank you for all your support!

In a newsletter to supporters today I discussed the Republican leadership’s accomplishments and my vision for the future of North Carolina. To get my newsletter, provide your email in the box to the right.

Passing tax cuts and a balanced budget are my priorities as your Senator in the General Assembly. North Carolinians are overtaxed at the gas pump and businesses pay the price for our $2.5 billion deficit. I oppose efforts to prevent budget cuts with any sales tax increase, in-state tuition hikes or local one-off revenue gains.

Your new General Assembly lowered the sales and income tax and raised the business revenue exemption to $50,000. Republicans blocked efforts to tax real estate transactions and defended physicians with a $500,000 cap on non-economic pain and suffering damages. Meaningful tax and regulation repeals that promote job growth also prevent overspending.

The American Conservative Union gave me their ‘Defender of Liberty’ award with a 100% rating of my first-term voting record. I also received a perfect score for pro-business and jobs votes from The North Carolina Free Enterprise Foundation. I return these recognitions to the residents of New Hanover County who elected me to enact real reform.

Republicans lifted a senseless cap on charter schools that left more than 30,000 students on waiting lists in North Carolina. Parents deserve options for the individual needs of their children and school choice leads to innovation in classroom instruction. Our budget reforms put students first with appropriation adjustments that limit administrative growth. I encourage you to read posts on my Web site about improving education without raising taxes or tuition.

I am determined to confront the tax-and-spend failures in North Carolina’s government and improve the economic future of our coastal region. I hope you’ll attend my filing on Wednesday and I respectfully ask for your support in 2012.

God Bless – Thom

“We owe it to our children and our state to stop these cuts and make education a priority again – a fraction of a penny for progress.”
Gov. Bev Perdue – January 18, 2012

“The General Assembly has provided ample evidence of the disdain for public education this session…People are beginning to understand that dismantling public education is an important part of their agenda…It’s more than a plan, it’s fulfilling a deeply held philosophy.”
The Republicans’ Education Problem – NC Policy Watch, Feb. 9, 2012

Get the facts

These critics of austerity measures should provide non-bias resources to supplement their aggressive attacks. Gov. Perdue insists a tax increase is necessary to protect education spending, but voters need a comprehensive list of services and resources threatened with elimination to evaluate that proposal.

Instead, voters are reminded their children’s future is at stake and that education is the most important government service in North Carolina. If tired platitudes aren’t sufficient, Democrats lament the dismal performance of a public school system they managed for over a century.

Frustrated stakeholders should read a February report on 2011-2013 education appropriations published by the fiscal research division of the General Assembly. This simple four page brief provides the facts about Republican adjustments to education spending because it compares current figures to the 2009-2010 fiscal year.

The Department of Public Instruction (DPI) publishes a littany of spending reports as required by various oversight statutes. Most are are brief but informative, and this in-depth analysis explores how tax dollars are dispersed to public education agencies.

For current developments in the General Assembly, follow the House Select Committee on Education Reform via materials on its Web site and audio feeds of each meeting.

Numbers and name calling

North Carolina’s rank in per-pupil spending (49th) is frequently cited to mitigate the impact of a tax increase. Researchers at the University of Southern California note that per-pupil spending in the United States outpaces most of the world without positive results in performance or perceived quality.

Per-pupil spending figures also fail to consider North Carolina’s low average income and the varying methods of revenue collection and spending among states and their municipalities.

The $9,089 North Carolna spends annually per-pupil should leave over $90,000 for every classroom when other costs on this all-inclusive table are subtracted. That includes removing teachers’ salaries and benefits, so where does the money go?

If our government’s budget issues are too cumbersome to convey in real analysis, that government is clearly too big or broken to work. Liberals can benefit from the tangles and layers of big government budgets that bury evidence of waste, but not when taxpayers demand to know what supposedly vital services are threatened without revenue gains.

Finally, big spenders evoke emotional tensions with the divisive rhetoric in the quotes above, leveraging our strong desire for quality schools to protect a failing status quo.

They need it, you don’t

North Carolina businesses are nickel and dimed by a uniquely vast system of government fees, taxes and one-off revenues. These symptoms of failed government, disguised as solutions, are often enacted to avoid financial and structural reforms of bureaucracy.

Liberals downplay the personal impact of a sales tax increase estimated at $750 million, yet advocates insist the revenue gain will save a system that receives over 55% of state funding. If every resident pays higher taxes to support the spending of our largest bureaucracy, the total dollar amount is likely of significant value to both entities or neither.

A potential tax dollar is more valuable to at-risk students in the wallets of struggling family members who provide their nutrition, safety and childhood development. The regressive sales tax increase burdens those families disproportionately to support a system that fails low-income stakeholders.

Students need a stable government and prosperous economy
North Carolina has a $2.5 billion deficit that forced stagnant businesses to pay higher federal taxes this year. The state made a $70 million interest payment on that debt last fall, but not one dollar of the principal has been addressed.

Republicans in Raleigh want to relieve those burdens and realign government services to acknowledge future limits on spending. The efficiency and quality of our bureaucracy, not its size and spending, are the priorities of our membership.

Raising the sales tax penalizes residents for government overspending they already finance. By failing to reform education, this course ensures rising federal business taxes and exorbitant interest payments will be an annual drain on our state.

The $71 per-pupil, 1.5% budget cut passed by the General Assembly for K-12 schools this year was both modest and responsible. Voters should explore the resources produced directly by lawmakers’ actions to circumvent personal attacks and learn how their leadership is addressing the education budget. Thanks for reading.

The 2-1 decision spotlights North Carolina’s impending ballot test of a constitutional ban on gay marriage. While the ruling was narrow in its application to Proposition 8, speculators note the U.S. Supreme Court could hear an appeal.

Some judicial experts consider that unlikely due to the compartmental nature of this legal challenge and recent decision. They say the U.S. Supreme Court will likely wait for an appeal that questions the contentious issue more broadly.

In his dissenting opinion, Judge N. Randy Smith urged judicial restraint and noted that states regularly prohibit marriages deemed unlawful on the basis of age, incest and bigamy.

This swift clearance of electoral influence speaks volumes to North Carolinians witnessing the facilitation of judicial ‘merit selection’ by Gov. Bev Perdue. Though a California state court confirmed the legality of Proposition 8, this federal court’s willingness to repeal the law should compound concerns about the unilateral selection of judges.

Proposition 8 supporters will question their rights as voters and citizens of a sovereign state. The people of North Carolina can preserve accountable representation in their courts by rejecting ‘merit selection’ and the political opportunism of Gov. Perdue’s nominating commission.

http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/02/01/1820295/electing-judges-still-works-for.html

State Board of Elections reports show the 18 members of Gov. Perdue’s nominating commission made hundreds of thousands of dollars in total contributions to leftist groups and candidates. All of the current or former public officials on the board are Democrats.

The unilateral impact of governors on judicial selection solidifies the Missouri Plan’s failure to represent the people of North Carolina. (The Missouri Plan is a nominating process popular among merit selection advocates). Professor Gaylord exposed the uncontested retention elections in the plan, hailed by advocates as a sufficient nod to the ballot box, as a far cry from democracy.

A common argument for ‘merit selection’ is the improper influence of political spending and campaign finance reform on judicial selection. Few of these activists note the nearly $1 billion campaign war chest President Obama compiled in lieu of public financing. He appointed hundreds of district court judges, dozens of appeals court judges and two U.S. Supreme Court justices in his first term.

Taking judges off the ballot in favor of a selection commission controlled by each governor is not the merit representation I envision for North Carolina’s courts. Many of our state and local elections suffer the same problems cited by advocates of executive control – low voter awareness, low turnout, recalls, special elections and partisanship are common pitfalls of the process. They don’t show sufficient cause to let the governor choose your sherriff, county commissioner or city councilman.

Politicians build significant influence with appointments as with appropriations, only to benefit from those favors and expanding control. The people have little recourse for this activity and rely on lapdog journalists or the opposition party to monitor the revolving door.

It’s a tough sell that a forfeiture of voting rights is for our citizens’ own good. Will ‘merit selection’ gain sufficient momentum to remove voters from this process? You be the judge, for now.

The News and Observer blasted Republicans in the General Assembly yesterday over a new ferry toll mandate in southeastern North Carolina. A broader look at the state’s finances demonstrates that overspending and resistance to budget cuts are really to blame.

Amid vivid imagery of our coastal region and the iconic struggle of its working class citizens, the lengthy piece points a decisive finger at Republicans for disrupting this culture with a new toll.  The ‘Voice your Choice’ section alongside offers more information about Gov. Perdue’s commitment to avoiding the tolls. Her quote on how Republicans burdened these everyday North Carolinians seals the takeaway of this coverage – shame, shame on the GOP.  

Big government fails

Collecting the ninth highest cumulative gas tax average in the nation, the Department of Transportation still can’t cover its obligations. The state spends 56% of its funds on education and gets dismal results. We are witnessing the failure of tax-and-spend policy in our state.

Budget cuts that balance the state’s books receive widespread criticism and resistance, but deficits are the cause of one-off revenue increases like the ferry tolls. The alternative supported by N&O staff and the governor is to raise taxes on the entire state by almost $1 billion, a burden on residents that calls this attack piece into serious question.

What do my constituents say?

I remind callers concerned about the gas tax increase that most Democrats oppose my intention to cut this tax and end automatic recalculations during the next session. Currently silent on the issue, liberals prefer to let Republicans suffer for their policy that keeps gas prices and tax revenues high. That policy will change in May.

When business owners call about their new unemployment tax rate increase, I remind them the governor again extended jobless benefits in January beyond the state’s ability to pay. The federal penalty for her failure to address that debt is hurting businesses who already pay the federal unemployment tax (FUTA) and support the state’s unemployment trust.

When friends ask who is running for governor on the Democratic side, I can only assure them the candidates will support Perdue’s sales tax increase.

With an open view of state revenue and spending horizons this attempt to blame Republicans for the ferry toll sinks.  I do appreciate the coverage of coastal North Carolinians and the undue burden of tax and fee increases on their working lives.  

I hope the N&O maintains support for limiting taxes and government spending to grant these citizens a more prosperous quality of life.  

http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/02/05/1831480/working-class-commuters-dread.html

These churches serve the youth of our community as well as our senior adults. I am impressed by their earnest desire to make a positive difference in the moral life of the Greater Wilmington area. It was my pleasure to spend time with the pastors of the Wilmington Baptist Association at their January monthly meeting. What an outstanding group of leaders they are! We are so blessed to have these dedicated servants of the Lord and their churches in our community. It’s just another reason I am honored to represent New Hanover County in the North Carolina Senate.

God Bless – Thom

Chancellor Gary Miller made the announcement along with this statement to to the Star News Online:

“We have to fundamentally change the way we think about the management and leadership and financial position of this university.”

With respect to Chancellor Miller, the decision to offset state budget cuts with a tuition increase does not represent fundamental change.

The financial position of these universities cannot improve if the leadership does not manage its institutions more like a business. When students face high unemployment and piling debt, keeping higher education affordable should be the first priority.

Measures for a leaner UNCW could include reduced funding for student groups and services, elimination of academic programs inconsequential to the university’s mission and increased instruction from professors, administrators and faculty who earn high salaries.

Students can expect university officials to consider more increases as early as this fall. The UNC Board of Governors approved an in-state hike of 40%, or about $2800 per year, over a five year period in November. That kind of hosing was likely too much for college students to tolerate.

http://www.starnewsonline.com/article/20120127/ARTICLES/120129716?p=1&tc=pg

Conservatives shouldn’t cheer along – the measure includes $10 billion in new federal spending and a Race to the Top, College Edition, program designed to guide schools into practices favored by the administration.  On paper it is a shameless bait-and-switch of revenues from the administration – it says don’t raise costs on students because we’ve got their parents’ taxes to spend here in Washington.

The funds will keep tuition costs low, President Obama hopes, because schools have incentive to contain increases.  He suggested that metrics of success such as completion rates will also give schools favor. If the program is similar to Race to the Top, those carrots require compliance with liberal education initiatives marked by expanded employment in administration and oversight, new student services and fringe academic programs.  Conform for the cash might be a more appropriate name.

Public universities nationwide will herd through guidelines to qualify for funds while education officials criticize resistance from leaders who bypass the money and required changes.

The linked article expresses different concerns.  It argues the plan unfairly impacts low income students because the funding formula favors universities with lower rate increases.  An equal percentage hike will provide much higher whole-dollar gains for universities that cost more, so they can afford to limit increases and still position their students for aid.

Responsible efforts to contain tuition should instead require colleges to cut non-priority academic programs and student services. When federal assistance runs out, those institutions will have leaner balance sheets and a better chance to offer quality higher education at a modest price for future generations.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/college-inc/post/college-leaders-question-obamas-tuition-plan/2012/01/27/gIQAL05wVQ_blog.html