Issues
I’m a 30-year business executive, not a professional politician. I spent my career at IBM solving problems and bringing people together to get things done. That’s exactly the approach I will bring to our state government.
We need to focus on our highest priorities, those that maintain and improve the great quality of life that makes this area the best place in America to live — managing growth, controlling state spending, enhancing education, and optimizing our transportation investments.
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One of the reasons I got into this race is that I kept reading about spending habits in our state government that, as a businessman, didn’t make sense. I believe we need to ensure a good return on every tax dollar we spend. And we need to put in place a mechanism to review our spending programs before they get out of control, just like businesses do.
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We are facing a steep teacher shortage because our salaries are considerably lower than those in nearby states, and we don’t provide teachers with the support they need to do their challenging jobs. We also are building schools so that they are already full when they open—classes are too big, and when more kids move into the area, we have to shuffle students around the county to make room.
I believe that our children are the most important investment we make in our future. We must attract and retain the very best teachers, give them the tools they need to succeed, and wisely invest in our school infrastructure so that our schools adequately prepare every North Carolina child to compete in an increasingly global economy.
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Growth is creating new opportunities and challenges. It is critical that we manage our growth so that it creates new, high-paying job opportunities, while, at the same time, controlling it to ensure that it doesn’t damage the very qualities that draw people to move here.
I also believe it is fundamentally unfair and undemocratic that North Carolina is one of only four states that still don’t allow their citizens to oppose involuntary annexation actions. I want to change our law to allow homeowners in unincorporated areas to have a say if a municipality wants to annex their property—they should be able to challenge annexation in court. And municipalities should be required to justify all involuntary annexation actions before they can be enacted. I also want to require that municipalities delay imposition of any additional taxes until after sewer, water, and other services have been extended.
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Anyone who has commuted on congested highways or been victimized by a pot hole understands the importance of effectively managing our highway infrastructure. But we have a larger problem than mere inconvenience. A recent study showed that 38% of this state’s highways and bridges are under the engineering sufficiency level of the bridge in Minnesota that collapsed last year.
It’s critical that we invest prudently, build efficiently, and maintain responsibly our roads and highways so that something like that doesn’t happen here -- and so that we can continue to carry the goods and people who make this state’s business climate and quality of life so attractive. We must do a better job maintaining roads, highways, and bridges to ensure that they continue to meet our transportation needs.
But our highways aren’t the only answer. Our area is growing beyond our capacity to build new roads, and our reliance on single-occupancy cars is not sustainable. We need to embrace more cost- and energy-efficient transit options to ensure that we grow better, not just bigger.
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Al believes that a representative of the people, should represent what the people want. He has his own ideas about how to solve the important issues,
but he wants to know what YOU think matters the most. If you could rate the issues from greatest importance (1) to least important (9), so he can focus on what matters the most to you.
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