Endorsements 2012: Causey, Forest, (Ed) Goodwin, Tedesco & Royal
The Council of State races tend to get overlooked by the media in favor of the more glamorous presidential and gubernatorial campaigns. It may be hard to get excited about — for instance — the commissioner of Labor race, but that official and the others on the Council of State have a tremendous impact on the day-to-day details of running state government.
The council includes the governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, secretary of state, commissioner of agriculture, commissioner of labor, commissioner of insurance, superintendent of public instruction, treasurer, and auditor. Currently, Democrats have an 8-2 majority. If they keep a majority after November, the council can throw a monkey wrench in any attempts to implement conservative reforms at the state level. If you haven’t voted yet, we’ve got a few recommendations for you:
Lieutenant Governor: The left must really be scared of Republican nominee Dan Forest. They are throwing everything but the kitchen sink at him. SEIU and their bought-and-paid-for candidate Linda Coleman, are airing ads suggesting Forest is not in favor of women obtaining health care — like breast cancer screenings. (That has to be news for Forest, whose mother is a breast cancer survivor.) Dan Forest has close ties to the home schooling community as well as The Tea Party. He is a product of the private sector who talks of bringing a businessman’s line of thinking to state government. Dan will bring conservative ideas to the table in state government, and he will be a voice for frustrated, conservative-minded residents looking for a little common sense and reason from Raleigh. VOTE DAN FOREST FOR LT. GOVERNOR.
Secretary of State: Elaine Marshall got tossed out of the state Senate in 1994 by her Harnett County constituents for her leftist moonbat antics in Raleigh. She lost to an unemployed sign painter whose campaign consisted of paying his filing fee. In 1996, Elaine was in the right place at the right time — running for the vacant Secretary of State post in the same year Bill Clinton and Jim Hunt were coasting to reelection. She’s run for the US Senate TWICE — losing in the primary in 2002 and losing in the general for 2010. Her social media accounts are loaded with photos of her hugging up to Obama and his hench-woman Valarie Jarrett. Elaine has been an outspoken advocate for EVERY leftist cause that’s come down the pike, from gay marriage to Occupy Wall Street. Republican Ed Goodwin is a retired federal law enforcement officer who can strengthen the office’s investigative arm — an important function of the office that has been conspicuously absent during a lot of Elaine’s tenure. Ed will be a consistent vote on the council of state for fiscal conservatism and shrinking government. (He doesn’t appear to have Elaine’s desire to move up to Washington, either.) VOTE ED GOODWIN FOR SECRETARY OF STATE.
Commissioner of Insurance: Republican Mike Causey is a veteran of the construction and insurance industries — two sectors that are highly impacted by DOI’s work. Causey has said he will break the statewide monopoly held by a few politically connected insurance companies. He also wants to help prevent a huge rate hike for coastal homeowners. Incumbent Wayne Goodwin is a lawyer, former legislature, and longtime political operative who got the job through some fancy footwork at the last minute in 2008. VOTE MIKE CAUSEY FOR COMMISSIONER OF INSURANCE.
Superintendent of Public Instruction: Republican John Tedesco has spent the last few years on the Wake County School Board riling up the left and the education bureaucracy. His offense? Trying to reduce bureaucratic micromanaging. Trying to pry more money out of the bureaucrats hands and put it into the classroom. Trying to put more influence in the hands of parents.
Incumbent June Atkinson has been part of the Raleigh public education bureaucracy for 37 years — not exactly an agent of change. Bev Perdue tried to replace her. Democrats have run people against her. At a time when people are clamoring for dramatic changes in public education, Atkinson has sat on the sidelines resisting at every opportunity.
John Tedesco, like Dan Forest, will bring some conservative-minded, reform-minded intellectual energy to state government. VOTE JOHN TEDESCO FOR SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION.
Treasurer: Republican Steve Royal, a CPA, has been running a low-key race for this office. His limited government rhetoric has got the juices flowing for Tea Partiers and Ron Paul fans. He would be a stark contrast to incumbent Janet Cowell, a former legislator who seems to enjoy wining and dining herself and Wall Street heavy-hitters who do business with her office. Cowell’s questionable decision to dump a lot of state employee retirement funds into the dubious Facebook IPO has earned her the wrath of the state employees association. VOTE STEVE ROYAL FOR STATE TREASURER.
If these five win — in addition to Pat McCrory and incumbent Republicans Steve Troxler and Cherie Berry — that would produce an 8-2 GOP majority on the council of state. With a GOP majority on the council, and in the legislature, and a Republican governor, the roadblocks to conservative reform will come down. The excuses will be gone. NCGOP will have an opportunity to put up or shut up.
Mr. Clifton, with all due respect, I do disagree on one of your endorsements. After studying both candidates and the issues, Mr. Causey can only stop a coastal rate hike by letting insurers hike the rates in the rest of the state. In my opinion, Causey is pandering to a group that is not happy with Goodwin, but Goodwin is attempting to fix our coastal insurance. People who live at the coast need to pay an appropriate rate, not subsidized by us who live inland. In addition, North Carolina has the sixth lowest auto rates in the country, that is the result of an affective rate setting/competitive environment.
Good job on the rest, but don’t just pull the big R lever for everyone.
I concur with all of your recommendations, especially Mike Causey, who will work for all of North Carolina. The insurance industry, and its lap puppy incumbent wants to pit regions of the state against each other, but we need fair insurance rates for all of North Carolina and Causey is the best hope to do that.
I have my qualms about Forest. I am suspicious of someone who claims to be a big buddy of the Tea Party and has really done a snow job on them, but wraps himself totally around the biggest mouthpiece of the party establishment in fighting the Tea Party during the primaries this year, and that is Mike Huckabee. When someone presents themselves as both a Huckabee hound dog and a Tea Partier, something is fishy, but I guess we can wait until after the election to find out who and what Forest really is. The important factor here is that we simply do not need the SEIU socialists getting one of their flunkies into executive office. The SEIU control of Coleman is much scarier than Forest’s relationship with The Huckster. Even if Forest turns out to be nothing but another establishment Republican, like his ally Huckabee, that is a heck of a lot better than having a screaming socialist is the office.
Raphael, fair premiums to the coastal crowd is paying less for a higher risk, which in turn raises our rates for a lower risk, essentially subsidizing coastal homeowners. I don’t want to pay more for beachfront homeowners.