Panel named to root out waste in state government

Raleigh, N.C. — Gov. Beverly Perdue appointed a commission Thursday to find ways to cut waste and increase efficiency in state government.

Norris Tolson and Hilda Pinnix-Ragland will chair the Budget Reform and Accountability Commission. Tolson is a former state secretary of revenue, transportation and commerce who now heads the North Carolina Biotechnology Center, and Pinnix-Ragland is vice president of corporate public affairs for Progress Energy and chairwoman of the State Board of Community Colleges.

“This group can help me root out inefficient spending and outdated programs and bring greater accountability to state government,” Perdue said in a statement.

The commission’s first task will be to conduct a detailed review of the state’s entire continuation budget to identify inefficiencies and develop options for cuts and consolidations, she said.

Other members of the commission are as follows:

• Norma Houston, a lecturer in public law and government at the University of North Carolina School of Government who previously was chief of staff and general counsel to state Senate President Pro Tempore Marc Basnight and an assistant attorney general

• Dan Gerlach, the senior budget adviser to former Gov. Mike Easley and current president of North Carolina Golden LEAF, an economic development foundation

• Curtis Clark, an IBM executive who previously served as executive director of the North Carolina Statewide Performance Audit, deputy state controller for information resource management and director of the Performance Audit Division of the State Auditor’s Office

• Charlie Sanders, chairman of the National Institute of Health and retired chairman and chief executive of Glaxo Inc.

• Ron Penny, professor and chairman of the Department of Public Administration at North Carolina Central University and assistant to the university provost who previously served as director of the Office of State Personnel