Editorial: Priorities voters should demand from the candidates who seek their support
Thursday, Dec. 26, 2019 -- As important as it is to have choices in the voting booth, are the priorities voters take with them when they make their choices. Before asking for voters' support, candidates should be unequivocal about where they stand. They need to pledge they will Insist the state strives to be the best and expects excellence in what it does and in the services it provides. Further, they will make sure there are the resources to do it.
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For the last decade North Carolina’s election – particularly for members of the U.S. House of Representatives and the General Assembly – have been sources of turmoil and uncertainty.
All that hullabaloo might work to dissuade people from seeking public office. But, fortunately for voters, interest in seeking public office is as high as it has ever been.
Just a dozen legislative races won’t have major party opposition in the fall election. That is a stark contrast from six years ago when the fate of nearly half the 170 seats in the General Assembly were determined before a single vote was cast in November 2014.
There is much that needs to be done in our state.
There are critical needs that must be addressed.
Before asking for voters’ support, candidates should be unequivocal about where they stand.
Here’s what voters should demand and candidates – no matter the political party – should embrace:
- Insist that the state strives to be the best and expects excellence in what it does and in the services it provides. Further, they will make sure there are the resources to do it.
- Support implementation of the recommendations outlined in the report recently released by Superior Court Judge David Lee, so the state meets its constitutional mandate to provide EVERY student with an opportunity for a sound basic education in public schools – no matter where they live. In the more than two decades since the Leandro ruling North Carolina has, according to the report, lost ground in meeting the court order and our constitutional requirement rather than moving closer to it.
- Expand Medicaid to the 650,000 working North Carolina citizens who are currently denied access to health care. It is no exaggeration that this is a life-and-death matter. Studies estimated that failure to expand Medicaid has cost between 516 and 1,740 North Carolinians their lives for lack of access to care.
- Adopt non-partisan criteria and a non-partisan system for creating congressional and legislative election districts. North Carolinians have not had a truly representative legislature or representation in the U.S. House of Representatives for a decade. We have witnessed stonewalling, dishonesty and use of the courts for stalling fairness and reform. Enough is enough.
- Demand transparency and accountability to the administration of private school vouchers – “Opportunity Scholarships.” Taxpayers deserve to know that their money is REALLY supporting education; programs that don’t discriminate; and demonstrate (in the same way public schools are required) that pupils are learning.
- Provide adequate resources to assure that the state’s prisons are: Properly staffed and critical vacancies are eliminated; Equipped with modern equipment and technology to assure the safety and security of the facilities, those who staff them and the inmates who are incarcerated.
This is not a partisan agenda – it is an agenda for a better North Carolina. Voters need to demand it and candidates need to embrace it.
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