Barbara Howe goes 'On the Record'

The Libertarian candidate for governor weighs in on taxes, fracking, and education tax credits. And former gubernatorial candidate Mike Munger talks about the 'crazy people' in every party.

Posted 4:21 p.m. Sep 28, 2012 — Updated 10:31 p.m. Sep 29, 2012

Mark Binker

RALEIGH, N.C. — Barbara Howe, the Libertarian candidate for governor, joined David Crabtree for WRAL's "On the Record" program this week. Mike Munger, a Duke University economist and political science professor, joined Howe and Crabtree in the second half of the show. Republican Pat McCrory and Democrat Walter Dalton have appeared in recent weeks.

This week's show airs on WRAL-TV at 7:30 p.m., or you can view it below.

Crabtree asked Howe about what motivates her to run as a third-party candidate, knowing that she most likely won't win.

"Obviously it's a long shot," Howe acknowledge. But as of right now, she said, she's in the thick of things with McCrory and Dalton. "Right now, we're all at zero," Howe said

Munger got a little less than 3 percent of the vote in 2008 and Libertarians have traditionally struggled to attract a widespread following.

When asked how she would work with a Republican-lead General Assembly, she pointed out that fellow-Libertarian Gary Johnson, the former governor of New Mexico, vetoed 750 bills while in office. Left unsaid -- Johnson was elected as a Republican.

Crabtree asked if sometimes third party movements don't hurt themselves. For example, the Natural Law Party back in the 1990s ran candidates throughout North Carolina that promoted transcendental meditation and "yogic flying."

Munger points out there are some unusual candidates -- like KKK leader David Duke who ran for office as a Republican -- in every party.

"The major parties have crazy people too," he said.

Crabtree asked Howe her positions on several issues, including:

On fracking: "If you wait until something is 100 percent safe, you will never do it," Howe said. She said that companies should be welcomed to explore from gas here as long is there is a mechanism to ensure they clean up any environmental damage they cause.

Education: She said the state should offer parents an education tax credit so they can send their children to public or private school.

Voter ID: Howe said she thought the state ought to know who is voting, but she didn't see the need for a picture ID program. "It's a solution in search of a problem," she said.

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