With her North Carolina Senate seniority on the rise, Ellie Kinnaird announced last week that she’ll seek an eighth term as the area’s representative.
Kinnaird, a Carrboro Democrat who won her 2008 re-election contest with more than 70 percent of the vote, considered retiring two years ago. But she said she doesn’t want to quit before several things on her agenda are accomplished.
“We had a very successful session last year dealing with issues that I care about a great deal,” Kinnaird said. “That was very encouraging to me. I thought other issues could have a better chance of being passed.”
She listed prohibiting the execution of mentally ill people, raising the age at which people are tried as an adult from 16 to 18 and restructuring the state tax system to rely less on sales taxes.
“It’s going to be a big hassle because it’s going to affect every part of our tax structure,” Kinnaird said, explaining that relying on the sales tax subjects state revenue to the ups and downs of the economy, forcing the state to cut programs when the economy is bad.
She said lowering the sales tax would allow people to continue purchasing during recessions.
In a press release from her office, Kinnaird said she wants to complete an electronic network to keep tabs on criminals to prevent them from slipping through the cracks between justice-system agencies.
Kinnaird’s seniority in the state Senate has been on the rise in the past few months. Senate Majority Leader Tony Rand left the chamber in December.
Fellow Democrats David Hoyle of Gaston County, who served 18 years, and R.C. Soles Jr. of Tabor City, the senate’s longest-serving member, said recently that they wouldn’t seek re-election.
