The Incumbent: Rep. David Price is running for re-election on the Democratic ticket in North Carolina's Fourth District

The Interview is a periodic feature of extended interviews with people who affect our community, written by members of the editorial board. This is the first of two interviews preceding our endorsement for Congress on Wednesday. Today, Mark Laichena writes about the editorial board’s discussion with Rep. David Price. Tomorrow, Cameron Parker writes about B.J. Lawson.

Rep. David Price sits down with the editorial board at The Daily Tar Heel office, coming to us after attending the memorial service for Rob Hogan, the well-remembered local farmer who cared for UNC mascot Rameses.

Price is flanked at the table by Andrew High, his media relations aide. Throughout the meeting High nods occasionally, scribbling furiously on a pad whenever Price seems to deviate from standard talking points.

Price is no Orange County native — once an out-of-state student from Tennessee, he even taught for a while at Duke before running for election, though he describes his time in UNC student politics during the civil rights era as the most formative.

But he has been a part of this community for a long time: First elected before most current students were born, Price has been the Fourth District’s representative for all but one term since 1987.

That one term was after the 1994 election — an electoral wave that swept Republicans back into power in Congress in a cycle that many compare with the current one. But Price doesn’t seem deterred.

He’s a firm believer in the idea of good government: “It can be abused, but government can also be an instrument of positive change and purpose,” Price notes.

Unsurprisingly, he disagrees with those who say that 22 years is too long. “You need a mix of new blood and ideas and you also need a mix of experience and wisdom,” Price says, attacking the term limit proposals of his opponent: “Would a business kick anybody out after eight years?”

Price thinks that term limits would weaken Congress, the “first branch of American government.” Harking back to the Constitution isn’t solely the prerogative of conservatives.

Asked about voter dissatisfaction with the past two years of Democratic leadership, Price deflects the question and launches an attack on the fiscal irresponsibility of the prior Bush administration.

Price seems determined to frame this election as a choice between the excesses of the Bush era and the balanced budgets of the Clinton administration.

Pushed on specific issues, he offers a rather weak defense of the health care reform legislation.
It will help, “but it’s definitely not the last word,” he says.

He gets even more frank: “I do not think the bill has a conclusive answer to medical cost inflation.”
On the economy: “This is a very stubborn, very difficult recession. We need to stay on the case,” Price declares.

He argues that his opponent, B.J. Lawson, takes “potshots” at what Democrats have done but offers no solutions “to get us out of the ditch.”

It’s hard to balance Price’s strident criticism of the Republican Party — which is hoping to capitalize as things fail, he suggests — with his description of strong bipartisan relationships with the Republicans with whom he works through committee appointments.

Serving in Congress for 22 years earns one some seniority: Price chairs the Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee and the Democracy Partnership, explaining that on national security not everything is totally partisan.

Such seniority brings financial rewards for the Fourth District.

Price highlights a recent project he helped develop — N.C.B. Prepared, a public health data reporting initiative with homeland security objectives — which brought funding to the Gillings School of Global Public Health.

“This is a great need nationally and it just happens to marry up with a strength in my Congressional district,” Price says, with visible satisfaction.

Such federal support highlights the division between Price and his opponent in this election, who thinks that federal funding for research misdirects money which the private sector could better allocate.

Price is adamant: “I think the work at NIH and NSF is this country’s crown jewel. Why would we want to unilaterally disarm?”

And it’s hard to deny that federal funding currently plays an important role in the University community. According to the National Science Foundation, UNC received $432 million from the federal government for research and development last year.

With respect to the Triangle region, Price thinks transportation is a major issue in the coming two years. He argues that the Triangle will “need to fight for our share” of funding in order to see some of the Triangle-wide transit plans come to fruition.

Price sounds sure that federal funding can help with most of the Fourth District’s needs.

Don’t expect any fireworks from this candidate.

If elected, Price will continue to work in the same vein for another two years: pushing for federal funding for the Fourth District and staunchly supporting traditional Democratic positions on the economy and other major issues.