McCrory touts 3 ‘E’s in address to legislature

Gov. Pat McCrory stressed improving education and boosting employment to help North Carolina’s beleaguered economy in his first State of the State address Monday.

“My number one priority as your governor is to do everything possible to make North Carolina an engine for job creation,” he said.

Sen. Peter Brunstetter, R-Forsyth, said in an interview after the speech that McCrory’s business experience will lend his job creation ideas legitimacy in Raleigh.

“Just knowing that part of the priority is to put customer service back in state government and take the hundreds of millions of dollars in waste and to analyze and fix it was very refreshing,” Brunstetter said.

But Democratic critics questioned McCrory’s plans to create jobs by reducing the state’s personal and corporate income taxes.

N.C. Treasurer Janet Cowell, a Democrat, said in an interview that she supports changes to the state’s tax code but is skeptical about McCrory’s ideas.

“Obviously the devil is in the details, but I’m glad that he mentioned it in his speech today,” she said.

McCrory tied job creation to a recalibration of the state’s education system.

He touted Senate Bill 14, which he signed into law Monday morning, marking the first bill he signed into law as governor.

The law creates three degree tracks for high school students — vocational, college preparation and a combination of the two.

“The disconnect right now that I have seen between employers not able to find qualified talent, even with our high unemployment rate, and the citizens unable to get jobs must get resolved through education,” McCrory said.

He sidestepped responding to comments he made on conservative host Bill Bennett’s radio talk show at the end of January questioning the merits of funding certain liberal arts degrees with state money.

“I have already stepped on some toes on both the left and the right,” he said. “I am not doing it to cause pain but to get us to stand up and recognize that we must solve our serious problems.”

McCrory also urged legislators to look at further measures to change the state’s education system.

“We must continue to reform our education system to stay ahead of the competition, not just in the United States but throughout the world,” he said.

Despite the potential for conflict between state GOP leaders and McCrory, the governor received support from his party’s legislative leadership after the speech.

“I thought the speech was a wonderful speech,” said Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Berger, R-Guilford. “It was giving us some part of his vision for North Carolina and his plan for what we are going to do in the legislature and the North Carolina government in the next several months.”

McCrory concluded his speech by reiterating his priorities of education and economic growth.

“Let’s unleash our unlimited resources and opportunity North Carolina has to offer,” he said. “Now let’s get back to work.”

Contact the desk editor at state@dailytarheel.com.