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Democrat Walter Dalton uses an excavation in Rutherford County to make his latest case against Republican Pat McCrory in North Carolina’s governor’s race.
The ad
Images: Wide shot of an excavation, the camera zooms in to show Dalton at one end. A picture of McCrory is superimposed in the hole along with the words: “Pat McCrory supported the legislature’s deep cuts to education. Pat McCrory wants to raise taxes on the middle-class.”
Dalton: “…Bad policies out of Washington and Raleigh are hurting us. Pat McCrory supported those drastic education cuts, is making this hole deeper.
“And his plan to raise taxes on the middle class will make things worse. … As governor I’ll rebuild this economy by making education our bedrock again.”
What we found
McCrory supported the budget of the GOP-controlled legislature. Passed over Democratic Gov. Bev Perdue’s veto, it resulted in the cuts of more than 500 public school teachers and 3,000 UNC system employees.
Dalton supported Perdue’s budget, which would have cut spending on school administrators but spared teachers. As lieutenant governor in 2009, he presided over a Democratic-controlled Senate that cut public education spending by $346 million in the face of a $4.5 billion budget shortfall.
On taxes, McCrory wants to reduce the state’s personal and corporate income tax rate and reform the tax structure. But he says any cuts would remain “revenue neutral,” meaning lost revenue would be made up. How, he hasn’t said.
To Dalton, that would somehow add up to a redistribution of taxes that would end up hurting the middle class.
“Of course Pat was supportive of the legislature not raising taxes while they sought to clean up the mess that Dalton created as (Senate) budget chair, said McCrory adviser Brian Nick. “But assigning a former mayor with … cuts … made by a legislature that he is not a part of is beyond a ridiculous reach.” Jim Morrill, The Charlotte Observer
