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PAGE 5 • EXAM ISSUE 2012
College Reps predict moderate future with McCrory Will Brooks Staff Writer
As can be expected by a swing state, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney won North Carolina by a relatively small margin. However, by contrast, Republican Gov.-elect McCrory gained overwhelming support by a state with approximately 2.8 million registered Democrats and 2 million registered Republicans, taking the majority of votes with about 54 percent. “One of the large things is that being a Democrat in North Carolina isn’t the same as being one elsewhere,” said Paul Mott, senior in political science and vice chair of the University’s chapter of College Republicans. “It’s a North Carolina phenomenon, a lot of people are registered Democrat but they vote Republican.” McCrory, who held the office of the mayor of Charlotte longer than any person, governed the city with Democratic leanings. That carried on to help the current mayor, Anthony Foxx, a Charlotte Democrat, to host the most recent Democratic National Convention. What made McCrory so popular in Charlotte and the state, according to Mott, has been his bipartisanship. “If you look at his record from when he was mayor of Charlotte, he had a lot of bipartisan successes,” Mott said. “A lot of the former governors of North Carolina helped out with that.” Mott said that one of McCrory’s largest successes was initiating the installment of the first light rail system in
North Carolina, in Charlotte, working across the table with governors, city planners and the federal government. As a Republican moderate in a politically moderate state, McCrory will have the ability to guide the state and serve everyone from Asheville to Wilmington, Mott said. “I think his election shows that it wasn’t just a conservative victory but a victory for North Carolina,” Mott said. North Carolinians shouldn’t expect to be surprised either: While Romney gained 3 percent over Obama in the state, McCrory won by a 10 percent margin of victory. “It wasn’t just Republicans [voting for McCrory], it was Democrats and swing voters too,” Mott said. Mott said he believes one of McCrory’s strong points will come out in his business policies, due to his experience as a successful mayor of the banking capital of the Southeast. “The big thing is, in regards to small businesses, will give them what they need to succeed,” Mott said. According to Mott, McCrory’s educational policy will focus more on expanding opportunities for community colleges, creating programs centered on blue-collar training. “Say there’s a tractor factory — it’s machine fabrication — and he wants them to be able to gain that experience,” Mott said, “Not in an academic way but more of a hands on way.” The trade-based focus by McCrory has both implications towards the UNC System and the economy. The
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Gov.-elect Pat McCrory gets to know some “blue-collar folks” at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.
emphasis on community colleges won’t just impact employers looking for technically trained students, but it may increase admissions at NCSU. More than 25 percent of the student body at some point transferred to the University, according to the Undergraduate Admissions Office. “We send a lot of students to N.C. State and we’re proud of that fact,” said Stephen Scott, president of Wake Technical Community College, in an interview with NPR. “Our state has made that investment [for higher education]. We’re the third lowest in the nation, with
less than $70 a credit hour. For the past four semesters, we’ve had 5,400 students on a waiting list. About half of all freshmen now are enrolled at community colleges.” Though four-year institutions benefit from community colleges, McCrory has maintained that they should remain vocational institutes. “I’m a big advocate of community colleges … [and] the priority of community colleges must remain vocational training … We’ve got to make sure the priority is to help the technical needs of industry,” McCrory told the Charlotte Business Journal. Mott said that he disagrees
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with recent claims from some liberals critics that some Republicans, like multimillionaire businessman Art Pope, a political friend of McCrory, have attempted to “buy the UNC System,” saying that membership of the system’s Board of Governors strategic direction advisory committee does not grant him any such power. “McCrory, being a governor, is going to look at reality,” Mott said. “He isn’t somebody in government, but [having Pope] won’t be anything close to controlling the system.” Whatever changes are made by the Board of Governors
will ultimately be approved by McCrory, and Mott said that above all, McCrory’s moderate stance will allow him to approach politics in a critical way. “It shows he’s willing to look through several angles,” Mott said. “He wouldn’t have had that bipartisan support without being a moderate.” Mott said that he expects McCrory to achieve a progressive agenda for the state. Mott, along with most College Republicans, are excited for the future. “McCrory winning was the main bright spot for us, and hopefully it is going to move North Carolina forward.”
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