Education

Highways and Transportation

Fetal Murder

Honor and Integrity in Government

Incentives

Property Rights

Fighting to Bring More High-Paying Jobs to New Hanover County

Ending Illegal Immigration

A State and Country in a Healthcare Crisis

Education

My wife Heidi and I have four young children, three of whom are enrolled in the public school system, with one more to follow when he is old enough. Education is tremendously important to me. While there are many great teachers in North Carolina, there is no doubt that the education system in our state needs dramatic change given the many problems we are experiencing. Currently, only 58% of students entering high school in North Carolina will graduate and only 38% will attend college. These staggering figures represent a broken system, but also a system that would see significant improvement if it was made a priority by our elected officials.

North Carolina spends more than half of its annual budget on education and continues to increase that amount every year. I know that after parental involvement, the most important factor in a child’s education is the teacher. As your next state Senator, I will work to ensure that good teachers are paid well and bad teachers are removed from the classroom, regardless of how long they’ve been in the system. A study by the National Dropout Prevention Center showed that low-achieving students increased performance by 53% when taught by highly effective teachers. I strongly believe that we need to focus on giving good teachers the proper tools and ample time to instill a passion for learning within our children.

Another effective tool for reducing the dropout rate is giving parents more options for their children's education. New Hanover County currently has only two charter schools, and many counties have none. It is time for the General Assembly to lift the cap on these schools and expand their reach to places outside Raleigh and Charlotte.

Finally, I believe the General Assembly can do a better job of working with the UNC system Board of Governors to ensure adequate support for our universities. UNC Wilmington is quickly growing, and as your state Senator, I will ensure that it can continue to evolve as a first-class institution.

Highways and Transportation

While current members of the Senate approve funding to continue building Raleigh's second outer loop, there is no end in sight for I-140 in Wilmington. While millions of dollars are spent to build a light-rail system serving a limited number of Charlotte residents, families in New Hanover County face rapidly increasing congestion. While our current legislature sits and watches, many of our bridges have been determined to be structurally deficient. It is time for our state to re-evaluate its transportation priorities and put these dollars in the places where they truly are needed.

North Carolina's highway system was the 5th best in the country in 1989. By 2003, our ranking had plummeted to 36th in the nation. Only three states now have a higher share of congested interstates than North Carolina, and the condition of our highways has deteriorated. By 2003, the condition of our urban interstate highways ranked 42nd in the nation, the condition of our rural interstate highways ranked 44th in the nation, and the condition of our rural primary roads ranked 45th in the nation.

These highway problems did not arise overnight or by accident. Since 2002, the General Assembly has diverted over $1 billion from the Highway Trust Fund to the General Fund. This money comes directly from drivers like you and me in the form of the highest gas tax in the Southeast and is supposed to be used for building roads. I strongly believe that legislators should stop raiding the Highway Trust Fund to make up for overspending in other areas. Our state constitution mandates a balanced budget, and we should not be forced to sacrifice the basics to make this happen.

The central issue is not about the $1 billion dollars stolen from the Highway Trust Fund since 2002; it’s about you and your family crossing over the Isabella Holmes Bridge or the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge and not knowing whether they are safe. The issue is not that the deterioration in the quality and efficiency of our roads impacts our rankings among the other states; it is about you and your children sitting at an intersection that was not designed for the amount of traffic it is now trying to support. Our highways and transportation need improvement, and I stand ready to make these improvements a high priority as your Senator.

Fetal Murder

North Carolina does not recognize the murder of an unborn child. This issue is not one of abortion but murder. If someone stabs a woman who is 8 months pregnant and causes her fetus to die, that person should face murder charges in addition to charges brought for crimes against the mother. The murder of a fetus should be treated as more than an aggravating factor in the commission of a crime. North Carolina needs a reasonable and common sense Fetal Homicide Law.

Honor and Integrity in Government

I will strive to clean up the practices that are landing more and more members of the General Assembly behind bars. North Carolina was once known as a “Good Government State,” and it is unfortunate that career politicians have tarnished our reputation in recent years. As a political outsider, I am not beholden to special interests or to the interests of a select group of powerful legislators. We need a Senator eager to represent our views, not the views of special interest groups or the political establishment.

Incentives

We have all heard about the disgraceful use of taxpayer money over the years in monetary incentives granted to large corporations to locate in North Carolina.  Incentives are like fire - when used correctly, they can have great benefits to us all - but when abused or used incorrectly, people get burned.  The taxpayers have been burned over the years by the incorrect use and abuse of incentives.  If used properly though, incentives can be a powerful tool to attract good paying jobs.  If we eliminate incentives, we will be at a dramatic disadvantage when trying to compete with SC, GA and other states.

Therefore, we need to have incentives, but we must use them wisely - which means they must include objective measures and "clawback provisions," and the goal should be job creation.  Some say incentives discriminate against small business and we should have broad based tax decreases to help everyone.  I agree we should have these broad based tax cuts.  In addition to tax cuts though, incentives can help bring new companies to New Hanover County and that will benefit our small businesses.  For example, if GE brings 1,000 new high paying jobs to the area - these new employees will be purchasing homes, going to our restaurants and dry cleaners, and patronizing many other small businesses.  Yes, we must create a better business environment for small and large businesses alike - but that does not mean we must eliminate the use of incentives - we just need to do it better.

Property Rights

I believe that North Carolina's law regarding forced annexation must be changed to allow residents to voice their opinion.  In communities across our state, like Monkey Junction here in New Hanover County, higher taxes and impact fees are hitting families and businesses who never voted to become victims of urban sprawl.

With regards to eminent domain, I strongly support the proposed constitutional amendment passed by the North Carolina House in reaction to the U.S. Supreme Court's Kelo decision.  The state has no right to seize our property for private development, and I hope to see this legislation pass in the upcoming short session.  If it does not, however, rest assured that I will relentlessly pursue its passage as your next state Senator.

Fighting to Bring More High-Paying Jobs to New Hanover County

Salaries and hourly wages are not keeping up with the skyrocketing cost of living expenses in New Hanover County. Increased gas prices and household expenses are threatening our quality of life. Michael Lee believes that we must attract new businesses and industries to our county by investing in infrastructure and education and by making North Carolina’s tax structure more competitive. Smarter economic policies mean more high-paying jobs for New Hanover County workers and a higher quality of life for us all.

Ending Illegal Immigration

Illegal immigration is overtaxing our schools, our hospitals and our taxpayers. Michael Lee believes that state government must do more to stop the flow of illegal aliens into North Carolina. Michael opposes allowing illegal aliens admission to our state’s community colleges and four year institutions. Michael also supports the immediate deportation of illegal aliens convicted of crimes. Michael believes it is unfair for taxpayers to subsidize state benefits for illegal aliens, and as our State Senator, he will fight to stop this practice once and for all.

A State and Country in a Healthcare Crisis

There is no doubt that our State and Country are gripped in a debate over healthcare that touches the lives of every American. However, there is no real debate that we need some type of healthcare reform.

One critical component that seems to be left out of the debate is that of tort reform. While tort reform goes beyond healthcare issues, it certainly affects all of our healthcare choices. In the past, North Carolina has been referred to by the American Medical Association as one of many states that is in a medical liability crisis. Medical malpractice premiums have been exploding in past years and these costs have a dramatic impact on the costs of health care for patients. While our legal system plays a valuable role in compensating victims for the negligent acts of individuals and businesses, the legal system is being abused and North Carolina needs common sense tort reform to address it.

The filing of frivolous lawsuits ruins lives, businesses and costs all North Carolina citizens in their attempt at finding quality and affordable healthcare.

In addition to tort reform, North Carolina needs to adequately fund the healthcare needs of our most sensitive populations. North Carolina intends to cut Medicaid reimbursements to offset a budget shortfall. We need to build more efficiency into these healthcare programs rather than to cut reimbursements (which are already low). Since we appear to have a shortfall in the funds budgeted for these essential healthcare programs, our State Legislature should not have diverted Federal money originally intended to shore up Medicaid to fund wasteful projects. If we need additional funds for these healthcare programs, the State Budget should be modified to divert funding from the many wasteful expenditures approved by our State Legislature. In any event, cutting Medicaid reimbursements is not the answer and will certainly affect the delivery of quality healthcare to North Carolina citizens.