House Republicans have approved and sent to Gov. Beverly Perdue’s desk a measure directing her to sweep $142 million from state accounts and giving her authority to cut another $400 million. However, the measure may not make it past the governor’s desk: she is signaling that she may veto it. Partisan debate on the bill over two days has centered on the state accounts that were seen by Democrats as helping to create jobs, including two economic incentives funds and the Golden LEAF Foundation account that gets money from the national tobacco settlement and is used for grants in counties. The measure won final approval in the House Thursday on a 66-51 party-line vote. Republicans fell short of reaching a 72-vote veto-proof majority.
Perdue did not comment immediately after votes Wednesday or Thursday. However, the governor’s staff has pointed to her most recent remarks on the issue, in which she said the legislation “attacks the capacity of the governor and the Secretary of Commerce to do the job of job creation.” “If you’re going to cut jobs money, what you are doing is cutting jobs for the people of North Carolina,” Perdue said in a recording of the remarks provided by her office. “I think that’s inexcusable.” Perdue said she was not consulted in advance and would not have agreed to it. “I would have said no,” Perdue said. “And I’m saying no now.”
Republicans say that the accounts are cash balances, and it’s simply time to make cuts as the state needs to close a projected budget gap of roughly $3 billion. “Some around here are saying it’s a jobs killer. It’s not,” said Rep. Tim Moore, R-Cleveland. “I don’t like anything coming out of this chamber that implies North Carolina isn’t serious about industrial recruitment. Because we are.” House Minority Leader Joe Hackney, D-Orange, said Perdue should have been consulted in the process and he urged the Republicans to slow down and consult with her more. “I’m not going to say it’s a jobs killer,” Hackney said, “But the message you are sending calls that into serious question … and the word is out, and we are not making it up.”(J. Andrew Curliss, THE NEWS & OBSERVER, 2/10/11).
