The race for the District 20 North Carolina House of Representatives seat features incumbent and former New Hanover County Commissioner Rick Catlin, R-New Hanover, against Democratic candidate Betsy Jordan, a real estate professional and executive coach. Catlin and Jordan each answered questions during phone interviews Monday, Oct. 13 and Tuesday, Oct. 14. Excerpts from those interviews follow, full transcripts may be found online,
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What is your opinion of the importance of tourism to the district’s economy?
Catlin: Tourism is one of our largest assets. Preserving our coastal resources and protecting our environment is the key to growing and preserving these economic benefits to our region.
Jordan: We have our beaches and our rivers and that is really the cornerstone of our whole economy. I would choose tourism over oil drilling.
Do you support the Room Occupancy Tax as it is currently divided, would you favor a redistribution, or an increase?
Catlin: I am working to develop and file legislation allowing more local responsibility for allocation of our room occupancy tax to preserve our coastal resources. I do not support a tax increase and believe a thoughtful flexibility of our present revenues will be a sufficient solution.
Jordan: I think it needs to stay the same as it is now. … I am not an advocate of raising taxes; I am an advocate of raising the river of revenue through economic development.
There is an emerging push to brand and market southeastern North Carolina to potential industries as outlined in the Garner Report. What kind of industry do you believe belongs in southeastern North Carolina?
Catlin: As Chairman of the N.C. Foreign Trade Promotion Council, I am successfully working to grow our international business opportunities … our ports and airport, in international exports to 7Â billion potential new customers. Our Foreign Trade Zone efforts will grow existing business and attract new business to our region.
Jordan: Long-term sustainable industries. Our natural draw in the region is tourism, real estate, clean industries and tech. We are going to need to buoy the industries that support tourism, film being one of them. Building on manufacturing and manufacturing businesses, that is going to give us a long-term sustainable base with jobs we can support with our community college system.
Where do you see southeastern North Carolina in 10 years in terms of its socioeconomic makeup, infrastructure and image?
Catlin: If we don’t make the hard decisions now, we will be in trouble in 10 years. We need to preserve our water resources, our coastal assets, grow our education solutions, our water and sewer infrastructure and improve our transportation to prevent gridlock.
Jordan: If we continue along this path, what I see is an industrial area retirees are not going to want to move to with energy plants, oilrigs and toll roads. … When I am elected … I will go to bat for broadening our economic base, diversifying where our tax dollars come from and preserving quality of life.
What is the most dire issue facing public education in North Carolina at this time and what are your plans to address it?Â
Catlin: The fast answer is the dropout rate of 20 percent. … I am focusing on a vocational pilot program to find a way to save these children who are not bound or able to pursue college as the only option. This career pathway will also help us grow our skilled workforce and create jobs.
Jordan: We have to keep and reward our experienced teachers and fund a career path. Step No. 2 is to fund programs like More at 4 and early childhood education programs because they keep people in school longer and it supports our teachers when our kids are more prepared. No. 3 is we must support our community college programs and higher education. … Charter Schools need to be rolled back into the school system. They need to be as accountable and under the same umbrella as public schools.
How has Duke Energy handled the disposal of coal ash up to this point and what is your vision for the future of that process?
Catlin: Duke is working to comply with our legislation to protect our surface and groundwater resources, but the process cannot be completed overnight. It requires technical environmental assessments, remediation designs, permit approvals, public hearings and input, health and safety plans and inspections, and secondary approval from the new Coal Ash Commission.
I added the legislative requirement for impermeable clay liners and caps because synthetic liners in present landfills will not last forever, but the coal ash will. Legislation will require new clay-lined landfills for sites based upon their priority status presently being determined by DENR and approved by the Coal Ash Commission. I am presently personally inspecting the coal ash sites that could impact the Cape Fear River and am working on legislative improvements for the next session to make sure our region is environmentally protected.
Jordan: No. 1, it is Duke Energy’s responsibility to run their business so they don’t hurt their communities, I think that is good corporate citizenship. … They need to pay for it even if they have to borrow the money from their stockholders. It is costly but they are going to need a plan to bear the brunt of the cost and not pass it on to people who are the consumers.
Why do you think the N.C. film incentive program was not extended? If you are in favor of an incentive package, what do you think it would take to bring it back?
Catlin: I, and the majority of the House members, voted to extend the film credits to give us time to preserve jobs and find sustainable solutions, but the extension I voted for was not passed by the Senate. Their grant program became the compromise. There are many ways the grant program can be improved and the funding is not capped in future budgets.
Jordan: It failed because there was intention not to have any incentives at all, particularly any incentives which depended on revenue as it is measured. … It is going to take electing people who are in favor of this tax credit rebate. … South Carolina has made a very strong move, despite conservative leadership, to incentivize businesses and compete so you have to have people who are willing to compete and put money in the economy.
What is one thing people do not know about you?
Catlin: I once was a ladies’ shoe salesman. I worked my way through college … with an engineering company, the first year at age 18, I worked nightshift at a factory that made looms for the textile industry. On the weekends I worked at a drugstore to deliver prescriptions to senior citizens.
Jordan: I was a head lifeguard at a public swimming pool. I had to pull people up from the bottom of the pool.
How did your first term in the NCGA merits another serving the voters of your district?
Catlin: Led the fight against fracking waste, increased the monitoring and removal of contaminants from drinking water, led the Water Source Protection Act to protect against coal ash spills and other contaminants, led the legislation to protect the justice rights of our Marines and all citizens exposed to contamination and fought to file a bill to begin restoration of our senior citizen’s medical tax deductions.
Why did you decide to run for this seat?Â
Jordan: Two years ago when House Bill 994 was on the floor I knew business was leaving because I was on the film council. … I saw some choices being made in Raleigh that were incredibly damaging to our economy . … On the last day to file I got three calls from members of the local caucus, one of them being Susi Hamilton, and they said please run for office.
If elected, name the top three items on your list of things to accomplish during the next NCGA session.
Catlin: File legislation the first day to continue the battle to restore medical deductions for our senior citizens. Support transportation and infrastructure funding to improve our economy and quality of life. . . . Continue to improve funding for education and continue working on my pilot program for career pathways to lower our dropout rates.
Jordan: Handle the state budgetary constraints and have the film incentive tax credit rebate re-implemented and made more competitive. … I would be looking at ways to incentivize agribusiness for this region and marry that to fiber optics. … The third thing is funding public education and I said economic development first because we need the funds to pay for it.
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