Republican incumbent Sen. Rick Gunn and candidate John Thorpe, a Democrat, sat next to one other on stage at the Paramount Theater as they answered questions read by moderator John Black during a forum co-hosted by the Times-News and WPCM.
The forum began with a question directed at Gunn about North Carolina’s House Bill 2, asking him whether the legislation was irrelevant, as Gov. Pat McCrory said in an interview last week, citing a federal directive to public schools concerning bathrooms and pending court decisions.
“I don’t believe I’d use the word irrelevant,” said Gunn, who has defended the bill. “What happened is pretty simple. Charlotte knew from day one that, first of all, they were doing something against our constitution. You cannot set that kind of ordinance without the state of North Carolina being involved. We told them that was not going to work and we were going to react to it if they did it.”
Gunn continued that the General Assembly, by passing HB2, had “reacted to what Charlotte mandated us to do,” but that legislators had been open to repealing their ordinance if Charlotte repealed its ordinance, which concerned the use of bathrooms by transgender individuals, among other provisions.
He clarified that his “position as it’s related to bathrooms has been and is now and will continue to be that we do not need to allow men to go into little girls’ dressing rooms, locker rooms, shower facilities or bathrooms,” and that middle- and high-school male students shouldn’t share such facilities with female students.
Thorpe alleged that Gunn had “decided to flip flop” on “something he voted for,” and that the bill does more than
“It restricts workers’ rights,” Thorpe said, adding that workers couldn’t file state discrimination lawsuits, which Gunn subsequently corrected, and that it had hurt business in Charlotte.
“We owe it to our teachers, we owe it to our state employees, to get our pension plan righted and healthy,” Gunn said.
Thorpe said teachers need to be paid “a real amount of $50,000” instead of politicians only claiming the average teacher makes that much, that more resources need to be allocated for mental health programs and that Medicaid should be expanded across the state.
“If you don’t believe that these are the three major things that facing the state right now, then you need to talk to a guy that I know by the name of Jesus Christ who always said that these three things are the way we should prosper and move forward,” Thorpe said.
Asked what issues specific to Alamance County needed to be addressed, Thorpe said he would help secure funding for Stepping Up, an Alamance County initiative to provide help for the mentally ill in the criminal justice system, and for automatic license plate readers for police patrol vehicles. Thorpe also indicated he would work with the N.C. Department of Transportation to record the live video feeds captured on some state roads.
Gunn said he was concerned with “crime, drugs, human trafficking and gangs in our community” and that law enforcement needs the right tools and legislation to address those problems.
“If you talk to any of our law enforcement agencies, if you talk to the sheriff, it’s literally a never-ending battle,” Gunn said.
Thorpe replied that Gunn had “been elected again and against and again and never sponsored a bill to do either one of those things.”
Sarcastically, Gunn said “I guess I’m supposed to sponsor every bill,” and challenged Thorpe to look up the economic development and safety bills Gunn had introduced, citing “Jessica’s Law” as legislation he sponsored that results in a suspect being charged with first-degree murder if a baby is born alive and then dies from injuries inflicted before birth.
The legislation, based on baby in Alamance County dying in 2008 after her mother was shot, is actually called Lily’s Law.
On how North Carolina can competitively recruit and retain teachers, Thorpe suggested the state bring back its Teaching Fellows program as well as “make sure we’re treating those who retire very well” and to “make sure our retirement reflects inflation.”
Gunn began by offering that “for every teacher that leaves the state of North Carolina, we have four teachers that are coming here.”
He added that it “takes a good salary” and “takes a great benefits package,” and that legislators had altered the pay scales for teachers, so that those working 15 years could now potentially make the highest salary level, which previously was reserved for those working 30 years.
Thorpe closed by saying “we have to clean up our environment,” including Jordan Lake, and that the state’s employment rate needs to increase.
“I believe my opponent Senator Gunn is actually a very good man, we just differ on ideology,” Thorpe said. “We both want to live in a state that’s better for each and every one of y’all. We just have a difference in opinion on how to get there.”
Gunn’s closing statements included comments about the need to take care of veterans living in North Carolina, as well as explaining a phrase used in the statewide economic development community, “Alamance envy.”
“People are literally envious of what’s going on in our county,” Gunn said, referring to “the synergy that’s going on” between county and municipal governments, and local public and private education entities.
source : http://www.thetimesnews.com/news/20161018/state-senate-candidates-debate-issues-in-alamance-county-beyond
