Saturday's Internet Edition, May 17, 2008.
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“I’m running for lieutenant governor because I’ve seen a lot of progress made in North Carolina during my lifetime, but there is so much more we need to do,” Dellinger said in an interview before he gave his speech. “I think it’s great that we are No. 1 for business — both as a state and, as we know, Davidson County — but we also need to be No. 1 for children, students, workers and seniors. That will help us continue to have a stronger economy and a strong business climate.”
Dellinger’s reference to North Carolina and Davidson County being “No. 1 for business” is a reference to a recently published ranking by Site Selection Magazine, which named the Thomasville-Lexington Micropolitan Area as No. 1 among markets of similar size.
“If you look at the Site Selection rankings, the magazine bases a lot of its criteria on quality of life,” Dellinger pointed out. “The strength of the schools, the environment and the social programs available are important. That’s why I think we have done an amazing job in making this economic transition from being so reliant on furniture, textiles and tobacco.”
Dellinger stressed he still has interest in the industries that carried this region through the 20th century.
“I never want to forget those industries,” he continued. “I think we may have a great future in nanofibers. We need to sweat the details in the furniture industry and make sure that the High Point Furniture Market works as an outlet for the manufacturers here. We can’t, however, just focus solely on our business climate, or even that will lessen. We’ve got to take care of our environment, our schools and our seniors.”
Dellinger, who turns 41 next month, grew up in Durham — and then Chapel Hill. He graduated from Chapel Hill High School and the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor before obtaining his law degree at Yale University. He joined the N.C. Attorney General’s office when Mike Easley, the current governor, was attorney general. Dellinger worked his way up to deputy attorney general under Easley. After Easley was elected governor, Dellinger became his chief legal counsel. He currently lives in Durham with his wife, Jolynn, and their two children.
“We need to do much more to help seniors stay in their homes — if they would like to do so — in neighborhoods that they helped make great,” Dellinger said. “We have created an economic system where it can make more economic sense, in terms of government assistance, for someone to be entering an institution — which is actually really costly and not what the seniors or their children want. I want to take some of that government funding and focus on home health care.”
Of course, some seniors need to give up independent living, due to a variety of circumstances.
“If seniors do need institutionalized care, we need much better information for them and for their adult children to decide on a high-quality, long-term-care environment,” Dellinger said. “We have a rating system for our day-care centers, our movies and our restaurants, but we don’t have a really adequate rating system for our adult-care facilities. I’ve been calling for such a system that is consumer friendly and one that offers useful information.”
Dellinger also has specific changes he would like to see to improve public education in North Carolina.
“All of the studies show that voluntary pre-school for 3 and 4-year-olds works,” he said. “I want to raise the legal drop-out age from 16 to 18. We send a terrible signal when we tell these kids they can drop out at age 16. If they do, they’ll have no chance in today’s economy.”
When it comes to the environment, Dellinger feels the schools should lead by example.
“I want to build green schools,” he said. “Our schools should be leaders in terms of using solar panels and other forms of renewable energy.”
Dellinger expressed disappointment over a legislative act that passed in 2007.
“Because the budget has been so tight, I think it was a mistake to lower taxes for the wealthy North Carolinians, which took place last year,” Dellinger said. “I’m against regressive taxation. The more we load up on the sales taxes, food taxes and gas taxes, the more that hurts the working families. We need to ask those who are more fortunate to do more and stop this constant effort towards regressive taxes.”
Lately there has been talk about legislating toll roads in the General Assembly.
“That’s another accross-the-board regressive tax,” Dellinger said of that idea. “Going back to the working families and asking them to pay more doesn’t make sense to me.”
Dellinger seemed to make sense to Loretta Martin, co-chair of Davidson County Democratic Women.
“I think Hampton Dellinger has the experience, the skill sets and the personal characteristics to make an ideal candidate for governor and lieutenant governor,” said Martin, a Thomasville resident who has served as chair of the Davidson County Democratic Party. “I feel his vision for North Carolina is very appropriate and timely, specifically as it relates to the issue of global warming and what we can do to make businesses green in North Carolina.”
Beverly Purdue, the incumbent lieuenant governor, is running for governor this year. Dellinger will face N.C. state Sen. Walter Dalton, from Rutherford County, Winston-Salem City Councilman Dan Bessee and Canton Mayor Pat Smathers in the Democratic Primary. The winner of that will face the winner of the Repulican primary for that office, either Robert Pittenger or Greg Dority.
Notice that Martin said “governor or lieutenant governor,” when talking about Dellinger. Would Dellinger like to run for governor some day?
“I’ll never say never, but I’m focused on a tough statewide race,” Dellinger said. “I’ve got a great grass-roots network and I’m in great position to win, but I’m looking up at one mountain at a time.”
Staff Writer Kevin Reid can be reached at 472-9500, ext. 230, or at reid@tvilletimes.com.