No Free Lunch and No Free Ride

The minor "dust up" at the GOP gubernatorial debate in Charlotte on Thursday needed to happen and needs to escalate through the primary. While Moore and Perdue take aim at each others heads with the half-truth barrage of ads, Mayor McCrory has skated along taking credit where little is due and forcefully touting his law and order credentials and leadership style. And little if anything has been done or said to challenge the assertions by the press, the public or his fellow primary opponents.

So when Fred jumped Pat about his record on tax increases in Charlotte and the damn- the-voters construction of the Bobcats Arena (are their cheerleaders really called the Patcats?) it was about time. When after hearing one more diatribe about how great a leader he was and how HE had done all these wonderful things, ostensibly by himself since he never gives anyone else any credit, I joined in the fray.

Now I don't believe in going negative and frankly, I'm not sure that Fred does either or else he would have already taken on the Mayor. But if a candidate is going to portray himself (or herself, Ms. Perdue) in a particular way, then it's fair game to set the record straight. I know that the Mayor is the current fair-haired GOP candidate running TV ads touting how he's going to cut taxes, stop illegal immigration (actually pirating the basis of our plan to deal with the high cost of illegal immigrants to the state), and how he's the greatest leader since George Washington. But his record needs to be carefully examined and discussed.

We've still got lots of debates but it seems that most of them give each candidate about 1 minute to answer questions and little if any opportunity to challenge the assertions of other candidates. It's a perfect format for a smooth-as-a-baby's-behind candidate to hide behind the sound bite and avoid the tough answers. So let's bring it on. If being a part-time Mayor of Charlotte in a strong City Manager - Council form of government is your claim to the governorship, then be prepared to prove it because I for one am not willing to sit quietly by and let an inaccurate picture be presented to the voters.