Betsy Cochrane’s growing campaign for lieutenant governor received a monetary boost
from Salisbury Thursday night thanks to a fund-raiser at the historic
Grubb-Sigmon-Weisiger House in Milford Hills.The event raised more than $9,000 for Cochrane’s bid for the
2000 GOP nomination.
Among the Salisbury notables
attending were F&M Bank chief executive Paul Fisher, former Food Lion head man Tom
Smith, Rowan County District Attorney Bill Kenerly, former Salisbury mayor and N.C.
Transportation Board member Margaret Kluttz, state Rep. Eugene McCombs and Rowan County
Commissioner Steve Blount.
“I just have been humbled by
the response” to the candidacy statewide, said Cochrane, whose state Senate district
includes a portion of Rowan County.
Salisbury businessman Frank
Goodnight organized Thursday’s fund-raiser, held at the 1911 home of Mr. and Mr. Roy
H. Campbell Jr. on South McCoy Road.
Goodnight said he has come to know
Cochrane through his work with the National Federation of Independent Businesses and
described the sixth-term state senator as a strong supporter of business.
“Anyone who goes to Raleigh
finds out about Betsy Cochrane pretty quickly,” Goodnight said.
Cochrane’s 10 terms in the
General Assembly — she first served four terms in the N.C. House — have led to
significant endorsements among legislative colleagues and important Republicans in the
state. Former Gov. Jim Martin serves as co-chair of her steering committee, and
Congressman Cass Ballenger and former Gov. Jim Holshouser also have endorsed her
candidacy.
Cochrane says 13 of 15 Republican
senators and 39 of 54 Republican state House members are in her camp. Much of her
campaigning outside the Piedmont has concentrated on the mountain counties that usually
vote Republican and will be important in the GOP primary.
Cochrane is a former minority
leader in both the state House and Senate. Her 38th District includes Davie County and
portions of Rowan, Davidson and Forsyth counties. She said a candidacy for lieutenant
governor is the strongest contribution she can make to the Republican ticket in 2000,
which she described as a make-or-break year for both parties.
Legislators will be changing House
and Senate district boundaries in 2001, based on new census information. If Republicans
don’t make election gains in 2000, the drawing of those lines by a
Democratic-controlled General Assembly would almost ensure that Republicans remain the
minority party for 10 more years, Cochrane warned.
“The philosophy of our party
matters to me,” she said.
Cochrane is emphasizing her
experience and credentials as a leader in the House and Senate. She says she is a good fit
for the lieutenant governor’s job, which includes presiding over the Senate and seats
on the State Board of Education and Community Colleges board.
A former teacher, Cochrane says
teachers need better training and skills to cope with today’s different classroom
environment. The state must also find a way to have parents more involved in public
schools to teach children respect for authority, Cochrane says.
Cochrane’s Senate district
includes three community colleges and a satellite campus, making her familiar with their
programs and needs, she says. For years, community colleges have been a stepchild in the
state budgeting process for schools, Cochrane says. She gives Republicans credit for
changing that in the past four years.
Cochrane says she would try to be
a people’s advocate as lieutenant governor with a special focus on taxpayers and
senior citizens. As a legislator, Cochrane says she has voted repeatedly for tax relief
and simplification of tax codes.
Since 1990, Cochrane has chaired
the Senate Study Commission on Aging. The commission’s work has led to legislation
directed against elderly abuse and for long-term care insurance tax credits and help on
prescription costs.
Seniors represent 13 percent of
the state’s population now. By 2025, 20 percent of the state’s population will
be over 65, Cochrane says. |
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