By Steve Huffman
shuffman@salisburypost.com
Bill Burnette said the trouble with seeking to unseat an incumbent and become a member of the N.C. Senate largely involves name recognition.
Specifically, Burnette admitted that despite having, through decades of hard work, made a name for himself as a successful businessman, most people in Rowan and Davie counties don’t know him.
Burnette, a Democrat, said he recently financed a poll where 400 to 500 residents of the 34th Senate District were questioned about their satisfaction with incumbent Andrew Brock.
“The poll showed I could beat him handily if I had better name recognition,” Burnette said.
But gaining name recognition is a bit of a trick and unseating Brock, a Republican, will likely prove a challenge.
At 34, Brock, who is seeking his fourth term, remains the General Assembly’s youngest member. He’s known as a fiscal conservative.
“My constituents know me and trust me,” Brock said. “They know that if they’ve got a problem, they can call me and I’m going to do my best to help them.”
Brock said his service is so personalized that, often, when constituents call his office in Raleigh, he answers the phone.
The 34th District represents Rowan and Davie counties. Brock was elected in 2002 and has been returned to office handily in each run for re-election.
He’s fought forced annexations and opposed the state lottery bill, noting it was passed into legislation during a special summer meeting that bordered on being underhanded.
During his past term in office, Brock noted that the Interstate 85 bridge over the Yadkin River is woefully outdated. He pointed out that losing the bridge and adjoining railroad bridge would result in severe economic hardship up and down the East Coast.
Brock said he hates the idea of a toll bridge, but he feels the situation with the Yadkin River bridge is so dire that a toll needs to be considered.
“It’s in serious need of replacement,” Brock said.
He said he’s also attempting to get money from the Department of Homeland Defense to pay for a new bridge, noting it remains a prime target should terrorists take aim at a state site.
Brock said a big part of the problem with the state legislature is the Democrats have been the majority for 140 years.
“The money continues to go to the same places,” Brock said. “And that doesn’t include our district.”
Another problem Brock said he’ll tackle if returned to office is that involving the health plan for state employees. Brock said the plan faces a $294 million shortfall by the end of the year and a $900 million shortfall in 2009.
“Our employees are getting older,” Brock said of one of the primary reasons for that shortfall.
Correcting the plan won’t be an easy fix, but he’d love to be part of the solution, noting that the overall state budget needs an overhaul.
“We need to look to trim the fat,” Brock said.
He said in part because of his relative youth, he tends to look more at the big picture of budgets as opposed to the fashion by which his fellow legislators look at those same budgets.
“They’re worried about the next budget year,” Brock said. “I look 20 years down the road.”
Brock is the grandson of Burr Brock, who served off and on in the N.C. General Assembly from 1917 until 1961.
Brock noted there are approximately 190,000 people in his district. He said every one of them is his boss.
“I get things done,” Brock said. “I serve my constituents. I don’t put myself above the title.”
Burnette, 68, disagrees. He said he opted to run because he doesn’t feel the people of the 34th District are getting the representation they deserve.
He noted Brock annually ranks among the least-effective senators in a ranking done by an independent political organization.
“It’s an outstanding district, and it deserves better than we’re getting,” Burnette said. “I have friends and business associates who encouraged me to run. They just felt someone needed to step up and represent the district better than Brock is representing us.”
Burnette said he’d work to make sure that everyone has some form of health insurance. He’s not for universal health care, he said, but continued, “In a country like America, everyone should get some level of health care.”
Exactly how such is managed, Burnette admitted he has no easy answers.
“I just feel there’s some solution,” he said. “I have a willingness to explore.”
Burnette said he wants to work to cut dropout rates, pushing to improve local school systems as well as the state’s community college system. He said residents of the 34th Senate District need to get quality educations so they might take advantage of job offerings at the N.C. Research Campus in Kannapolis.
Burnette said one of his top priorities in the Senate would be working to replace the Yadkin River bridge.
“In its current state, it’s unfair to everyone who travels the interstate system,” he said.
Burnette said as a developer, he’s often forced to pay more for state services than he feels is justified, another problem he’d work to address. As an example, Burnette cited paying $20,000 for a state-certified erosion control plan that was installed to state specifications.
But immediately after the erosion control system was installed, a downpour rendered it temporarily useless. Burnette said state employees came soon thereafter to the work site and told him he’d be fined $10,000 a day until the problem was rectified.
“That’s insensitivity to what they told you to do,” Burnette said.
He noted he’s had to pay as much as $1.8 million for a drainage permit for a shopping center when he felt the permit shouldn’t have cost more than $250,000.
“But I didn’t call Andrew Brock because I knew he’d do nothing,” Burnette said.
Burnette said he’s enjoyed the campaign process and spends as much time as possible criss-crossing Rowan and Davie counties to introduce himself to as many people as possible.
“I’ve had voters tell me they’ve enjoyed my awareness of so many different issues,” he said.
Burnette noted he came from humble beginnings, having planted tobacco and soybeans early in his life. From that start, Burnette said, “I’ve headed companies doing millions of dollars of business.
“I’m a businessman, not a politician,” Burnette said. “I’d spend the state’s money like I spend my own.”
Burnette comes from a family rich in political experience. His father, he said, was recognized as the longest re-elected county official in Virginia, serving 43 years.
Burnette’s background includes stints with RJ Reynolds Tobacco Co. and the formation of his own international tobacco company in 1985. He’s the former director of Salem Trust Bank that was purchased by Central Carolina Bank. He owns Lake Louise Golf Club in Mocksville.
Burnette is the founder of Kinderton, a 350-acre residential and commercial development in Bermuda Run that he says resulted in the creation of more than 1,000 jobs and generated tens of millions of dollars in taxes.
Burnette raised three daughters on his own after his wife died of lung cancer in June 1989. He has seven grandchildren.