Perhaps it is fitting that the arrival of a new decade coincides with a new order in the State Senate. Gone is the powerful Majority Leader and Rules Chairman Tony Rand. Gone also is Sen. David Weinstein, chair of the Natural and Economic Resources Appropriations Chair.(Funding for commerce, parks and recreation, Labor Department and the Clean Water Trust Fund are among agencies considered by this committee. Leaving are 10-terms Sen. David Hoyle, powerful chair of the Finance Committee and confidante to President Pro-Tem Marc Basnight. Sen. R.C. Soles, the chamber’s longest serving member, is leaving under a cloud of indictment, and Sen. Julia Boseman of Wilmington will not return. Last week 78-year old Charles Abertson, an appropriations chair also announced he will not seek re-election. Rumors have been circulating that several other senators, will leave. All are Democrats, and Republicans are sniffing opportunity for a takeover for the first time in 110 years. But GOP optimism may be premature.
To gain control of the Senate, the GOP will have to pick up six seats as the balance now is 30 Democrats to 20 Republicans. Some seats, including Hoyle’s, are in a district that leans Republican. Sen. Boseman comes from a swing district. At least four incumbent Democrats also represent districts that have sent Republicans to the senate in recent years. But also strong Democratic candidates have announced for seats now held by Republicans. Retiring GOP Senator Jimmy Jacumin of Burke would have faced a strong Democratic candidate from Lenoir.
NEW MAJORITY LEADER: Sen. Martin Nesbit of Buncombe County is the new Majority Leader and he can be tough. He says his strength is a knowledge of how to confront GOP challenges. Sen. Nesbit is a typical mountain area populist. He is a straight-talking attorney who has on occasion bucked his own party leadership. He is passionate about improvement of mental health services. Of interest to voters in our area is his opposition to forced consolidation of schools systems. Asheville and Buncombe County have separate systems.
Nesbit served 9 terms in the House and rose to Chair of the Appropriations Committee under Speaker Dan Blue who also has moved to the Senate. He lost his House seat in 1992 when Republicans gained control of the House but was elected again in 1996. He did not get a leadership position under Speaker Jim Black and seven years ago he moved to the Senate. Nesbit is smart and works with both sides of the aisle. He is a NASCAR fan and yet stays in the center with his politics.
ANOTHER HOYLE? There are reports that the Senate committee is talking to David Hoyle Jr. about running for the seat held by his father. Like his father, Hoyle is a Lenoir-Rhyne University graduate and knows Catawba County. The Hoyle name would be worth a significant number of votes in Gaston County which has a GOP delegation in the House.
WHO’S WHO LIST: Sen. Dan Clodfelter of Mecklenburg County has served as co-chair of the Finance Committee and likely will take the senior role for that committee. He wants to lead a movement for total tax reform, arguing that the current tax structure, adopted in the 1930s, reflects a state then dominated by manufacturing and tobacco.
Sen. Linda Garrou will remain as the leading chair for the Senate budget-writing Appropriations Committee and probably will have Sen. Nesbit at her side, along with Sen. A.B. Swindell IV of Rocky Mount. Sen. Clark Jenkins of Tarboro, close to Sen. Basnight, will move up in leadership. Jenkins, however, is facing a Democrat primary opponent.
HOUSE PICTURE: Pundits give the edge to Democrats in the 2010 election. Two House Democrats—Ray Warren of Alexander and Sandra Hughes of New Hanover—have announced their retirement. Hughes is in a safe district for her party.
The House Democrats enjoy a 65-55 majority. House Speaker Joe Hackney has predicted Democrats will increase that majority by two seats.
…AND THERE IS REDISTRICTING: The 2010 elections will determine the districts for the next 10 years after the census is completed. With populations shifting to major urban centers, six counties could have 45 percent of all legislators. The party in control will determine how those districts will look in 2011 and probably the outcome of the 2012 elections.
