Creating jobs and keeping taxes down have emerged as key issues in the race for the N.C. House 90th District seat between Rep. Sarah Stevens, R-Surry, and Randy Wolfe, the Democratic challenger.
The 90th District covers western Surry County and all of Alleghany County.
Stevens, who is running for her second two-year term, said that voters are concerned about the economy.
“It’s jobs, jobs, jobs and taxes,” Stevens said.
Wolfe, a former producer of the CBS Evening News, is running for his first public office.
Wolfe said he is opposed to tax increases and thinks that state government puts too many regulations on small businesses.
“They don’t like taxes, and they don’t want their taxes to increase,” Wolfe said of voters. “They think government is too big.”
He said he supports “reasonable” government incentives to support businesses, which will create jobs.
He supports state money for public schools and community colleges to train students and said he would work to restore teaching positions that were eliminated from the state budget.
“The key to getting our jobs back is through education particularly through our community colleges,” Wolfe said.
Stevens said that the key to creating local jobs is reducing regulations and taxes on small businesses to encourage start-up businesses.
“We need a lot more entrepreneurial spirit, and we should encourage people to do that,” she said.
Stevens wants to trim government spending on preschool programs such as More at 4, Smart Start, Head Start and children’s day care.
Counties should select just one program rather than the state paying to provide all of these services, Stevens said.
She also favors reducing the number of administrators at colleges such as UNC Chapel Hill.
Stevens said she is opposed to North Carolina’s Racial Justice Act that allows death-row inmates to use statistics and other evidence to prove that racial bias contributed to their death sentences.
“Trying any case by statistics is the wrong way to do it,” Stevens said.
jhinton@wsjournal.com
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