Gov. Bev Perdue's press secretary says her boss was joking to make a point about gridlock when Perdue suggested congressional elections be suspended for two years.
Perdue, a Democrat, told a Rotary Club in Cary on Tuesday that members of Congress need to do a better job of working together.
The News & Observer of Raleigh reported that she went on to say: "I think we ought to suspend, perhaps, elections for Congress for two years and just tell them we won't hold it against them — whatever decisions they make — to just let them help this country recover."
Perdue spokeswoman Chris Mackey later clarified Perdue's remarks, saying the governor was using hyperbole while responding to an audience question.
"Come on," Mackey said. "Governor Perdue was obviously using hyperbole to highlight what we can all agree is a serious problem: Washington politicians who focus on their own election instead of what's best for the people they serve."
Perdue's quip spread quickly across the Internet and the Twittersphere, making it to national political blogs, including Politico and the Drudge Report.
During her speech, Perdue also praised members of the state General Assembly, saying that despite political differences, state government continues to be effective.
"The one good thing about Raleigh is that for so many years we worked across party lines," she said. "It's a little bit more contentious now, but it's not impossible to try to do what's right in this state."
Still, some Republicans took issue with her remarks.
"Now is a time when politicians need to be held accountable more than ever," state GOP spokesman Rob Lockwood told the News & Observer. "To suspend an election would be removing the surest mechanism that people have to hold politicians accountable: the right to vote. Does the governor not believe that people of North Carolina have the ability to think for themselves about whether or not the actions of elected officials are working?"
Others, though, seemed to take it in stride.
"In light of Governor Perdue's support for suspending congressional elections, I want to state clearly, on the record, that I do NOT support suspending our next gubernatorial election," said Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Berger, R-Rockingham.
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