Posted on 10/04/2004 7:07:30 PM PDT by southernnorthcarolina
CARY, N.C. - Sparring over education, Gov. Mike Easley on Monday compared challenger Patrick Ballantine's record on education to Saddam Hussein's record on civil rights.
By the end of the day, Easley's rhetorical flourish - which highlighted an hourlong debate on education issues - had Ballantine's campaign demanding an apology.
Ballantine, a Republican, came hard after Easley in a lively televised forum held at SAS Institute. He argued the Democrat is not the education governor he promised to be when he won election four years ago.
In a retort that raised eyebrows in the crowd, Easley responded: "If Patrick Ballantine is a champion of education, then Saddam Hussein is a champion of civil rights."
Easley said he followed through on a promise made in his 2001 State of the State address, when he said he would "not let a budget shortfall become an education shortfall."
On the other hand, when Ballantine served as a state senator earlier this decade, he cast votes against balanced budgets that increased education funding, while proposing alternatives that would have harmed efforts to improve education, Easley said.
"He voted against Smart Start. He voted against ... More at Four. He voted against reducing class size. He voted against teacher pay increases every year he was there that I was there," Easley said. "If we had followed (Ballantine's) path, where would we be in education versus where we are, a national leader in education?"
Ballantine said it Easley who has failed North Carolina students.
"(He) fell short," Ballantine said. "We're way behind. And I've been a champion for education long before Gov. Easley was even governor.
"I stand with teachers and parents and children. And my opponent stands with the bureaucracy," Ballantine added.
Though the debate was on one of Easley's favorite topics, the governor appeared frustrated by the format and had trouble confining his answers to the allotted time.
Though Ballantine brushed off Easley's Hussein comment immediately after the debate, his campaign later demanded an apology.
"We thought that was over the top, comparing Patrick to a mass murderer like Saddam Hussein," campaign director Bob Rosser said. "It was not only over the line, it was offensive."
No "I'm sorry" was forthcoming from Easley's camp.
"It might not have been the best example, but Ballantine calling himself the champion of education is absurd," spokesman Jay Reiff said.
Ballantine and Easley differed on nearly every issue discussed, from school testing to a proposed state lottery to who has done more to address the historic "Leandro" school funding lawsuit.
Easley repeatedly cited National Assessment of Educational Progress scores showing fourth- and eighth-graders making vast improvements in math and other subjects.
"I'm not saying we are great. I'm saying we're making great progress," Easley said.
But Ballantine said the fact that North Carolina's SAT scores still rank among the bottom 10 and the state continues to have a dropout rate near 40 percent reflects a different reality.
"We are near the bottom," Ballantine said. "He says we're near the top."
Easley said total education spending has increased by nearly $1 billion during his term, but Ballantine volleyed back with figures showing education spending as a proportion of the state budget shrinking during the same period.
Easley said that if he is re-elected, he will keep fighting for legislative approval of a statewide referendum on a lottery. He blamed lawmakers like Ballantine for failing to let citizens choose whether to have a numbers game that would fund education.
Ballantine countered that a lottery would supply less than one percent of the state's annual needs for education.
And Easley criticized Ballantine's pledge to introduce budgets that would boost pay for state employees - including teachers - by 5 percent annually and proposals to cut taxes by $1 billion, all while funding teacher training, class-size reductions and school enrollment increases.
Ballantine pointed to state budgets in the late 1990s that cut taxes and raised teacher pay at the same time as proof that such proposal can be accomplished.
"The governor on the one hand bashes me for cuts and bashes me for proposing increases for teachers," Ballantine said. "You can't have it both ways, governor."
In a new television advertisement, Ballantine argues that Easley broke a 2000 election promise by raising taxes once he was in office.
Using a grainy image of Easley, the picture narrows to just his eyes, while the ad highlights tax hikes Easley has signed into law, ranging from a sales tax increase to a tax on soft drinks.
The ad quotes Easley as saying in 2000, "I can promise you I would not favor any tax that would be balanced on the backs of the working people."
Easley responded Monday that he had no intention of raising taxes when he ran for governor. The governor has repeatedly said he had no alternative when faced with budget shortfalls that ultimately reached more than $1.6 billion in 2002.
The governor also said a million North Carolina families have benefited from a child tax credit increase and the elimination of the so-called "marriage penalty" for joint tax filers during his first term.
A second, more general debate, is scheduled for Oct. 15.
These leftists don't seem to take the evil of Saddam seriously. In fact, they don't take anything of substance or importance seriously.
1. Hitler
2. Nazis
3. The Taliban
4. Well, you get the point.
bttt
He had trouble getting his point across cuz he was thinking how to take on an ex GOP chairman, current associate member in the Young Republicans, and a former teacher. If he goes thru with it, he's done. If he drops the threat charges, it will look like a political agenda. Either way, Weasley is done.
A darn good way for an incumbant to bring his challenger back into the race. Keep it up, Mikey!
I watched the highlights of this debate. I live in NC. I don't know much about Balletinte. Is he any good? What I saw I didn't like, he didn't talk abotu school choice at ALL and tried to talk about how he wanted to raise money for all these programs and improve education, yadda yadda yadda....
Disappointing. School choice is the only thing that will solve our education problems.
Easley NEVER stood behind the podium except at the very beginning and the very end. He did NOT want to be shown in the same frame with the handsome and taller State Senator Ballentine.
Patrick was - in a word - brilliant - despite Weasley's tactics.
No they don't take serious things seriously, but they're real serious about frivolous things.
No they don't take serious things seriously, but they're real serious about frivolous things.
Loud raucous cheers for that - cover your ears. ... Okay, I'm done.
I'm happy to read that Ballantine voted against these additional drivelly programs, but now how about some courage? How about pointing out the the ignorant public that MORE "education" spending consistently produces LESS educational achievement? The facts are out there ... ignoring them is like pretending that gravity doesn't work!
"I'm happy to read that Ballantine voted against these additional drivelly programs, but now how about some courage?"
Yea, as the gov was reading of his charges about how Ballantine didn't vote for all this muck I was like, "hell yea!" But then Ballentine was like, "Well that's not true, I support this and this and this and blah blah and my oppponnet didn't support yadda yadda"
Are we in such a minority that politicians can't talk about school choice? They are supposed to be leaders, not followers. I dunno. I'll have to see a lot more from Ballentine before he gets my vote.
Ballantine bump!
DOUBLE-HEADER TONIGHT!
Watch the Education Debate
Patrick Ballantine MELTS "Tax-Hike-Mike" Easley
Immediately followed by Dick Cheney v. John Edwards
On your local UNC-TV outlet, beginning at 8 PM
SEE NOW Patrick Ballantine's Latest (Oct. 4) Television Commercial
I was talking about this to my husband earlier, and it occurred to me that there ought to be a constituency to stop throwing money down the "education" hole. Wouldn't you think a majority of voters either ... don't have kids ... have kids over 18 ... homeschool ... use private schools ... or support educational choice on principle?
Admittedly it would be harder to organize this constituency than it is for the teachers unions, but the numbers should be there.
I wonder if anyone has asked Mr. Ballantine, who surely has more money than this family will ever see, whether his child will be attending her local public school next year.
Retch! I just watched about 50 minutes of the governor's debate. Both are Gawdawful. It's sad to say, but I think the current Dem Governor is better than Ballentine. There is NO WAY I am voting for Ballentine. Did you hear about his new 'poverty plan'! His whole platform is that he's going to turn NC into a Big Governemnt state.
I am hoping there is a libertarian candidate out there. If so, I'm voting for him. If the Dem gov comes up with some decent proposals I might consider him....
Now I wished I'd watched it (except my 2-year-old was watching "The Cheating Scales of Bullamanka" for the 4,239th time ...). Bad enough to vote for the Democrat? That's scary!
I'll tell you this much. If you didn't know which one was a Dem and which one was a Rep you would have gotten them backwards. I vote for the conservative Candidate. Ballentine is NO conservative. He will not get my vote. I don't know much about the current gov. I'll have to do some more research on him.
ok, thanks for that update. I'll take your word for it that Sleasy is no conservative either. Strong sentencing isn't anything to run on. Let's get the word out not to vote for Ballentine. The best bet if you have to choose between a Republican and a Democrat that are basically the same is not to 'knee jerk' vote for the Republican because he will just give the rest of the us a bad name. I'll vote for the libertarian or not vote at all.
Sheesh. How could he win the primary? North Carolina is still a Conservative state is it not?
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