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By JOHN NORTH
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Sharply contrasting reports on the just completed “long session” of the North Carolina General Assembly were presented by two local legislators representing the two major political parties during the July 14 meeting of the Council of Independent Business Owners.
The hour-long breakfast meeting, which drew about 70 CIBO members and others, was held in the Mountain View Room at UNC Asheville’s Sherrill Center.
Making diverging presentations to the extent that they may have seemed akin to a parallel universe were Sen. Chuck Edwards, R-Henderson; and Rep. Brian Turner, D-Buncombe. Edwards spoke for 20 minutes and Turner, 10 minutes.
Following party lines, a bright and glowing assessment of the GOP-dominated legislature’s accomplishments was given by Edwards, while Turner gave a decidedly dark and dire summary.
Edwards also used part of his time to slam the coverage of the Asheville Citizen-Times, contending that the newspaper — decidedly liberal, in his assessment — is unwilling to print positive news about the actions of the General Assembly, where he and other conservatives hold sway.
Leading off, Turner said, wryly, “Yeah, I lost the coin toss, so I get to go first.
“We just finished the long session… There were 925 bills filed in the House, only 380 made it to the Senate. Only 145 made it potentially to law. It’s a rough ride trying to get anything done in Raleigh.”
At that point, Turner noted his concerns about the legislature making questionable moves.
“No. 1 is the cuts in the Department of Justice,” he said. “Reduction of 120 attorneys. Those are the folks we rely on for felony repeals. So that will be a big shift.”
Also, he said that the legislature has made cuts to funding for consumer fraud and elder abuse. “For those of you who have to deal with elder abuse and evictions, those things will be slowed down.
“We’re reaching crisis level funding for the courts,” Turner said. “We’re getting into constutitionally shaky areas for justice for the state” due to “lack of funding for court system in the state,” as a result of spending reductions by the General Assembly.
“Another thing is cuts to the Department of Environmental Quality — cuts of service people,” Turner asserted. “Buncombe County has 59 hazardous waste sites. Those are all handled by DEQ (Department of Environmental Quality). So that backlog will get worse.”
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