McCrory's transcript with Free Press editors

Publisher and Editor Patrick Holmes, Content Editor Bryan Hanks and News Editor Richard Clark sat down with Republican gubernatorial candidate Pat McCrory Thursday afternoon in The Free Press office. McCrory answered questions from the three, along with questions from viewers from Hanks' blog.

Here are some excerpts from the meeting ...

The Free Press: With Eastern North Carolina identified as a Bev Perdue stronghold, do you feel like you're in enemy territory as you visit this area?

Pat McCrory: Absolutely not. In fact, I think we need to get out of this mindset in North Carolina that one area of the state is opposed to other areas of the state. This "divide and conquer" mentality is hurting our state and I'm hearing it as I go across the state.

Whether I'm in the East, the Piedmont and the West, I'm hearing the same issues of jobs, the economy, gas prices, crime and transportation. No matter where I go in the state, they don't feel like they're getting the attention, especially from the executive branch of the government. They all feel like they've been left out and there's been total inaccessibility in state government.

They feel like the current leadership that runs the state - which is basically five or six people - is invisible, inaccessible and does business in secret. No one is pleased with that type of customer service from our elected officials.

TFP: There's always been a complaint that folks who are east of I-95 don't get their share or their fair amount of attention they need.

PM: I've heard that complaint everywhere in the state. It's a consistent message everywhere I go; people feel like they're not getting their fair share. Part of that is I feel the leaders aren't being accessible and aren't being seen. They feel like no one is listening to them.

I have experience as a mayor that you can't just sit in your office. You have to get out among the people and see them, so they can see you, hear you and make sure they're being listened to. That's not happened for eight years.

I'll give you an example: Over the last eight years as the mayor of Charlotte, not one time has the governor or lieutenant governor come to visit me in my office. Not one time. I'm finding that's true across the state in small towns and large cities alike.

That's not leadership by walking around.

TFP: What differentiates your campaign from Bev Perdue's campaign?

PM: I didn't spend $8 million in the primary (laughs). That's one big difference.

I think we've already had a very positive impact on the future of North Carolina politics. We've already shown that you don't have to run for the last two years. We're the 10th-largest state, but I've only run a five-month campaign. That's a positive, because I think we got engaged in this campaign when the voters were ready to listen, not a year, two or three in advance.

We've also shown that you don't have to be wealthy to run. I am not wealthy. I don't have any money to lend my campaign. I mean, I'm really not wealthy. While others lend their campaigns hundreds of thousands of dollars, including Beverly and some of my opponents, I've proved you don't have to do that.

I showed that you don't have to spend two or three or even $8 million to win a primary.

I also ran a positive campaign. I ran a campaign on the issues and I was very accessible to the people and to the media.

I didn't shy away from one debate in the Republican primary; I accepted every single debate.

In the general election, I'm accepting every single debate. Right now, Beverly - which is very similar to Gov. Easley, in the sense that there is limited accessibility - has shown selective accessibility. She's announced that McCrory and Perdue have accepted five debates; well, I didn't know that. I've accepted every debate.

What she didn't tell you is that she turned down every statewide TV debate. She's been very selective with specific interest groups and which audiences that I can share the stage, that I'm privileged to share the stage with.

I've had seven mayor's elections and whoever challenged me, I accepted every single debate. That's what an incumbent should do and what a challenger should do. ...

My opponent often talks about needing to prepare for a new industry, which is true. But there's a lot of existing industries that need to feel appreciated by state government, especially in this area, too. The agricultural industry has some extremely complex issues that it needs to deal with and they need cooperation from the government and not be pushed back.

The manufacturing industry is still strong in North Carolina. We've lost a lot of manufacturing right here in Kinston, but there is still manufacturing that has a viable future.

We have some very serious issues in education right here in Kinston. ... You have a 30 percent dropout rate, yet if you talk to some of your leading industries, they can't find qualified employees. Now, why isn't there a strategy to match the lack of qualifications of skills needed to fill the labor needs versus the 30 percent dropout rate? There's a mismatch.

We seem to be enacting the same sort of programs that haven't had the same amount of success the past eight or 12 years. I think it's time to re-invent the strategy and get away from the interest groups that want to keep the status quo in state government.

I want to change the status quo of state government and take the leadership skills I've shown in Charlotte and bring it to the rest of the state - where we create jobs, re-invent the economy, diversify the economy and where you have a governor who is accessible to the public and to the media.

TFP: What are your plans to fix the broken mental health system in North Carolina?

PM: I wish I had the exact solution and I'd be lying if I told you I had the solution for mental health, because it's a very complex area. Any politician who says they have the solution for mental health is not telling the truth, because it's very complex. But there are some immediate sure things I would do.

First of all, I wouldn't close Dorothea Dix Hospital. There's no reason to reduce the number of beds that are already available. We shouldn't be closing that down.

In the smaller towns and the rural areas, they don't have adequate resources when they tried to de-centralize the mental health care system. The larger cities still had problems with it, but they have some more resources that they can implement the strategy that had not been implemented prior to the announcement.

It's been disastrous. Our emergency rooms are overflowing with mental care patients, some waiting 24 and even 70 hours to find a bed. Some have not found one whatsoever; it's a total disaster.

There are a couple of other issues I'd work on in the mental health care system I'd work on immediately and one is related to education. I want to reward those universities and two-year community and technical colleges who graduate students in areas such as mental health and technical work. I want to give incentives to students who want to get into those areas.

Our biggest problem is that we can't find qualified labor in those areas.

TFP: Will you push for off-shore drilling off the coast?

PM: That's an issue that really separates me and Beverly is that I'm a strong advocate of off-shore drilling for natural gas and oil. This will help rebuild the North Carolina economy. This is something that is not environmentally dangerous, it's environmentally sound.

Natural gas could be piped in under the shores inland to cities including Kinston. Cities like Kinston could be part of the energy solution and would create new, higher-paying jobs.

Why would we leave North Carolina out of the energy solution when we have the natural resources? Not only that, but we could use some of the money to help replenish our beaches, dredge the waterways in this area and also rebuild the economy and the infrastructure throughout North Carolina.

It's an incredible opportunity to have the states be a part of the energy solution. I think we're hypocrites when we're not willing to drill off our own coast when we fill up our tanks every week from off-shore drilling in other areas in the United States.

Beverly has said she's 100 percent opposed to it and said it wouldn't happen under her watch and I strongly disagree.

By the way, I'm also a strong advocate of conservation measures. My record as the mayor of Charlotte, I implemented mass transit, green buildings and tree plantings. I'm a true environmentalist and my actions show it.

But at the same time, you don't say no to nuclear power, clean coal or off-shore exploration.

TFP: How do you intend to cut wasteful spending?

PM: The mental health care was an example of wasting tens of millions of dollars by implementing this system without having the strategy in place to do it. I'll never do that as governor.

I'm not going to start any education programs that rhyme. Before we start any new education programs, we're going to find out what works and what doesn't work. We're going to drop those things that aren't working and show achievable results and maybe make the teachers' jobs a little easier, not burdening them with so many tests.

We need total reorganization in DOT (Department of Transportation). It's an organization set up for failure and inefficiency. Our highway divisions are based upon 1920s prison divisions. We're in 2008 and it's time to re-look at our organization structure.

I think a lot of North Carolina government is still living in the 1920s, from a cultural standpoint and from an organizational standpoint, which causes inefficiency and wasteful tax dollars being spent.

TFP: How will you deal with crime in North Carolina?

PM: If people don't feel safe, it doesn't matter because you won't be able to recruit jobs to come. Towns like Kinston and throughout the East, we're having some major gang issues. I'm the one who brought the gang issue to light in the state government the last three or four years. They finally started to move on it and it just happens to be election time.

The state criminal justice system is not backing up the sheriffs and police throughout North Carolina, and that includes right here in Kinston. We shouldn't have to put up with the career and repeat criminal. We should take proactive ways with youth getting involved in drug and gang activity and the criminal element.

That's a major responsibility of state government but until I joined the governor's campaign they didn't talk about it. ... As governor, I want to help recruit industry into Kinston. But when you have bars on your windows, you know (industry) is going to see that and say, "Wait a minute, is it safe or not?"

The first goal is to make the place safe. The next goal is to give opportunity for education and to teach people skills where they can get good jobs.