North Carolina People; Beverly Perdue, Governor, North Carolina (D)

Good evening ladies and gentlemen happy holiday season to you. You know we are a week before Christmas. Luckily for us Governor Perdue invited us to maintain a great tradition of coming over and sitting down with the governor of the state to talk about what's happened in the past year and what we look forward to in the years to come. Perdue has done so good. We ask you now to join in that conversation in just a few sec sponsored in part by a Wells Fargo Company helping North Carolina people realize their financial goals since 1979 and through the financial contributions of viewers like you who invite you to join them in supporting you in CTV. Thank you for letting us come over and so good to see you again. I'm glad to be here with you in the people's

House mail that's what we call this mansion the people's house of North Carolina. Every wife and mother are looking at this program and want to know Have you finished your Christmas shopping. I've got it that's the best thing I can tell you know I haven't finished I haven't found a strap and I figure the 23rd I'll get really busy and rush out and get the last things as most of the people in the state to have you finished or started to first write just women's work any more demands or work this very question. Well it's grand to see and I want to get out and asking some questions that I know you want to share with the state. Every thought form North Carolinian knows Governor that you inherited a terrifying fiscal problem. Where are we now. As you look at the podium what you've been able to do this first year though it's been the most challenging year for North Carolina since the Great Depression. I think we all understand that and clearly in January for an obvious morning and really didn't know

the magnitude that would face us by April when we found that we were four point six billion dollars in the hole. And so we've made tough choices really tough choices for North Carolina. The story I like to tale is that in January in February the folks from New York and Chicago and across the country put North Carolina in the list of the 10 or 12 hardest hit states by the recession. Our job losses were significant. Our state was bleeding with globalization and we have come so far because of the tough choices the General Assembly joined me in making. And just this last month we can see the end I can see the recovery beginning to permeate North Carolina. We have been told that we very likely will retain our triple-A bond writing. That's an incredible feat really and this kind of economy we were picked three weeks ago. North Carolina as the best place in America to do business once again. And

the people who wrote the article said it was because of our workforce and our investment in education and our commitment to our sound and stable North Carolina economy and family. Last week we were rated as a B-minus state moving up from a D minus or an F last January. So I think the hard work is over for the immediate bleed in the economy. The challenge to us and the challenge and I've talked about for years Bill Friday is the fact that until we can be sure that every child in North Carolina is getting a good education that will allow that child to compete in a global economy. We cannot maintain a globally trying to work force and so that's the efforts we have to make to put people back to work. And M-x sure that the newer generation the young ones replacing you and me have the skill set they need to be competitive for the next 20 or 30 years. You said some time ago that you wanted to be the jobs governor and you brought

a huge development with Novartis into the state. You recruited these crews go to the White House fellow and a very talented person. What's in the future there. You got some interest out there now and I'm going to Charlotte this week as you probably know to announce a another company move in a global North American headquarters to our state. We've had tremendous losses in the last year with jobs that are existing nail but we've had tremendous wins. Almost every state every county in the state has had a little bit of a job increase. The problem becomes bill that when it's me that's lost my job. Nothing looks positive until I get mad job back. And so the work and the challenge that I have is two pronged. I've got a fan jobs and keep jobs in the state for people who live here. And then I've got to be the most aggressive governor in the country and globally to bring new jobs the big jobs here. So you've got to protect what you have.

Reemploy people who've lost their jobs and then recruit new high tech jobs and we're doing all three of those. And I actually think if I ever grade myself on jobs right now in terms of job creation and job the investment of time and energy and resources we're doing fairly well. You've always been one who'd been burrs successful with the military base retention in North Carolina. You were just down to Camp Lejeune yesterday when you looked in the faces of those young men and you know where they're going. Not easy was it. We saw it. It's a hard day for America and a hard day for me just because so many of them are so young and act continue to urge people in our great state to do more than just send a box at Christmas to somebody who's deployed to every day after you say your prayers of thanksgiving that they're willing to risk their lives and their futures for America's freedom that we really try to do something to shore up those families in Jacksonville camp. And we are

anticipating in the next three years. Sixty three thousand new family members because of the expansion of our military guys. And with that comes tremendous new job opportunities. They told me yesterday that we were going to need twenty three hundred daycare workers in the next three years. And so those are those high points of the military basis. But I have to be honest when I talk to folks who are getting ready to leave. Some of them next Tuesday. You admire the patriotism and the bravery. The fact that none of them had second guesses they and their families are willing to do whatever it takes to win this effort and the rest of us should be mighty thankful that we have young men and young women like them to protect America. That's an incredible experience to have you always been a champion of the school. All of that the strength of our educational system underpins all that you're saying. Where do you think we are now and what do we need to do.

Bill in early January you will see us roll out the education applying for North Carolina last year. Quite frankly almost 100 percent of our energy had to be wrapped around shrug in the economic halls and fix and the structural sophistication and integrity of North Carolina. And I believe we've done that we've done that well. And so now we move into where you have to go. Jobs and education. Our public schools need to do more to be sure that we ensure that a child passes from one grade to the next. With the right skill set. If I don't know fourth grade math and I'm in fourth grade then by the time I'm in eighth grade I'm going to be really far behind. And so we were going to implement something that we're piloting they are called diagnostic assessments so that a teacher will have a set of tools all along to help the tutor the children in her quiet or his class keep on grade level in Larne

and then we'll work all the way through middle school and high school to be sure that as we try harder to graduate more kids that they have the career set or the college set they need either to enter the world of work go to a community college or vocational school or then to one of the universities or colleges across North Carolina. It's a complex world we live in. And the skill set is indeed different for every single profession. But in my reading and thinking and talking and listening after understood clearly that the 21st century you have to have communication skills math and science skills reading skills and then you need to have something that you've always had which is the ability to dream big dreams and to be an innovator. Because that's how the 21st century is going to be grown. Now part of that excitement and changing our horizons are manifested by your recent trip to Asia. It's been a lot of time in Japan and China. What did you see and what do you see your role in

North Carolina. I came back with this feeling of urgency that I can't say frankly I've had for years. I saw all the economic prowess of a communist country. I saw the phenomenal growth in Shanghai and Beijing and other cities. I saw an education system that I don't really like because it's skewed to children who are achievers and does a disadvantage in my perspective to many children who are low achievers they don't have the same opportunity that we have in America. But I came back knowing that we needed to work harder. All of us need to work harder in our public schools need to be more focused on the basics and on science and math and then our business sector bill from my perspective has a real responsibility an obligation if you will to step up and help shore up support for the public schools in North Carolina. That's the only way we're competitive. I wouldn't be sitting here as governor of this great state and I don't know how far you would have gone but for

the fact that we both had a chance to get a free public education in North Carolina. Me in Virginia. Yeah. And there are millions of children that were in our school doors across America who but for the reality of public education would be ruled out they'd be drawn out of an economy that's productive. China reinforced all that with me. It reinforced to me competition is alive and well and it's a global society. You know you know it as well as I do. And we can't go back to where we were in the 20th century. We've got to be much more focused much more aggressive much more filling the same sense of urgency that I feel that it's a very interesting perspective. Underpinning all of this is another phase of your life there was our governor and before then in the work of the Wellness fund. Now you have concentrated a lot of energy and real pressure in

developing some kind of mental health program purposefully. But including that and the state of our people generally. Obesity is a problem these other things our way. How do you see the state with public scales right now. We've got a long way to go where we're moving in the right direction but quite frankly I think the health status of most people in North Carolina is really tied dramatically closely to our economic level. If I am a low wage earner and my family is stressed economically given the national picture with health care the chances of Matt's shoulder and or my spouse having a great health care access are limited because of the cost of insurance and the availability of health care coverage. And I don't intend to get in that national debate. But I do know that each of us has a responsibility in our own lives to exercise and to eat healthy. You know I'm the living example I get up every morning and exercise I try to walk the walk as well as talk and talk

and I come from a part of the state. Bill you've been there with me where if. You live in eastern North Carolina some of the places especially you're so much more likely to have a stroke or a heart attack to be having to have DAB ETUs to have a heart condition. Try because of the way we live and the way we take care of ourselves all of us can do better. And my advice there bodies to stop smoking and to exercise and to get healthy because it's off to us. Even the people in the new cancer center use the very point as health smoking mental health particularly just a special concern of yours. I worry about it it's one of the things I worry about most because the cuts the 4.6 million dollar cuts that and the reconfiguration of the investments of the study that were made to keep schools open really are problematic for many of the human services. Lanier canceller is the secretary and he's doing a fabulous job under tremendously

difficult circumstances that I have. I'm proud that he's there. But Imus troubled as anyone in the state about the personal care services and some of the. Tremendously bad conditions in our mental health facilities and I'm working very aggressively to bring to the public view in the early part of the winner a proposal that perhaps would help me found a mental health trust fund and an investment in acute care mental health services across the state. We've got to do something. And in this economy there is no money in the general fund to do what we need to do. So we've all got to think creatively and innovative way to have a different paradigm to solve those problems. But the province have got to be fixed still we've got to fix mental health. You make me think of something else that you've done a lot of work in and I know people would like to hear you. That's the question of North Carolina and the older population. We are becoming a geriatric state a lot of

locations and this means staff it means doctors. We're getting a whole list and it's hard. The county commissioners have not done a good job I haven't done a really good job you haven't done a good job talking about it consistently. You know I'll have a conversations once a year. You know I got into public service I chose to run for office because I didn't like the way my very sick frail older patients were being treated by the system. And today I would imagine that I could go into some kind of health care setting and found the same problem that I saw in the 80s and the country is growing it's not just North Carolina. I'm older you're older we're all going to live longer you know the life of expectancy continues to increase. And so I think again and it's wellness it's how you live your lives. But it's that service system we have in place to help people stay at home and to help people stay healthy. We

all have to buckle down because North Carolina is graying and we have to focus on a county by county city by city system that addresses both the current and the long term care health needs. And that means caregivers and residential environments where we can all live in a jail. Another part of your professional life or political life has been where we live and the environment we live in and you've been very concerned I know about water and air pollution and the availability of water through the various fronts. Were you a lieutenant governor you got through the legislature a bit. Are these things moving the way you want to move. I don't think there may have been fast enough for any of us because green is snail and green is Golden Door of Caroline in America. I'm real pleased about the emphasis in the Charlotte area around energy clusters. We are having some real successes they are growing green jobs and green economies

across the state. We have different pockets of innovation around green jobs clean air clean water about fuels about diesel all the things that will actually undergirded underpin the 21st century. We can't do it the other way I'm proud of the windmills were put in place on the coast. I'm proud of the fact that we're doing this offshore drilling for natural gas taskforce to see if we can do it safely. Maybe the scientists changed it doesn't hurt us to look at that. But the truth of the matter is you and I aren't going to get a re-armed and then an old fashioned gasoline powered car. We're not going to be able to sustain the electricity use of America because we're so dependent on foreign oil so it's not just the environment now for the first time. The environment has intersected the economic demands of a country and a state. And so the folks on the far left and the far right have come together around some kind of agreement I think that we've got to get grain.

It's good years gone by. How's the first gentleman get below. Thank you for asking. Thank you for asking. I think he's had a good time. I really do believe he feels energized. He's very involved in education because of the work and the commitment I've made to open government and transparency. We've been very reluctant to try to figure out publicly where his position is at. I know he would have loved to have served on a state board of education or a college board and we've just chosen not to do that bill so he continues to be involved the public school forum and the university at Chapel Hill as you know and so his interest in schools has been a principal of his entire life and I'm proud of that. He's done a lot with reading and he did a lot of that in Asia. But again. He's been the best gift of my life I love him and adore him and I'm thankful that he puts up with me. I'm thankful he's standing by like he does so effectively. He's wonderful. This is the Christmas season and every one of us thinks back to childhood

memories this time of the year. Are you and he going together the Klan somewhere and have a real family Christmas season. We are going to gather the client and I'll be in Newbern and for part of the time we're going to go to Atlanta for part of the time to see our children. It's harder I guess these days. My sons are older and I know your children are grown and you just do what they want to do. Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday where the whole clan gathers and neighbor and I cook and we all have a good time in Christmas because of the grandchildren has become more about what works for each family. I've tried to learn to be generous in my old age and not make demands on them because they've got young families and I want to support them but all in all we've had a Christmas dinner here in the people's house and that's a privileged spill that we've had to live here and to work here and apply here. I was going to ask what kind of private life do you have the chance to maintain now that you where you are.

I'm honored to be where I am thank you and thank you to the voters who have trusted me and allowed me to to hold this sacred position. And that is not the number one priority for either of us. We really do believe in public service it's what I've lived my life to do and so it's not a lot different I work long days I'm focused on jobs and education. Bob is focused on jobs and education and my children my two sons and now two daughters in law and my little granddaughter million as well as their Atlanta family have all been quite generous with their time and their talents and we've decided this is a family deal for us. It's we are privileged to be here and we want to leave a bit of ourselves behind in service in a legacy to this day. As you traveled around the state now every governor your predecessors that I have talked with in these kind of visits are always said there was something that surprised him most when they got in but you've been a very public

person for a long time. But what about it when you become the number one. I think the thing that doesn't surprise me but it makes me feel all odd is the capacity of the people of the state. You know you know this is the second really the third hard challenging economy that I've gone through in public service there was one in the early 90s. There was the early 2000s terrible globalization where we lost textiles and manufacturing. And now there has been this just terrific hit on the people of North Carolina. And I think the thing that just inspires me and makes me feel so good about living here is the people wherever I go I can found the story of a person who has lost a job and had the audacity and just the plain old spunk to start over again. Twenty six to sixty six to eighty six people just don't give up in North Carolina and I

think that continues to amaze me. And the most challenging and perilous times that our people come together and center around moving forward and getting out of a recession a depression that's pretty cool. I love this stuff. I've been impressed with the fact that you don't sit in the Capitol you get out and listen and talk and visit them. This has been your nature but when you are the governor it's a different role to play everybody knows that but you find that a very reassuring practice don't you. I gain my strength from it my personal strength you know I go to church on Sunday I gained some personal and religious strength from that and then I really do found strength in the people you can be fill in and kind of gloomy yourself. You see it you experience it. Him be thinking well this is a hard day and if you take time to listen to somebody else you can see that perhaps their challenges are bigger than yours or perhaps even more importantly they

face them a little bit better and a little bit differently. So it's all some the thing I guess that surprises me to you let me go back out I can tell you because you will laugh at me. I still like to go to the grocery store once in a while I mean I do that even here in Raleigh and people are amazed that I'm in the grocery store but I'm surprised at the number of people who will come up and say You're doing a good job or you're doing a bad job right in the middle of a grocery store in North Carolina. That's the real test. That is that the test with I hate my patients and not I was spending my budget that's the test. I want you to look straight in the camera and the last minute or so we have here. Do you all North Carolinian your Christmas message. Thank you Bill Friday and thank you to you in this wonderful program for what you different North Carolina. First of all Happy Holidays to all of the people of this right state. We've had a hard stay hard year all of us have had a hard year all of us know somebody who's lost their job who has or really been hurt by this economic challenge that we faced. But let me tell you one more time we faced it. We faced it with

integrity with strength with tenacity and we are common through. I know for those of you who don't have a job yet you don't feel that way. But there's a brighter day for North Carolina we can get through this we are getting through it and will come out as a winner. We've got it keep focused on the basics. Public schools educational training career training and college for our young people and for people of all ages. Help me do that. I'll work hard for you. This is a privilege for me and a privilege for my family to be allowed to live in this wonderful house that we call the people's house and to to be your person. Your governor I thank you from the bottom of my heart. I know that there are better times coming for all of us. I'll work with you and for you until the day I die. Happy Holidays Merry Christmas Happy Hanukkah and God bless. Thank you Governor for what you just said to all the people. Thank you for the good year that you've given us. Christmas greetings to all of your family when you do get together

and Christmas greetings to all of you friends for sitting in with this conversation with our chief executive. Will Bobby Dobbs. I once got Steve Price and all those who work on North Carolina people are very warm as readings to you for the holiday season and a good New Year. Next time then can I sponsored in part by walk over a Wells Fargo Company helping North Carolina people realize their financial goals since 1879 and through the financial contributions of viewers like you who invite you to join them in supporting you in CTV.