North Carolina People; Gov. Mike Easley, Governor of North Carolina

Good evening ladies and gentlemen. Luckily for us North Carolina people back in the government again for I visited North Carolina are very well looking forward meaning talking to a few secs funding for North Carolina people is made possible in part by you're in a greenhouse teach us about wealth management properly protected assets can be nurtured into together. The possibilities could be a wealth management and by contributions from UN see TV viewers like you. Well it's good to see you again sir and I love this program mayors on New Year's Eve and

New Year's weekend. I know you're going to have a great holiday season. Well thank you it's always good to be back with you look forward to this interview. Every year we're building a little record here together. When you made your inaugural address four years ago you spoke very movingly about one in North Carolina. If you look back over these four years what have been your greatest satisfaction so far. Well I think the the best thing that's happened to this state. To take it in a in a broader perspective is the the 2001 legislature. I look back at governors across the state who are hanging their heads and worrying oh me what am I going to do everybody had budget shortfalls and we had a legislature that challenge in the state of the state. And in the inaugural address to step up and fight through this what I thought was an economic downturn turned out to be recession. And they did as a result of that. We have seen tremendous progress. They started our first

pre-K program for fat rich four year olds. They started reducing class size kindergarten first second this year did third grade to 1 day 18 ratio. As a result of that we've seen the test scores national test scores in North Carolina soaring to the top leading the nation for the first time ever in math. We've seen our college going rate in the top five because it provided for the universities community college system they provided for has more people in it now than ever in the history of the state. So what we're seeing is an elevation of the knowledge of the workforce of the population of the state. It's taken place gradually but it's taking place surely and that bodes well I think for the future of the state and certainly for our economy as we go forward. One of the things you inherited when you took office was the bad fiscal situation in that state did you. You didn't complain but it was there you had to

deal with it. How has the state righted itself now what do you see. Looking ahead the next four years. Well I think we're in much better shape economically. We had to do two things. One dealt with the economy the other dealt with the budget. The first thing we had to do was use realistic revenue projections. Throughout the 90s nobody was really sure what the revenue was going to be you might guess it was going to be 7 percent coming in sometimes it was 11 or 12 percent. So they constantly had more money than they expected and so they were spending more. And that comes natural to the legislature because they all have programs I want to fund. We've been able to cut that back reduce the state operating budget for the first time in 33 years and put a cap on spending so that we never spend more than the 10 year average of the income growth that's the best way to tell what you don't have in revenues. So we've got real fiscal discipline in the state now. And I think that will continue. Secondly we've seen the economy turn.

We know we're losing a lot of jobs to foreign trade overseas textile apparel furniture that three legged stool that we talked about for so long agriculture textiles and furniture that supported our economy is long gone. And now that we have been able to rely on our diversification and expand our economy build the workforce up a little bit and attract new and better jobs requiring more skill and talent. I think you're going to see a more stable economy bringing you more stable revenues. That's the good news bad news is we're always in a chase and we're going to have to work hard to sustain it and continue to build it up and continue to get people smarter and more skilled every year. You've always made the point that the underpinning to all that you say it is the quality instinctive but goes on in the school house. What's the next step you going to project for the schools and particularly the recent discussions you've had about high schools in

North Carolina. Where are we. Well I think I think you're hit the nail on the head right now high schools is where I'm focused. We started getting the pre-K obviously we were trying to hold on to dollars every year for smaller start more for program. We're picking up new kids each year for that risk four year olds that's good reduce class size in the early grades that takes care of the achievement gap over time. So that's working well. The two places I'm concerned are nationwide we saw a drop in the reading scores of eighth graders. So I think we've got to focus on that. I don't think it was a one time glitch I think it's something there we have to focus on in the middle schools for perhaps reading coaches or something along those lines where we're studying that. But the high school dropout rate for the state is not where it needs to be and it's not even anywhere where it needs to be for the country. We only graduate about 63 percent and I think that nation 67 that's not going to work anymore. That

would work in the old economy in the old days when you did have to have skill. If you don't have to have skill now those jobs are going to China. They're not going to be here. So we're doing two things that I think we're going to be helpful. One is what we call the new schools project. We partnered with Bill and Melinda Gates the Gates Foundation they've been very generous to us. We got a thirty one million dollar project that is allowing us to lower the size of hospitals to a maximum of 400 building schools within a school actually. Then we take the kids that are in there and we partner them in different areas like life sciences and health sciences we know they're going to grow the demand for nurses health care workers and we let them go to school take the courses and also do the shadowing with mentors work some on the side so that they see the connection between the Course they're taking and the work they want to do. The second thing we're doing which I think is it's going to prove to be maybe one of the

best programs in the country is what we call learning earn. And it's based on the theory that you learn more you earn more. To get ahead now days you're going to have to graduate from high school and you're going to have to get an associate's degree. In the past we've always done that by getting out of high school then go into a community college or to your school. Now what we're trying to do is cut back one year of high school compact it and let the kids begin to take some of those college courses ahead of time instead of some of the other courses that they would take in high school. So that within 13 years rather than 12 they graduate with an associate's degree in what we call an A. We're partnering with community colleges and with the university systems and with our private colleges and universities. We started the 15 pilots and hopefully will have this in our hundred counties over the next three years so that kids can stay with us an extra year but graduate with a college degree in this will go on

to get a four year degree. Certainly they can do that in two more years and we'll have a better educated workforce and that's what we need in order to keep the scum moving forward. It's a bold forward looking kind of thinking. Gratulations do you. We have to you have to keep moving forward if you slow down in this rapid paced economy somebody is going to pay as you very very quickly. It's another happening going on in our state and I know you're conversant with. That's a growth of the senior citizen population projections now say in this next six years maybe as much as a hundred fifty percent increase in places like this area. Charlotte what are we doing to utilize these people with so much talent so much experience. They want to give back. How are we getting at this. Well it's changing the economy in many ways throughout the nation. And what we're seeing here is you have some who are indeed. And those are the ones that we design senior care for prescription

drug benefit. We have everybody covered now in North Carolina one way or another but this program for senior care covers everybody 250 percent of poverty or below that for a couple less about 30 but with thirty one thousand dollars single I think $23000. And that's a good benefit want to make sure that if they take their medication our seniors can stay independent guilty and productive a lot longer and they don't end up in the hospital which is more pain and suffering for them and certainly a lot more cost for the study. Well that's one of the things we're doing. But also we have to recognize the tremendous opportunity we have with our seniors. There's so much energy left there so much knowledge. Well you talk about talents. We're getting them involved in so many things with our our young folks. There are a lot of school superintendents who are bringing in some of our retirees that are paying them a lot but given them something so they can give back and they're

looking at not just the student teacher ratio that we used to look at. They're looking at the student ratio so they may have 25 kids in the class which is too many. But if they have a teacher and one of our seniors is in their help and those who have a hard time learn to read or help them with the math of those sorts of things it helps move the class along. It gives us an opportunity to tap into the the wealth of knowledge of our senior population. But it also helps entire state at same time. And we're going to do more and more of that we have to learn how to use these talents as we go along. One of the things you've done is to stimulate tourism during your first term. This is getting to be a very big economic force in North Carolina. Are we doing the right things then to save our natural resources to preserve historical heritage to engage the performing arts at all right here in Raleigh. The traffic to see what happens at complete

Christmastime is an amazing development. Where are we. Well you've hit on a lot of good and important topics there. The first thing we all recognize is you're right. We are the sixth most visited state and everything changed after September 11. People start driving more and you know a lot of people want to come to North Carolina. Obviously the diverse environment here so many opportunities but one of the things that we have to do is make sure we protect what we already have. The clean smokestacks initiative that's moving along will get those coal fired plants out of control so that we can see the mountains of the West rather than the haze of the West. We're also buying up the late James Sixty five hundred acres 30 of lake that in thirty five hundred acres that surround it. Those types of opportunities we are looking for with a clean water management trust fund something that we have to give

Senator bass my credit there he pushed to fund that every single year even during the recession to make sure that we had the money to protect our environment. We are also cognizant in this state where a lot of those are not that the arts matter matter a lot in economic development. It's not just tourism. But if you're trying to bring in the talent and the knowledge worker you've got to have some museums and you've got to have a symphony you've got to have this ballet. And if you want to live with the first lady you better have these things to say. She helps put him on the on the radar screen. But along with that keep in mind that a lot of kids in this state never see a symphony. But the North Carolina sentinel over 100000 kids each year do that. Two hundred seventy five thousand adults will see that symphony each year. And that's pretty amazing and it's pretty amazing Stephanie. So great leadership under Director Llewellyn and we were looking

forward to great things out of him. Fourteen billion dollar industry so they had to do it. It certainly is and they turn in that 14 billion dollar industry turns in one point two billion dollars in tax revenues each year which goes to pay for education and for highways and for moving ahead projects and all the infrastructure that we need. As you look ahead now looking at the fiscal situation and the economy the state is it time to take a look at the revenue base. There are going analysis of the tax structure. I think so. We did that in the first term. And we're finding that the old manufacturing and agricultural based tax system. It is not going to work in a knowledge economy. And what I think you're going to see I don't think people are ready to make that change just yet because they're not sure what to change to. But it's some point you're going to see the economy strong but are revenues not keeping pace. And that means we're losing more over the Internet

the e buying it means that intellectual property is not getting taxed. We're so used to thinking in terms of getting a piece of whatever the product is it was selling melons. You know we slice off 1 percent of the melody. But if it's an intellectual property you can't get a piece of that. And it's really changed the way we have to think about everything. That's something I think will come up this term and I think it's something that that is going to be a difficult issue to tackle but I think that the rest of the governors around the country face the same thing and will see some some opportunities I think of coming out of Washington to partner with them as well. You've spoken a lot about North Carolina's place in the global economy not only as it benefits us here but getting our state known or the benefit out around the world. Next four years we're going to. You can travel more or less expand this option where we are

the most important thing we can do to take advantage of the global economy is to recognize the shift in the in the workforce and all of the unskilled jobs not all of course but those that we have relied on many of we were allowed on for over a century now are being exported with federal trade agreements to China Malaysia and Singapore Vietnam and elsewhere. As a result of that we're going to have to do more to make sure we have the skilled labor here in North Carolina in America and we're going to have to recognize that in a global economy the workforce national workforce is going to be determined by the states. So it's every state every citizen's responsibility to make whatever sacrifices necessary to see that our workforce continues to lead in creativity and innovation that's our competitive edge in the world. That's what has maintained our economic dominance. And we can't slip on that. And I can't be too firm about this

issue to try and make sure people do understand that this economy is moving rapidly. And if we don't educate rapidly and move our workforce up a notch rapidly then we could move to a second tier nation rather quickly. I think our legislature understands that I think people to state understand that and that's what we're going to do the same time more toward the context of your question. We have to learn more about different cultures. We have to learn more about different people it build personal relationships especially in the Asian countries personal relationships matter so much. We learned that we were in Tokyo and something that we're going to have to do more of than we've done in the past with some of these foreign offices. When you meet with Southern governors are there some of these issues that take on a regional context. Indeed they do we have a Southeastern Conference of Asian PAC and we One year we meet over here in the United States. And next year we meet somewhere usually in Japan. We're going to

try and expand that. And then each of us as we do will sneak off by ourselves and try and get industry for our own state without the governor's being around. But we have all recognized the need for that global participation and to work as a region. And I think the Southeast has some wonderful opportunities especially for some of the high industrial high and manufacturing coming out of Japan they're making a lot of things where they don't have the consumers and they're looking at a tremendous increase in population in the United States. Now that's sort of what's in their vision. And so they want to be here to make those products because that's where they're going to sell them. And some things are much more easily transportable than others. Cars are more difficult to transport so that's why everybody is after these assembly plants. We've gone through a very strenuous election cycle in our country the last 90 days. A lot of harshness in this exchange this time.

But you know the mood of this state probably better than anybody. How do you sense North Carolinians to feel today about themselves about our state and about what we need to do or not do. Well I think people in North Carolina have a good sense of what's going on in the world. I think they're way ahead of the politicians. I think they understand the globalization of the economy of the world in general. I think they understand the need for better education. They are willing to pay for better education no they're not going to pay for waste but they'll pay for better education. They're willing to do whatever it takes to make sure that we maintain our economic dominance. I don't think people are as divided in North Carolina as we saw throughout the country. As a matter of fact most of the races that we sell the one way or the other and they split the tickets the people in this state get a pretty good sense of who they're voting for. They make up their mind they're fairly well educated sophisticated. And I think I think

politics in this state is in good shape if nothing else just because a large turnout we had this time so the more people who are involved the more the people are empowered and the more reform I think they can get. In your experience then is the notion that public service is a part of every North Carolinians life your classic great example that giving back do you find it harder to get people to do things for government today or the spirit still strong. I think the spirit is still strong in this state. The people who volunteer through a volunteer office is enormous. People who are now volunteer in to go back to community college to get their skills up as a public service. They know they have to improve the quality of education not only for themselves before the state people who are out there in tough times taking chances in creating jobs. That's a public service is something I can't do but these entrepreneurs can people given back in their own ways and to ever try and judge whether somebody is

civic minded or has a public spirit about him trying to judge that by whether they run for or serve in public office is a poor way to do it I think you're right it's just giving back in one form or another. You know look at what you do look at what you Morton look to what Jim Hahn is still doing Jim wholesale still serving when he was governor of 72. But they're all giving back in one way or another and I think all North Carolinians do that with us. A caring parent or coach who gives back it. T-ball. This state is full of people willing and wanting to do good and that I think is a real advantage in an age for us when we're recruiting industry people like it here ever had if they had any real surprises as a governor of North Carolina. Things she did that really couldn't anticipate. Well I went into it knowing it was going to be pretty tough. And so certainly one surprised by that. The economy was the budget was tough. I think the biggest

surprise of the first term went so fast and the other is there are so many opportunities to do good in this job if you can just find the time to do it and get the energy mustered up to get it done and I am a little bit pleasantly surprised at the willingness of the people in this state to be bold and aggressive and you know to hitch on to that wagon to say you're full speed ahead. The caution flag may be out in other states but we're going full speed around the track here in North Carolina. And that is a that's a good trait in people. We've got about 60 seconds left with this visit. What do you like to say to the people of North Carolina wishing him a good New Year. Well I want to wish obviously the best New Year to everybody in North Carolina but let me start by thanking the people of this state for the four years they've given me in this job is a real honor and a privilege to serve the people of North Carolina serve this great state and I believe as long as we stay true to our

values and our principles will always succeed. And having had the privilege to serve as your governor to bring those values forward and hold on to those principles has been a real honor and privilege for Mary and for me and for Michael. I want to thank you. And I promise you I will work just as hard the next four years. We know that Governor and we all thank you for the opportunity to come and sit here with you for these few minutes and a good New Year to you and. Ladies and gentlemen thank you for the chance for the two of us to visit with you in your living room this New Years. In just a second or two you're going to see the names of the young men and women who make North Carolina people possible on their behalf and for them. I want to wish for you a very Happy New Year. Keep watching North Carolina people. Until next week good night. Thanks.

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