TAKAAKI IWABU - tiwabu@newsobserver.com
Democratic Gov. Bev Perdue vetoes the GOP-written budget at a press conference this afternoon, despite Republican legislative leaders' confidence that they have enough override votes.
RALEIGH -- In a historic move, Democratic Gov. Bev Perdue today vetoed the GOP-authored $19.7 billion budget, despite Republican legislative leaders' confidence that they have enough override votes.
The legislature passed its budget and sent it to Perdue about a week ago. She had until Tuesday to act.
“I will not put my name on a plan that so blatantly ignores the values of North Carolina’s people,” she said today in the Capitol's old Senate chamber. “I cannot support a budget that sends the message that North Carolina is moving backwards, when we have always been a state that led the nation.”
This is Perdue’s sixth veto of the legislative session, and the most significant. No North Carolina governor has ever vetoed a budget.
"The same governor who claims to champion job creation and public education has vetoed a bipartisan budget that does more for both causes than her own proposal," Senate leader Phil Berger said in a statement. "The only explanation for this veto and her statewide media campaign is that the governor believes it is more important to energize her liberal base than to govern responsibly. By placing politics ahead of the public interest, she engages in obstruction of the worst kind, and we will act quickly to move North Carolina forward."
House Speaker Thom Tillis, a Mecklenburg County Republican, said in a statement that Perdue should have acted sooner.
"We're disappointed in the governor's veto today. Gov. Perdue has had access to this budget for almost two weeks, and she should have made this decision days ago to help provide certainty to counties and school boards across the state." Tillis said. "She has shown no leadership on this issue and no willingness to work with the legislature, choosing instead to veto a budget that protects education and creates jobs. We look forward to overriding the governor's last-minute veto very soon."
Perdue proposed extending part of a temporary one-cent sales tax increase, the legislature's budget allows the sales tax increase to expire.
While Perdue has been actively campaigning against the budget, saying it will harm education, Republicans have emphasized how close their education budget is to hers. A document from Senate leader Phil Berger's office shows a 1.6 percent difference. Last week, he released a YouTube video urging Perdue to sign the budget.
"You said you wanted to work with us; meet up halfway," Berger said.
Perdue released a letter Friday signed by 27 businesspeople and politicians, saying the proposed spending plan could keep the state from fulfilling its constitutional obligation to educate all the state's children.
Last week, a nonprofit group, N.C. Citizens for Protecting Our Schools, began running television ads in support of keeping the one-cent tax increase.
