North Carolina’s new governor: Stein goes to Washington
Good morning and welcome to our Under the Dome Sunday newsletter, which focuses on new Gov. Josh Stein. I’m Dawn Vaughan, The News & Observer’s Capitol bureau chief.
Stein met with U.S. Sens. Thom Tillis and Ted Budd in Washington Thursday about Helene recovery, he posted on social media.
Stein said he’s asked for about $11 billion more from Congress, on top of money already allocated from the federal government, and after meeting with Tillis and Budd, said he was “very encouraged by their positive reaction.”
“I don’t think there’s any daylight between them and the state government in terms of making sure that North Carolina gets every resource we possibly can to help the people of Western North Carolina recover,” Stein said.
Stein was in Washington for a National Governors Association event, and was also just appointed by President Donald Trump to co-chair the bipartisan Council of Governors with Virginia’s Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin. The council is “tasked with strengthening state-federal partnerships on key national security, disaster response, and military coordination issues.” The disaster response part of that is apt because of Helene.
Helene came up, too, when Stein talked to reporters here in Raleigh on Tuesday.
“There’s always more to be done, and it needs to be done faster. I think folks are focused on the problem, but until we get real resources from the federal and state government, we’re going to always be playing catch-up,” Stein said. He mentioned his pitch for the round of state and federal funds.
“But even that’s not going to complete the job. So we’ve got work to do, and we got to be there for these folks until they’re back on their feet,” Stein said about Western North Carolina.
Tax policy and the Stein era at the Executive Mansion
I asked Stein on Tuesday about the revenue forecast, and got an answer about taxes.
“Freeze it,” Stein told me about the state’s continuing income tax cuts for individuals and corporations.
There is a perennial divide between Republicans and Democrats about income taxes, and you can read more about it in last Sunday’s Under the Dome newsletter and a story looking at Stein’s view vs. Republican Senate leader Phil Berger’s take on the revenue forecast.
Stein spoke to reporters just after a ceremony at the Executive Mansion honoring three people with the Order of the Long Leaf Pine. The recognition is for those who have served the state for 30 years, and it comes with an extra perk: it supposedly bestows the right to give the state toast.
The three newest members who can freely say the toast are departing Raleigh Police Chief Estella Patterson, businessman Tom Lambeth and Betsey Tilson, who served as state health director during former Gov. Roy Cooper’s two terms.
Patterson, around the time she announced she would leave the capital city’s police department, served on Stein’s transition team before he took office in January. I asked Stein if that meant he was planning on hiring her now. “That would be a great idea,” he said.
Stay informed about #ncpol
Coming up Monday on our Under the Dome podcast, I’m joined by politics reporter Avi Bajpai and business and technology reporter Brian Gordon. We talk about House Speaker Destin Hall’s support of cryptocurrency, and what Bitcoin actually is, plus what to expect this week at the General Assembly.
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