Opposition to incentives linchpin of Orr campaign

September 5, 2007

Paul B. Johnson

HIGH POINT – A voter who recently met Republican gubernatorial candidate Robert Orr offered a telling, if succinct, description of the candidate.

Orr was at the YMCA in Raleigh when the voter approached him. He greeted Orr by calling him “the guy fighting all these giveaways.”

“He said, ‘I want you to keep it up.’ You need to hear that every now and then,” Orr said.

The former state Supreme Court justice has made criticism and calls for reform of corporate economic incentive packages a keystone of his campaign. He made a swing through High Point Tues day, which included a tour of the New Breed facility in the northern part of the city and addressing the High Point Re publican Party. Before running for gov ernor this year, Orr head ed an institute in Raleigh that has brought lawsuits against major incentives packages such as the re cord- setting one for Dell Inc. in the Triad. He’s the most outspoken critic of in centives among the five candidates run­ning for governor.

Orr acknowledged in an interview with The High Point Enterprise that his strong stand on incentives may limit his fund raising potential in some Republican cir cles, though he said he’s getting enough support to run a statewide campaign.

Orr makes it clear he’s not opposed to employers such as Dell coming to North Carolina – he just doesn’t like the corpo rate recruiting playing field.

“I’m not against Dell. I’m against poli cies that I think are bad public policies that violate the Constitution,” he said.

Orr is one of three candidates seeking the Republican nomination for governor.

His opponents in the primary are Sen. Fred Smith, R-Johnston, and Salisbury businessman Bill Graham. The two Democratic candidates are State Trea­surer Richard Moore and Lt. Gov. Bev erly Perdue.

The party nominees, who will be select ed by voters in the spring, will square off in the November 2008 general election.

Orr said one reason he decided to run for governor is to highlight what he calls the unfair and arbitrary nature of incen tives offers, which can become politi cized.
“It’s an issue that needs to be debated and thought about, not just by all the candidates but voters,” he said.