(Raleigh, NC) Wednesday, January 23, 2008, Justice Robert Orr, Republican candidate for Governor, issued the following statement in response to Pat McCrory’s claim that Orr’s education plan incorporates McCrory’s ideas.
 
 The McCrory camp has actively been in the race for governor of North Carolina for a mere 8 days and during that time has repeatedly provided skewed information to the people of our State. The first red flag came the day of his announcement when his campaign claimed a simple typo was the work of a hacker.  On that very same day, he touted the support of Former Governor Jim Martin, failing to mention that Martin is also supporting Former Justice Orr, which he later said was an unintentional omission.  A few short days later after the WRAL debate, McCrory was called to task for inaccurate statistics; McCrory claimed that 20 percent of inmates in the Mecklenburg jail are illegal immigrants, a number the sheriff’s office says they do not track.  Now McCrory has not only piggy backed on Orr’s education vision but he has also taken credit for it.
 
As Bob Orr made abundantly clear at his press conference, the idea that the Superintendent of Public Instruction should be appointed, not elected, has been discussed for years.  Admittedly it did not originate with him…nor did it originate with Pat McCrory, as he might like you to believe.
 
The News and Observer quoted Pat McCrory as saying he is pleased that Orr incorporated his ideas from the debate into some very viable proposals.  In response, Dave Woolf, campaign manager for Former Justice Orr said, “Nothing in Orr’s proposal originated with Pat McCrory. As a matter of fact, we are waiting for the first original idea to come out of the McCrory campaign.”
 
Orr’s plan for education restructuring does not simply call for the change to the superintendent position but also calls for the Superintendent of Public Instruction and the Department of Public Instruction to both be under the executive authority of the Governor, ultimately holding the Governor accountable.  The plan also calls for state constitutional amendments to confirm the transfer of authority, as well as to establish the election of eight members to the State Board of Education which would also include three additional at large members appointed by the Governor.   Orr’s complete education plan can be found at www.Orr2008.com.
 

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