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Tuesday late: H20
posted at 2008-03-26 00:08 | Last modified 2008-03-26 07:24
Today’s Water Policy Forum at Duke featured Dems Bev Perdue and Richard Moore, Libertarian Mike Munger, and Republican Bob Orr.
Event organizers said Republican Pat McCrory had planned to attend, but had to attend a funeral this afternoon. They couldn’t say offhand why Fred Smith and Bill Graham didn’t show.
The contestants
One by one, sitting in a big red leather armchair, each candidate answered the same set of questions about short-term challenges, like drought, and long-term issues, like how to make sure the state’s water resources can keep up with its exponential growth.
Libertarian Mike Munger, who went first, played to a friendly house – he’s Duke’s Poli Sci chair. He talked about market-based solutions – raising the price of water to reflect its actual value, better and clearer metering and billing, tiered rates, even commodified water rights. He says the governor needs to provide “political cover” for local officials who, he says, are reluctant to raise rates.
Democrat Richard Moore was second. He talked about changing the revenue model so water systems wouldn’t lose money on conservation, and even floated the idea of public-private partnership to pay for infrastructure upgrades.
Moore was well-prepared, charming, and funny (when one person clapped, he feigned a squint into the audience: “Is that you, Mom?”). But at the end, instead of a closing statement, he used the time to chide event organizers for “changing the format” to accommodate his rival, Bev Perdue, whom he excoriated for being unwilling to share a stage with him.
He said, she said...
Event organizers told a different story. The media handler, Tim Lucas, said the event was never billed as a debate. He said they discovered during planning that the stage at the Griffith Theater wouldn’t accommodate five podiums (four candidates and a moderator), and the state fire marshal wouldn’t let them build it out.
Bill Holman, state policy director for the host (the Nicholas Institute), was a bit cagier, saying the goal was to work with candidates’ schedules to allow as many as possible to participate. He said he “didn’t think” Perdue was the reason for the one-on-one format.
A Moore campaign staffer said that wasn’t what they were told. So I don’t know who’s right on this one; if you do, pass it on.
Back to the debate:
Democrat Bev Perdue went third. She emphasized consumer education and consensus building among the different interests in water disputes. She seemed a bit unfocused during parts of the Q&A – there were moments when it was honestly a little hard to follow her. But her closing argument, when she put down her prepared speech and just talked, was as good as she gets – accessible, personable, and genuine.
Republican Bob Orr went last. He talked about government’s obligation to protect the state’s water infrastructure, and about reforming the state’s tax system to make sure the money’s available to do that. He also took the opportunity to slam the Google incentive deal, noting that Google’s server farm uses a lot of water.
Bottom line
Everyone agrees more conservation is needed, and everyone agrees poorer communities need help to pay for infrastructure upgrades, too. But there’s no agreement on where the money for the latter ought to come from.
Tomorrow…
I’m headed off to Greensboro to see Obama. Can’t promise much here during the day, since I need to make some radio first, but I’ll update as I have time. And yes, I’ll also be covering Clinton in Raleigh Thursday.
Comments? Drop me a line.
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