They told the cigarette company that they were willing to provide all manner of industrial incentives and to do so as quickly as the legislature could convene. About two weeks ago, Sen. Marc Basnight, the president pro tem, said the incentives would be quickly approved during a special session timed to coincide with the anticipated redistricting session. That was supposed to be Thanksgiving week.
Last week, both the timing and scope of any such economic development session were in doubt. As much as some legislators say they want to lock up the RJR jobs as quickly as possible, there are some overriding problems to convening an economic development session.
The first is the same reason that an economic development session wasn’t held in September and that the topic wasn’t discussed late in the regular session. There is no policy consensus in the state House.
The House is ruled by a coalition of Democrats and Republican supporters of Co-Speaker Richard Morgan. But Morgan and Democratic Co-Speaker Jim Black have never been confident that their coalition can hold together on the testy issues of economic development.
With redistricting coming up, the already poisoned atmosphere in the 61-member strong Republican delegation will get even worse. Add to that the possibility that some liberal Democrats will oppose corporate giveaways and the prospects for success are not good. In such cases, procrastination might be wise.
There are other reasons, as well, that an economic development session might not come off right away. Redistricting not only fouls the atmosphere, it dominates it. The General Assembly doesn’t multi-task well and the prospects for fashioning a solid economic development package at the same time legislators are worried about their districts are not good.
Jobs are quickly becoming the hot political issue of 2004. The state’s manufacturers are threatening to make President Bush pay politically for the loss of so many jobs here and the Republican candidates for governor are trying to blame Democratic Gov. Mike Easley. Uncharacteristically, Easley has been running around the state to be at the announcement of every new job that anyone announces.
A number of legislators told the Winston-Salem Journal this weekend that they have economic development ideas of their own, ideas that reach far beyond the RJR requests. And the paper reported that the state is working on at least two other major industrial recruitment projects that might also require legislative action. With that many ideas in the pot, and job programs needed across the state, a quick session along the lines of that promised to RJR is unlikely.
Eventually, Basnight, Black and Morgan will work all of this out with Easley. But there’s a good chance they’ll do so only after they’ve eaten their holiday meals next Thursday.
Paul T. O’Connor writes for the Capitol Press Association in Raleigh.
