Incumbent Cherie Berry is the lone Republican among the elected executive branch heads known collectively as the Council of State.
Berry, 57, is a former legislator and Catawba County business owner elected to the post in 2000. Often, she is the sole voice of dissent when the council, led by Gov. Mike Easley, meets each month.
Facing Berry is a former colleague in the state House, Democratic lawyer Wayne Goodwin of Rockingham. For years, Goodwin has been positioning himself for a run at statewide office, pushing the kind of hot-button legislation that can grab headlines and making nice with party leaders.
Even though Democrats still dominate state offices, Goodwin faces a tough task. Incumbents in these lower-profile state offices have only rarely lost. Once elected, North Carolina voters traditionally boot politicians from these jobs only because of real malfeasance.
Berry’s tenure has been relatively unscathed by scandal and accompanied by only one major workplace tragedy, the chemical plant fire at the West Pharmaceutical plant in Kinston which killed six people.
Overseeing the department which regulates workplace safety, Berry says she is proud of her record. Until the Kinston plant fire in 2003 and the deaths of 12 workers aboard a commuter plane in Charlotte that same year, workplace deaths had declined every year during her tenure.
Berry credits a carrot approach with employers, emphasizing programs recognizing businesses for exceeding safety standards over punitive measures. She has also pushed workplace education and the creation of a business-friendly environment at the department.
One of her first jobs was overturning standards for repetitive motion injury, which she said were too broad and a bureaucratic nightmare.
Goodwin, 37, agrees with the move. But he says department inspectors during Berry’s tenure haven’t been aggressive enough in finding safety hazards like those that led to the Kinston explosion.
On the campaign trail, Goodwin has also talked about using the resources of the Department of Labor in an unconventional way — promoting job growth.
Goodwin says that if elected, he plans to use the office as a soapbox to promote North Carolina to businesses considering new plants or expansions. That kind of talk isn’t surprising. After the manufacturing job losses suffered by the state, candidates of all kinds are talking job creation this fall.
The question becomes whether any of Goodwin’s talk or actions will be enough to overcome the power of incumbency.
Berry may well prove to be the initial Republican foothold on the Council of State which her party will eventually be able to widen. Or she could end up a one-term anomaly, at least until the demographic trends of the last 30 years finally catch up to North Carolina Democrats.
With Republicans making gains on voter rolls, her defeat would certainly be a bitter pill for the GOP to swallow.
Scott Mooneyham writes for the Capitol Press Association.
