As regular viewers of NCSpin know, the 2015 Tar Heel of the Year was named on this week’s show. We just had a minute or two to nominate our choices. The panel and host Tom Campbell settled on the selection for 2015 and a worthy one at that. (Who? No spoiler – watch the show right here!)
Here’s my nominee. Let me know what you think.
I nominate Lee Roberts (NC’s state budget director) because ideas matter. Over the past year we’ve seen big personalities who often could not agree or refused to agree on how to solve big problems. The solutions were often a result of standoffs, compromises, concessions.
But in the end, what is moving North Carolina forward are ideas. And Lee Roberts has been the steady hand in making sure those ideas prevail.
With a $450M budget surplus this year, it was Lee Roberts, behind the scenes urging the restraint of government growth. With a wide gap in spending proposals between the House and the Senate, tying spending to the growth of population and inflation at 3.1% stayed true to the idea of fiscal responsibility.
Balancing further tax reforms with building the state’s reserves is an idea that ensures financial stability. With over $1.5B now in reserve accounts, NC is prepared in case of a natural disaster, a downturn in the economy and as a safety net against tax increases.
Looking at spending in a very different way, with transparency, accountability and questioning expenditures, Lee Roberts has been the behind the scenes force in sticking to conservative ideas in state budgeting.
Next year or in five years or in a decade, we’ll recall the personalities of 2015. John Hood may even write a book about them. But the ideas of 2015 – restraining the growth of government, fiscal decisions ensuring economic growth – will have impacted the lives of every North Carolinian. And we have Lee Roberts’ steady hand guiding fiscally conservative ideas to thank.
