Gov. Pat McCrory is in town for a fat-cat fundraiser at Grandover, and just for good measure the N&R lets the guv hear it:
Gov. Pat McCrory played catch June 10 with a member of his security detail rather than meet with a group of schoolchildren bearing petitions.
Those moneyed and well-connected enough to attend a private shindig today and tomorrow at Grandover Resort & Conference Center in Greensboro with the governor will have no such problems seeking an audience.
For the admission price of $5,000 per ticket for the full, two-day event, 100 to 150 lucky ducks will rub elbows with McCrory at the first retreat of the Renew North Carolina Foundation. In the words of Jack Hawke, the governor’s former campaign manager, they’ll have “a discussion of the major issues facing the state and a round of golf and that’s about it.”
Yup, that’s about it.
Meanwhile, the High Point Enterprise asks McCrory about his game of catch during a Q&A:
Q. Governor, I know you had this sort of strange incident recently at the Capitol when the children came for a demonstration with former Congressman Bob Etheridge and the whole issue of you throwing a baseball with a baseball glove. What was your personal reaction to that?
A. It really wasn’t a strange incident. I think you may have read about a strange incident. I think you are reading inaccurate descriptions of a strange incident that didn’t occur.
Note the interview just lest it go at that. HPE’s Paul Johnson is a great reporter, so I’m a little surprised; perhaps he did ask the guv for his version of events and his editors didn’t think it was worthy of the space, which wouldn’t surprise me at all.
By the same token —as North State Politics’ Travis Fain notes— McCrory makes an interesting statement regarding the state budget (emphasis mine):
Q. On the state budget, what is your current thinking on the House and Senate plans and what are the goals they are proposing that you agree with and that you have problems with, sir?
A. ..On the Senate plan, I’m more concerned about the numbers adding up. I’m having very honest accounting on our numbers. Last year’s budget signed by the governor (Perdue) I don’t think was a true balanced budget because we didn’t include the Medicaid cost overruns. The Medicaid cost overruns continue because of poor projections from last year. It’s already up to $400 million, it’ll probably get up to $500 million.
So I’ve already had $500 million of revenue taken out of Medicaid since I’ve done my budget. I’m not going to hide it. I’m going to be honest about it and let the public know about it and demand that the Legislature do honest accounting.
Indeed McCrory has shown that he’s not afraid to take heat on Medicare and Medicaid, and $500 million is still a lot of money even today’s world of massive government spending and debt. It will be interesting to see how this plays out. Guess it is a bigger issue than a game of catch.
