Local Republicans have an outsider for a mayoral candidate. Merrick & Company exec Scott Stone has thrown his hat into the ring. From the Stone press release:
“Charlotte still has over 10% unemployment. We are lagging the rest of the state and the rest of the country in our recovery,” Stone said. “I am running for one reason only – to get our local economy back on track and help create jobs in Charlotte now.”
Stone cites Charlotte’s competitiveness as a main reason for the anemic recovery. With one of the highest tax rates in the state, Charlotte and Mecklenburg County are sending a message to small business owners that we are not the place to add jobs and invest.
“The Mayor continues to refer to our economy as the ‘New Normal’,” Stone said. “I flat-out do not except that. I believe that Charlotte should be exceptional, in all ways, including our economy. Calling our economy the new normal is like saying the Carolina Panthers at 2-14 is the new normal. It’s not the new normal – it’s just bad.”
Hey, never met the dude — but bonus point for working the Panthers into the equation. And the fact is — was — and remains — that Charlotte has been hit exceptionally hard by the recession and has not recovered. At all.
Long-time Meck Deck readers know the tired tale — apologies in advance — Meck is about 33,000 jobs short of pre-recession levels. Here’s to facing that fact. To the extent he is up to the hard work of doing that, welcome to the party, Scott.
