Election Day is 11 days away, and major media outlets are turning to John Locke Foundation President John Hood for his insight about the major races. At the state level, the Winston-Salem Journal sought Hood’s opinion about the governor’s race, including the impact of a state budget shortfall that could approach $2 billion. “Whatever sweeping plans the gubernatorial
candidates had for their first term, the realities are becoming clear:
North Carolina will have a large budget deficit, as will most states,”
said John Hood, the president of
the John Locke Foundation, a research group in Raleigh that advocates
for small government and free-market economics. “The best-case scenario
is still bad,” Hood said. “So I think that the new governor will
quickly realize that his or her main job is to clean up the mess.”
(Speaking of the expected shortfall, JLF Fiscal Policy Analyst Joseph Coletti discussed that topic recently with the Triangle Business Journal. Coletti’s take on a proposed meals tax in Durham County attracted notice this week in the Durham News.) The News & Observer and Charlotte Observer quoted Hood in articles about the two major-party candidates vying for lieutenant governor, Democrat Walter Dalton and Republican Robert Pittenger. The Burlington Times-News also quoted Hood in the past week as he shared his concerns about publicly financed campaigns. Outside the North Carolina election scene, Hood treated readers of National Review Online to his thoughts about the major parties’ battles for legislatures across the country. Hood even added his thoughts to a Kansas City Star article (picked up by the Associated Press and distributed to media outlets such as the Belleville News Democrat) about a scandal involving spending by executives in the Missouri state pension fund.