On the record
This information and a lot more is available from Yes Weekly. It contains excerpts from a forum on Sept 16 .
Don Vaughan on the record
On transparency and accountability:
“North Carolina needs to have more open government than we’ve had in the past. I truly believe that the meetings law and the public records law needs to be enforced in North Carolina. That’s certainly a very good starting point. One of the reasons I’m running for election is to represent you. I served on the Greensboro City Council for 14 years. I was very open; I was very accessible. I would expect that of any leader in the North Carolina General Assembly. You’ll certainly find that in me.” (Source: Sept. 16 candidate forum)
On mental health:
“Those people that billed the state improperly in North Carolina, that’s fraud and they ought to be criminally prosecuted. They have taken your tax dollars and they have not properly used those. I would encourage the state to prosecute those that have over-billed. The mental health system, as you’ve read in the newspaper, has still got more revamping to do…. It’s certainly something I’m going to tackle when I’m [in Raleigh] and take a very hard look at.” (Source: Sept. 16 candidate forum)
Joe Wilson on the record
General pitch:
“The things that I see that’s important to me, the reason that I’m doing this is — I’m not a career politician. I’m not any type of politician. I’m an average person just trying to take care of people and represent average people that are out there every day. That’s my strength in this thing. I’ve not been on city council for fourteen years, and I’ve not been on any commissions or boards or anything like that. I’m just like you, and I just want to do what’s right, and while I may not have the experience of my opponent I do have the knowledge to do what’s right and I know how to get things done. I’ll spend your money just like it was mine.” (Source: Sept. 16 candidate forum)
On transparency and accountability:
“If you know anything about me — last year I ran for city council — I have a blog, I have a website, and you have direct access to me in my day-to-day activities, my day-to-day life. If elected — when elected, I should say, hopefully — my office will be available. There will be phone numbers available anytime you want. I intend to use web-based communications. And if that doesn’t work for you then we’ve still got a telephone. Anything you want to know about what’s going on, I’ll post everything that I’ve sponsored, every bill I’m working on. Any questions you’ve got I’d love to get ’em, and that’s the way I will do things in Raleigh. It’ll be just exactly like you sitting here.” (Source: Sept. 16 candidate forum)
On mental health:
“Having never been in office myself I look at these problems — one thing I thought would even the playing field… where you have the same benefits for mental illness as you do for physical illness. In any program across the state, any dollars that we’re spending that we’re not getting value for, you can believe that I’ll be looking after it and I’ll do something about it. I do say mental health is very complicated. Something I just learned while I’ve been running for office is most of the people you see on the streets are mental health patients that have run out of benefits. So revamping the mental healthcare system, we’ve got to work to get the benefits in place. And of course, we’ve got to stay on top of the money that’s spent more.” (Source: Sept. 16 candidate forum)
