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Gubernatorial candidate, Judge Robert Orr, comes to Boone |
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Thursday, 17 January 2008 |
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by REBECCA GARDNER
News Reporter
Republican gubernatorial candidate Judge Robert Orr, who has served eight years on the North Carolina Court of Appeals and 10 years on the North Carolina Supreme Court, was in Boone Tuesday.
“I want to be governor because I love North Carolina and I think it needs a major change of leadership in the state, and I think I can provide that leadership,” Orr said. “I know where I think North Carolina needs to go in the future and I know how I think I can lead it there.”
The top issues Orr wants to change if he becomes governor include public education, economic
development and transportation.
Orr plans to increase teacher retention to improve college education in North Carolina.
In the public education school systems, Orr also hopes to resolve the drop out rate, teacher retention
rate and decrease student academic problems.
As for his position on illegal immigrants attending North Carolina’s community college system, Orr
stands by the federal government’s position that it is illegal.
“The government should address how they’re going to treat those who come to our schools and do
well,” Orr said. “Should there be a way for them to get a citizenship policy? Only the federal
government can make that decision.”
Some students have similar ideas about the community college system.
“I think that we should allow illegal immigrants to attend North Carolina’s community college system,”
senior psychology major Kara A. Brown said. “I think that if illegal immigrants want to get an education
in the United States and possibly have the intention of becoming permanent and legal immigrants in
the system, then they should be able to do so and changes need to be made.”
Brown hopes college students will vote for a candidate focused on improving higher education.
“I think that college students with loans are worried about graduating and paying them back and I hope
college students will consider that when figuring out who to vote for in November,” Brown said.
Brown plans to vote in the 2008 election.
Roads, bridges and infrastructure are among Orr’s many economic development concerns.
In 1988, Orr won his first statewide election and was the first Republican winner of a statewide judicial
race in almost 100 years.
“It shocked the system and encouraged public lawyers to run for courtship,” Orr said. “It demonstrated
that republicans can be good judges, establishing professional credibility.”
The 2008 gubernatorial election will be Orr’s sixth statewide race.
The other republican gubernatorial candidates are Bill Graham and Sen. Fred Smith.
The democratic gubernatorial candidates are Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue, Dennis Nielsen and Richard
Moore.
For a governor to be able and successful they need to be able to work with a broad range of people and
seek out different opinions and solve an issue, Orr said.
Orr is the only republican candidate to run in a statewide race.
“This election is not about the next four years; it is about the next 20-25 years,” Orr said.
“We need to talk about reforms that will pay off for your generation down the road.”
“If we do well with [good public education, health care, economic development and transportation] and
have a fair tax system and an open and honest government, that equals prosperity,” Orr said.
The public has a very limited attention span on these issues unless they are directly impacted, Orr
said.
“I think that someone who is honest and not swayed by public opinion or what critics are saying is
important in being a politician,” Brown said. “Someone who knows and understands different
populations in the state such as what college students face when graduating, people who are retiring, in
poverty, and disparity within our state is important."
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