Whit Whitley wants to represent the 3rd District in the N.C. House of Representatives because he believes he can better represent the values of the district’s residents.
Whitley, a Democrat, businessman and lawyer from New Bern, also believes the Republican-controlled N.C. General Assembly has damaged education in the state. If Whitley were the Democratic nominee after the May primaries, he would face incumbent Michael Speciale, a Republican and rookie member of the N.C. House.
Whitley explained why voters should support him.
“They should vote for me because I will be an effective representative. I’m a trained attorney and business owner. I understand the value of building consensus and representing people and their interests. I think what people want this election cycle is to vote for people who are not going to be involved in party politics but are going to be involved with who can best represent eastern North Carolina,” Whitley said during an interview in Washington.
“Our government system is frozen because of the hyper-partisanship we are seeing in our politics today. I’m running because I believe we need a state representative who will be a consensus builder, who will listen as much as he talks, and will work to reach across the aisle to do what’s right to advance the interests of House District 3 and our state,” said Whitley in a news release announcing his candidacy.
Whitley has doubts about Speciale’s efforts in Raleigh.
“I’m concerned that his voting record does not represent the values of this district and eastern North Carolina,” Whitley said in the interview. “His vote on the budget that defunded public education, I believe, was not well supported by people in our district and was not a good policy. I believe in a strong public education. Our teachers have gone from one of the best paid in the country to one of the worst paid in the country. Our pre-K program was an example for other states. Now, it’s been defunded. I’m concerned that our representatives in our General Assembly are not making decisions that benefit the entire state.”
Defunding the pre-K programs is a “big mistake” because those programs have proven that early education better prepares children to succeed in their academic pursuits, he said.
“We aren’t advancing the future of North Carolina when we are cutting education budgets hurting our children and the next generation. My priorities will be to invest in our public schools and teachers, to invest in pre-K, community colleges and our state university system. It’s clear that a strong and vital public education system is what attracts business to this area and is the path to economic growth and progress,” Whitley said in the press release.
Whitley is critical of the GOP-controlled Legislature for refusing benefits that would help 500,000 people on Medicaid, a move he said that disproportionately affects people in the 3rd District.
Whitley opposes imposing new tolls for using ferries that are now free to travelers. He views the ferries as extensions of the state’s public roads, which motorists help fund by paying taxes on the fuel they buy. Whitley views ferries like bridges that allow travelers to connect from one point to another point.
“That’s another unfair, extra burden on this area because we have ferries in our area. I don’t believe in it. I believe that if we are receiving our share of the state’s road and infrastructure budget, there shouldn’t be an extra payment that the citizens are making because we’re not. I view it as an extra tax,” he said.
As for bringing more jobs to the region, it’s going to take the region being able to compete fairly with other areas of the state, he said.
“Receiving our fair share of the budget for roadways and infrastructure is the first step. I don’t think we have. We’ve been promised that Highway 17 (four-laning all of it in the state) would be completed for years. I think that is directly related to our ability to attract businesses that will create jobs,” Whitley said.
Whitley also tied business growth to a strong public-education system.
“Business leaders will admit that public education is a strong consideration for where they locate, from pre-K all the way through college,” he said.
Public education also means using community colleges and other entities to retrain laid-off or terminated workers so they can re-enter the work force, he said.
Whitley, a Kinston native, graduated from Kinston High School in 1987. He graduated from Appalachian State University. He holds a law degree from the Norman A. Wiggins School of Law at Campbell University. He has three children and is married to Kelly Gotch Whitley.