THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, January 30, 1995 TAG: 9501300049
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: Betty Mitchell Gray
DATELINE: RALEIGH LENGTH: Medium: 67 lines
Political strategists call it ``stepping on your own story.''
That's when a politician does something to grab headlines that detract from what should have been the main message of the day.
Clearly House and Senate leaders would have preferred to make the setting of their agendas the top story from opening day in the General Assembly. But bickering over the rules - in particular, the acrimonious debate in the Senate - jerked the spotlight away from chamber leaders and their calls for spending and tax cuts.
Partisan wrangling led radio and television coverage Wednesday evening and grabbed headlines in newspapers statewide Thursday morning.
So - for those who might have a passing interest in what House Speaker Harold J. Brubaker of Randolph County, Lt. Gov. Dennis Wicker, president of the Senate,
and Sen. Marc Basnight of Dare County had to say - I'm going to pass on excerpts of their remarks.
Judging by the applause from members of their respective chambers, Brubaker's 15-minute speech was received much more enthusiastically by members of the House than the 30-minute remarks by Basnight and the 10-minute remarks by Wicker.
Brubaker was interrupted by applause more than a half-dozen times as he laid out his goals for the session. Wicker and Basnight were greeted by silence from the senators.
From Brubaker: ``It is the dawn of a new day in North Carolina. It is the end of business as usual.
``. . . The message of the 1994 election was simply this - that the people must be empowered; that control of government must be returned to the people; that government should be the servant of the people.
``That was the basis of our contract with the people of North Carolina. It was a solemn commitment that was the basis of the electoral victory. And we intend to keep our part of the bargain.''
From Wicker: ``. . . I say to you members of the Senate, please keep in mind when you debate welfare reform - we already have one of the very best anti-welfare infrastructure pieces in place - our community college system.''
From Basnight: ``. . . I sincerely hope that we can work again bipartisanly in the spirit that led to unanimous decisions on several Senate bills including our 1993 budget.
``I think we can, because I believe that the people in this chamber agree that we should do only what is best for the people of this great state of ours. In some instances that may mean a more effective government and in others it may simply mean less government intrusion.
``I believe that government should help people or get out of their way. Our job is to make sure that the balance between citizens and the government is maintained.''
Quote of the week: Brubaker, answering a reporter who asked whether the Republicans were ready to govern: ``It doesn't take a rocket scientist to run this place.''
Gripe of the week: Why can't we get good coverage of state government on television in eastern North Carolina? On opening day of the General Assembly, only one eastern North Carolina television station, WNCT-TV, sent a reporter to Raleigh. That station featured excerpts from Brubaker's speech and interviews with area Reps. Zeno Edwards of Washington and W.C. ``Bill'' Owens of Elizabeth City.
KEYWORDS: GENERAL ASSEMBLY by CNB