Governor-elect Pat McCrory plans for office

As Pat McCrory prepares to enter the governor’s mansion and the N.C. General Assembly convenes in January, North Carolina will usher in a new era of Republican leadership.

The GOP will control the state legislature and the governor’s office for the first time in 140 years.

The GOP also secured nine out of 13 U.S. House of Representatives seats, and Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney narrowly won the state despite losing the national election to President Barack Obama.

On the Nov. 6 election night, the state’s Republicans were assured that they would maintain control of the N.C. legislature.

And next year they will have an ally in the governor’s mansion — Pat McCrory.

Gary Pearce, a Democratic strategist, said he anticipates further spending cuts with McCrory as governor.

“When (Gov. Bev) Perdue was in, she did have veto power and power to check on the legislature — that won’t be there now,” he said.

But Rep. Thom Tillis, R-Mecklenburg and N.C. Speaker of the House, said having McCrory in the governor’s office will help the legislature to operate more efficiently.

There were many clashes in Raleigh during Democratic Gov. Perdue’s term. She vetoed 19 bills in the past two years, including some state budget cuts to higher education.

Tillis said funding for the UNC system might increase next year depending on the economy.

The GOP enacted a $414 million budget cut to the UNC system last year.

In order to partially offset the cuts, the Board of Governors approved an 8.8 percent tuition and fee increase systemwide.

“Republicans see their election as a mandate to cut spending — that’s going to include the university,” Pearce said.

Chris Fitzsimon, executive director of the liberal-leaning think tank N.C. Policy Watch, said the state legislature’s history of budget cuts and tuition increases is troubling.

“I’m concerned that there won’t be a check on a Republican legislature working closely with McCrory,” he said.

Fitzsimon added that it is unclear whether the future governor will be an advocate for education issues.

“A lot of that will depend on whether McCrory will be the moderate mayor of Charlotte or the Tea Party candidate for governor he was the last five years,” he said.

Some student groups in the system are also concerned about potential funding decreases with the new leadership.

Matt Hickson, a member of the UNC-CH chapter of the N.C. Student Power Union, said many conservative legislators are not committed to higher education affordability.

“It would be a shame if one of the things that distinguished us from other universities — affordability — was lost in the era of conservative control,” he said.

Contact the desk editor at state@dailytarheel.com.