The Daily Tar Heel's Emily Dudash spoke with Valerie Zachary, the Republican candidate for the N.C. Court of Appeals Judge Seat 14 to discuss her candidacy and aspirations for the court. Her Democratic opponent is Ed Eldred.
This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.
The Daily Tar Heel: What do you want voters to know about you?
Valerie Zachary: I feel like I represent the ordinary person. I'm not from a fancy background, not wealthy — nothing like that. The Court of Appeals is an error correcting court. We're supposed to interpret and apply a law as written and not make law or policy, and that's what I've tried to do. I've authored over 600 opinions now, and that's the thing that we need to continue with — I'm just up there trying to apply the law.
DTH: What does justice mean to you?
VZ: I am the oldest of five children and I was raised by a single mother, so I know what it's like to be treated in an unfair manner. It's very important to me that everyone be treated equally, and that when you apply the same law on the same facts, it ought to be the same regardless of the person, their status, their poverty or lack thereof.
DTH: As a judge on the Court of Appeals, which issues would be important to you?
VZ: One of the issues that's really important to me is the inability to pay. I saw my mother struggle and I know from my practice that there are people [struggling]. If you get called for jury duty and you're working a job where you get paid by the hour, don't get paid time off to go serve on a jury, and they pay next to nothing for jury duty, you can't afford to go do that. You can't afford to take that cut in your pay. There are a lot of things that I think that we could do in North Carolina around some of these inability to pay issues.
DTH: What are your primary goals if elected?
