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RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A bipartisan crowd that included Republican Gov. Pat McCrory and past and current Democratic gubernatorial rivals rallied Tuesday to get behind a $2 billion bond package on March's primary ballot, the first such statewide referendum in more than 15 years.
McCrory, former Lt. Gov. Walter Dalton and business leaders told other bond boosters the proposed debt is fiscally responsible, will help educate young adults for jobs and aims to boost the state's quality of life.
More than $1.3 billion of the debt, issued only if a majority of voters say yes on the ballot, would pay to build and renovate at all 17 University of North Carolina system schools and each of the 58 community colleges. Proceeds also would help local governments pay for water and sewer projects and provide construction money for parks, the North Carolina Zoo, the National Guard and the Department of Agriculture.
In North Carolina, "there is no one who is not impacted by this bond," said Jim Rose, a regional president of Yadkin Bank and a co-chairman of the Connect NC Committee that put on the kickoff event.
Since the 2000 referendum approved $3.1 billion in higher education bonds, North Carolina's population has grown by 2 million people. State officials say the proposed new bonds wouldn't require new taxes to pay for them.
"North Carolina is in the big time now and we need to prepare for the future," McCrory said on the N.C. State University Centennial Campus in Raleigh. "And we have a choice — do we prepare for the future or do we want the leaders of the future to have to react to what we didn't do?"
McCrory pointed to aging buildings on UNC campuses that need to be replaced. Ann Goodnight, a higher education advocate with Cary-based computer software giant SAS, said UNC system buildings for math and science education would help mitigate future state workforce shortages in health care and high-tech jobs. By 2020, 67 percent of new jobs in North Carolina will require post-secondary education.
The General Assembly agreed last fall to put bonds on the ballot. McCrory signed the legislation into law. Dalton, who lost to McCrory in the 2012 general election and is now president of Isothermal Community College, said it's now time to focus on the citizens who will decide on the debt.
"They will be voting for greater opportunities for prosperity and they will be voting for a greater future," Dalton said. Senate Minority Leader Dan Blue, D-Wake, also spoke.
Attorney General Roy Cooper, a Democrat seeking to unseat McCrory in November, attended the rally and expressed his support for passing the bonds in an interview earlier Tuesday. Cooper has asked that his picture or endorsement not be used in paid Connect NC Committee advertisements.
In the interview, Cooper cited recent opinions from the State Board of Elections. The correspondence suggests coordinated work between the bond committee and a candidate's committee could run afoul of campaign finance rules. But it appears the bond committee wouldn't be barred from identifying 2016 candidates in paid advertising.
Two campaign consulting teams — one Democrat and the other Republican — are helping with the pro-bond effort. No formal opposition to the borrowing has surfaced.
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