Salisbury Post - "Hagan - Change Washington, oust Dole"

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Salisbury Post - "Hagan - Change Washington, oust Dole"

N.C. Sen. Kay Hagan didn't mince words about her goal when she spoke to the Rowan County Democratic Party Thursday night.

"I want to go to Washington. I want to hand Mrs. Liddy Dole a pair of ruby-red slippers, let her click her heels together and go back to Kansas," Hagan said.
Hagan, who lives in Greensboro and represents Guilford County in the State Senate, is campaigning for Dole's U.S. Senate seat. She and her husband are campaigning across the state in advance of the May 6 Democratic primary.

Three other Democrats are vying for the chance to oppose Dole in November. They are Duskin Lassiter, of Lexington; Howard Staley, of Moncure; and Jim Neal, of Chapel Hill.

Speaking to local Democrats, Hagan highlighted her 10 years in the N.C. Senate, including her work on the powerful Appropriations Committee, and her experience in the legal and financial fields. She's a lawyer by profession, with a degree from Wake Forest University School of Law.

She also echoed a message heard nationwide — the desire for change.

"I am running for U.S. Senate because I truly think North Carolina needs a fresh voice," Hagan said.

"I love North Carolina, and when I go to Washington, I am going to come back home to North Carolina so I can know what's going on here, on the ground. I want to know what you all are thinking."

Hagan's speech included praise for Neal Smith, the county's Democratic Party chairman and a former N.C. representative who died Monday.

A moment of silence and remembrances from friend and acting Party Chair Genoal Russell came at the start of the meeting.

"One thing I remember about Neal is what a family man he was," Russell said. "I think that's even more important than some of the great things he's done for the state."

Hagan spoke to about 40 people for more than an hour, taking questions and addressing residents' concerns about immigration, the economy and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Those are difficult but not insurmountable problems, Hagan said.

"As a member of the Appropriations Committee, I helped balance North Carolina's budget," Hagan said.

She compared the size of the entire state budget for a year — about $20 billion — to the amount spent on military campaigns.

"We are spending $11 billion a month," Hagan said. "In two months, we've spent everything we would spend in a year on our whole state."

But she supported the troops, citing state funds used to buy additional equipment for N.C. National Guard troops deployed to Iraq when the federal government did not provide enough funds.

"We want a strong military," Hagan said. "But we're not using our diplomacy. We've lost the moral authority we had built up."

She does not support specific timetables for withdrawal from Iraq but favors some form of accountability.

Hagan named a laundry list of other initiatives she would like to see embraced in Washington, from North Carolina's Learn and Earn program — which allows students to earn an associate's degree during a fifth year of high school — to programs that support cancer research and biofuels.

All of these are initiatives which the federal government could assist, she argued.

Then Hagan pointed to Sen. Dole's record and what she sees as negatives.

"Dole has voted with Bush 93 percent of the time," Hagan said.

She cited Dole's vote against the State Children's Health Insurance Program, which the president vetoed after Congress tried to expand the program for uninsured kids.

Hagan also criticized Dole for a vote that cut Pell grant awards to college students.

"Washington is coming up short, and North Carolina is struggling," Hagan said, citing as an example the $9 million the state paid to extend benefits to Pell recipients whose awards had been cut.

Hagan also criticized Dole's support of the 287g program, which gives local law enforcement the authority to begin the deportation process for people arrested and found to be in the U.S. illegally.

Hagan said that the economy relies on workers in agriculture and many other fields who come here "not for social services, but for a job."

"I don't know the exact answer, but I know what we're doing now is broken," she said.

Hagan also expressed concern over the state of the economy, saying Bush policies have hurt the nation.

"We have gone from a $5 trillion surplus to a $3 trillion deficit," Hagan said. "I don't know how we can run our country like that.

"I want to go to Washington and use the skills and talents I have and to take action."

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