Often my evaluation includes an assessment of a candidate's candor and responsiveness. On that score, Jeff Hyde and Theresa Yon get big fat "Fs" They are, respectively, the Republican candidates for state senate and state house in my districts.
I emailed Jeff Hyde to ask him some questions about the mystery surrounding the secret winner of his campaign raffle. He sent back an email asking who I was and completely ignoring my question.
Theresa Yon has made criticisms of incumbent Maggie Jeffus' support for economic incentives central to her campaign. I have twice asked Yon if she would have rejected the incentives that lured the FedEx cargo hub to Greensboro (see comments in links). She has twice not answered.
Both of these candidates' responses are in stark contrast to Sheriff B.J. Barnes' timely and respectful responses to a recent policy question I had. Maybe Hyde and Yon think they can win without the support of voters like me and maybe they will. I have little confidence that, as secretive and unresponsive, they would be good representatives.
UPDATE: Yon has now replied.
You are continually asking me if I would have voted for decisions and planning which took place at a time when I was not even living here (graduate school, Classical Studies, at Florida State University). I cannot tell you how I would have voted unless I read the reports, studies, etc. from that time period. I am perfectly willing to do that.According to her biography, Yon has been at High Point University since 1999. The FedEx hub was announced in 1998. Decisions relating to incentives for the project continued through 2002, at least.
I take from her response that Yon's objections to incentives are not absolute, that there may be situations where she would support incentives. I appreciate her answer.
I'll not put any words in Theresa Yon's mouth but at Guarino her criticism of Jeffus was specific to the vote for tax breaks for the movie industry vis a vis studies that show that they are actually money losers for most states that have them. Bad investments for the taxpayers. In general the conservative stance as enunciated at Civitas is that tax breaks should not be targeted to specific industries or businesses. The legislature should not pick who wins or loses, but let the free market do that. In other words, if tax incentives are good for business and jobs then all businesses and workers should benefit, and not just a few.
ReplyDeleteJon, thanks for commenting. I am generally inclined to agree with you. Elsewhere, Yon has criticized incentives for other industries. I was trying to get a handle on whether or not her objections where absolute or whether she would be more amenable to incentives if they benefit Guilford County.
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