Pat McCrory

Pat McCrory
File:Pat McCrory 2012.jpg
Governor of North Carolina Elect
Assuming office January 10, 2013
Lieutenant	Dan Forest (Elect)
Succeeding	Bev Perdue
Mayor of Charlotte
In office December 7, 1995 – December 7, 2009
Preceded by	Richard Vinroot
Succeeded by	Anthony Foxx
Personal details
Born	(1956-10-17) October 17, 1956 Columbus, Ohio, U.S.
Political party	Republican
Alma mater	Catawba College

Patrick Lloyd "Pat" McCrory (born October 17, 1956) is an American politician and businessman. He was the 53rd Mayor of Charlotte from 1995 to 2009, and is the current Governor-Elect in the state of North Carolina.

He received a presidential appointment by president George W. Bush to serve on the United States Homeland Security Advisory Council (HSAC) from 2002-2006.

McCrory was the Republican nominee for governor of North Carolina in the 2008 general election and was narrowly defeated by then-Lieutenant Governor Beverly Perdue.

After the 2008 election, McCrory returned to the private sector, becoming a national advocate for the economic benefits of mass transit as a paid advisor to transit tax campaigns. On January 31, McCrory launched his 2012 campaign for governor.

Early life, education and business career

McCrory was born on October 17, 1956 in Columbus, Ohio, to Rollin "Mac" and Audrey McCrory. His father was an engineer and entrepreneur who once served on the city council in Worthington, Ohio. He is the youngest of four children, with two sisters and one brother.

When he was nine, he moved with his family to Jamestown, North Carolina, a suburb of Greensboro. There, he attended Jamestown Elementary, Millis Road Elementary and Jamestown Junior High. At the age of 16, he became student body president at Ragsdale High School in Jamestown. He graduated high school in 1974.

While studying to become a teacher, McCrory fell into a different career. During college, he spent the summers working construction and reading meters for Duke Energy. In 1978, McCrory graduated from Catawba College in Salisbury, North Carolina, and he received a North Carolina teaching certificate that year. He decided against teaching and instead went to work full-time for Duke Energy. A management training program put him through a rotation of digging ditches and climbing electric poles as well as stints in office jobs. He rose through a variety of recruiting and training jobs to become a senior adviser with Duke Energy's Business and Economic Development Group. He and his wife, Ann Gordon McCrory, married in 1988.

In 2001, McCrory's alma mater, Catawba College, awarded him an honorary doctorate degree. He currently serves as a member of Catawba College's Board of Trustees.

In January 2007, he retired from Duke Energy after 28 years with the company, to run full-time for governor. In January 2009, McCrory was named a Partner with Charlotte-based McCrory & Company, a sales consulting firm. In January 2010, McCrory was named a Senior Director of Strategic Initiatives for Charlotte-based law firm Moore & Van Allen PLLC. According to Moore & Van Allen's January 2010 news release, McCrory will continue to participate as a partner with McCrory & Company.

Charlotte City Council, 1989-1995

McCrory began his political career in Charlotte in 1989 when he was elected as an At-Large City Councilman. Public safety was among the priority issues he focused on early in his political career. He was re-elected in 1991 and 1993, and served as Mayor Pro Tem from 1993–1995.

Mayor of Charlotte, 1995-2009

In 1995, he was elected the city of Charlotte's mayor, succeeding Richard Vinroot, who ran unsuccessfully for the 1996 Republican gubernatorial nomination. At the age of 39, he was the city's youngest mayor. McCrory was a very popular, affable mayor, despite the fact that he was a Republican in Charlotte, where Democrats and independents outnumber Republicans three to one. In elections from 1995 to 2007, he never won less than 56 percent of the vote, and in 1997 he took 78 percent. In the 2007 mayoral election, he defeated seven-term Democratic state Rep. Beverly Earle, 61 to 39 percent.

Although the mayor has limited powers in Charlotte's council-manager form of government, McCrory made use of the mayoral bully pulpit to push his ideas and used the veto 22 times. McCrory announced in late 2008, shortly after his gubernatorial campaign, that he would not seek an eighth term. McCrory is the city of Charlotte's longest serving mayor.

Transportation

McCrory helped develop Charlotte's 25-year transportation and land use plan. By working closely with the help of U.S. Senator Jesse Helms, McCrory made efforts to secure $200 million in federal funds for the city's new Lynx Light Rail system. This plan help expand bus service in Charlotte and brought light rail to the city. McCrory's biggest achievement as mayor was the light rail line. In 1997, he asked the legislature and Mecklenburg County voters for a half-cent local sales tax for public transportation. In 2007, he helped defeat a referendum to repeal the tax, which helped pay for the light-rail line and pay for buses. In the November 2007 election, voters overwhelmingly supported keeping the current transportation plan intact by voting no to an appeal of a half-penny transit tax by a 70% to 30% margin. On Nov. 24, 2007, the Lynx Blue Line went into service along South Boulevard.

Despite the criticism, the light-rail proved to be financially successful, and there are currently 15 stations in the system, which carries an average of 20,000 passengers per day (2009). Future expansion includes plans for light rail, commuter rail, streetcars and bus rapid transit along the five corridors in the 2030 Transit Corridor System Plan adopted in 2006 by Metropolitan Transit Commission (MTC). Build-out of the entire system is presently estimated for completion by 2034. Future extensions are planned to UNC Charlotte and to the Charlotte/Douglas International Airport.

Economy

From 1995-2009 (McCrory's tenure), Charlotte's population grew by 20%, and the population of Uptown Charlotte increased to over 20,000 people. McCrory led the effort to recruit such companies as TIAA-CREF, General Dynamics Armament, The Westin Hotel, and Johnson & Wales University. He was also instrumental in the development of the new Charlotte Arena and the U.S. Whitewater Center. In 2005, Money Magazine listed Charlotte in its Top 3 Best Places to Live and Reader's Digest named it one of the 20 Cleanest Cities in America.

Charlotte's overall quality of life was impacted through McCrory's efforts to establish a Residential Tree Ordinance, which required developers to save 10% of the trees in every residential development, the establishment of a Sidewalk Policy that requires sidewalks in every new subdivision and provides funding for sidewalks in neighborhood without them. He also worked to integrate Bike lanes in the City's transportation policy; establishing 42 miles of bike lanes throughout the city.

National involvement & Homeland Security

McCrory is involved in many national organizations, including service as: Past-president of the Republican Mayors and Local Officials (RMLO) organization; chairman of the U.S. Conference of Mayors (USCM) Committee for Housing and Community Development; the past six-term Chair of the USCM Environmental Committee; and founder and inaugural Chairman of the North Carolina Metropolitan Coalition. McCrory was also the only elected official to serve on the national board of the Afterschool Alliance and was a featured Mayor in Harvard University's Faith-based Executive Session.

Since the September 11 attacks in 2001, McCrory has been heavily involved with Homeland Security efforts. In 2003, President George W. Bush appointed McCrory to the U.S. Homeland Security Advisory Council alongside Mitt Romney, Sonny Perdue, and Lee H. Hamilton.

NASCAR Hall of Fame

Mayor McCrory spearheaded the effort with local business leaders, local officials and NASCAR teams to bring the Hall to Charlotte. On March 6, 2006 Charlotte beat out Atlanta, Daytona Beach, Kansas City, and Richmond, Virginia to be home of the NASCAR Hall of Fame. The hall, designed by world renowned architecture firm, Pei Cobb Freed & Partners, held its grand opening on May 11, 2010. Former Mayor McCrory, and current Mayor Anthony Foxx joined Charlotte-area dignitaries and representatives of NASCAR's past and present on a stage outside the Hall for the hour-long opening ceremony. On May 27, 2012 Mayor McCrory was the honorary starter for the Coca Cola 600 race.

Awards and local involvement

In 2003, McCrory was the recipient of the national Home-ownership Hero Award recognizing his work in leading Charlotte to have one of the highest home-ownership rates in the country.

The Mayor founded the Mayor's Mentoring Alliance in 1995 and has personally served as a Mentor to two youths. In 2005, Charlotte was named in the 100 Best Communities for Youth by America's Promise. His Mayor's Mentoring Alliance has grown to include 40 youth-serving and mentoring organizations, including Time Warner Cable's "Time To Read" program. An additional partnership with the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department initiated "Gang of One," an after-school gang-prevention and intervention program that works to keep children from joining gangs or helps lead them away from gang life.

McCrory has been involved in many local charity boards. He served as the honorary chair for the Charlotte chapter of the Alzheimer's Foundation and the Arthritis Foundation.

Gubernatorial Campaigns

2008 Gubernatorial Race

Main article: North Carolina gubernatorial election, 2008

McCrory reportedly commissioned a poll to test the waters for a run for Governor in November 2007, shortly after his seventh mayoral re-election victory, but well after other Republican gubernatorial candidates began campaigning. A 2007 Rasmussen Reports poll had McCrory leading both major Democratic candidates, Bev Perdue and Richard H. Moore by three points each.

The Raleigh News & Observer reported on January 9, 2008 that McCrory had filed the necessary paperwork with the State Board of Elections to run for Governor. He announced that he was running in his hometown of Jamestown on January 15, 2008.

In the primary election on May 6, 2008, McCrory defeated four opponents, including State Senator Fred Smith to win the Republican nomination for Governor. During the primary McCrory was criticized for lacking conservative credentials and for the high taxes and large debt in Charlotte while he was Mayor. McCrory countered with negative ads against his foremost opponent, Sen. Fred Smith that inaccurately claimed he ran up state debt in the state legislature.

In the general election, Democratic lieutenant governor Bev Perdue raised $5.6 million and ran attack ads against McCrory, criticizing him on various issues. McCrory later referred to these ads as "shameless, inaccurate, and negative", and in the last week of the campaign countered with his own negative ad in which he proudly claimed to have never run a negative ad, moments before attacking his opponent inaccurately. Despite a "national Democratic tide" and Perdue's fundraising edge, McCrory led Perdue at first; Perdue slowly gained with help from Barack Obama as the Democratic presidential candidate. Perdue and McCrory remained close, with the two often polling in a statistical tie in what was the closest race for governor in the nation. The McCrory campaign spent $3.4 million and an independent expenditure funded by the Republican Governor’s association assisted McCrory with a further $6.2 million in spending on attack ads on McCrory’s opponent. Perdue ran slightly behind her opponent in polls released the week before the election. Pundits speculated that Perdue was hurt by current Democratic Governor Mike Easley's decreasing popularity and McCrory's efforts to tag her as part of corruption in Raleigh—consultants mentioned Perdue's "difficulty of being the candidate of continuity in a change election."

In October 2008, McCrory received the endorsement of most major newspapers in the state, which typically endorse Democrats. McCrory's candidacy for governor was endorsed by the Raleigh News and Observer, the Charlotte Observer, the Greensboro News & Record, the Winston-Salem Journal, the Asheville Citizen-Times, the Durham Herald-Sun, and the UNC-Chapel Hill Daily Tar Heel.

Perdue won with 2,146,083 (50.27%) votes, while McCrory carried 2,001,114 (46.88%) in what turned out to be the closest gubernatorial election in the United States in 2008. McCrory failed to win in Charlotte where he had been mayor for 14 years.

If he had been elected, McCrory would have been the first mayor of Charlotte to win the state's highest office.

2009-2012 Interim

Following his defeat in the 2008 gubernatorial election, McCrory announced that he would not seek a record eighth term as Charlotte Mayor in 2009. Having retired from Duke Energy after 29 years of service in early 2008 to run for governor, McCrory decided to return to the private sector. He went on to work for both his brother's consulting firm, and also joined the law firm of Moore Van Allen. McCrory also began to pave the way for a possible 2012 gubernatorial campaign by remaining active in the North Carolina Republican Party. He has spoken at numerous GOP county and district conventions, dinners, as well as the 2009, 2010 & 2011 State GOP conventions. In 2010 he headlined a bus tour for Americans for Prosperity.

On August 5, 2009, McCrory headlined a massive rally in Uptown Charlotte organized to oppose (what would become) Obamacare – President Barack Obama's effort to reform America's private sector health care systems. Organizers said the statewide tour aimed to build opposition to the bill, and to encourage people to share concerns about it with their congressional representatives.

In 2010, McCrory penned several editorial pieces in major North Carolina newspapers, focusing on state issues including North Carolina's Alcoholic Beverage Control system, job creation, and energy exploration. After being a centerpiece of the 2010 Republican takeover of the North Carolina Legislature he worked closely with Senate Leader Phil Berger and House Speaker Thom Tillis whom he is close friends with both being from the Charlotte area.

2012 Gubernatorial Race

Main article: North Carolina gubernatorial election, 2012

McCrory stated his positions on the economy and education in two white papers.

The paper describing his economic plan was titled, “The North Carolina Comeback” posted to his campaign website. In it he described seven areas he said he would reform to improve the state’s economy. Proposals in the paper included consolidating redundant commissions, reforming the state’s tax code by cutting personal and corporate income tax rates, supporting energy exploration and fostering existing industries like agriculture and defense.

The other position paper outlined his education reform plan. “A Passion for Education”, included four areas for reform. First he proposed expanding school choice by creating two high school diploma tracks, expanding technology in the classroom through virtual courses and hand-held technology. He would also stop social promotion of third grade students who could not pass a reading test. His third proposal would pay teachers for results and not seniority. Finally he would create a grading system for schools, so parents can easily judge the quality of their child’s school.

Polling

A Public Policy Polling poll released August 8 showed McCrory leading Walter Dalton by seven points. A Rasmussen poll released August 4 showed McCrory maintaining a 10 point lead over his Democratic challenger Walter Dalton.

Poll Results Leading Up to Election

Poll	Date Released	McCrory	Dalton	Plus/Minus
Public Policy Polling	August 8	45	38	+7
Rasmussen Reports	August 4	46	41	+5
JWP Civitas Institute	July 25	47	37	+10
Public Policy Polling	July 11	43	36	+7
JWP Civitas Institute	July 5	46	44	+2
Marist Poll	June 28	43	41	+2
Rasmussen Reports	June 27	49	35	+14
Public Policy Polling	June 13	47	40	+7
JWP Civitas Institute	June 2	48	37	+11
Public Policy Polling	May 15	46	40	+6

The Raleigh News & Observer reported McCrory will report adding $2.2 million in the second quarter totaling $4.4 million available for campaign spending with 98 percent of the donors from North Carolina. The North Carolina Board of Elections requires second quarter campaign finance reports be filed by July 11, 2012. In the first quarter campaign finance reports McCrory showed his campaign added at least $1 million more to its bottom line than Dalton's campaign. In the first quarter McCrory reported outraising Dalton by more than $1 million. He also reported raising nearly $3 million more than Dalton for the election cycle to date. McCrory reported having $3.1 million cash on hand, and Dalton reported $670,356.14.

First Quarter 2012 Fundraising results reported the NC Board of Elections

McCrory announced his candidacy for governor on January 31, 2012. On April 27, 2012 five of McCrory’s contributors from his 2008 campaign were referred to the Mecklenburg County District Attorney for violations of campaign finance laws, possibly for improper “bundling” of contributions. On May 8, 2012 he won the Republican primary election with 83% of the vote, receiving more than 740,000 votes.

Governor of North Carolina, 2013-

McCrory was elected Governor of North Carolina on November 6, 2012 with 55% of the vote, and is currently the Governor-Elect. He is also the first GOP North Carolina governor since James G. Martin, who left office in January 1993.

External links

• Office of the Mayor
• Official Campaign site
• Profile at Ballotpedia

• News & Observer profile page