In nominating Tim Moore of Kings Mountain to be the next House speaker, Republican members of the House of Representatives decided to be led by another lawmaker from the western part of the state. And like outgoing speaker Thom Tillis, Moore spread his campaign money. He gave $253,000 to other legislative candidates.
“No one, including me, enjoys raising money," Moore says." So I would certainly say whoever is going to be speaker, majority leader, and these other caucus offices needs to be someone who has the ability and the willingness and the time to go out and raise that money."
Moore will be formally elected speaker when the General Assembly convenes in January. Medicaid expansion is getting more attention leading up to the session. Governor McCrory has said he may propose expansion, and the idea is gaining traction in other states where Republican leaders have rejected it. But incoming speaker Moore isn’t interested in joining them.
Some key points from the interview:
On disagreeing with Medicaid expansion
“There would certainly be a short-term gain in terms of money flowing into the state from the federal government. If we were to know that the money would continue indefinitely and that we could always rely upon it, then that would probably be a very easy decision to make that expansion. However, as in most federal programs, there tends to be money at the front end. Then the money goes away, and the state is left paying for that obligation.”
On criticism that last year's teacher pay raises weren't enough
“The data right now shows there hasn’t been an exodus of veteran teachers, so I think some of those fears were probably greatly exaggerated…I would have loved to have been able to do a larger raise, that would have just made my day. When it comes to education, not only am I interested and involved as an elected official, but I have two children who are students in the public schools, so I’m personally invested. So I want the very best for them and every other student and I want our teachers to be paid fairly and I want them to be respected. We felt like what we did with the raise did that, but I also hope that this year depending on the budgetary constraints that we can do more.”
On the significantly scaled-back film incentives program
“The film incentives issue will probably be revisited in some manner. I think the old proposal we had that had to do with the film tax credit as it previously existed, probably won’t come back. I do think we should enact policies that promote the film industry. I think the film industry brings a lot to this state. I, as you may know, voted for the previous film tax credits and film incentives that have expired. I’ve always supported the past ones, but I’m also a realist. I know the sense of the body is that there doesn’t appear much appetite to go back to that old system.”
