Yes, North Carolina governors matter

by JOHN HOOD John Locke Foundation

With my longtime friend Andy Wells, a former state senator, joining the Republican primary field for governor and Supreme Court Justice Mike Morgan publicly considering a run for the Democratic nomination, now seems like an opportune time to answer a frequently voiced question.

Why in the world would anyone want to be governor of North Carolina?

As Catawba College professor Michael Bitzer pointed out in a recent post at OldNorthStatePolitics. com, our state’s governors rank precisely 50th in the nation in institutional power. Most chief executives in other states possess line-item vetoes, for example. Here in North Carolina, the governor has the power See MATTER, Page 6