If there is one major purpose that compelled Paul Tine to run for office for the first time, it had to be the economy.
“The singular, most important thing that we’re dealing with right now is getting the economy moving, and the big issue we have is rural versus urban,” Tine said. “We have 15 counties who are going to be running the Legislature come January. Eighty-five of us rural communities are going to have to figure out how to get the transportation, the education, the things that we know we need to build a strong economy.”
Tine, a Dare County businessman facing Republican Mattie Lawson for the District 6 seat in the state House of Representatives, believes that a strong education is the foundation of a strong economy.
“Education is how we build our work force,” Tine said. “As a businessman, I need people who can work inside of a complex environment where they have to gather information from off-site, apply it to their situation, problem solve and then communicate effectively with our clients. The education for K-12 is working to develop those skill sets for businesses today. Studies have shown that those programs, those early ed, make huge strides in having someone be successful in K-12. And if K-12 is developing our work force later on, then I would say it would be good to get them in there because we’re going to have a stronger work force down the road. It’s investment, it’s long-term investment, which we don’t do well inside of government very often, we tend to like knee-jerk reactions, but if we invest in that now, it’s proven that it will give us a higher quality of people on the back end.”
As a Democrat who has worked with Republicans during his business career, Tine is of the mind that a “rising tide lifts all ships.”
“The thing that I think (urban representatives) miss is that a strong, diversified economy across the whole state helps to keep the whole state healthy,” Tine said. “It’s not just in Raleigh, it’s not just in Charlotte. If the whole state is that way, one segment, one industry, one town, not doing as well doesn’t take the whole state with it.
“The number one thing that people talk to me about is the desire to have someone work across the aisles and compromise. And it’s not just compromise, it’s seek out a solution and let the best solution rise.”
The son of a staunch Republican and a liberal Democrat, Tine was raised in a house of cooperation.
“We’ve got to get back to thinking about what’s good for the majority of the people,” Tine said. “Do state government the right way — responsibly, smart, efficiently —and then a lot of the other stuff will take care of itself. There is common ground. When you look rural-urban, there’s a lot more that binds us in the rural community. The D and R becomes less identifiable when you look at what we need in these rural communities.”