by Rocco Piserchia

I spoke with NC GOP Chair Claude Pope on October 1, 2014 at Big Ed’s restaurant in Raleigh NC when Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) was there to campaign for Thom Tillis (R-NC) for US Senate. Chairman Pope admitted that Thom Tillis was in violation of the 2013 (https://paradshift.net/2014/05/12/nc-s…) and 2014 NCGOP platforms which reject foreign owned toll roads in NC. Chairman Pope criticized the Democrats who formerly had control of the NC General Assembly (NCGA) for diverting the highway fund. When I reminded Chairman Pope that the GOP super majority in the NCGA have continued the same practice of diverting the highway fund he said it should stop. (The GOP super majority continue the practice of the Democrats by transferring $255 million a year from the Highway Fund to the state’s General Fund.) It remains to be seen what Chairman Pope will do, if anything, to persuade the Republican super majority to stop diverting $255 million per year from the highway fund to the general fund.