North Carolina State & National Election Special

John Odom Republican candidate for NC Insurance Commissioner, Richard Morgan Republican candidate for NC Superintendent of Public Instruction, Teresa Sue Bratton Democrat candidate for U.S. Congress NC-6, Mark McMains Libertarian candidate for NC Insurance Commissioner, Christopher Cole Libertarian candidate for U.S. Senate, Mike Munger Libertarian candidate for Governor of NC, and IWF's Senior Policy Analyst Amy Watson 

Insurance Commissioner Jim Long is finally retiring, and the Journal endorses Republican John Odom to replace him. Odom is not an insurance expert, but he is an experienced political leader, a conservative Republican who was a tremendous asset to the Raleigh City Council for years. He promises to be a consumer advocate in the job. Long's hand-picked successor, Democrat Wayne Goodwin, has experience in the department, but Goodwin has always struck us as a too-eager politician.

As your candidate for insurance commissioner, I want to thank you for visiting the JOHN ODOM for Insurance Commissioner website.
The Department of Insurance affects your pocketbook more than any other department in Raleigh.

I believe the insurance commissioner should serve the people by helping to provide the best climate for insurers to operate, and should be the state's consumer advocate in insurance matters.

Making sure insurance companies live up to their agreements to provide services to the insured and to the public is important to me. The insurance industry provides a vital service to the public, and I salute those in the industry who take on this burden with the priority of serving the people they insure.
I stand for serving the people of North Carolina with honesty and integrity.
We need to insist on good government. People have had enough of reading about scandals and corrupt politicians.

I stand for a workers' compensation system that is affordable to employers yet fair to employees.

I will make sure the Department of Insurance responds to consumer complaints quickly and efficiently. I will make sure the Department responds to AGENTS quickly and efficiently-- and with courtesy and respect.

Having the best qualified employees, especially the Deputy Insurance Commissioners and Chief Deputy, must be a priority and will be a priority with the John Odom administration.

I appreciate your support and your vote in November.

Richard Morgan has held almost every top leadership position in the North Carolina House of Representatives; however, it is most important to note his Education Committee assignments for multiple terms. They included the Education Budget Committees such as the Full Appropriations Committee; Appropriations Sub-Committee on Education and the Substantive Policy Committee on Education.

Morgan was elected to the North Carolina House of Representatives in 1990 and was Speaker of the House 2003-2004. He served eight consecutive terms as a member. He served as Speaker ProTempore 2005-2006, House Minority Leader and Chairman of the House Financial Institutions Committee 1999-2000, House Rules Chairman 1995-1998 and Vice-Chairman of the House Finance Committee 1993-1994.

He was the recipient of The Governor"s Award and recognized as Legislator of the year by the North Carolina Wildlife Federation in 1997.

Morgan received the Legislator of the Year Award from the North Carolina Association of Home and Hospice Care in 2004 and the North Carolina Association of Manufacturers in 2003 as well as the Champion of Transportation Award from North Carolina GO in 2003.

Richard Morgan was chairman of the very first Moore County Drug Task Force. He has also been active in the Southern Pines Jaycees and supports the Boy Scouts of America. He has served the administrations of two North Carolina governors and was appointed by them to the North Carolina Council on the Status of Women and the North Carolina Council on Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. Morgan was special assistant to the Secretary of the North Carolina Department of Human Resources and also served on the staff of the Governor of North Carolina. He has been a Republican nominee for North Carolina Insurance Commissioner and for the North Carolina House of Representatives.

Richard Morgan is noted for his leadership not only in business, but also in civic, government and political service. He has been active in the Kiwanis Club of the Sandhills, serving as a member of its board of directors and receiving the Legion of Honor award for 25 years of service. He was chosen to receive the 1993 Distinguished Alumnus designation from Sandhills Community College and in 1991 he was selected as one of the Five Outstanding North Carolinians. He served a three-year term as a member of the board of directors of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill General Alumni Association.

He married the former Cindy Richardson, also a Moore County native and a nurse. She is an Associate Vice President with the Association for Home and Hospice Care of North Carolina. They make their home on a farm near Eagle Springs and his office is in Pinehurst.

Following college graduation, Morgan served in North Carolina Government until 1977, and by 1981 he had started his own insurance brokerage firm "from scratch.” Through long hours and determination, he built it into a successful business serving insurance clients throughout Moore County and North Carolina. He is also a North Carolina Real Estate Broker, a cattle farmer and is involved with several other businesses.

Soon after high school graduation, Morgan enrolled at Sandhills Community College where he obtained an Associate of Arts degree with honors and was a member of Phi Theta Kappa Honorary Society. He completed his formal education at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science. Throughout his education, Morgan worked to pay the costs.

Richard Timothy Morgan, 56, was born and grew up in the small town of Southern Pines, Moore County, North Carolina. His parents, also Moore County natives, lived and worked in the county.

Teresa Sue Bratton is a civic and professional leader, a wife and a mother, who believes that our nation must once again focus on the issues that are important to American families: health care, education, jobs, national security and the environment.

Teresa believes that we must secure the future for our children and our grandchildren. We must make sure they have every opportunity to be healthy, to be prosperous, and to be safe.

Teresa is running for Congress because she wants to help change the future - for them ... and for us.

Career Background
For 25 years Teresa served Piedmont families as a pediatric allergist. She retired from private practice in 2006 but continues to help local families through the allergy/asthma clinic for indigent children at Guilford Child Health. She also helps train the doctors of the future as an Adjunct Clinical Assistant Professor for the Department of Pediatrics at the UNC School of Medicine.

Civic Service & Service Organizations
Teresa has been active in the North Carolina Pediatric Society's Environmental Health Group, has testified before the US EPA on air quality issues, served as president of the Guilford County Medical Society and the American Lung Association of North Carolina's Piedmont Chapter and has been active in efforts to improve both indoor and outdoor air quality in Guilford County and the Triad. She is a distinguished member of numerous medical and professional associations.

Teresa has lived in Greensboro for over 25 years. She and her husband, Dr. Gustav Blomquist, Jr., are the proud parents of Gus (31), Kerstin (29), and Michael (26). She is an accomplished tennis player and avid hiker and cyclist. She enjoys gardening and recently graduated from the Master Gardener program of the Guilford County Agricultural Extension Agency. Teresa is a member of First Presbyterian Church in Greensboro.

Teresa was born in Nashville, Tennessee in 1948, graduated from Vanderbilt University with a Bachelor of Science degree in 1970 and her Doctor of Medicine degree in 1974.

Insurance Goals

• Decrease auto insurance for younger adults enrolled in school and improve discounts for working families.
• Lower home owners insurance for all the people and strengthen insurance coverages for the people who live in the southeast of the state. Residents should be able to have both their primary residence and vacation homes covered under the same policy.
• Lower insurance rates for anyone that takes a driver refresher or safety class every four years and maintains a safe driving record.
• Create more affordable business insurance for locally based and operated companies. Repeal workmans comp premiums to help insure their affordability factor, which will in turn promote commerce, and keep companies operating and employing the citizens. The insurance industry needs to invest their profits to improve the economy.
• Lower insurance for the family farmer. Encourage agricultural development to promote more jobs for rural areas.
• We need to lower the cost of insurance for all teachers in the state. It will include home, auto, family health care, and life insurance. They are responsible for our children and we need to repay them for insuring our children's future.

Health Care choices in North Carolina

• Insurance companies must encourage all doctors to accept insurance by paying them a customary and usual fee for their services.
• Insurance companies need to stop promoting participation in their companies based on below standard fees. This will only result in lowering quality of health care in this state. People should be able to choose a physician and be properly compensated without increased costs.
• Health insurance companies need to allow college students to be covered under their parents policy for up to 24 months after graduation or until they obtain a full time job. Well being promotes good health, thus lowering health costs. These students are our future and they are in our hands now, we will be in their hands later.
• Free drug care for the elderly of North Carolina is ideal. These people should not have to live their golden years worried about paying for the medications they need to survive. Drug and insurance companies should work together to absorb the cost.

For State Employees

• My goal is to decrease auto and home insurance by 40%.
• For current and retired state employees I plan for free family health care premiums.

 At the age of 46, I have accomplished many of my long-term goals. My family is most important to me and extremely supportive. I am happily married to my wife, Denise and we share 3 wonderful children. Our oldest daughter, Elizabeth, is a Senior at N.C. State University where is she is finishing her undergraduate degree in Economics. Steven is an 8th grader at Centennial Campus Middle and Brian is a fifth grader at Fuquay-Varina Elementary.

I have been a resident of North Carolina for more than 31 years and am proud to call this great state my home. My family lives in Fuquay-Varina, a growing town in southern Wake County. I served on the Board of Directors for the Fuquay-Varina Fire Department for 2 years and worked hard to make sure that firefighters were well equipped.

Currently, I am the owner of Cary Towing and Carolina Towing and with my wife in 1998 started Cary Auto Body Specialists. Our business has prospered in the past few years and daily we deal with auto insurance companies, which is why I am well aware of the high insurance premiums and determined to help customers.

If you are interested in knowing more about me or my goals as Insurance Commissioner, please Email me at [e-mail] or call me at 919-552-2533.

Prof. Munger received his Ph.D. in Economics at Washington University in St. Louis in 1984. Following his graduate training, he worked as a staff economist at the Federal Trade Commission in the first Reagan Administration. His first teaching job was in the Economics Department at Dartmouth College, followed by appointments in the Political Science Department at the University of Texas (Austin, 1986-1990) and the University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill, 1990-7). At UNC, he served as Director of the Master of Public Administration Program, training city and county managers. He moved to Duke in 1997, and was promoted to Full Professor in 2000. He also became chair of the Political Science Department in 2000, and still serves in that post. Mike also has joint appointments in the Economics and Public Policy departments at Duke.

Prof. Munger's academic research has focused on Presidential - Congressional conflict, campaign finance, and regulation of markets. In addition to more than 80 articles and papers published in professional journals and edited volumes, Prof. Munger has coauthored or coedited (with Melvin Hinich) three books, Ideology and the Theory of Political Choice (University of Michigan Press, 1994), Analytical Politics (Cambridge University Press, 1997), and Empirical Studies in Comparative Politics (Kluwer Academic Press, 1998). His fourth and most recent book, Analyzing Policy: Choices, Conflicts, and Practices, was published in August 2000 by W.W. Norton. Current research interests include the evolution of the ideology of racism in the antebellum South, ballot access reform, and a study of how human subjects playing a computer simulation choose platforms in virtual "elections."

He blogs at Kids Prefer Cheese (link: http://mungowitzend.blogspot.com). Mike is married to Donna Gingerella, an attorney for the U.S. Treasury Department.

Senior Policy Analyst

Amy Watson joins the Independent Women's Forum as a senior policy analyst focusing on legal and legal reform issues.  She is currently responsible for the new Mothers for Education using Sound Science project.

Prior to joining IWF, Amy participated in the Charles G. Koch Associate Program where she worked with the Civil Justice Reform Group, a national organization founded by corporate general counsel to address civil justice reform efforts at the state level.  She has also worked for the American Legislative Exchange Council.

Before moving to Washington, DC, Amy began her career working alongside several influential members of the Georgia General Assembly.  During this time she participated in the passage of a number of substantive pieces of legislation, and served in various roles on several Congressional and state legislative campaigns. 

Amy holds a Juris Doctor degree from Georgia State University College, a Master of Public Administration degree from Georgia College & State University and a Bachelor of Science degree in political science also from Georgia College & State University.