Chuck Stires challenges Doug Berger’s claim of “leadership” on the Butner biolab

 

Youngsville, August 1, 2008:

“It is no surprise that after witnessing the citizen opposition at the public meeting in Granville County that Doug Berger checked the political breeze and flip-flopped on his longstanding, but misguided, support of the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility (NBAF),” said Chuck Stires, candidate for the NC senate representing Granville, Vance, Warren, and Franklin Counties. “What is surprising is the gall in his statement that he has to ‘provide leadership’ on the issue. On this issue, Doug Berger has shown us ‘following’ and ‘pandering’, not leading.”

“Doug Berger enthusiastically endorsed and supported the NBAF. He bragged about the bipartisanship of his position in that he sided with notable statewide and federal Republicans,” Stires continued. “If anyone was showing leadership on this issue it was me. I stood in opposition to the NBAF very early in the debate. I stood in opposition to high-level elected Republicans. All Doug Berger did was go with the flow of his own party, and those Republicans who supported the NBAF.  How can that possibly be considered ‘leadership’? Candidly, it’s laughable.”

Many months ago, early in the discussion of the NBAF, Chuck Stires defied every area elected state and federal official in his opposition to bringing the NBAF to Granville County.  His vision of the long term economic realities of the NBAF’s impact on Granville County and the wider region demonstrated the common sense, business background insight Chuck Stires will bring to the NC Senate.

“My opponent saw only the initial short-term economic spike the county would see because he has no business experience. He could not see that the jobs the NBAF would create would not offset the larger negative impact on the community,” Stires continued. “This is a county which already houses prisons, mental hospital facilities, a military base, landfills and other public facilities that have an impact on the residential and commercial growth Granville County desperately needs and deserves as a county that neighbors and supports a larger metro area.

“Doug Berger’s flip-flop on the NBAF is not ‘leadership’, it’s opportunistic,” Stires said. “He obviously read my press release of July 28 which reaffirmed my longstanding opposition to the NBAF and he witnessed the citizen opposition at a public meeting the next evening.

“My opponent, who ordinarily ignores citizen priorities on a wide variety of critical issues realized, after sticking out his finger to check the political breeze, that he made a mistake. A ‘leader’ would have seen the impact of the NBAF a long time ago. A real ‘leader’ would not have ‘gone along to get along’ with other elected officials in an effort to garner favor. A real ‘leader’ has the vision to recognize the long term implications of his or her decisions. A real ‘leader’ stands on principles, not opinion polls. A real ‘leader’ follows those principles, not the political winds.”

www.StiresforSenate.com

 

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