Hunt's rationale for assuming the lieutenant governorship
Hunt discusses his decision to run for lieutenant governor. He argues that this position afforded him the ability to accomplish his primary goal of improving the state's educational system.
Citing this Excerpt
Oral History Interview with James B. Hunt, May 18, 2001. Interview C-0329. Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007) in the Southern Oral History Program Collection, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Full Text of the Excerpt
- JACK FLEER:
-
It was a disappointment to him. You said you explored possibly different
offices, council of state offices, but you did decide on the lieutenant
governorship. Why did you do that?
- JAMES B. HUNT:
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Well the office had been made full-time at a very modest salary I might
add. But I thought it was, it offered potential. I mean what are you in
this business for, to make change and in my case especially to improve
education dramatically. I wasn't running for an office. I was
running to get something done. The lieutenant governor was the president
of the senate, and he was the presiding officer of the senate, appointed
committees, and referred bills. It was a powerful position. When I got
in it, some of the older senators tried to take that power away. They
didn't do it.
- JACK FLEER:
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During your term.
- JAMES B. HUNT:
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Oh yeah.
- JACK FLEER:
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Which they did do of course eventually.
- JAMES B. HUNT:
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Yeah, later on. But yeah I could, I knew I could change things. I could
improve things. I very actively worked at that when I was lieutenant
governor.
- JACK FLEER:
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Now you said you were particularly interested in maybe even motivated by
education and there is a position of superintendent of public
instruction that could have given you maybe or would it have given you
maybe as much of a platform to promote education as the lieutenant
governorship did.
- JAMES B. HUNT:
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That's a very important position I had always associated with
a full-time professional, long term educator which I now realize it
doesn't have to be. We've got an excellent man
there now. But I know I was interested in the policies and the budgets
that come through the legislature, changing education that way. Back in
those days if you want to say what's the number one thing,
you say teacher's salaries. I now know it's a lot
more complex than that. It's standards and salary and student
standards and accountability for the system and all the things I talked
about—