RALEIGH, N.C.  – Gov. Beverly Perdue made an offer that North Carolina’s top elected officials apparently found hard to refuse.

Perdue urged Council of State members Tuesday to voluntarily accept a pay cut equal to 0.5 percent of their annual salaries as a sign of solidarity with furloughed workers.

Perdue said she didn’t want to see a council member’s name wind up on a Web site somewhere singling them out for keeping their full pay.

The governor ordered pay reductions for most workers last week. State law doesn’t allow Perdue to reduce salaries for current council members and elected judges.

Perdue spokeswoman Chrissy Pearson said all council members and elected judges have agreed to take a pay cut. Several council members already had agreed to do so earlier.

The North Carolina Heroes Fund names Former Governor’s Jim Martin and Jim Hunt as Chairs of its Statewide Advisory Board.  In doing so, both gentlemen join Senator Richard Burr (R ), Congressman Bob Etheridge ( D-NC 2nd), Congressman Walter Jones (R – NC 3rd), Congressman Mike McIntyre (D – NC 7th), Congresswoman Sue Myrick (R- NC 9th) and the Honorable Robin Hayes in showing bipartisan support for North Carolina’s Military men and women.

The North Carolina Heroes Fund is a 501 ( C) (3) charitable organization dedicated to serving North Carolina’s military men and women who have served our county in harms way.  The Fund’s focus is on North Carolina’s men and women and their families who are currently serving or have recently served in the United States Armed Forces and are enduring hardships.  In addition to hardship grants, the North Carolina Heroes Fund is assisting the dependents of North Carolina’s military families with continued education expenses.

Governor James “Jim” G. Martin served as North Carolina’s Governor for two terms from 1985-1993.  Prior to serving as North Carolina’s 70th Governor, Martin served six terms as a member of U.S. Congress for the 9th District in North Carolina. He was a member of the House Ways and Means Committee for 10 years and chaired the House Republican Research Committee.  During his time in Congress, he became the first elected official to receive the Charles Lathrop Parsons Award, which is given by the American Chemical Society for outstanding public service by an American chemist.

Governor Martin is currently employed with McGuire Woods Consulting as a Senior Advisor, specializing in State and Federal Government Relations.  He is lending his expertise as part of the North Carolina government relations practice, and assists clients with legislative strategies, business initiatives and health care related matters.

Governor Martin was employed as a Corporate Vice President of Carolinas HealthCare System in Charlotte (1993-2008). In that capacity he was responsible for heading the System’s research and federal relations efforts.

Martin began his career as an educator, earning a Ph.D. in chemistry from Princeton University and later teaching chemistry at his alma mater, Davidson College. During that time, he also served for three terms as a Mecklenburg County Commissioner.

Governor James “Jim” B. Hunt  Jim Hunt is a nationally recognized leader in education and has led North Carolina through twenty years of dramatic economic change. Serving a historic four terms as Governor, he has been at the forefront of education reform in his state and in the nation. The Rand Corporation reports that North Carolina public schools improved test scores more than any other state in the 1990s.

He has particularly focused on early childhood development and improving the quality of teaching in America. His Smart Start program is a nonprofit, public-private partnership rooted in each of the state’s one hundred counties providing quality child care, health care, and family support for each child. It is funded primarily by the state but is also supported heavily by private corporations and individuals. Smart Start has been visited and studied by early childhood leaders from all fifty states and many foreign countries. It received the prestigious Innovations in American Government Award from the Ford Foundation and the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

Admitted to the North Carolina Bar in 1966, Governor Hunt currently is a member in the law firm of Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice, PLLC, in Raleigh. He and his wife, Carolyn, live on their beef cattle farm in Eastern North Carolina, located on land that has been in his family since the county was formed. The Hunts raise purebred Simmental beef cattle that have won state bull tests and received both Grand Champion and Reserve Grand Champion designations at the North Carolina State Fair. The Hunts have four children and ten grandchildren.

We are pleased to welcome Governor’s Martin and Hunt to our statewide advisory board.  Governor’s Martin and Hunt bring strong leadership skills and understanding of military issues that will aid in furthering the Fund’s mission.

Governor Jennifer M. Granholm has honored the friendly wager she placed with North Carolina Governor Beverly Perdue on the 2009 NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship that was played at Ford Field in Detroit last Monday.

RALEIGH, N.C. – Senators say former Gov. Bob Scott served North Carolina by promoting civil rights in a turbulent era and by caring about the average person.

The Senate passed a resolution Thursday honoring Scott’s life. He died Jan. 23 at age 79.

Scott served as governor from 1969 to 1973 and lieutenant governor before that. He later served as head of the state community college system.

Sen. Floyd McKissick of Durham County recalled that Scott came to his predominantly black church in the 1960s. McKissick said such a visit could have hurt Scott politically.

Scott was a member of one of North Carolina’s most famous political families. His father, Kerr Scott, also served as governor and U.S. senator. His grandfather and an uncle served in the Legislature.

RALEIGH, N.C. – Democratic National Committee chairman and Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine will speak at the annual spring dinner for North Carolina Democrats.

Kaine will give the keynote address at the Jefferson-Jackson Dinner on May 2 at a Durham hotel. The state Democratic Party announced Kaine’s visit Monday as dinner tickets went on sale.

Kaine served as national co-chairman of Barack Obama’s presidential campaign. Like North Carolina, Virginia’s electoral votes went to the Democratic presidentia candidate for the first time in a generation.

RALEIGH, N.C. – Gov. Bev Perdue said Friday she has accepted a friendly wager from Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire on the outcome of this evening’s NCAA Sweet 16 match up between the UNC Tar Heels and the Gonzaga University Bulldogs.

At stake are North Carolina sweet potatoes to a food bank of Gov. Gregoire’s choice.  Gregoire has countered with Washington-grown potatoes to North Carolina food banks.

“North Carolina is the best team in the nation and I am confident they will advance to the next level of play in the tournament,” Gov. Perdue said.  “While we have the finest sweet potatoes in all of America, North Carolina’s food banks will greatly appreciate some Washington potatoes after a sweet victory in the Sweet 16.”

Washington Gov. Gregoire is equally confident that the Bulldogs will prevail. “In these tough economic times, I look forward to Governor Perdue providing Northwest Harvest food bank with a nutritious and great Southern staple, sweet potatoes,” she said.

UNC, the number one seed in the South, plays fourth seeded Gonzaga tonight in Memphis.  Game tip off time is 9:57 p.m. eastern time.

At a legislative meeting this week, UNC President Erskine Bowles had described as “ludicrous” some of the governor’s budget suggestions. But it’s all smoothed over after a phone conversation, the N&O reports.

RALEIGH, N.C. – Results from the Civitas Institute’s latest poll released today indicates a majority of North Carolinians are certain they know which party controls Congress and the Governor’s office, but only half of the respondents said they are aware of who controls the General Assembly. 

According to the live caller poll of 600 North Carolina voters, 77 percent of respondents correctly identified the Democratic Party as currently controlling Congress. This marks a significant improvement since Civitas last asked an identical question in July 2008, when only 51 percent of voters correctly identified the Democrats as in charge of Congress.

“With the election of a Democratic President, voters’ are more aware as to who is actually running Washington,” said Civitas Institute Executive Director Francis De Luca.  “President Bush’s term in office somehow clouded the picture as to who was in control of Congress. Voters knew Bush was a Republican, so they transferred that knowledge to think Republicans controlled Congress as well.”

Voters’ knowledge of which party controls the N.C. Governor’s office also improved. In July 2008, 61 percent of voters correctly identified the Democrats as controlling the N.C. Governor’s office. This month, 69 percent of voters again correctly identified the Democrats.

“Perhaps now after five consecutive gubernatorial elections won by Democrats, voters are finally coming to know who is in charge in North Carolina,” added De Luca.  “However it is disconcerting when three out of 10 voters cannot say that Democrats are in charge.”

While showing slight improvement since July, voters still are largely unsure as to which party controls the N.C. House and N.C. Senate. Only half of voters (50 percent) correctly said the Democrats were in charge of the N.C. House and Senate. In July 2008, only 49 percent of voters said they thought Democrats controlled the N.C. House and just 40 percent correctly identified the Senate leadership.

“With the electoral sweep Democrats enjoyed last November, an improvement in voters’ knowledge of the party in power should be expected. However, with only half of voters correctly knowing who is in charge of the N.C. General Assembly, that knowledge of federal government control has not trickled down to the state legislative level,” said De Luca.  

Full text of questions:

“Which political party, Democratic or Republican, controls Congress?”

Democratic- 77%

Republican- 9%

Not Sure- 14%

“Which political party, Democratic or Republican, controls the North Carolina Governor’s Office?”

Democratic- 69%

Republican- 12%

Not Sure- 18%

“Which political party, Democratic or Republican, controls the North Carolina Senate?”

Democratic- 50%

Republican-12%

Not Sure- 37%

“Which political party, Democratic or Republican, controls the North Carolina House?”

Democratic- 50%

Republican- 19%

Not Sure- 39%

The study of 600 registered voters was conducted March 16-19, 2009. All respondents were part of a fully representative sample of registered voters in North Carolina. For purposes of this study, voters we interviewed had to have voted in either the 2004, 2006 or 2008 general elections or were newly registered voters since 2008.

The confidence interval associated with a sample of this size is such that: 95 percent of the time, results from 600 interviews (registered voters) will be within +-4% of the “True Values.”  True Values refer to the results obtained if it were possible to interview every person in North Carolina who had voted in either the 2004, 2006 or 2008 general elections or were newly registered voters since 2008.

Former Gov. Mike Easley had made the simple walnut table on a special episode of “The Woodwright’s Shop” in 2007, the N&O reports.