Dalton makes campaign stop in Albemarle

By Jim Lisk, Editor

Sunday, February 17, 2008 February 17, 2008 01:24 pm

— Lieutenant Governor candidate Walter Dalton, a 10-year member of the N.C. Senate from Rutherford County, came to Albemarle Wednesday night and met with Democrats from Stanly and Montgomery counties.
Dalton’s wife, Lucille, a former school board chairman and recognized as the state’s most outstanding school board member, was by his side.
Also on hand to show their support for Dalton’s candidacy were Democratic leaders from across the state, including former N.C. Lt. Gov. Bob Jordan, N.C. Sen. Bill Purcell and former N.C. Sen. Aaron Plyler.
Dalton was introduced to the gathering by Jordan, who described Dalton as “one of us.”
“He’s been involved in our world and seldom have we had anyone that has prepared himself so well for lieutenant governor,” Jordan said.
“A lot of people have been trying to get Walter Dalton to run for a long time. The timing is right and now is his time.”
After 30 years of practicing law, Dalton was elected to the N.C. Senate in 1996. He co-chaired the education committee for four years and for the last five years has co-chaired the appropriations committee.
“For the last five years, I’ve had the opportunity to get to know the entire state and I’ve learned a couple of things. Our citizens don’t want to hear petty politics, they want someone who will work as hard as they can on the real issues that we face,” Dalton said.
Dalton spoke to his work on the education committee that reduced class size and was involved with Smart Start.
“On our nation’s report card, North Carolina leads the Southeast on math scores of our fourth- and eighth-graders and North Carolina is making more improvement on SAT scores than any other state,” Dalton said.
As for healthcare, Dalton spoke of efforts that began 11 years ago to provide uninsured children with health insurance and that today more than 100,000 additional children are covered.
“When the federal government didn’t step up, North Carolina stepped up,” Dalton said.
Speaking to the economy, Dalton praised the foresight of North Carolina legislators over the past decade.
“While international trade policy was sending our jobs overseas, South Carolina laid off teachers and Virginia decimated its college system,” he said.
“But in North Carolina, we invested in the future through our public school and community college systems.”
Going forward, Dalton said he would work to improve school drop-out rates, vocational training, more technology in the classroom, healthcare and job growth.
“We’ll continue to work with you to make and grow North Carolina into an even better state,” Dalton said.