Humility and modesty may be a politician’s strongest attributes. Unfortunately, not many of them possess much of either. More often, we see strutting and self-aggrandizement that may carry political capital within the bubble of the political establishment but has the effect of turning off the people they are elected to represent.
Watching the General Assembly is a case in point. Senate President Pro-tem Phil Berger has emerged as the thoughtful politician who doesn’t shy from the spotlight but doesn’t court it, either. House Speaker Thom Tillis is the guy who is always running for something and frequently wading into petty politics while his caucus runs wild.
Berger obviously learned a lot during his time under former President Pro-tem Marc Basnight. Basnight led the Senate for 18 years. He was arguably the most powerful person in the state for the last decade of his tenure but on weekends you could find him wiping tables in his Manteo restaurant. His members respected him because, in caucus at least, everybody had a say. When he didn’t agree, his support or opposition could kill an idea before it ever left a caucus meeting, but he gave members the opportunity to make their cases. He was a classic business friendly Democrat but held the respect of members across the ideological spectrum.
Like Basnight, Berger doesn’t seem to court the press too often but is accessible enough that the capitol press corp doesn’t gripe about feeling shut out. He also handles his caucus well. When Bob Rucho throws a temper tantrum because he doesn’t get his way, Berger knows how to handle him without the situation escalating.
Finally, Berger is serious about the job he has instead of focusing on what he’s going to do next. He believes in the power of the free market and limited government and the legislation coming out of his chamber reflects that commitment. His original plan to pay for teacher salaries increases through draconian cuts to other parts of the education budget showed his belief in hard choices. He was, and is, wrong, but at least he’s honest.
Tillis, on the other hand, leads by ambition. Granted, it’s harder to hold a caucus of 77 than to hold one of 33, but Tillis doesn’t appear to have firm control. Members speak out of turn and undermine their own leadership. Instead, he’s too busy running for office to exert any sort of discipline.
Tillis pops up on twitter with nonsensical tweets aimed at his Senate opponent, Kay Hagan. A better candidate would see how that diminishes his credibility, but not Tillis.
In contrast to Berger’s budget plans, Tillis is using gimmicks. He’s trying to pay for state government through lottery proceeds. He knows any more cuts could be detrimental to his Senate campaign so he’s putting his political career ahead of sound fiscal policies.
Phil Berger may be a free market true believer but he seems to have an innate sense of how the public perceives politics and politicians. Thom Tillis, however, seems to think people view politics through same highly charged lens as the partisan political activists and insiders who make up the political establishment. He engages in the tit-for-tat that has left people cynical about the process and dissatisfied with their government. My guess is that in a few years, we’ll still be dealing with Phil Berger while Thom Tillis will be just another lobbyist who traded a failed political career for a bunch of cash.
Thomas Mills is the founder and publisher of PoliticsNC.com. Before beginning PoliticsNC, Thomas spent twenty years as a political and public affairs consultant. Learn more >
I agree that Thom Tillis seems woefully unprepared for state office (let alone stride onto the national stage as NC’s US senator!)
But if Berger is the epitome of thoughtful politician, God help North Carolina! He was dishonest in how he launched his last “teacher raise” – bragging about the raise, then letting people weed through the details to discover it was linked to abolishing tenure. We’ll see what he’s slashing in this new budget of his. Nice job of the NC Senate to walk out instead of listening to school superintendents today. Excellent leadership on Berger’s part, but only if he’s not interested in solving the education crisis.
Perhaps voters of NC no longer care about education. If so, we’ll see a big victory for NCGOP, Tillis, etc. in November. I am one parent who hopes the NCGOP loses big this fall. Their policies are destructive to all but the wealthy. Not a good way to grow the state economy…
Thomas: Article reads: “Humility and modesty may be a politician’s strongest attributes. Unfortunately, too many of them possess much of either.”
Should it have read instead “Unfortunately, too many of them DON’T possess much of either.” or “Unfortunately, NOT many of them possess much of either”?
Thanks, Mick. I fixed it. I was running fast this morning.