A special Week-Day Joe: Balkcom's Legislative 'Resume'
We've looked at Jennifer Balkcom's decisions and overarching support for the majority GOP in Raleigh that hurt Democrats, Republicans and UNAs in Henderson County. Her decisions on behalf of only a part of Henderson County would be greatly amplified if she is elected to represent NC 11.
> Balkcom voted lockstep with GOP state colleagues for private school vouchers at the expense of public schools. North Carolina is now ranked 50th in the nation in public per-student spending and 46th in average teacher pay.
> Public school students in Henderson County, which Balkcom represented, number 93% to 94% of the total (more than 12,600 students), while private school students account for 6% to 8 %, around 1265 students. Private school families receive vouchers whether they need them or not. In fact, 90% of families statewide getting vouchers already have their kids in private school. Vouchers lessen the cost of school but do not make private education available to more students.
> Between the defunct Leandro decision, NC public school defunding, and the fact that 15 to 17% of our county and state kids live under the federal poverty line, Balkcom's allegiance is clearly with the financial elite.
> In 2023 she voted against Medicaid expansion for as many as 690,000 uninsured North Carolinians, 230,000 of them rural. Her rationale: working able bodied people without kids shouldn't get Medicaid, even if coverage gaps and low family incomes preclude private insurance coverage.
> Balkcom also voted to strip local zoning control (down zoning) from North Carolina counties, including Henderson. Our local commissioners seek to retain local zoning control because they understand firsthand our development and environmental needs. This favors developers over the general needs of local communities.
> Balkcom has voted to deny open discussions in schools on racism and gender identity.
> She co-sponsored a bill allowing NC residents to carry concealed handguns without permits.
> She mismanaged an expected $12+ million NCGA budget item to build a water/sewage line out to Edneyville whose elementary school was being targeted for closure due to a failing sewage system. Raleigh legislators moved the promised funds to the Etowah water/sewage project (also a failing system). Meanwhile, Henderson County Commissioners were furious because Balkcom neither protected the Edneyville funding nor informed them about the transfer. Commissioners had to read about it in a state budget.
> She voted in favor of the Constitutional Amendments on the ballot. Both Amendments will do serious long-term damage to the financial viability to North Carolina. (For reference look at a similar deletion of revenue raising capability in Kansas in 2012. The Kansas legislature and Kansas citizens reversed the measure in 2017 when it became apparent the state was moving rapidly toward insolvency.)
Balkcom's views place her as a very conservative person. See Voter Guide Profile for NC State Rep., District 117 candidate - Jennifer Capps Balkcom
Some of her comments from that website:
"Abortion is never medically necessary: there is never a situation in the law or in the ethical practice of medicine where a pre-born child’s life need be destroyed by intentional abortion, including for the purpose of saving the life of the mother. A physician must do everything possible to save the lives of both of his patients, both the mother and the child. I believe that it is important to distinguish between direct, intentional abortion and a legitimate treatment for a medical condition."
"I am not in favor of raising the minimum wage at the present time."
She supports eliminating the U.S. Department of Education.
She strongly agrees that marriage is a God-ordained, sacred and legal union of one man and one woman. No government has the authority to alter this definition.
She strongly disagrees that man-made climate change is a global threat and requires urgent political action.
Respectfully,
Joe Elliott
Carolann Connor
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