VOLUME 112, ISSUE 50
Budget negotiatons enter third week
RESEARCH CENTERS HOLD UP
FINAL VERSION OF $15.88 PLAN
BY CHRIS COLETTA
STATE & NATIONAL EDITOR
RALEIGH - The N.C. General
Assembly continued work early this
week on finalizing a state spending
plan, and leading executives said a
compromise could be only a few
days away.
Amid a flurry of last-minute
activity, including votes TViesday
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DTH PHOTOS/GILLIAN BOLSOVER
Homegrown Democraitc vice presidential candidate John Edwards, now running alongside John Kerry, attracted a 15,000-strong crowd to N.C. State University's campus.
Saturday's visit to North Carolina was the finale of the pair's four-day whirlwind tour, which touched six states considered pivotal in November's race for the presidency.
NEWLY MINTED TICKET
HITS TAR HEEL STATE
BY MARK PUENTE
STAFF WRITER
RALEIGH With Chuck Berry’s
“Johnny B Goode” blasting through
loudspeakers, an estimated 15,000 North
Carolinians braved the sweltering heat
Saturday to welcome one of their own.
A loud, partisan crowd arrived to
pledge their support to John Edwards,
North Carolina’s senior senator, at a rally
at N.C. State University —and to Sen.
John Kerry, the presumptive Democratic
presidential nominee, who named
Edwards as his running mate July 6.
Waving red, white and blue “Kerry-
Edwards” placards, the crowd helped cap
off the duo’s “Real Deal” campaign, a four
day swing through battleground states
deemed pivotal to November’s election.
Edwards’ impact on races remains uncertain
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DTH/GILLIAN BOLSOVER
Democratic Senate candidate Erskine Bowles (center) waves to the crowd at a rally
Saturday, flanked by former North Carolina men's basketball coach Dean Smith (left).
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in the House on high-profile bills
dealing with video poker and the
start of the K-12 school year, top
conferees from the House and
Senate worked to resolve their
last remaining differences on a
$15.8 billion budget before next
Tuesday’s primaries.
“We very much would like to
finish all of this this week,” said
While introducing Kerry to N.C. voters,
Edwards said his Massachusetts cohort
shares many similarities with Tar Heels.
“His values are the same as ours. He
believes in faith, responsibility and oppor
tunity for everybody, not just a few privi
leged people at the top,” Edwards said.
The only thing more popular than the
featured guests was the bottled water dis
tributed to the crowd, as thousands stood
for hours before the start of the rally in
the 90-degree weather.
But Terri Rowland of Durham said
she did not mind standing in the heat for
five hours with a sprained ankle because
she came away impressed with Kerry and
Edwards’ message. “It’s a monumental
event for North Carolina,” she said. “It
is a renaissance at the same time, and
WEEKLY SUMMER ISSUE
www.dailytarheel.com
House Co-speaker Jim Black, D-
Mecklenburg, after his chamber
adjourned 'lbesday.
Black, along with Co-speaker
Richard Morgan, a Moore County
Republican, and Senate President
Pro Tem Marc Basnight, D-Dare,
met with conferees Tuesday
morning in an attempt to aid the
process.
“We listened to them debate a
little bit,” Black said.
“It was quite helpful to me to
get to know why they differ on the
issues.”
Senator Edwards has it.”
Edwards’ visit was particularly
unusual because there has not been a
North Carolinian on a major-party tick
et in modem times. Moreover, Kerry and
Edwards will attempt to be the first two
sitting senators to win the White House
since John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B.
Johnson in 1960.
Kerry made it a point to touch on indus
tries, such as tobacco and textiles, that are
important to N.C. voters, and said farmers
deserve an actual tobacco buyout
Tobacco farmers in the state work on
a quota system that has not been altered
in decades.
“Workers we’ve met are actually telling
SEE EDWARDS, PAGE 4
Statewide, national races could be swayed
BY ALEX GRANADOS
STAFF WRITER
While November’s Senate and guberna
torial campaigns in North Carolina might
benefit from John Edwards’ placement on
the Democratic presidential ticket, aspir
ing commander in chief John Kerry could
miss the fruits of Edwards’ labors.
Thomas Schaller, professor of politi
cal science at the University of Maryland-
Baltimore, said that Kerry’s prospects for
wooing N.C. voters are doubtful but that
some Democrats contending in other
statewide races might capitalize on
Edwards’ popularity.
“I don’t know that Edwards helps
Kerry carry North Carolina, but he does
help (Senate candidate Erskine) Bowles
EE
But ultimately, what came out of
that meeting was a commitment to
more meetings.
“They’re going to meet again
(Wednesday) and keep talking,” said
Basnight spokeswoman Amy Fulk.
Among the issues still up in the
air are funding for capital projects,
including some at state schools in
the "Wad, and a few million dollars
in the health and human services
budget.
But perhaps the biggest roadblock
is deciding how to allot money for
anywhere from two to five research
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more.”
Schaller said there is a little-known
divide between the state’s conservative
views in national races and its voters’ more
even-handed choices in state elections.
Just take North Carolina’s Senate
races as an example. The state is now
served by a Democrat, Edwards, and
Republican Elizabeth Dole. Before
Edwards, Republican Lauch Faircloth
held the seat.
So Bowles and incumbent Gov. Mike
Easley are poised to gain from Edwards’
executive foray.
“We think it is going to help Democrats
all the way down the ballot,” said Schorr
SEE POLITICS, PAGE 4
INSIDE
RACE FOR THE PRIZE
Get to know candidates for local and statewide races
ahead of the primary, to take place this Tuesday. PAGE 5
centers on UNC-system campuses.
The Senate’s proposal allots
SIBO million to a cancer center at
UNC-Chapel Hill and S6O mil
lion to a heart and stroke center
at East Carolina University. It also
gives $lO million each to various
medical projects at UNC-Charlotte,
Elizabeth City State University and
UNC-Asheville.
The House, led by Black, called
for giving the same amounts to the
UNC-CH and ECU centers but
allotted S9B million in total for the
three remaining plans.
Board
rejects
private
funding
BOG OKs proposals
for top leaders'salaries
BY CHRIS COLETTA
STATE & NATIONAL EDITOR
Some upper-level executives in the UNC
system would see salary hikes under a plan
passed by the system’s Board of Governors
on Friday, but leaders won’t be able to use
private funds to sweeten the deals.
Under the plan, chancellors at the system’s
16 universities, as well as President Molly
Broad and her staff, would get a minimum
salary equal to the 25th percentile of a range
determined by examining the pay of officials
elsewhere with similar jobs.
The board also voted not to change its
policy on the private funding of chancellors’
salaries. That practice has been banned since
1997, after the board flirted with it in the
early ’9os but finally decided that it invites
too much outside influence on the affairs of
a university.
BOG Chairman Brad Wilson echoed those
sentiments Friday. “This motion is simply an
affirmation of what’s already on the books,”
he said.
But the board’s decisions come at a time
when the pay of upper-level administrators
has entered the public eye.
In particular, the issue of using private
funds came up when some leaders at N.C.
State University asked the board to consider
it. The school is seeking a replacement for
Chancellor Marye Anne Fox, who is set to
SEE BOG, PAGE 4
Ford tapped
as assistant
for Pistons
BY MICHAEL PUCCI
SPORTS EDITOR
Phil Ford, UNC’s all-time leading scorer
and former assistant coach for 12 seasons,
accepted Larry Brown’s offer to assist him in
coaching the NBA champion Detroit Pistons
Thesday.
As of press time, Ford
had not yet signed a con
tract, but had committed
to Brown over the phone.
Ford’s arrival to Detroit
bolsters the team’s strong
Carolina ties including
Brown, he joins former
UNC players and coaches
Dave Hanners and Pat
Sullivan, whom Ford has
kept in constant contact
with through the years.
“This was a difficult
decision to make,” he said. “I love what I do
n0w.... My family’s here, this is the only place
my kids have known. But I want to coach,
and it’s something that’s in my blood.”
For the last four years; Ford was a vice
president in the Rams Club, helping to raise
funds for the club’s Educational Foundation,
and for two seasons he broadcasted games
alongside Woody Durham and Mick Mixon
on the Tar Heel Sports Network.
“I really enjoyed working with Phil,” said
John Montgomery, the foundation’s execu
tive director. “Asa fund rasier, he did an
oustanding job. Our donors and alumni
responded well to him.”
SEE FORD, PAGE 4
WEATHER
TODAY Sunny, High 88, Low 63 iLjf
FRIDAY Sunny, High 89, Low 63 "
SATURDAY Partly Cloudy, High 88, Low 66
THURSDAY, JULY 15, 2004
And Gov. Mike Easley has
stepped into the picture, telling
lawmakers he doesn’t want them
to allot more than $3lO million
for fear of putting North Carolina’s
bond rating in jeopardy.
“There are limits to how much
more debt we can assume with
existing revenue streams,” Easley
wrote in a June 24 letter.
Technically, a compromise bill
won’t be part of the budget, but it
would help break the three-week
SEE BUDGET, PAGE 4
UNC legend
Phil Ford
was a mentor
to the Tar Heels'
basketball team.