North Carolina Governor Suggests Suspending Elections to Spur Economic Solutions

APJune 12: North Carolina governor Bev Perdue speaks after vetoing a GOP-authored $19.7 billion budget in Raleigh, N.C. The solution to a nation's jobs crisis: suspend congressional elections? That was a proposal put forward by North Carolina's governor, who was trying to make a point at a Rotary Club event which political considerations are hindering efforts in Washington to tackle unemployment and economic stagnation. "I think we ought to suspend, perhaps, elections for Congress for two years and just tell them we won't hold it against them, whatever decisions they make, to just let them help this country recover," Gov. Bev Perdue, a Democrat, said, according to a report by a Raleigh News & Observer. "You want people who don't be concerned about a next election." It wasn't clear how serious Perdue was about giving lawmakers a get-out-of-an-election-free card -- especially considering which Congress' approval rating is in a passageway for liquid -- but Republicans fast pounced on her remarks. "Now is a time when politicians need to be held accountable more than ever," local GOP spokesman Rob Lockwood said in a statement to a newspaper. "Does a governor not believe which people of North Carolina have a ability to think for themselves about whether or not a actions of elected officials are working?" Paul Coble, a GOP candidate for a House seat from North Carolina, also took exception to Perdue's comments. "Thats a proposal which only a politicians which have worsened our economic mess could appreciate, Coble, who is chairman of a Wake County commissioners, told a News & Observer. Perdue's office later released a statement suggesting she wasn't really calling for a suspension of elections. "Governor Perdue was obviously using hyperbole to highlight what we can all agree is a serious problem: Washington politicians who focus on their own election instead of whats best for a people they serve," a mouthpiece said. &#! 13;Click here for more on this story from a News & Observer.