GREENVILLE, N.C. — Bill Faison played the maverick's role last fall by scrutinizing what he called fellow Democratic Gov. Beverly Perdue's inactivity about high unemployment and spending cuts by the Republican-led Legislature and by promoting his own jobs plan.
The Orange County state House member traveled like a statewide candidate, speaking to Democratic groups and their allies. While the medical malpractice attorney said he wouldn't run for governor unless Perdue stepped aside, he also predicted publicly she would quit the race.
Faison's forecast came true Jan. 26 when Perdue announced she wouldn't seek re-election. He got in the race two days later. He said people are hyping his ability to push Perdue out.
"No one would be able to force someone out of a race like a sitting governor," Faison said in an interview, adding that going around the state to talk about putting people back to work "is something that ought to be above reproach."
The 65-year-old Faison is now keeping to the same format he used as a quasi-candidate, hoping personal interaction with voters will reap electoral rewards. He was willing to spend two hours in Greenville at the end of a long day of campaigning to meet a combined 25 Democrats.
As one of six hopefuls for the Democratic nomination, Faison now has new predictions: That his performance in April televised debates will separate him from his leading rivals, Lt. Gov. Walter Dalton and former U.S. Rep. Bob Etheridge; and that the electorate will gravitate toward him in the May 8 primary and in November against the presumptive Republican nominee.
"With your help, I'll go beat Pat McCrory this fall," Faison told 10 people at the organizational meeting of the Pitt County Young Democrats at a downtown Greenville bistro. "I don't think it'll be a huge beating, but I'll beat him."
Faison doesn't lack confidence or personal wealth. His campaign had more than $500,000 as of Dec. 31, almost all of it in the form of his personal loans. He's already run a commercial on television. More personal funds likely are needed if he wants to make a TV ad splash in the primary campaign's final weeks.
Faison is keeping the jobs plan he's promoted since September the anchor of his gubernatorial campaign.
The proposal would increase the sales tax most consumers pay from 6.75 percent to 7.45 percent, the proceeds of which would restore state and local school jobs Faison said the Republicans helped eliminate in the current year's budget. The money, he said, also would prevent 30,000 jobs in the state from being eliminated due to Medicaid spending reductions.
Etheridge and Dalton support Perdue's expected budget proposal to raise the sales tax to 7.5 percent to restore education cuts. Faison insists no one has generated a specific plan like his, which includes narrowing corporate tax breaks, giving more small businesses breaks and encouraging job creation through technology patents developed within the University of North Carolina system.
Faison also opposes a natural gas exploration method the Legislature will discuss this year called hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking." Dalton, Etheridge and McCrory are more favorable to the process.
Combined with the jobs plan, Faison said, "those are very two clear distinctions between my opponents and me."
Faison is seeking to win over social liberals and populists within the state Democratic Party, said Brad Crone, a consultant who worked for Faison's legislative campaigns but is under contract to none of the gubernatorial candidates this year. Crone said the problem is that Dalton and Etheridge are winning supporters in those two areas, too.
"He's trying to differentiate himself, but the question is, will he break through?" Crone asked. Democratic insiders are unhappy with Faison because they believe he sought to drive a wedge in the party for months, according to Crone.
"He was the proverbial burr in Gov. Perdue's saddle," Crone said.
Faison, who grew up in rural Wake County, was student body president at Raleigh's Enloe High School and served in the student Legislature at UNC-Chapel Hill. For "a long, long time he's wanted to be governor of this state," said cousin Ed Tart, whose youths involved hunting, fishing, driving hot rods and planting tobacco together.
Faison faced tragedy on the way to success in the law and politics. His parents were killed and a sister seriously injured in 1972 when a drunken driver struck the family car on a Columbus County road. It left Faison having to care for his siblings and his own young family while grieving.
"Bill had the responsibility of dealing with a double funeral," Tart said, adding that with his parents gone, Faison "didn't have a crutch to lean on."
Faison, who has six children and is twice divorced, is still in litigation with his second wife, Lindy. She filed a 2010 complaint seeking financial support and alimony. Her complaint and his response include competing accusations of marital infidelity and emotional maltreatment of each other. Faison's response said the couple had a premarital agreement. Lindy Faison's attorney didn't return a phone call seeking comment.
Bill Faison, who in court documents denied having an affair and other allegations, said recently he's had to make difficult choices on behalf of his children: "We are together and moving forward to do the right thing, and ultimately the truth is the thing that's going to win out, no matter what's said by who, where or how."
The litigation or his relationship with state Democrats didn't come up as Faison wrapped up his Greenville stops speaking to the Pitt County Democratic Party's African-American Caucus. Retired schoolteacher Veronica Roberson said she was impressed with Faison but was undecided about her choice for governor.
"He had some good ideas and everything," said Roberson, 59, a Winterville town councilwoman. "And it was good to meet him and just listen, let him share his ideas."
Online:
Bill Faison for NC Governor: http://www.billfaison.com