Politics

PEP lobbyist: McGrady last in GOP in business survey

Larry Rogers hosts a political forum at the Chariot.

By Bill Moss, Published: April 26, 2012

During a local campaign forum PEP executive Larry Rogers told business leaders that state Rep. Chuck McGrady "ranked last of the Republicans relative to the business community."

"I wanted you guys to know that," Rogers said at the event, attended by some but not all the candidates in the May 8 District 2 and District 5 Republican primaries. No Democrat is running for either seat.

McGrady, who was in Raleigh for an environmental committee meeting and unable to attend, said in an interview that he had seen his ranking in three business surveys. "In two out of three I think I got pretty good ratings," he said, "although I'm sort of the least conservative of House Republicans."

The forum was attended by members of the Partners for Economic Prosperity, a local pro-business organization that keeps tabs on government regulation, taxes and land-use planning issues.

McGrady, a lawyer, former Green River summer camp owner and past national chairman of the Sierra Club, said he did not do so well in conservation surveys either. "I got a mid-range in one and failing from the other but I was the best of the failing Republicans," he said.

The first-term House member said some of the votes that are ranked as anti-business are the pro-business stand here. On immigration-labor issues, he received a low ranking from statewide organizations but voted in a way that supports Henderson County apple growers and wholesale nursery suppliers, he said.

"I have a balanced and appropriately independent voting record reflecting my district I think," he said.