Name: J. Russell Capps
Party: Republican
Occupation: Former House Member, Worked for Dept. of Crime Control and Public Safety
Years in District: 25 years
Endorsements: Wake County Taxpayer’s Association
Amendment 1: For
What do you think is the central issue for this election?
The economy is everybody’s concern and we’ve got to do something about that real quickly. We need to be able to have more jobs, more income, less taxes, less government regulation in order to do that. We need to take a strong look at our budget and figure out where we can cut spending. We need to look at our regulatory requirements that are on jobs and businesses and make sure that we do something about cutting some of the burdensome regulations that are stifling the business industry.
What are the specific issues facing your district?
The same as they are all over the state. They are the same concerns. The district is partly inside the beltline in Raleigh and partly outside in what we call a suburban area. The concerns and issues of people here are the same they are in area like it.
Why do you think people should elect you?
Let me just say this: I’m not running against anybody. I’m running because I have a passion for the things I believe in and the values that I stand for. My experience in the past as a state legislator and my work experience in the past and my lifelong work in the trenches on the issues I believe in make me a good candidate for this post.
I believe in the reasonable expenditure of our tax dollars. I believe in not wasteful spending. I believe in spending our dollars wisely. I believe in the values and principles that have made America great. I stand for those principles very strongly. I’m afraid a lot of those things are being eroded today. There’s an effort to take God out of public life. I’m opposed to that. We need the values and principles that were founded in our documents and they were based on Judeo-Christian principles. And we’re getting so far away from those basic principles and values that were established in our constitution that we just need to turn back to what the Constitution says and abide by it.
What do you think are the biggest accomplishments and the biggest failures of the North Carolina House of Representatives during the past two years?
I think the last session of the House did well to balance the budget. They had some tough decisions to make. We’ve had a lot of extra spending in the past and people continue to expect us to be able to do that and we can’t afford it. It was necessary to make some cuts in spending and that’s always hard to deal with. I think the current session of the House has done that and I want to continue to help them find ways to cut wasteful spending and to use the tax dollars we have wisely on the things that are essential and much needed.
What is your guilty pleasure?
What’s my hobby? I like camping, family camping. Ever since my children were small we’ve been camping and we still do that. We like Myrtle Beach, and we like a place near Cherokee in the Smoky Mountains.
