Amendment One Opposition Takes to the Sky

On Monday Chad Adams joined a contingent of officials opposed to Amendment One for a whirlwind airplane tour of North Carolina, holding press conferences in multiple locations to explain the negative consequences of tax increment financing (Amendment One). In Wilmington, Adams was interviewed by the Wilmington Star. “This is a big business corporate welfare endeavor,” he told the paper. Adams noted that the nation’s top 10 most impoverished cities use TIFs, refuting supporters’ claim that using TIFs creates prosperity. Two TV stations also covered the conference. The group then flew to Charlotte and Asheville, where Adams appeared on “The Matt Mittan Show” on WWNC. Next stop was Greensboro, where two TV stations reported on the group. Adams then drove to Alamance County for a speech to the local CSE chapter, where Sen. Hugh Webster expressed his opposition to A-1. Adams also reports that two county commissioners who had voted to support A-1 changed their position. The two said the NC Association of County Commissioners misled them. And that was just Monday. On Tuesday, Adams drove to Wilmington for a speech in conjunction with Americans for Prosperity. A local TV station covered his remarks. Later in the week, JLF released results of the Agenda 2004 statewide poll, which revealed, among other things, that 70 percent of respondents oppose Amendment One, while only 22 percent favor it. The poll of 600 likely voters was conducted Oct. 18-20 and has a margin of error of plus/minus 4 points.