Will the Marriage Amendment create jobs?

GREENVILLE, N.C. - Republicans took over the General Assembly 100 days ago, running on a platform of "jobs, jobs, jobs" for the most part.

So how have they done?

One of the four most controversial actions includes the most recent. They want you and me to vote on a Marriage Amendment to the State Constitution that would ban gay marriage.

One of our facebook friends Christy Kantor had this to say, “Why are they wasting precious time and money on an amendment to ban gay marriage when it is already illegal in our state?  Our economy and employment should be their top priority!"

So is the legislature wasting its time on a move that doesn't create jobs?

"We spent 98 percent of our time on the economy, employment and education." State House Majority Leader Paul Stam says the new majority has worked hard to accomplish 7 of the 9 goals it set for itself in the first 100 days. "What I would say is the actions that we have taken will either create jobs or prevent us losing more jobs relative to the national economy."

Ok. So what about one of the center pieces of the session? That Constitutional Marriage Amendment you and I will vote on in May.

"The best situation the social scientist tells us is for a man and woman to bring up children, and that's important for the economy as well as the children,” said Stam. I asked, "How does that help the economy?" "All the studies show that children brought up in that circumstances are better off financially, they are better off emotionally, they are better off academically, and this is important to the long run status of the economy,”

"That goes against everything we known in research." Dr.  Paige Averett with the Department of Social Work at ECU should know. She says her studies and 30 others say they same thing. "Gay and lesbian parents do as good a job as heterosexual parents in parenting and their children have as good outcomes as children of heterosexual parents and they actually better in some instances. Gay and lesbian do a better job than heterosexual couples on some behaviors."

Dr. James Kleckley is the Director of Business Research at ECU and added, "There not saying that two people can't live together, they are saying they can't get married, so they can still raise the kids, so in terms of raising those kids it's a non-issue."

“Has no effect, except possibly if you are a gay couple which is legal in other states; you probably won't come." And that is governor Perdue’s argument. "I have talked to major CEO's from around the country and around the world; they don't want anything to be a barrier for them to recruit the best and the brightest talent around the world."

Gay and lesbians on average are more highly educated and earn higher incomes than heterosexual couples, than other people. They have more resources to give to children and that creates more stability and the children who come from highly educated parents become more highly educated themselves.

"One of the things Republicans have said is,'I want government out of my business, so why get involved in the business of two people who get married?’

"What the amendment is talking about is them claiming to have something to be a marriage which is not functionally equivalent of a real marriage that North Carolina has had it for 300 years and the Indians before that."

And that may be more to the point.  

Supreme courts in 7 states have overturned laws banning gay marriage.  30 states have passed amendments like the one our state is considering. And representative Stam says it will close the language loophole in the state constitution. Democrats say the Defense of Marriage Amendment and the perception of prejudice it creates will cost jobs. We know this is a controversial issue and we are not encouraging you to vote one way or another, but we do feel it’s important to examine the comments about why you should vote a certain way to determine if they are valid.

It is just one of the center pieces of what the new Republican majority has achieved during its first 100 days. Cutting the education budget and cutting the temporary sales tax are the other two. But have they created jobs?

"We have done at the state level everything feasible to have been done." State House Majority Leader Paul Stam said for the first 100-days the Republican majority has created jobs and put money back into the pockets of taxpayers and business owners. And most of it he says came from dropping the temporary sales tax.

“If we put 1 and a half million dollars in the pockets of people who buy things according to Keenan Flagler that's another 11 thousand jobs." He's quoting a study done by the Keenan Flagler School of Competitive Economics at UNC. That study says dropping the sales tax, and giving small businesses a 50-thousand dollar exemption from taxation along with a couple of other things will create 12 to 19 thousand jobs as well. “Since we took 1.3 billion out of state government and put it back in the peoples pocket they are more able to afford to pay their property taxes.”

"I don't think people look at one percent drop is much of anything at all." But Dr. James Kleckley, the director of the Business Research at ECU has a different opinion about the Keenan Flagler study. "They didn't look at the cuts in government services that would take place and I think  you could argue in a lot of ways those 16-thousand employees that we've lost already are the result of decreased government spending.”

So to him it’s a wash and what about the state education budget? 

Representative Stam points out his parties budget was very close to the Governors proposal. But in the end school systems had to deal with budget cuts of 6 percent or more. "The state budget did not cost teachers or teacher’s assistant’s jobs. The local school systems decided how to use the money they had and some systems decided that they need some things more than the full complement of teachers and teaches assistance.”

And he is right in a way.

He points to school systems like Wake County where they did not cut teachers or teacher’s assistant job. But they did cut 70 positions elsewhere in the school system. "We've taken people out of the classroom there is no doubt about that,"

But Dr. Kleckley points out, here in the east, school systems say they were already operating at bare bones before the most recent cuts.

“If most of your budget is salaries and benefits, wouldn't that be the logical place to start?"

Kleckley answered, "You almost have to."

Dr. Kleckley says when you cut education this deeply, there will be blow back; the kind that has dogged North Carolina nationally for decades. "One of the difficulties about that is, the education is preparing for tomorrow//this isn't saying going to college this is just being able to read and write, graduate with a good strong high school degrees."

"In the first 100 days do you believe the republican majority has created jobs?" 

"No!"

And even representative Stam says you can't expect see major results like 10's of thousands of jobs right away. "None of them are instant changes and to expect a change in the economy because a bill was passed that isn't even in effect yet is to expect the unexpectable.”

That remark is similar to those made by President Obama when Republicans have been critical of the results of his incentive programs.

Dr. Kleckley believes the environment for creating jobs is largely driven by the national economy and small changes like the sales tax doesn't do much at all to get people spending. 

He says none of the moves will create jobs by the thousands and that is what we need most.