Moss, Stacy squaring off for round 2 in House race

Reining in state spending is the key issue in the increasingly heated campaign for the House District 29 seat, according to challenger Danny Stacy.

Stacy claims he will do it and said his opponent, incumbent Dennis Moss, has not.

The race is a rematch between Moss, a Democrat, and the Republican candidate Stacy, who lost two years ago by 61 votes out of 9,100 cast.

"Far and away in my travels around the three counties, the biggest thing is the budget," Stacy said.

Stacy, who has owned a long-haul trucking business for the past 35 years, cited the state's competitive grant fund program to help finance festivals as an example of lawmakers' misplaced spending habits.

He also accused Moss of supporting bills that allocated $300,000 in grant money for festivals.

"Those monies are best spent on infrastructure," Stacy said. "(Appropriating money for festivals) is not a core function of government."

Moss, a retired state trooper, traced the state's current budget crisis to a shortfall in sales tax revenue, not out-ofcontrol spending.

"The budget is approximately the same as it was two years ago," Moss said. "When the economy is good, we have revenue to cover the budget."

Moss said he has never requested that money be spent on a local festival, but added that festivals earn revenue for the state.

Moss added that he cosponsored legislation for a roll-call vote on any expenditure and supports spending caps.

Moss said his top priority, if re-elected, is funding education. He sponsored a bill that would require at least 65 percent of the education budget to be directed for use in classroom instruction.

On the issue of economic development, Stacy said the state lawmakers erred by cutting the Department of Commerce budget.

"You cut the budget and you kill the goose that laid the golden egg," he said.

Moss believes a welltrained workforce is the key to bringing jobs here and statewide.

When asked about the SLED investigation of Cherokee County Veterans Affairs Officer Sammy Willard, Stacy responded, "Right now, Willard is the VA officer and until he is charged and convicted he is still the VA officer."

Stacy said that Moss asked SLED to investigate the embattled Willard.

Moss said Willard should remain as VA officer if "he has done nothing wrong."

"I'm a supporter of veterans and the veterans put him in there," Moss said.

The Cherokee County Legislative Delegation, which includes the House seat for District 29, has the power to appoint and remove the VA officer.

Although, as state House members, they will have no legislative authority over them, both candidates oppose Waste Management's proposed construction of a landfill and recycling center and support Duke Power's plans to build a nuclear power station, each of which would be located in their House district.

District 29 encompasses parts of Cherokee, York and Chester and counties.