Candidate Biography (submitted by campaign):

Duane Cutlip is a businessman, husband, and proud father. He has been active in Wake County grassroots politics for several years. He is an active member of Heritage Baptist Church in Zebulon, NC. He and his wife, Angie, have two wonderful daughters, Abigail and Amelia. They live just outside of Wendell in Wake County.

Duane was born into a family with loving, supportive parents, but they were poor. The house he lived in when he was born had no running water or indoor plumbing. Despite their financial challenges, his parents taught him that anything was possible in America as long as you were honest, had good character, never sacrificed your principles, and worked hard. He learned the value and reward of hard work at an early age and worked his way through High School and College.

Upon graduation, he worked two full-time jobs to pay back school debt. Since then, he has been successful in business as one of the youngest Branch Managers in a multi-regional company, and later as a Vice-President for a $30 million+/year company that provided nearly 100 jobs to North Carolinians. He has also experienced the trials and successes of starting a business.

Because of his life experiences, Duane knows well the struggles that most of our citizens face every day. He also knows the hope we have in waking up every day in America, and the great state of North Carolina. Likewise, he knows the disappointment we all feel when our government levies excessive taxes against us because they've mishandled our money with pork barrel spending, slush funds, earmarks, and under-the-table deals.

According to the NC State Constitution, Article I, Section 2, "All political power is vested in and derived from the people; all government of right originates from the people, is founded upon their will only, and is instituted solely for the good of the whole."
 
Government's power is supposed to come from the people, not the special interests and the "buddy system" we currently have.  Our current representative serves only as a rubber stamp to the failed policies of a broken and corrupt system.  They have made many promised and have kept none of the important ones.  When it comes to listening to the needs of the people, they are deafened by the jingle of coins in the special interests' bags.  It is time that we elect a representative who will actually talk to the people and listen to their needs and protect their interests.  It's time to restore OF the people, BY the people, and FOR the people back to the General Assembly!
 
My opponent has been A.W.O.L. when it comes to education.  In our district, we have SAT scores below the state average, a dropout rate of one-third, and schools without books.  Meanwhile, our school leaders raised Administrative salaries while cutting the budget for Instructional Materials!
 
My opponent voted to give illegal immigrants FREE college tuition and driver's licenses while many of our citizens are not eligible for services they need and for which their tax dollars have paid.
 
My opponent has been "asleep at the wheel" as our healthcare system has careened into the abyss leaving citizens to carry the high costs.