Candidate Biography (submitted by campaign):

Justice Robert F. Orr, Republican Candidate for Governor of North Carolina, graduated from Hendersonville High School in 1964. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and spent three years in the U.S. army before returning to North Carolina to earn his law degree from the University of North Carolina School of Law in 1975. After graduation, Justice Orr moved to Asheville to practice law. Justice Orr demonstrated his commitment to the Republican Party early on by serving two years as District Administrative Assistant for Republican Congressman Bill Hendon and as GOP County Chairman for Buncombe County. Having proven himself as a worthy advocate before the court, Justice Orr was appointed to the ABC Commission in 1985 and the Court of Appeals by Governor Jim Martin in 1986.

Justice Orr served 8 years on the North Carolina Court of Appeals and 10 years on the North Carolina Supreme Court. Orr paved the way for change in 1988 by becoming the first Republican ever to be elected to the North Carolina Court of Appeals and the first Republican to be elected to any seat on a North Carolina Appellate Court since 1896. He won re-election to the court in 1992. In 1994, Justice Orr shocked the political establishment again by winning election to the North Carolina Supreme Court. Orr was re-elected in 2002 and retired in 2004. His four statewide victories make Justice Robert Orr second only to U.S. Senator Jesse Helms in his success in winning as a Republican statewide.

In 2004, Justice Orr became the first Executive Director and Senior Counsel of the North Carolina Institute for Constitutional Law leading challenges against North Carolina’s $200 million incentives grant to Dell, the enactment of the North Carolina Lottery and the constitutional amendment permitting tax increment financing in 2004. He resigned his position as Executive Director to focus on a run for Governor in May 2007.

It is an honor to be a candidate for Governor of North Carolina.  Thank you for taking time to read about my vision for our future and views on the important issues facing our state.

While I cannot fully present my detailed policy proposals in the space provided here, I can outline the priorities I believe should drive the next administration. First and foremost, I am committed to open, honest government so that our taxpayers fully understand where and why their tax dollars are being spent.  If we do not have openness and transparency in our government, we will not be able to get beyond special interest politics and get to good public policy.

Good public policy means honestly addressing our accountability crisis in public education, implementing an economic development policy that does not punish our taxpayers and business owners in favor of a few external companies, bringing the open market back to health insurance and providing the healthcare providers we will need in the next decade, reforming NCDOT so that we can once again be the “good roads state,” and using every means at our disposal to address the problem of illegal immigration while bringing maximum pressure on our federal leaders to join us in this effort.

These are the issues that concern me most, and if you will visit my website at www.orr2008.com, you’ll find my detailed proposals to address them.  I believe this election is not just about the next four years, it is about the next 20 years and what our next governor must do to secure the prosperity and quality of life for our children and grandchildren.  I am confident that with the right leader as governor we can and will make dramatic strides toward addressing the challenges that we face.