Perdue avoids concrete answers during Wilmington visit

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — A rare stop to our corner of North Carolina. Today, Gov. Bev Perdue was in Wilmington. While she was here, we wanted to find out how the governor’s working for our part of the state.

The governor was all smiles today as she enjoyed a tour of the UNCW Marine Sciences Center, but she was elusive when it came to answering some big questions.

Perdue had a nice presentation for the Chamber of Commerce, but when we tried to catch up with her, we were herded to an area by the door to ask a few questions.

During her talk, the governor said she would restructure and cut more state jobs while also trying to cut down on the state’s unemployment rate.

“You have to trade it out,” Perdue said. “North Carolina has a $3.5 billion deficit, and we have to downsize North Carolina.”

Perdue told the audience she was going to bring a big employer to the area, but later said she would try to do that for an area where unemployment continues to hover around 10 percent.

Monday’s visit was a rare trip to the coast for the governor. It was her first trip to Southeastern North Carolina since spring. So what would it take for her to spend more time here?

“I’d love to,” Perdue said. “Just give me a reason.”

The governor also promised to help attract film jobs to our area, but pinning her down on specific answers was not to easy.