Hagan says in Asheville that economy must 'work for everybody'

ASHEVILLE – U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan said her race against state House Speaker Thom Tillis "is about making the economy work for everybody, not just the wealthy," during an appearance at a Merrimon Avenue coffee shop Tuesday morning.

"We've got to increase the minimum wage. We've got to be sure that women get equal pay for equal work" and the state should accept federal funds to expand Medicaid, the insurance program for people with low incomes, said Hagan, a Democrat who is seeking a second term.

Whether because of the candidate, the caffeine or both, Hagan got a loud and enthusiastic reception from a crowd of about 90 crammed into Edna's of Asheville seven days before the Nov. 4 vote in the hotly contested race.

Tillis, a Republican, helped engineer a sharp turn to the right in state government over the past four years and Hagan sharply criticized him for it Tuesday.

"We are going to tell those out-of-state billionaires that North Carolina is not for sale," she told the crowd, referring to ads purchased by outside groups in the Senate race.

She told members of the media afterward that some rich political activists are spending money on the race because they think they can tell Tillis what to do.

"Speaker Tillis did tax cuts for the wealthy. He has done the bidding of the Koch brothers in Raleigh and they would love nothing better than to be able to control the puppet strings of him in Washington," Hagan said.

Cuts in school spending, unemployment insurance and incentives for the film industry enacted while Tillis led the House "show that Speaker Tillis is really just working for the wealthy and nobody else," she said.

Tillis's campaign aired a television ad during the Republican primary this spring underlining his previous work against an expansion of Medicaid in the state. But last week he was quoted as saying, "We're trending in a direction where we should consider potential expansion. … I would encourage the state Legislature and the governor to consider it."

Under the Affordable Care Act, the federal government would pay all of the cost of expanding Medicaid in the state for three years, then 90 percent after that. Hagan said an expansion would give coverage to 500,000 North Carolinians.

Hagan said Tillis "is flip-flopping on that issue right now because he knows it's the right thing to do and he knows North Carolina's going to get there. He is using people's lives as a political football and that is wrong."

Increasing the minimum wage is a matter of fairness, Hagan said.

"People in North Carolina who are working 40 hours a week should not fall below the poverty line," she said.

Tillis spokesman Daniel Keylin pointed to comments Tillis made May 14, after the GOP Senate primary was decided, pointing out that the state's Medicaid program has had problems in the past.

"Once we figure out how to stabilize things and make sure the maximum amount is going to help people who need help, then we can talk about expanding it," Tillis said.

The Tillis campaign said in a statement that Tillis "is the only candidate in this race with a proven record of balancing budgets, cutting wasteful spending and promoting policies that help middle-class families and small businesses."