By Thomas Ultican 12/8/2020
The last Democrat and first woman to serve as Governor of North Carolina, Bev Perdue, has become one of the nation’s leading advocates for digital learning. She presents herself as a simple country girl from a poor family, but doesn’t mention that her coalminer father became a rich mine owner by the time she was in college. She is known as a powerful political and financial operative with connections that go all the way to the incoming Biden administration.
Creating a New Career
Governor Perdue does have a background in education. After obtaining a bachelor’s degree in History, she taught kindergarten in 1970-71, ninth grade 1971-73 and high school 1973-74. She then returned to school where in 1976 she earned a Doctorate in Education Administration. Her thesis was focused on education gerontology.
After earning the education doctorate, she worked in long term care and geriatric services. In 1986, she ran for the North Carolina House of Representatives and won. Four years later she won a state senate seat which she held for a decade before making successful runs for Lieutenant Governor in 2000 and again in 2004. This all positioned her to become North Carolina’s first female governor in 2008.
For Perdue, the wheels flew off the campaign bus in 2012. She was facing tanking polling numbers when members of her 2008 campaign pleaded guilty to finance violations. Greensboro businessman Peter Reichard, the finance director, pleaded to a felony and lawyer Julia Leigh “Juleigh” Sitton, a fundraiser for the campaign, pleaded to a misdemeanor in order to avoid a felony charge. Perdue soon announced she would not be a candidate for Governor in 2013.
The June following her exit from the Governor’s mansion, the Newsobserver.com reported, “Former Democratic Gov. Bev Perdue has recently CONTINUE READING: “Coal Miner’s Daughter” Hawks Digital Learning | tultican