Bobi Gregory for North Carolina House

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 28, 2014

Barbara D. “Bobi” Gregory, a retired art teacher from Wilson County Schools and a minister’s wife, filed today for the North Carolina House in District 8. As of the end of the candidate filing period at 12pm noon, Mrs. Gregory was the only Democratic candidate and, thus, the Democratic Nominee for the North Carolina House in District 8. Gregory’s nearly 40 year career as an educator in public schools around the nation led her to the decision to file for office today.

Gregory has called Wilson, North Carolina home since June of 1990, when her husband, the Rev. Henry Duval “Greg” Gregory IV answered a call to serve Covenant Presbyterian Church on Tilghman Road. Mrs. Gregory settled into the educator community quickly, becoming not once, but twice both Vice-President and President of the Wilson County NCAE (North Carolina Association of Educators). Gregory retired from Beddingfield High School in June of 2007 after having a career filled with celebration of her students winning awards for their artwork at the local, state and national levels.

Aside from her dedication to the educational success of all students in her classes, Gregory has remained involved in the greater Wilson Community. She has trained as a Guardian ad Litem to stand with troubled youth in courts in Nash & Wilson counties. She has taught photography in the evening at Wilson Community College. She has also taught Art to students at the Wilson Arts Council. She serves as a Sunday School teacher at her husband’s Macclesfield Presbyterian Church, while still maintaining her membership at First Presbyterian Church of Wilson. Finally, she is currently serving as President of the Democratic Women of Wilson County, having previously served as 1st Vice-President.

To explain the motivation for her run for the North Carolina House, challenging incumbent Representative Susan Martin, Bobi Gregory has released the following statement:

We cannot continue to let someone represent both Pitt and Wilson counties who consistently votes to weaken the exemplary public education system on every level, including the University of North Carolina system. Article 9 of our North Carolina Constitution requires a public education “for all able-bodied children” and requires the existence of a strong public university system. Representative Susan Martin has proven her unconstitutional approach to voting on education by following in lock step with her Republican Party’s leadership in the General Assembly.

In addition to her votes on education, Martin voted with the radical right-wing GOP leadership on repealing the Racial Justice Act, limiting the unemployment assistance for hard-working families trying to make ends meet and refusing federal funds for Medicaid expansion to more than 500, 000 North Carolinians. Thank God Rep. Susan Martin and her radical right-wing GOP colleagues in the North Carolina General Assembly were not successful in threatening our religious freedoms as well.

There is no denying who funds my opponent’s stay in the General Assembly. The Koch Brothers, ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council), Art Pope and conservative super-PACs have a vested interest in a North Carolina representative who will consistently vote against the working families and middle class of North Carolina, while giving unnecessary tax breaks to the top North Carolina wage earners.

I decided to get in this race for North Carolina House to give the people of District 8 a better voice. I ask the voters of Pitt and Wilson counties to take a look at my candidacy and give me the honor of being that better voice. I ask you all for your vote.



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