Following his 15-minute address, N.C. Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson said he kept his speech brief to allow time for questions from the audience — estimated at around 125 people — during a Sept. 29 luncheon hosted by the Council of Independent Business Owners at Hilltop Event Center in East Asheville.

When the 25-minute Q&A session finally was called to a halt, it was not because those in the crowd had run out of questions, but because of meeting time constraints.

What’s more, Robinson received a resounding standing ovation from the crowd as the Q&A session ended.

The Q&A opened with an unidentified man noting that, in his observation, there has been a “sharp decline (lately) in North Carolina government’s ability to serve the private sector — even to get a return phone call. They say it’s ‘a staffing issue.’”

In response, Robinson said, “We need to look at the mistakes made during the pandemic. When we paid people to stay home, it was one of the worst mistakes made by the government. We need to work out a plan to make sure it never happens again. It comes down to one word — ‘accountability.’”

Further, the lieutenant governor noted, “One friend said, ‘If you pay people not to work and stay at home, it’s going to be hell ... to get them to go back to work.’”

Robinson added that the message he would like to emphasize to state workers is: “You’re there to serve” the state’s residents.

At that point, Southern heritage activist H.K. Edgerton, an Asheville native, said he would like to hear Robinson’s views on the state Monument Protection Act. 

Edgerton added that, despite the state legislature’s passage of the MPA, “there’s been a lax attitude toward enforcement of it.”

Robinson replied, “The Confederate monument issue is a good thing to speak about here, right now. 

“Why? Because it’s a public safety issue. When that mob tore down the Silent Sam monument at UNC Chapel Hill, they (officials) let them off. That told them (the anarchists) that, “If you don’t like something. tear it down’” and there will be no consequences — legal or otherwise — to be faced.

Ever since the Chapel Hill incident, the lieutenant governer said, “We see the same thing with those monuments” elsewhere in the state. 

Robinson then asked, rhetorically, “Should there be a conversation about having Confederate monuments” on public property? He said he would be open to such a conversation, but the pressing issue is whether existing monuments should be protected, as per the MPA, and why state officials continue to allow rioters to tear them down at will, with no consequences.

“When you are breaking the law, you are setting a precedent. Nobody’s being held accountable. Nobody’s been held accountable for tearing down monuments” in recent years, anywhere in the state, he emphasized, contrary to the law.

“If we don’t follow the law when it comes toward Confederate statues, you won’t follow the law with federal buildings, statues of civil rights leaders and others.

As Robinson finished answering his question, a smiling Edgerton assert, “I love you!” to the lieutenant governor, prompting both applause and some good-natured laughter.

CIBO member Mac Swicegood then asked, “How are we going to make up the difference on roads being built on gas money,” when the government is encouraging drivers to convert to electric cars?

Robinson smiled and said, “There was a time in this country when everybody rode in a horse and buggy,” including his late father. (He quickly addded that “my dad was 71 when I was born.”)

Continuing, Robinson said, “Then they came up with an internal combustion engine... They made a Model T on an assembly line. What if the government had stepped in when the Model T began and said, ‘You can’t use a horse-and-buggy.’ 

“There was no infrastructure to support total use of automobiles at their inception. From horse-and-buggy to the car, it was something called ‘the market’ that drove the use of the car. 

“As more people bought more cars, auto parts stores proliferated. The government followed suit, as best it could. Same with the electric car — the infrastructure is simply not there. And it won’t be there” for quite a while. 

Robinson continued, “We see it happening in California,” where those driving EVs have been asked by the government, on occasion, to refrain from recharging their vehicles during certain periods where the electrical grid is at near-overload levels. “That’s why I favor a sensible” transition to EVs and other transportation alternatives. 

The lieutenant governor then stressed, “The market will always do what is right because the market always will be driven by common sense and innovation.”

An unidentified man asked for Robinson to share his views “about health care delivery in North Carolina.”

Robinson replied, “Anybody who knows me knows I’m not a fan of Medicaid expansion. The main reason is I don’t suppport Medicaid expansion, per se, but I also don’t trust the federal government.

“The federal government’s main role is miltary... defense. The point is the federal government can’t take care of the people it sends of to war — what makes you think it can take care of the (health of the) people of North Carolina?

“I think we can redo the way we do welfare, but relying on the federal government is not” the solution, he said.

Speaking personally, Robinson said, “I was struggling to get up my steps one day. I was almost 380 pounds. I was having difficulty breathing, even while I was sitting. I was sweating. I had a conversation with my self and he said, ‘Self — what are you doing?’

“So I went to the doctor and his blood sugar (level) came to 434 — and he (the doctor) said, ‘If you don’t change anything, you’re going to kill yourself.’ The biggest responsiblity within health care is self-care. We’ve got to start taking care of of ourselves. The federal government can only do so much.

“We’ve got to get back to self-care. And along with that, there are substantive issues that can be dealt with. No matter what our differences are on issues, we all know” the substantive issues have to be resolved.

An unidentified woman lamented, “I know you’re big on education. I had 35 students in two different grades, virtually,” during the COVID-19 pandemic. “They’ve got everything in Raleigh, but in Asheville, we get nothing. So what can we do for our teachers?”

Robinson answered, “There’s a big building (North Carolina State Board of Education) in Raleigh. I’d clean that building out and sell it. Second thing, I’d start paying teachers like professionals, and allow them to control the classroom. Redirect those (board of education salary) dollars into the pockets of those teachers.

“Our (state) revenue is $26 billion budget. We spend half of that on education — and our kids can’t read. We’re wasting that money... The bureaucracy’s on top and teachers on bottom” — and that needs to be reversed, he said.

Christine Robinson of Trib Papers asked, “They just passed a law allowing (election) ballots to be picked up in North Carolina. How in the heck can we change the law?”

Robinson replied, “First thing, we don’t live under a democracy, but under a constitutional republic. If we don’t have safe and secure elections, our republic will crumble.

“When it comes to the vote. I keep hearing, ‘The 2020 vote was tainted.’ I never answer that question — when people asked me if it was tainted. I would ask you: ‘Was 2016 — was that (election) legitimate?’ Both sides of the aisle have admitted that there are problems in our election system. We need to sit down and fix the problem.”

“It’s time for Americans — not Republicans, Democrats, independents — to sit down at the table and fix our elections,” Robinson concluded, triggering a standing ovation.