Executives' power won't wane.

• Author: Mooneyham, Scott
• Position: CAPITALGOODS

For several years, John Davis has been saying that the General Assembly is becoming less friendly to business. It's easy to dismiss such talk from the man who once headed NCFREE, at one time big business's go-to organization for political analysis and advocacy in Raleigh. Centrist Democrats still dominate the legislature, particularly the Senate. President Pro Tem Marc Basnight, arguably the state's most powerful politician the last two decades, has been a champion of business interests, as have his key lieutenants in the chamber.

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Now, those lieutenants have departed or are leaving, and Basnight, who will turn 63 next month, has health problems, a nerve disorder that affects his balance and has slowed his speech. Even as he continues to plot Democratic strategy and immerse himself in his favorite pastime, reading early-American history, the Basnight era may be drawing to a close. Could Davis' view of the place finally have some validity? Could those moderate, business-friendly Democrats walking into the marble maze that is the Legislative Building find that they no longer hold sway over what happens within its walls?

Davis argues that the shift has been under way for some time, that the Senate's leadership has been the only thing ensuring that legislation takes place with the larger interests of the state's business community in mind. "That leadership is what has kept things in balance," he says. In his view, the rank and file are no longer predictable allies for a simple reason: Since the 1980s, fewer of them have run a business. "We determined in the 1980s that the No. 1 predictor of an ally is occupation," Davis says. "It didn't matter about race. It didn't matter about gender. If you ran a business, you were going to be a predictable ally." He's not saying that the legislature has suddenly become populated by tree-hugging lefties out to do in the business world. Anyone taking in a typical House or Senate floor session, with its staid debate and even more staid dress, would laugh at the notion.

But he is saying that many of the Democrats in positions of power--outside of Basnight and his inner circle--aren't thinking about business first. Other than Basnight, Gastonia businessman David Hoyle and Fayetteville lawyer Tony Rand have been the Senate's key power brokers over the last decade. Holyle, co-chair of its powerful Finance Committee, is a developer with global business interests. Rand, who has been the...