Now he wants to make Agriculture his business.

AuthorGray, Tim
PositionStatistical Data Included

Ask Norris Tolson his favorite Bible story, and the answer comes back without hesitation: Job. You know Tolson. He was commerce secretary for a year, transportation secretary for a year and a half, then briefly a Democratic candidate for governor. Now he wants to succeed Jim Graham as agriculture commissioner. You probably didn't know he was a Methodist lay speaker who fills pulpits when preachers are sick or away.

You know Job, too. He was rich, with 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels and a herd of oxen and donkeys. His livestock were stolen, his 10 children killed. He broke out in boils from head to toe. Through it all, Job wouldn't curse God. In the end, God rewarded him, doubling his fortune and giving him a new brood of kids.

What here inspires Tolson? "Job's patience. Job is about the virtue of patience." That is the message of Job, but it would seem a message lost on Norris Tolson.

If anything, Tolson is just about the least patient man in Raleigh. He is -- or at least was -- a business executive who wants things done right and done now. At Commerce and DOT, he was known for getting to the office at 6 a.m. and scheduling weekly staff meetings at 7:30.

His departure from the governor's race in August and switch to the agriculture commissioner's was nothing but a smart business decision. By the time he left Transportation, most big-money givers had committed to other candidates. Most candidates had been serving in or running for statewide office back when Tolson was still working for Delaware-based DuPont. His run lasted a mere three months. "It didn't make sense for me to bum up a lot of other people's money on something that didn't look like I could win." Smart move, but patient? Tolson may admire old Job, but he sure hasn't copied him.

This is a man who, in 1994, a year after returning home to Pinetops, beat former House Speaker Joe Mavretic for a seat in the General Assembly, despite having lived outside North Carolina for the 31 years since he had graduated from N.C. State in 1962. In 1997, Gov. Jim Hunt asked him to head Commerce. In January '98, he moved to Transportation, charged by Hunt with reforming an agency rife with cronyism and allegations of corruption.

Tolson said he'd have a plan in 45 days. Within weeks, he had sacked Larry Goode, the controversial highway administrator, transferring him to a think tank at N.C. State. Tolson demanded attention be given to light rail and other alternatives to cars, promoting David King, the...

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