North Carolina’s 1989 session sent three legislators elsewhere
An interesting aside, three North Carolina legislators who served in the 1989 General Assembly now serve in the State legislatures of three different states:
- Representative David Balmer (R-Mecklenburg), who served in the NC House from 1989-94 now serves in the Colorado House, where he is assistant minority leader.
- Representative Peggy Wilson (R-Rockingham), who also served in the NC House from 1989-94, is serving her fourth term in the Alaska House, where she chairs the House Health, Education and Social Services Committee.
- Senator Richard Chalk (R-Guilford), who served in the NC House from 1985-88 and in the NC Senate from 1989-90, is serving his second term in the South Carolina House. Chalk is currently running to fill a vacant South Carolina Senate seat, the Republican primary is May 1, 2007, and if he wins the primary and the special election, he will have served in both chambers in both states. (Update, Chalk lost the primary on May 1)
Richard Chalk
Peggy Wilson
David Balmer
How I came upon this
Karl Kurtz of the National Conference of State Legislatures posted last week in his blog about state legislators serving in more than one state. The post featured a story in The Oklahoman, “Lawmaker’s service spans Oklahoma, New Hampshire,” about Oklahoma state Rep. Richard Morissette, who earlier in his career served in the New Hampshire House of Representatives. Kurtz went on to mention Balmer and Wilson as the two other person that NCSL staff knew of that also had served in two states. I mentioned this to a few members this morning, many of whom knew of one or the other serving in another state, but a few knew that Richard Chalk had moved to Hilton Head and was serving in the South Carolina House. No one had put all three names together.
Another NC connection
Researching this today, I also found that Representative Tricia Cotham (D-Mecklenburg) has a first cousin serving in the Maine House of Representatives. Emily Cain is the second youngest member of the Maine House. The Cain family is from Charlotte.
Emails for our former members
Balmer, Chalk, and Wilson can all be reached by email:
Balmer: david.balmer.house@state.co.us
Chalk: ChalkR@schouse.org
Wilson: Rep_Peggy_Wilson@legis.state.ak.us
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UPDATE MAY 4. Richard Chalk lost the May 1 South Carolina Senate primary
