Editor,

I have been watching with great interest the N.C. Senate race in Iredell, Lincoln and Gaston counties. I certainly hope that the voters have done their homework!

Karen Ray was voted out of office by the citizens of Iredell County, even though she out spent her opponent two to one and spent a staggering $220,000, much of this coming from one specific industry.

Why you ask? Simply look at her record. A bill for gas tax reimbursement for her friends, an idea which came from Democrat Governor Mike Easley.

How about House Bill 1950 that moved $3.5 million from the university budget for an incentive for $1.5 million to a drag strip in Richmond County? That track is owned by the chairman of the N.C. Motorsports Association. Yes! An Iredell County House representative working for Richmond County.

Why? Follow the money! After losing re-election in 2008, Ms. Ray found a nice job as a lobbyist. For whom? The same group that she worked so hard to provide legislative incentives. Lincoln and Gaston need to take notes from Iredell and not send Karen Ray to Raleigh so that she can help her friends once again.

She has been bought and paid for by the motorsport big money people and not by the local citizens of Iredell, Gaston and Lincoln counties. You can check it out by examining her public donation records.

Her favorite friend in Raleigh was Mike Easley. Her ethics are less than honorable! She is not what Iredell, Lincoln and Gaston counties need in Raleigh.

– Ed McLean, founder and former executive director of N.C. Motorsports Association