Q&A with SC House District 118 candidate Alfred North

Alfred North, American Party

Age: 70

Number of years living in the area you seek to represent: 4 years

Family: Wife Diane, two children, six grandchildren

Education: Bachelor of Arts degree from Bryant University

The state's retirement system is facing billions in unfunded liabilities. Taxpayers will have to pitch in more or state retirees must see services cut. What should be done?

Both. You may have to give them a 10 percent haircut in terms of their services and you may have to raise taxes. The state might also find another broker to invest with because this one isn’t doing what was expected of them. They could look into other avenues of investments.

Despite a $4 billion infusion of cash this legislative session, South Carolina's roads and bridges are crumbling. Should the gas tax be raised? What else should be done?

The gas tax should be raised. If you think it is expensive paying taxes, try fixing your car when you have blowouts, bent rims, bent tie-rods. If I was in the garage and car repair business, I would say don’t spend a dime fixing roads. A realistic opinion would be to raise the gas tax and be more aggressive on finding good contractors to do the most amount of work on the roads for the least amount of money.

Which presidential candidate are you supporting? Why?

I don’t like either of the major party candidates. I’m thinking about voting for a third-party candidate. The American Party candidate isn’t on the ballot in all of the states, so I haven’t decided which candidate I will go with. But it won’t be any of the two front-runners.

This story was originally published November 2, 2016 at 12:44 PM with the headline "Q&A with SC House District 118 candidate Alfred North."