About 150 people gathered in North Surry High School’s cafeteria Thursday night to hear two Republican candidates dish out ample servings of criticism for high taxes, excessive governmental regulation — and each other.

Tensions ran high at times as N.C. Senate candidates Don East, the incumbent in the local 30th District, and challenger Paul Johnson, who now chairs the Surry County Board of Commissioners, squared off at a public forum. It was sponsored by an area Tea Party organization, with Johnson and East the only candidates involved. Voters will decide in a May 4 primary which man will represent the GOP against a Democratic opponent in November.

Standing only a few feet apart and passing a lone microphone back and forth as they took turns answering questions from a moderator, the two fired verbal shots at various policies regarding jobs, education and other topics for about two hours.

“This campaign is about jobs, jobs, jobs and the economy,” Johnson said at one point. “And I haven’t seen any jobs come out of Raleigh lately.”

Both candidates seemed to be trying to out-conservative each other as they lambasted liberal tax-and-spend philosophies and regulations that Johnson said are “about control of your daily life.”

Johnson recently has charged that despite serving in the state Legislature for many years, East is ineffective. The challenger continued this Thursday night by saying that even though the incumbent is a member of the minority party in Raleigh, he should be forming alliances with Democrats to accomplish change.

The county board chairman used that issue to take a swipe at an earlier statement by East that politics today has become dominated by high-dollar campaigns and political consultants. Saying that both Republicans and Democrats must sit down together, Johnson added, “I didn’t need to pay a consultant to tell me that.”

East countered by pointing to actions on the county level involving Johnson, something he did frequently during Thursday night’s forum. “I believe in bipartisanship as much as anybody,” said East, mentioning that he has many friends on the other side of the aisle in the General Assembly.

But, he added, “I’d like to see some bipartisanship in Surry County.” East specifically referred to action by the Surry commissioners in the recent past in which two Democrats on the board voted against imposing a landfill fee while the three Republicans approved the measure.

East also said that some people talk conservatism, yet don’t practice it, and referred to Johnson’s and other Surry officials’ recent takeover of a 100-year-old farm through eminent domain in order to expand the county landfill.

What appeared to be an area of agreement between the two — that high taxation in the state is hurting job creation and other segments of the economy — also became contentious.

“The only way for Surry County and North Carolina to grow is to cut taxes,” said Johnson. He said companies have moved overseas not because of labor costs, but high taxes, as well as trade agreements that have put the U.S. at a disadvantage with Third World countries.

Agreeing with Johnson that taxes are too high, East said to the audience, “But guess what, folks? Taxes are too high in Surry County.” He said the local sales tax is the highest in Northwest North Carolina.

The incumbent further referred to charges he recently made in a direct-mail flyer to voters in the four counties of the area Senate District showing Johnson holding a taxpayer upside-down and shaking coins from his pockets. The incumbent charged in the flyer that Johnson has supported both property and sales tax hikes in recent years, and said Thursday night, “I stand by every word of those mailings.”

However, Johnson pointed out that voters approved the most recent sales tax to generate more money for schools, which has led to facilities such as the new cafeteria at North Surry that hosted Thursday night’s gathering. “Look around you,” the county official said.

Citizens have become fed up with governmental corruption and “elected officials that don’t do their job,” Johnson believes. “On the county level, it’s got better — on the state and federal level, it ain’t got no better.”

East, a member of the Senate Finance Committee, said he filed a bill in last year’s General Assembly session to lower corporate taxes. North Carolina’s business climate is ranked 39th in the nation and worst in the Southeast, according to Thursday’s forum.

“We’ve got to start building stuff — we’ve got to start manufacturing stuff,” said East, explaining that entrepreneurs need to have enough confidence in the economy to expand and add jobs. “This country’s not going to ever come back until we get back to some common sense.”

He also took jabs at recent media statements by Johnson that 700 jobs are headed to Elkin, which no one there supposedly knows about, and county approval for a new sports bar in Westfield.

“It is not a sports bar — it is a restaurant,” Johnson responded. He also said certain economic-development projects, such as the one at Elkin, do hold a promise of jobs, but must be kept secret in their early stages.

Both men said they do not favor a tool frequently employed in economic development, the providing of incentives.

Johnson said he believes incentives should be made illegal in all 50 states, but for now, counties must offer them in order to compete. East also referred to recent studies showing that incentives are basically worth nothing, especially when companies that receive them leave in a couple of years.

Education was another topic for the candidates, who said they favored local control of schools rather than that of Raleigh, which East said is a bloated educational bureaucracy in the form of the N.C. Department of Public Instruction.

“I am of the opinion there are a whole lot of jobs that can be cut in Raleigh, and we won’t miss a beat,” said East, who also would like to see more auto mechanics and other trades taught in schools.

During one of the tenser exchanges Thursday night, Johnson criticized his opponent for repeatedly sneaking in statements that had nothing to do with the questions asked.

“I didn’t come here tonight to make a spectacle,” he said. “I’m trying to stay on the subject, but it’s tough.”

Contact Tom Joyce at tjoyce@mtairynews.com or at 719-1924.