Scott Huffman, Democratic candidate for N.C. House District 76 – “And don’t think this fight stops at Mr. Overcash. In March, Rowan County neighbors packed a Utilities Commission hearing here in Salisbury, begging for relief from rising power bills. Greg Edds stood up and spoke for Duke’s plan to expand the Buck plant, while Duke was pushing for a double-digit rate hike on your bill. A lapdog for Duke Power is not a watchdog for working families. When your bill jumps again, remember who stood with you and who stood with Duke.”

Colton Overcash’s column in Sunday’s Post wasn’t written for you. It was written for the corporate overlords who want to plug their power demand into Rowan County and send you the bill.

Look at who’s talking. Mr. Overcash runs a Charlotte firm that sells “government relations.” In plain English, he’s paid to help clients get what they want out of Raleigh and your county commissioners. That’s not a public servant. That’s a deal closer.

His pitch? Treat AI data centers like Eisenhower’s interstates. Give me a break. The interstate belongs to you. AI data centers belong to trillion-dollar tech companies. You can’t drive on it, work in it or walk past the barbed-wire fence. You pay for the power lines and power generation upgrades.

Just read his wish list:

• No permit agency.
• No review board.
• No veto for your community.

Rules set in stone so the company never gets surprised. He wants public concern handled early, before it turns into opposition. Rowan County, that’s you he’s talking about. That’s the same tired old argument that got us into this mess. Too much government regulation.

He says companies should generally pay their own grid costs. Generally. That’s lawyer talk for “unless they can get out of it.” He points to a pledge the tech giants signed. A pledge isn’t a law. Duke doesn’t take pledges.

Last month, he argued against making these plants use closed-loop cooling. And the jobs? Billions to build, a skeleton crew to run.

Want to see how this movie ends? Look at Texas and Gov. Abbott. 60 Minutes just showed how Jeff Bezos’s Amazon asked one county for up to 90 percent off its property taxes for 30 years. 30 years. When that county said no, Amazon walked next door and got it. Texas now stands to lose $3.3 billion in sales tax over two years to data center breaks. Lawmakers from both parties are scrambling to undo the damage. Did you see how fast Gov. Abbott flip-flopped on data centers once voters got mad? What about Greg Edds? What happened to the tax windfall Texas was promised? It went to the companies.

And don’t think this fight stops at Mr. Overcash. In March, Rowan County neighbors packed a Utilities Commission hearing here in Salisbury, begging for relief from rising power bills. Greg Edds stood up and spoke for Duke’s plan to expand the Buck plant, while Duke was pushing for a double-digit rate hike on your bill. A lapdog for Duke Power is not a watchdog for working families. When your bill jumps again, remember who stood with you and who stood with Duke.

Here’s my test. Write it into law. The company pays every penny of new power and water costs, in writing, enforceable in court. Closed-loop cooling, no exceptions. And your community keeps the right to say no. If Mr. Overcash’s clients can’t live with that, you know who they planned to stick with the bill.

The interstate was built for the Public. AI data centers are for corporations and Greg Edds is holding the door open.

Why should my tax dollars go to people who have more money than they’ll ever spend? When do our elected officials actually decide to work for us and not the corporate billionaires? We literally can’t afford to continue choosing people like Greg Edds. We just can’t.