North Carolina’s gubernatorial candidates took each other to task Friday during an appearance in Wilmington, elaborating on issues that have become major topics of conversation for the Port City’s business community, and in at least one case, nationwide.

Those topics included the effects of House Bill 2 on the state’s economy and the decimation of the local film industry.

Nearly 1,000 people heard Gov. Pat McCrory and Attorney General Roy Cooper speak at separate times Friday morning during the Greater Wilmington Business Journal’s quarterly Power Breakfast at the Wilmington Convention Center.

Cooper, a Democrat, said some of the challenges North Carolina and the Wilmington area is facing can be fixed if he wins the election, and McCrory, a Republican, talked about some of the measures he’s put into place that have improved the business climate in the state.

Cooper, explaining the first of the challenges that he sees, “Unfortunately we have a governor and leadership in the General Assembly who are putting political ideology ahead of the best interests of our state and ahead of jobs and schools. When you pass legislation like House Bill 2 that writes discrimination into the law, not only is it wrong but it  has cost our state thousands of jobs hundreds of millions of dollars – that we know about – and most of you that are involved in economic development know that it is just the tip of the iceberg.”

Nicknamed “HB2” and “the bathroom bill” because it requires transgendered individuals to use public bathrooms that reflect their birth gender, HB2 was introduced in a special session of the General Assembly in response to a city of Charlotte ordinance allowing transgendered people to use bathrooms corresponding to their gender identity.

McCrory said the HB2 controversy “came from Roy Cooper’s political left” and Charlotte Mayor Jennifer Roberts

“The current mayor of Charlotte who had just been elected decided to bring up an issue that no one had ever heard of, including me and it was because of a very powerful Washington interst group that was very supportive of not just Jennifer Roberts but also Roy Cooper ... the issue basically was the city of Charlotte passed a mandate on all businesses in Charlotte-Mecklenberg that you would have to recognize the concept of gender identity and gender expression if you open up your restaurants, locker rooms or showers to anyone in the public including yoru own employees. This was the left that brought it up,” McCrory said.

The governor said the issue is not about discrimination, “despite what the left wing says.”

“I personally think it’s not the city government’s business, the state government’s business or the federal government’s business to tell your business what your locker room, shower and restroom policy should be,” McCrory said, receiving applause after the comment.

McCrory said currently in North Carolina the rules only apply to state facilities "and it says you go to this restroom, shower or bathroom facility based on your gender – what it is not, what you think it is." 

Conversely, Cooper said one of the first things he would do if elected is to organize the business community “to make sure we find some way to get House Bill 2 off the books, to make sure we remove that discrimination but that we also remove this unnecessary hurdle that we have created for ourselves.”

McCrory said HB2 has diverted attention away from good things that have happened during his adminstration, including the cutting of corporate taxes, improving parks and military facilities and eliminating the state's $2.6 billion unemployment benefit deficit.

Cooper brought the topic of HB2 up again during the Power Breakfast in response to a question about how he would be flexible as a leader.

"Flexibility is a critical part of leadership; you can’t just stand up and say, 'no, no, no,'" Cooper said.

When it comes to the idea of flexibility and HB2, Cooper said, "In addition to denying there’s a problem, he is attacking businesses who are criticizing this law, furthering the gap. He’s [McCrory] got to realize instead of blaming it on Charlotte, me, the president, the left-wing media, the NCAA, Bruce Springsteen – you’ve got to stop, you’ve got to stop that and you’ve got to say, 'We have a problem. We have to fix it.'”  

Both candidates also answered questions from audience members about the area’s dwindling film industry. Hansen Matthews, partner in Wilmington-based commercial real estate firm Maus, Warwick, Matthews & Co., received applause when he said the local film industry “has been decimated” and asked McCrory if he would reconsider his position and restore the tax credits for film projects to what they were when the state had a thriving industry.

McCrory said the grant program was a compromise that left some film money, rather than none, on the table when lawmakers wanted them eliminated completely. He said he would fight for the film industry but mainly for those parts of the industry that can make long-term investments

Cooper said, “I will fight to help bring back this industry to North Carolina and to Wilmington. You built too good a foundation for us to let it go.”

Cooper was elected to a fourth term as the state’s attorney general in 2012. He was previously a member of the state House of Representatives from 1987 to 1991 and the state Senate from 1991 to 2001. McCrory was elected the 74th governor of North Carolina in 2012 and had served as the mayor of Charlotte for 14 years.

The early voting period for this year’s general election begins Oct. 20, and Election Day is Nov. 8.