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Biography
Richard was born in Gaffney, South Carolina on November 19, 1957. Richard was the fourth of five children born to Yates and Rosa Lee Bostic. Soon after his birth, Richard's parents and three older siblings moved back across the state line to Cliffside, North Carolina (Rutherford County) where the family had previously lived. Richard's mother was born and raised in Cliffside and his father was born and raised in Lattimore in nearby Cleveland County. Richard's parents, maternal grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins all worked in the Cone Mills textile plant in Cliffside. This mill produced towels and wash cloths for decades until it was converted to denim production in the 1970's. After he turned sixteen, Richard worked various jobs in the mill each summer and worked on a mill cleanup crew during the school year.
Richard attended Cliffside Elementary School and Chase High School in the Rutherford County School System. At Chase, he lettered in football, basketball, track and tennis. He was president of the Key Club, president of his senior class, selected for All-state chorus and attended the Presidential Classroom for Young Americans in Washington D.C. When Richard graduated second in his class from Chase High School, he was the first person in his immediate family to have finished high school. His three older siblings, parents and grandparents had dropped out of school to work in the mill or begin families.
Richard received an academic scholarship from Cone Mills Corporation and enrolled in the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1976. To supplement his scholarship, he worked in the Undergraduate Library and as a waiter at the Kappa Kappa Gamma house. While at UNC, Richard was involved in numerous campus activities such as the Campus Y, North Carolina Fellows, Honor Court, Morrison Dorm officer, and the Student Union. He received the following internships during his four years at UNC: Legislative Internship (1979), North Carolina National Bank Internship (1978), and Institute of Government Internship (1979). Richard was inducted into the Order of the Grail in 1980 for his contribution to campus organizations.
Richard graduated with a BA in Political Science in 1980 and was accepted into Duke's Sanford Institute of Public Policy. Richard was a teaching assistant in statistics for two semesters and interned with state government and with the North Carolina Center for Public Policy Research. Richard earned his MA in Public Policy Analysis in 1982 after completing a thesis on the financing of energy conservation in state-owned facilities.
After graduating from Duke, Governor Jim Thompson selected Richard as one of ten Illinois Governor's Fellows. Richard traveled to Springfield, Illinois in the fall of 1982 to begin a Fellowship that involved three rotations in Illinois State government. Richard worked four months in the Illinois Bureau of the Budget, four months with the Governor's Program Staff and three months in the Governor's Legislative Office. At the end of the Fellowship, the Illinois Bureau of the Budget employed Richard as a Budget Analyst. His responsibilities included budget analysis of the Department of Revenue, State Lottery Commission, Horse Racing Board and the Liquor Commission. Richard provided a weekly analysis of Lottery revenues to the Budget Director.
Richard moved back to North Carolina in 1985 when he accepted a job with the Forsyth County Office of Budget and Management. Richard analyzed the budgets for Public Health, the Reynolds Health Clinic, the Mental Health Authority, County Attorney, Medical Examiner, Personnel, and Purchasing.
Richard left Forsyth County in 1986 to join the Fiscal Research Division of the General Assembly. This is a nonpartisan staff that provides budget and tax analysis to both the House and Senate. From 1986 to late 1989, Richard was assigned to the Joint Appropriations Subcommittee on General Government where he was responsible for the budgets of the Departments of Insurance, Administration, and Cultural Resources. In the fall of 1989, Richard was reassigned to the Joint Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation and to the new Joint Legislative Transportation Oversight Committee. For six years, Richard analyzed the Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) and spending in the Highway Fund and Highway Trust Fund. For four years, Richard published a comparative study of transportation spending in southern states for the Southern Legislative Conference. Richard was the first staff person from the North Carolina legislature to attend the Legislative Staff Management Institute at the University of Minnesota in 1992.
Since 1996, Richard has been assigned to the House and Senate Finance Committees. During the interim between sessions, Richard works with the Revenue Laws Study Committee. Richard's current title is Principal Fiscal Analyst. Although he has worked with various state and local tax issues, his specialty is individual income tax, privilege tax, and Highway Fund/Highway Trust Fund taxes and fees. Richard also assists with the Legislative Internship Program every two years.
Richard has been married to Pamela Johnson Bostic for 16 years. Pam, a Durham native, is a graduate of Wake Forest University with a BA in Music and Duke University with an MA in Public Policy Analysis. Pam currently works as an administrator in the MS in Management Program at NC State University. She has been active in Pullen Memorial Baptist Church (currently teaches Sunday School) and with the Lacy Elementary PTA. She currently serves on the Board of Summit House.
Richard and Pam have a ten-year-old son, Webb. Webb "graduated" from Lacy Elementary and is a rising sixth grader at Martin Middle School. He plays the electric guitar, enjoys sports, and is interested in geography. Webb played for five years with the CASL Bandits which won the U-9 and U-10 State Recreational Cup championships in 1997 and 1998. (Richard was team manager in 1998 and 1999.) Webb plays basketball at Laurel Hills Recreational Center and tennis at the N.C. State University Club. Webb and Richard participated in the YMCA Indian Guides program for three years until they tired of wearing feathers and leather.
Richard is an active PTA volunteer. He currently serves as co-chair of Legislation for the Wake County PTA Council coordinating the advocacy efforts of PTA units across the county. In 1998 and 1999, he helped sponsor a candidate forum for County Commission candidates and provided schools with information on legislation and the bond referendum. Richard was active for five years at Lacy Elementary. He and his wife Pam served as Treasurers and Treasurers-Elect of the Lacy PTA. Richard served one year as Legislative Rep and was elected to the School Improvement Team at Lacy in 1998. While at Lacy, Richard also worked on the Building and Grounds Committee, volunteered for KidsVoting in 1997 and 1998, and participated in the Math Committee.
Richard's other interests are as follows:
He is active in Pullen Memorial Baptist Church where he chairs the Administrative Council and serves as an Usher. He contributes platelets to the American Red Cross (79 donations/27 gallons of blood product). Over the last three years, he has volunteered for 21 days of trail maintenance on the Appalachian Trail in North Carolina, Virginia, and Pennsylvania. From 1991 to 1995 he served on the Wake County Planning Board.
When free time is available, Richard likes to mountain bike in Umstead State Park, run at Lake Johnson, and attend ACC sporting events. Richard likes to listen to country, bluegrass and jazz. He likes to read fiction: murder mysteries, Southern novels, spy novels, and courtroom based novels.
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