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Entries for October 2010

Breaking Up Is Hard to Do

Gary Pearce posted on October 06, 2010 13:37

“Prom Queen!”

“Calm down, now, John.”

“I enjoyed our friendship – while it lasted.”

It sounds like two middle-schoolers having a bad breakup. But no. It was the Wake County school board majority falling out of love.

And they did it with such grace and style. So mature and professional. Such a good example for the students over whose lives they hold sway.

Now, like any teenager, they’ve taken their fight to Facebook.

The older I get, the more I see how damaging it is to let emotions rule your actions in public life.

President John Kennedy had a great definition of discipline in politics: “The ability to smile at the SOB who just stuck a knife in your back.”

If John Tedesco & Co. had a bit more of that discipline, they might have a bit more success.

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Posted in: General, Raleigh , Issues

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How Government Really Works: A Train Wreck

Carter Wrenn posted on October 05, 2010 13:09

A few years ago Secretary Lanier Cansler’s Department decided to ‘reform’ care for the mentally ill and when they finished the state’s mental hospitals were in a shambles and schizophrenics were being handcuffed to beds in Emergency Rooms in local hospitals because the state had nowhere to care for them.

Next Cansler’s Department decided to ‘reform’ in-home medical care for Medicaid patients, and, now, if you’re old and infirm and your doctor says you need in home care – say because you’re recovering from a hospital stay – you’d better be able to hold on for awhile.

The problem all started with a little white lie Cansler told legislators: He promised, during the first budget crunch, he could cut home care’s budget 45% (because, he said, 45% of the patients were cheats).

But, he added, to do it he needed one favor. He needed to give out a no bid state contract.

Legislators gave Cansler the green-light and CCME Corporation, one of Cansler’s clients from his days as a lobbyist, got a $25 million contract from Cansler’s department. (And every month since, Cansler has gotten a payment from his former lobbying firm, which now represents CCME.)

Next Cansler’s aides went to work pouring medical records and patients files into computers and analyzing and processing and when they were done they pressed a button to print out a report that would tell them who the cheats were – only when the report came out of the computer there was a glitch: It said only 3% of the patients were cheats – not 45%

Well, after he’d given a $25 million contract to cut cheats, Cansler couldn’t very well go back to the legislature and say, I made a mistake and can only cut a handful of people – so he proceeded to cut care to real patients.

Only he ran head on into a problem.

To be continued…..

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Posted in: General, North Carolina - Democrats , North Carolina - Republicans , Issues

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Perdue Pushback on PPP Poll

Gary Pearce posted on October 05, 2010 12:42

Pearse Edwards in Governor Perdue’s office has pushed back hard against Public Policy Polling’s conclusion that she is a “liability” to Democrats this year because of her “failure to communicate with average voters”

In comments posted on PPP’s blog, Edwards called that analysis “not only unfair but wrong.” He added:

“Gov. Perdue’s net job approval has improved by five percentage points since May, according to PPP’s own surveys. Her support among Democrats has increased by 18 points.

“Those same polls show that the support for Democrats in legislative races has remained the same.

“Voters are not angry with Democrats. They are not angry with any one party. They are angry with incumbents, period, and that anger shows in polls nationwide. It’s easy to draw a bull’s eye on the one person in power who is seen all the time. Why do they see Bev Perdue? Because she gets out of Raleigh – out of the capital – in the streets talking to real people and working to create jobs and make North Carolina’s economy better for the people.”

Edwards cited economic numbers that he says show the state’s economy turning around, including job creation, income gains and business climate. He mentioned the state’s $400 million Race to the Top award.

He concluded:

“Nineteen months into the Perdue administration, people are angry because we’re in hard times. But times would be harder without Gov. Perdue’s unflinching commitment to growing jobs and making North Carolina better place to live and work.”

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Posted in: General, North Carolina - Democrats

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The Deficit Solution

Gary Pearce posted on October 04, 2010 13:24

There is a simple and easy solution to our nation’s budget deficit. It’s bound to work, because it relies on the tremendous energy and enthusiasm that the Tea Party movement has brought to politics.

Here it is: All members of the Tea Party must give up any claim to government benefits, beginning with Medicare and Social Security.

This will immediately safeguard the long-term fiscal integrity of both these programs.

Then the next step: Tea Party members forego any use of public schools, community colleges and universities; any use of public roads, highways and airports; any use of public water and sewer systems and public parks, greenways, etc.

Real Americans like them surely will not hesitate at taking this step for their country’s fiscal sanity. And they can strike a blow against big government.

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Posted in: General, Issues

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How Government Works

Carter Wrenn posted on October 04, 2010 12:57

A couple of months ago an 80 year old man on Medicaid received a letter from Secretary of Health and Human Services Lanier Cansler’s department telling him his in-home medical care had been cut. He appealed the ruling, proved he needed the care, and won.

But he still didn’t get it. What happened?

A year ago Secretary Cansler gave his former client (from his days as a lobbyist) CCME Corporation a $25 million no bid state contract and told them – he wrote it into the contract – their job was simple: To cut care to patients.

CCME went to work and one patient they cut was the 80 year old man – only it turned out they were wrong. He won his appeal. But the paperwork reapproving his care vanished into a black hole; CCME, which had told his health care provider to cut his care, didn’t approve the restored care. So the elderly man’s health care provider contacted CCME and asked, What do we do? Can I provide care to him or not?

No answer.

Two weeks passed.

The provider asked again.

No answer.

Next the provider called the Medicaid office in Raleigh – which is also in Secretary Cansler’s department – and asked, How do we straighten this out?

The Medicaid office told him, Ask CCME.

Finally, after weeks of nagging and badgering the health care provider got a lady at CCME on the telephone who told him, Well, it’s in the computer system – it says you can provide the care – what’s the problem?

The exasperated provider said, Well, that’s nice. But how is it no one told me that?

That’s a pretty good picture of how government works – especially when a lobbyist turns into a Cabinet Secretary and gives his former client a no bid contract.

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Posted in: General, North Carolina - Democrats , North Carolina - Republicans , Issues

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The Politics of Principle

Gary Pearce posted on October 01, 2010 08:25

Michael Barone of Fox News made an astute point about Obama at this week’s John Locke luncheon. He said Obama is a very different president from Bill Clinton: Clinton was “unencumbered by principle,” while Obama is an “ideologue.”

Now, “ideologue” is a loaded word. You could also say “principled.”

You could apply the same description to the Republicans who expect to be in power after November 2. And they, being “ideologues” or “principled,” likely will repeat Obama’s political “mistakes” of the past two years.

I say mistakes in quotes because I think Obama knew what he was doing. From all available evidence, he didn’t push through the stimulus, health care reform and financial-regulatory reform because he thought they were popular. In fact, he had every reason to know they weren’t: e.g., the Massachusetts Senate election.

Obama seized on what he believed was, if not a mandate, then an opportunity to do what he thought was right and was elected to do.

Imagine that! A politician who did what he thought was right, even if it was unpopular. (Isn’t that what voters always say they want? Yes, but only if he does what they think is right.)

You can call Obama’s decisions courageous – or political suicide. But don’t expect the Republicans to learn that lesson if they win this year.

They will interpret the 2010 election as an endorsement of their principles, where it may just be a rejection of the incumbents’ policies – or a reaction to the bad economy. They’ll be just like the Democratic ideologues who interpreted 2008 as an endorsement of their policies rather than rejection of the incumbents.

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Posted in: General, National Democrats , National Republicans

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