|
|
|
North Carolina - Republicans
Carter Wrenn posted on April 11, 2013 14:52
Years ago some crafty Democratic gnome sitting cloistered in a cell pouring over reams of demographics (trying to figure out the political inclinations of people who didn’t vote) had a revelation: If those folks did vote, a lot more Democrats were going to get elected.
Now, in a way, that sounds odd (after all, How could he know?) but as far as political theory goes he was standing on rock-solid ground. Demographics seldom lie.
Of course there was no way to keep an earthshaking fact like that secret – word of the gnome’s discovery quickly reached Democratic legislators. About the kindest thing to say about what happened next is: Those legislators started passing laws to help themselves get elected – they passed a ‘motor-voter’ law so that every time anyone over eighteen years old applied for a driver’s license they were also handed a voter registration form. But, to the Democrats’ chagrin, while registration soared, most of the new voters never even bothered to go to the polls.
It was a setback but the Democrats legislators took it in stride. They went back to work and tackled the problem from a different direction, writing a whole new set of laws – they passed ‘early voting’ and ‘same-day registration’ and ‘Sunday voting’ and, suddenly, in 2008 what they’d been dreaming of actually happened: Those non-voters flocked to the polls and for the first time in forty-eight years – in the same election – the Democrats elected a Governor, a U.S. Senator and the Democratic candidate for President won North Carolina.
The Democrats must have felt the Promised Land was within reach but then the unexpected happened: Republicans won the next two elections. Suddenly, Republicans were in control of the State House and Senate, and – the way they saw it – if Democrats could pass laws to elect Democrats, they could repeal them, or better still, add a few new laws to elect Republicans. They rolled out bills to repeal Sunday voting, end same-day registration, end straight-party voting and curtail early voting. Then proposed laws to make it tougher for college students to vote and to make absentee voting easier (since Republicans vote more often by absentee than Democrats).
There’s a kind of rough justice in all that but looked another way it’s also proof of an unkind truth: One bad deed begets another and, after that, it’s an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth with no remorse anywhere.
[Click to read and post comments...]
Carter Wrenn posted on April 10, 2013 11:10
My grandmother used to say, ‘Idle hands are the devil’s workshop’ – and while legislators are waiting for the Senate to introduce its budget over in the General Assembly, they’re making a strong case that temptation and too much time on your hands is as deadly a combination as ever:
-
One legislator sponsored a bill to make teaching cursive handwriting mandatory in public schools, saying teaching cursive would develop brain activity in third graders and help them read historical documents like the Constitution – which a Google search shows, is available in print on the Internet in 123,000 places.
-
Two legislators declared the 1st Amendment (and the Freedom of Religion Clause) of the Constitution doesn’t apply to North Carolina, and that under the 10th Amendment, the legislature can nullify federal laws they don’t like – but they missed one crucial fact: The last time the state legislature tried to nullify the Constitution it didn’t work out too well.
-
A Senator filed a bill to prohibit male students and female students from rooming together in dormitories at UNC – it’s hard to argue with that, but a better question to ask might be how on earth UNC ended up with a Chancellor who could be gulled into believing it made common sense to allow gay men to room with straight women in UNC dormitories?
So, with the time they had on their hands, legislators wrote bills that enraged women, nullified the Constitution, stimulated brain activity, separated gay men and straight women at UNC, and threatened FBI agents – is it any wonder (according to the latest polls) only 23% of the voters approve of the way the state legislature is doing its job?
[Click to read and post comments...]
Gary Pearce posted on April 10, 2013 09:15
The more you hang around, the more things come back around. Like controversial Dix land transfers and privatizing the Department of Commerce.
At the dedication of N.C. State’s new Hunt Library last week, one visitor took note of a Duane Powell cartoon in Governor Hunt’s office. It poked fun at his hotly debated plan to transfer land from Dix to NCSU (for what become the Centennial Campus, a jewel for the school and one of the world’s most outstanding university research campuses.) That was in 1984, almost 30 years ago.
This week, Governor McCrory proposed privatizing the Department of Commerce. Exactly what Lt. Governor Bob Jordan proposed in 1988, exactly 25 years ago, when he was running against Governor Jim Martin.
By the way, Martin and his Republican allies denounced the idea then. They said it would hurt the industry-hunting efforts of the Department of Commerce (which Hunt had created in 1977).
[Click to read and post comments...]
Gary Pearce posted on April 09, 2013 09:40
Ferrel Guillory & Co. at UNC J-School’s Program on Public Life have taken a discerning deep dive into the 2012 election results – and show why last year reversed the results of 2008 and what lies ahead.
The most interesting finding in the latest DataNet report is how Governor McCrory outperformed Mitt Romney among voters who normally vote Democratic, including urban voters, young voters, African-Americans and self-identified Democrats.
McCrory got 40 percent of voters age 18 to 29 and Romney, 32. Among African-Americans, McCrory won 13 percent and Romney, four. Among voters who identified themselves as a Democrat, McCrory got 15 percent and Romney, eight.
In urban areas (populations over 50,000), McCrory got 48 percent and Romney, 40. Obama won Mecklenburg and Wake counties by as many as 100,000 votes. McCrory won both counties.
McCrory’s performance was impressive. But there’s a warning here. If the Governor becomes seen as part of the Republican legislature’s war on young voters, minorities and cities, he risks losing his 2012 edge.
Another fascinating insight: In 2012, barely half of the state’s voters were native North Carolinians. Forty-nine percent were born elsewhere. According to the Data Net analysis: “Both Romney and McCrory won solid majorities among native North Carolinians and residents who moved in more than 10 years ago. However, among voters who arrived in the past 5-10 years, Obama got a landslide-majority of 62 percent. Among those relatively recent arrivals, McCrory held a 48-45 margin over Dalton.”
[Click to read and post comments...]
Gary Pearce posted on April 08, 2013 08:43
You can put lipstick on a pig, but it’s still a pig. You can rationalize doing what you said you’d never do, but it’s still hypocrisy.
“During his first campaign for governor in 2008, Republican Pat McCrory hammered his opponent, Bev Perdue, on her ties to major Democratic Party fundraisers on the state Board of Transportation. McCrory vowed repeatedly in 2008 that he would never appoint his campaign fundraisers to the transportation board if he was elected governor.”
Last week, McCrory appointed campaign fundraisers to the board.
Mike Smith of Raleigh, one of the DOT appointees, reported that he personally collected $106,000 for McCrory's 2012 campaign. A second appointee, Wilmington lawyer Mike Lee, reported raising $500.
Kim Genardo, the governor's communications director, defended the indefensible: "The spirit of the governor's comments five years ago were to condemn unethical behavior on the state Board of Transportation, not to impede people's rights to participate in the democratic process."
You see, it’s the “spirit” that counts. Indeed.
[Click to read and post comments...]
Gary Pearce posted on April 06, 2013 10:43
A TAPster and Jones Street veteran urges us to remain calm:
“Democrats and other doomsayers who believe our state is on the brink of a GOP-led apocalypse should be reassured by encouraging signs from Jones Street.
“House leaders used good judgment by making it clear that legislation to establish a state religion was DOA. And, a thorough debate on scuttling the state’s renewable energy requirements revealed that some GOP members are actually thinking for themselves and questioning some of their colleagues’ narrow-minded ideas.
“It’s easy to introduce a bill but very difficult to pass one. The crazy stuff introduced by newbie Republicans gets a lot of headlines, but every crazy idea faces an arduous legislative journey regardless of who is the sponsor.
“So, it will be interesting to see if legislative leaders subtly impose obstacles on the Crazy Caucus, and if this is the start of an encouraging trend to gently shift the focus toward jobs and the economy and away from so many crazy, divisive social issues.”
[Click to read and post comments...]
Gary Pearce posted on April 02, 2013 10:25
A TAPster offers these observations on “the nasty civil war between the legislature and cities, now manifesting itself in high-profile fisticuffs over the Charlotte airport authority and the fate of the Dix property in Raleigh," as follows:
“First, there have been other disputes like this over the years. Charlotte leaders (including the former mayor and now current Governor McCrory) stayed frustrated for years with former Senate leader Marc Basnight, whom they viewed as an eastern North Carolina rube who had no concept of the challenges of their great city. He wouldn’t send money for transportation projects, much less visit.
“Meanwhile, legislative leaders -- whose core ideology is a disdain for a powerful central government and a passion for John Locke’s theories of individual freedom in civic, economic and religious life -- have abandoned those principles to use their new-found power and authority to micromanage the affairs of local governments.
“Finally, the politics of this mess will be revealed if these issues come to a vote. If the local legislative delegations are split (especially among the GOP members) and the issues advance anyway, then it’s a sign that the legislative leadership has run amok and thinks it is the boss of everybody. If, however, the delegations are unified, then it will be up to voters to decide whether their representatives in Raleigh are reflecting local values or they are mere vassals of the new king in town.”
[Click to read and post comments...]
Gary Pearce posted on April 01, 2013 10:00
Not once, not twice, but three times now, Governor McCrory has given money to charity that his campaign took from people facing criminal charges related to sweepstakes cafes.
Which raises the question: Why did he take all that money in the first place?
Surely his campaign knew what the donors wanted: to stop North Carolina from banning and shutting down the parlors.
It’s about as scummy as business as there is. The money was dirty, and McCrory’s campaign – as well as Republicans in the legislature and some Democrats – took it.
They shouldn’t have, and they should have to explain why they did.
● Chase E. Burns, owner of International Internet Technologies LLC of Anadarko, OK, is the single biggest individual donor to General Assembly candidates in the 2012 election cycle, giving a total of $172,500 to 63 current members of the legislature and four other legislative candidates who lost. In addition, Burns donated $30,000 to the NC Republican House Caucus and $25,000 to the NC Republican Senate Caucus committees within the NC Republican Party. The top legislative recipients of Burns’ donations are Senate leader Phil Berger ($8,000), House Speaker Thom Tillis ($6,500), and 21 legislators who each got $4,000 (19 Republicans and 2 Democrats).
● Several of the donations are identified as being delivered or otherwise tied to lobbyists with Moore & Van Allen, the law firm where Gov. Pat McCrory was employed throughout 2012 and the firm Burns retained to lobby for IIT. Burns and his wife, Kristin, each donated $4,000 to McCrory’s campaign, bringing their total donations to $235,500 for NC’s 2012 election.
● The variety of ways that Burn’s contributions are identified on disclosure reports by different candidates suggests they were written from a separate bank account which may have included company funds, not just the personal money of Burns or his wife. It is illegal in North Carolina for business funds to be used to make contributions to candidates or political parties.
Giving away the money – after the scandal broke – doesn’t make the stink go away.
[Click to read and post comments...]
Gary Pearce posted on March 29, 2013 10:37
Governor McCrory desperately wants to look moderate. He wants to distance himself from the right-wing red-hots in the legislature. If he doesn’t, he’s on the road to one term.
“State employees, teachers, Democrats and others unnerved by the idea of Art Pope’s drawing up the state’s next spending plan for Gov. Pat McCrory…must have felt sheepish about dreading its contents. Rather than terrifying those who rely on or support state government spending and programs, the $20.6 billion budget maintains the status quo and makes changes around the edges.”
Hold the mayo.
Yes, he called for hiring 1,800 more full-time teachers. But he would slash 3,000 teacher assistants.
Some history here: Those teacher assistants were part of Governor Jim Hunt’s 1977 Primary Reading Program. Because too many kids weren’t learning to read, Hunt and the legislature put “reading aides” in every classroom in the first, second and third grades. They have been there since. Reading performance has gone up, up, up. Now McCrory wants to get rid of the aides. How does that help kids learn to read?
Plus, the UNC system would get another 5.4 percent cut. And maybe a campus gets closed. And the community colleges get whacked.
And that’s all before the Senate does its budget.
Jim Jenkins’ column in the N&O hit the nail on the head about Republicans in the legislature: “They’re more interested in destruction than in building.”
Maybe McCrory wants to leave the destruction to the Jones Street wrecking crew. But he can’t duck accountability. That’s what the veto is for.
[Click to read and post comments...]
Carter Wrenn posted on March 28, 2013 12:08
With much fanfare just before she left office Governor Perdue announced she’d made a grand deal to lease Raleigh all of the land at Dix Hospital for 99 years. When the deal landed in the newspapers, a friend, who’s spent a good part of his life buying and selling real estate, called, laughed and said, 325 acres of land in downtown Raleigh is worth a lot more than $500,000 a year. Then he added, How on earth do you reckon they got around the requirement the state has to get competitive bids when it sells land?
There was much celebrating in Raleigh – about the only person who had a discouraging word to say was Senate Leader Phil Berger who allowed Perdue’s deal just didn’t pass the smell test.
For the next three months peace reigned then with its usual delicacy the State Senate charged out of its corner swinging – it was like a blitzkrieg: Boom, boom, boom – a Senator filed a bill to kill the deal, held a hearing and the bill passed.
The fur flew: A line of prominent Raleigh business leaders (who liked Perdue’s deal) proclaimed they were horrified, just horrified, the state would break its word and renege on a contract – no honorable person, they said, would do that.
Of course, being called dishonorable (by folks who’d just cut a sweetheart deal with the state) didn’t sit too well with the folks in the Senate. When business leader Jim Goodman testified at the Senate hearing he said breaking that contract was “not honorable” so many times it rubbed Senator Tom Apodaca the wrong way, so Apodaca let fly with a broadside of his own declaring he didn’t appreciate being threatened or intimidated.
Now, Jim Goodman, who owns several hundred million dollars worth of television stations, sure would intimidate me but the Senators didn’t even blink.
On paper, the Dix lease certainly looks like a sweetheart deal and John Hood over at the Locke Foundation reports the land’s worth five times more than Raleigh paid. And even the folks who like Perdue’s deal aren’t disagreeing – instead, they’re arguing it’s a fine deal because creating a 325 acre park in downtown Raleigh will be a great boost for the economy.
On the other hand, there’s also no doubt our friends over in the State Senate have a gift for bellicosity – they can crank up and get rolling faster than a panzer tank when sometimes, especially when they’re right, a little finesse might accomplish the same goal with a bit more gentility. Anyhow, now, we’ve got a brawl on our hands with Raleigh’s most prominent business leaders hollering cancelling a sweetheart deal is a rotten thing to do and it’s not a pretty spectacle.
Before it was shuttered Dorothea Dix was the state’s mental hospital – maybe they ought to reopen it for one day and hold a ‘pacification therapy’ session to calm everybody down – before the House votes.
[Click to read and post comments...]
|
|
|