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North Carolina - Republicans
Tapster posted on January 25, 2013 13:39
Gary is taking a break from blogging. Today’s pinch-hitter one of our Tapsters.
The choice of a press secretary is a blip on the personnel radar of North Carolina’s new governor, but this choice provides insight into the kind of governor Pat McCrory may become.
McCrory’s choice for media mouthpiece has plenty of GOP experience in DC and in places like Nevada and, for goodness sakes, California.
It seems the Governor would be better suited if a key staffer like this had spent more time in Mint Hill and Pink Hill than on Capitol Hill, and had been ordering off the menu in places like Lexington, Wilber’s and Wanchese rather than D Street’s snooty Monocle Restaurant. And it seems like a Governor who’s talking about job creation would create one for someone who already pays taxes in this state.
This choice makes it obvious that McCrory wants a press secretary who’s more adept at navigating tricky GOP messages than navigating Tar Heel back roads.
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Gary Pearce posted on January 22, 2013 10:47
Gary’s taking a break from blogging. Pinch-hitting today is a TAPster with a long memory:
Re your blog posting about Art Pope (“The Budget Pope”): A lot of people either aren’t old enough to remember, or simply don’t know, that another wealthy Raleigh businessman was indispensable to Jim Hunt in that role.
John A. Williams knew where all the bodies were buried (including the ones he buried himself) and did all of the “nut-cutting” that the Governor didn’t want to dirty his hands with. The difference is that if John A. had a personal agenda other than to make sure that Hunt was successful, we never knew it.
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Gary Pearce posted on January 21, 2013 10:50
This headline is off-message: “NC Republicans want tax hikes on food, services” (WRAL).
At a time when Washington Republicans are cementing reputations as anti-tax hardliners, how did Raleigh Republicans get plunged into this morass?
The answer: a member of their caucus, Senator Bob Rucho, dragged them to the cliff. Question: Will Governor McCrory, Senator Berger and Speaker Tillis jump off it?
For the McCrory/Pope administration, it might be smarter politically to cut personal and corporate income taxes less drastically and cut spending, rather than make up the money. Then they can claim a victory for economic competitiveness, without the pain of raising taxes.
For Berger and Tillis in a Republican U.S. Senate primary, would cutting income taxes a lot make up for raising other taxes a lot?
How do all the big givers to their caucuses feel?
All this suggests a continuing Republican problem: how to handle extreme measures pushed by some of their members.
Witness: drivers’ licenses for immigrants. Lt. Governor Forest is dead-set against it. McCrory/Tata are debating it. Do they want to dig an even deeper hole with Hispanic voters?
And here’s tax footnote from a member of Governor Perdue’s administration.
“In 2011, shortly after the R's took control of the Legislature, Gov. Perdue submitted a budget that cut the corporate tax rate to the lowest in the South and kept part of the temporary sales tax in place to help fund education….Berger's response: Perdue wants to balance the budget ‘on the backs of North Carolina taxpayers and local governments.’ But now it's ok to balance the budget on the backs of those who struggle daily to buy food for their families, while giving the rich a huge tax break?”
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Gary Pearce posted on January 17, 2013 10:21
North Carolina Republicans are stepping out on a political high-wire.
Surely, most people love the idea of not paying personal or corporate income taxes.
But then you start looking at the details. Every business would pay a receipts tax. Everybody would pay (and businesses bill and pay) a tax on services – medical care, lottery tickets, haircuts, dentist visits, housekeeping and lawyers’ fees, just to name a few.
And your grocery taxes go up 400 percent.
Tax reform plans usually start out great, then wither when people see the details.
This one will be fun to watch.
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Gary Pearce posted on January 16, 2013 10:27
Sometimes the hardest and smartest thing to do – in politics as in life – is just to watch and wait.
Some patience now will pay off in the long run for North Carolina Democrats.
Governor McCrory already stumbled by giving his new Cabinet big pay raises. Dick and Jane at home get that – and don’t like it. That’s big money to them, and they don’t buy it’s hard for government officials to live on $100,000-plus salaries.
Then immigrants get a letter from the Governor and General Tata revoking their drivers licenses. So much for the idea that Republicans should stop alienating Hispanic voters.
And the legislature hasn’t even started. Wait until Speaker Tillis and Senator Berger try to out-bid the other for the Tea Party vote in the Republican U.S. Senate primary. While Senator Rucho abolishes the income tax and raises everybody’s sales tax. While Governor McCrory tries to drive just right of the center of the road.
Wait until hundreds of new political appointees begin diving into their new jobs in all the Cabinet departments, eager to undo 114 years of Democratic rule and set everything Right overnight.
In sports, coaches often say: let the game come to you. It’s coming.
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Gary Pearce posted on January 15, 2013 11:00
As Carter notes in his blog below, the boom in outside political groups is eclipsing the traditional parties. You can see three recent examples in Raleigh.
The big event Inaugural weekend wasn’t the traditional Junior League Ball or a Republican Party event. It was the Foundation for North Carolina (“F”-NC) fundraiser.
Last week, the House GOP caucus announced a new nonprofit to help “get our story out.” In other words, lay the groundwork for Speaker Tillis’ campaign for U.S. Senate.
And who has been out front as the Not-So-Loyal Opposition? Not the State Democratic Party, but the folks at ProgressNC.
There are many explanations: entrepreneurial political operatives, creative funding opportunities, the public’s poor opinion of parties and, not least, weak party leadership. So don’t look for the trend to end anytime soon.
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Carter Wrenn posted on January 15, 2013 10:29
The Democrats in Raleigh are grumpy because Speaker Thom Tillis has set up a new nonprofit to be the ‘Voice of House Republicans.’
Now, like ‘em or not, Super PACs, IE’s, and 527’s are the new political reality – Obama had ‘em, Romney had ‘em, and now Speaker Tillis has one. The more curious question is, why aren’t the House Democrats setting up one of their own – instead of grumping?
While it’s a cold hard fact Democrats still outnumber Republicans in North Carolina, it’s also a cold hard fact that last election Republicans in the State House and Senate out-fundraised, out-messaged and out-campaigned Democrats hands down – with a predictable result: Democrats lost every election in a swing district except in one lone State Senate district.
Democrats winning the next election with no voice (and no money) isn’t likely – unless lightning strikes, and that only happens about once in a decade. So why is the once-mighty party of Jim Hunt sitting by as Thom Tillis rolls up his sleeves and starts work on winning the next election?
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Gary Pearce posted on January 14, 2013 10:03
Raleigh was electric Saturday. The crowd was huge and enthusiastic. The stars outdid all their fans’ hopes.
Not the inaugural. The State-Duke game. (Go Pack!)
Governor McCrory’s early-season performance is like a basketball team that makes a brilliant play on one end, then commits a bonehead turnover.
His speech and its “Main Street” trope was good. But he said no money is “falling from the sky” right after he rained big pay raises on his Cabinet.
He pledged to embrace business and create new jobs, but he talks down North Carolina by saying it’s “broken” and its brand “tarnished.” Already, industrial recruiters say he has cost the state one big company by wavering on incentives.
He played the drums and mixed with the party crowds, but his friends at the Foundation for North Carolina (which cynics call “F*@#NC”) held a dinner at the Carolina Country Club and told the invitees to keep it a secret.
One Democrat saw McCrory's visit to the General Assembly on opening day as “good optics.” But, at breakfast this morning, another Democrat questioned the wisdom of linking his popularity to the legislature.
Another observer noted that new governors often have rocky starts. Looking to the long season ahead, he added, “The best thing Democrats have going for them is human nature.”
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Gary Pearce posted on January 10, 2013 09:20
A TAPster inside state government sends an intriguing follow-up to my blog about Governor McCrory calling Art Pope “deputy” budget director. That struck me as a bit defensive. (See “McCrory’s Picks.”)
The TAPster saw a January 7 memo to all department heads and chief fiscal officers in state government. It was from “Art Pope, State Budget Director.”
That pretense didn’t last long.
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Gary Pearce posted on January 08, 2013 16:41
The late Insurance Commissioner was a populist, an eccentric, a scourge of insurance companies and – regrettably – a big reason Jesse Helms was U.S. Senator for so long.
Elected commissioner in 1972, Ingram waged a 12-year crusade against auto insurance companies, claiming they gouged customers. “Fighting for You” was his mantra. But his management style was so chaotic and his rulings so erratic he lost nearly every rate case in court. Eventually the legislature took away his rate-setting power.
In 1978, Helms’ first reelection campaign, Ingram was an underdog candidate for U.S. Senate. The heavy favorite in the Democratic primary was Luther Hodges Jr., a wealthy Charlotte banker and son of the former governor.
Hodges led the crowded primary, but didn’t get the 50 percent then required to avoid a runoff against Ingram, who finished second.
The runoff was the Tuesday after Memorial Day. Almost nobody voted. And, Democrats suspect, Helms’ Congressional Club did all it could to help Ingram, figuring he would be the weaker candidate in the fall.
He won the primary and, sure enough, was a disaster in November. He ran an inept, kamikaze campaign. Big-name Democrats steered clear of him. Helms outspent him something like $7 million to $150,000.
Helms won big and went back to the Senate. Ingram went back to bashing insurance companies. He fell out with a series of aides, including Jim Long, who later succeeded him as commissioner. Ingram got bad press for spending big money on his offices and stepped-up security, as well as spending a lot of time building condos in Myrtle Beach.
It didn’t help that Ingram was one of those folks who the more he talked, the more he sounded a couple of innings short of a full game.
In 1984, he ran for Governor, finishing fifth in the primary. In 1986 and 1990, he ran and lost for Senate again. He apparently spent most of his later years in Myrtle Beach.
In an age of boring, buttoned-down politicians, I miss John Ingram. A little.
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